Stuart Mears

Today is a day…

Stuart Mears — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:22:48 +0000

Shit, what an arse he has become…

Stuart Mears — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:58:21 +0000

I was speaking to an ex-colleague of mine this weekend and told her about this blog I have been forced to write.

Her words were, “Hi Stu… shit what an arse he has become… well he often was wasn’t he? But I always tried to give him the benefit of the doubt cos I thought he was my friend.. and you never like to think of friends that way do you? .. He fooled me so much”.

I asked if she would like to post something on it, to which she agreed and can be read as follows:

“Neil Dalleywater… Ethics… shouldn’t be spoken in the same sentence. The bloke doesn’t know the meaning of the word. Nor actually the meaning of loyalty, friendship, or trust.

My experience of his double dealings goes back many years, must be around twelve or so by now.

When I started at Jazz Publishing I worked as Ad Sales on Supertwins Magazine, Neil was then assistant editor to Rich King. Within a very short time of my working there, Rich King had been ousted, due – I must say – to his great ability to do as little amount of work as possible, in the most amount of time.

The point here though, is that Rich and Neil were longtime friends going back many years. Who do you think it was complaining most (and to the management) about Rich and his lack of work ethic? …yep you have it… his best mate Neil… Who do you think knew he was being asked to leave a week before he did? Yep, you got it. Who do you think organised to get his job when Rich was asked to leave? … Yep, right again… his best mate.. Neil.

Meanwhile, as at that point – Neil was a professed lifestyle biker, always had been always will be… his words, not mine… Although we loved working on Supertwins, we both preferred a more lifestyle kind of bike, the ‘home built in the shed’ type of thing. We began to badger Stuart to create a new magazine, one we could both work on and really love.

It worked in the end… and 100% Biker Magazine was born… Neil had spent months declaring, as had I, that this was his dream, to be Editor of a magazine for real bikers. Real grass roots stuff, shoestring money builds. So why, after only three issues did he leave us completely in the proverbial doo-doo and walk out at the drop of a hat when our rival magazine offered him loads more dosh?! He knew he was leaving weeks before and never said a word, hoping to cause the maximum damage. It was a ploy to make the magazine fold, as we were doing their sales a fair amount of damage. They thought without an Editor we would have to fold…

Luckily, I had been helping out with event coverage, and sourcing bikes and talking to bike builders and felt we had enough articles to put together another couple of issues to enable us time to find a replacement editor. A good friend, Paul Cave – who at that time edited Total VW Magazine, showed me the ropes and was there to give me enormous support and backup. We never looked back. I went on to stay as Editor until I left Jazz to move to Portugal in 2007. Neil only lasted a few months in his new post, due to mental health problems.

Meanwhile back at Jazz, life carried on as normal. Our sister publication Skin Deep was going great guns, but there were differences of opinions between Editorship and management. The debate over paid-for ads from supply companies is one that I think will never ever be solved, it’s all down to personal choices. I don’t know all the exact differences between Sally the then editor and Stuart, but it at times, seemed unsolvable.

During this time, I had become friendly with Neil again, I had kept in touch with his lovely lady Kate and over time, forgiven his desertion of us as a mid-life crisis type of thing. Neil wasn’t really that ruthless, I convinced myself. So when it was discussed that maybe a new editor of Skin Deep would have to be found, Neil’s name popped up.

Sadly I was the person who convinced Stuart that Neil was not a bad bloke, and that he would be perfect for the job and to trust him and give him another chance. Neil was also a friend of Sally, he knew the ropes, the freelancers and had an interest in tattoos. At that point he was running his own small and failing bike repair business in North Wales.

So, yet again, Neil slipped into a job behind the current persons back, all discussed, set up and sorted before they knew it. I again, as Neil’s friend thought this was a bit underhand, but sometimes things work out that way. You never want to believe such shit of people you care about do you?

Neil KNEW right from the start, before he took the Editor of Skin Deep’s job, that most of the problems between Stuart and Sally were based on one huge thing, paid-for ads of supply company stuff. The fact that some tattooists didn’t agree with advertising supplies through a non-industry publication. He knew, he didn’t agree with Sally, he took the job and Stuarts money. He would run ads, he wanted a successful magazine, as we all did.

I had the desk next to him for years. Neil’s priority for his magazine was for it to be successful; scruples were just something you gave out to the public… what matters in magazine terms is advertising revenue… it plays an important part for the success of a title.

I was astounded when I read of Neil’s so called ‘ethical’ resignation from Jazz Publishing. I had known that over the years he had managed to remake himself from a lifestyle biker into Mr Tattoo Magazine, but to give up his job in such a public way and to revile Stuart who had given him back a job, trust and friendship (yes until then, they were friends, mountain biking together, gardening, pig courses! the lot) was beyond belief to me.

