Grant Cobb has done most of his work, save some pieces by Frank Carter and a few other artists, including the one who did his first tattoo, which he got with the Good Charlotte boys. “When I was 19 or 20 my brothers came down to visit me in North Carolina and we all got our first tattoos together. It was this little shop about a block from my school and we had no idea what we were doing.”

Madden’s tattoos are clean and timeless, and his style is a reflection of his current playlist. “I’m a Beastie Boy for life,” he says. “I listen to hardcore one day, the next day I’m listening to something instrumental, that same day I could listen to some dark ’90s stuff and then some new hip-hop. My personal style trends come directly from the catalog of music I’m listening to from day to day.”

What he’s looking forward to seeing on the streets is a return to the MTV days. “Everyone is making a version of creepers [suede boots with rubber soles] and I’m stoked to see that,” Madden says. “Everything is all early-’90s-looking because of economic reflection in trends. When the economy goes sideways people get interested in the meaning of things and they turn to rebellion. I’m always down for some blue-collar rebelliousness. I live there; that’s my home state of mind.”

Don’t discount his eye for trends and his ability to know what’s coming next. He says he has a “desire for something other than what we almost always settle for—I am on an eternal search. I wake up with it and go to bed exhausted from it.”


Visit: joshmadden.com