Next to share a bit of insight was Gary Frasier, who has an intricate half sleeve of the four horsemen from the New Testament. “It’s a very dark book, but essentially looking at that aside from being religious; it is what man has created. Through conquest, we create war, through war we create famine, so I mean it kind of reminds me to look for the good in all things while trying to avoid the bad, if that makes sense,” he said. As far as his other tattoos, he has a self-described “yin-and-yang thing going” with fire and ice, God and the devil, and Heaven and hell tattoos. Frasier gets his work done by Brian “Happy” Williams at Happy Tats in Wyandotte, MI. “He’s a good guy,” Frasier said.

Along with sharing conversations with Warped Tour attendees, there was a plethora of great music to be enjoyed. Music including that of The Used, Dead Sara, Breathe Carolina, Rise Against and Ballyhoo!, to name just a few. Ballyhoo! managed to take a completely drained, dead-tired crowd and revive them in a way that only Ballyhoo! could. They even hung around afterwards to chat about everything including the new album, latest single, and their 17th year as a band.

Howi Spangler, the Ballyhoo! vocalist, had the band’s logo tattooed on his right arm in the fall of 2009. “If anyone wants to give us free tattoos, we’re all about it. That shit’s expensive!” they said.

The guys have been rocking the alternative/reggae/rock music scene since July of 1995 and they recently released an album titled “Daydreams.” The bands new single is titled, “Walk Away,” and you can request to hear it on your local radio station. “You can also check us out on the 2012 Vans Warped Tour Compilation. Come to the damn show; find the House of Marley stage; buy a shitload of Ballyhoo! merch,” they suggested. Ballyhoo! can also be found on the Sunstroke Entertainment California Dreaming: Endless Summer Sampler II. “Yeah, that’s an awesome sampler; tell them we said hi and thanks for putting us on that.”

The Vans Warped Tour is set to run through Sunday, August 5. So if a town near you is on the remaining list, be sure to attend the epic celebration of music, complete with lack of clothing and incredible self-expression through tattoos. The moral of the story is simply this: go Warped for a day of great music and maybe even some inspiration to get inked.