Popunie column 29 – This Cannot Be Unseen
De column is placed on the Popunie site
The year was 2013 and we were playing again with our band The Fuzzbrats and just came back from a small tour to the UK.
The Faith was back and I decided to invigorate that by having a band tattoo. In consultation with friend and professional tattooer Nico we decided that my upper leg would be a good place. So the image could be comfortably big. The only thing we didn’t think of was the fact that if I wanted to show the tattoo I had t drop my pants.
In the same period we played a gig together with The Phoenix City Retaliators, a great Ska band from Rotterdam and surroundings. Bass player Thijs, a music friend of mine, just had a tattoo placed of his band… on his upper leg…
Half a year later Thijs and I run into each other at a concert of The Slackers in Bibelot, Dordrecht. This was the 4th of 5th time that I went to see the band. Regular guitar player ‘Agent’ Jay Nugent was injured just before the 2015 European Tour and was temporarily replaced by Kristin Forbes of the Scotch Bonnets. She played fantastic.
After the concert Thijs went backstage as he knows several members of the band. The Phoenix City Retaliators opened for them a few times in the past. I bought a single and wanted it signed by the band so I walked along to the backstage. Both Thijs and me got greeted friendly by the present bandmembers and we got in a conversation.
At a given moment Thijs told about the new album of his band. On the cover is a picture of his tattoo. Thereafter he showed this tattoo. He dropped his pants to do so. While the attendees looked surprised at his handling Thijs told them I also had a band tattoo on the same place. I couldn’t let that pass and I also dropped my pants. Full of pride we were standing in our underwear, talking about our bands. At that moment the guitar player came in the backstage room, she had been given an own room to refresh after the concert. What followed was a silent moment. The lady spoke the unforgettable sentence: ‘This can not be unseen’. After that a hilarious reaction of the people backstage followed.
Thijs and me quickly pulled up our pants, blushing like little boys.