Then, slowly, the situation sunk in – and knowing how Neil had acted previously, I began to wonder what his next job would be? It must already be organised, it must be in competition with Jazz and it must be timed to cause as much controversy and damage as possible!

I couldn’t believe he was doing it again… and people fall for it every time…!

As you may all know, at the time, he refuted the fact that he had a job to go to, he refuted the fact that he was setting up in competition to Jazz. He publicly stated, it was all about ‘ethics’.

Ethics, Neil… Don’t make me laugh… He couldn’t even tell you what the word means..

Does this sound bitter… or even cynical and disgusted? .. yes, you bet I am.

Pat Rihoy

It seems the smiling assassin has stabbed someone else in the back!

Stuart Mears — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:06:03 +0000

Many of you will be aware from recent posts on this blog about how and why Jazz Publishing and myself have been the subject of a social media “hate” campaign. Much of the activity started when Neil Dalleywater and Alex Guest (then-editors of Skin Deep and Tattoo Master magazine) left the company under a cloud of unexplained events and behaviour.

I recently met with Alex (ex-editor of Tattoo Master) and his partner Zoe in a pub. We spent a few hours talking about things that have happened since the very public leaving from Jazz Publishing of him and Neil Dalleywater from their roles as editors on two of our titles.

Alex very kindly agreed to put his side of goings on, on my blog. It’s always interesting to hear other sides of a story – it’s hugely important. I am very grateful to them both for being so open and honest. Firstly, for apologising to me in person; secondly, for being courteous enough to tell me information I was not aware of. I wish I knew more people like this. Thank you, both.

Here is Alex’s comments taken from his blog:

Divine Karma Publishing, TRM Publishing and Tattoo Revolution Magazine: Nowt to do with me, pal…

Hi. I’m Alex Guest. You may remember me from publications such as Skin Deep, Tattoo Master, The Tattoo Bible and for a while, I was the editor of Tattoo Revolution Magazine. I’ve also written for the good folk of Total Tattoo. Then I disappeared altogether.   

If you do remember me, this may interest you. Or it may not. Either way, I’ve no doubt this will ruffle a few feathers but frankly, I really couldn’t give a fuck who it upsets. I’ve written this because I want to make it clear that I have zero involvement with Tattoo Revolution Magazine, Divine Karma Publishing or TRM Publishing. Many people are under the impression that I’m still at Revolution yet I haven’t been a director of Divine Karma Publishing since April 2011 and I haven’t worked in a freelance capacity for Tattoo Revolution Magazine since September 2011. I’m doing this now because of Stuart Mears’ blog post here: So .. this is the new and more ‘ethical’ future of tattooing, is it?

Let me quote him here in his entirety:

“On 15th March, just as I was leaving work for the day, an email (a very interesting email) appeared in my inbox. I have since spoken to Dean at Imagery, the printing company this email was from and he is happy for me to show you what he wrote to me.

Hi Stuart,

I have recently read a blog from your regarding our mutual friend Divine Karma Publishing. We printed four issues of Tattoo Revolution. Two of which we have been paid for. Then in Jan Mr Dalleywater tells me sales have not been that great and he can now not pay us the £ 12,000 he owes us and further more has sold the magazine. However he seems to have sold it for nothing but magic beans.

Or what is more likely just transferred it to a different name leaving us up a certain river without a certain paddle. We are sending the matter to our solicitors today. If you have any information on the wonderful Mr Dalleywater I would appreciate it if you could let me know.
He paid his first issue upfront and then his second on thirty days and seamed a very nice chap. It appears all is not what it seams

Thanks 
Dean Booth 
Commercial Manager 
Imagery

In my conversation with Dean he also said that when Neil Dalleywater, whilst acting very friendly and nice (as he always does!), was asked who he had sold the magazine too, said he “did not know their details”! Dean also told me that from his research, Neil had set up another company – called TRM Publishing Ltd. whilst Imagery was printing his magazine for Divine Karma Publishing Ltd. – suggesting Neil knew that he was never going to pay their print bill.

It seems that Tattoo Revolution is now being published by TRM Publishing Ltd. It also seems that Dean was right, Neil Dalleywater may have sold his magazine for magic beans, to himself! For Neil Dalleywater is the sole director of TRM Publishing Ltd.

WHEN ARE PEOPLE GOING TO WAKE UP TO WHAT’S ‘REALLY’ HAPPENING HERE? HOW MANY TIMES CAN THE WOOL BE PULLED OVER YOUR EYES!?!

I have since had a conversation with Andrew Jones. Andrew is the Group Managing Director of Stephens & George Print Group, who printed the first few issues of Tattoo Revolution for Neil Dalleywater of Divine Karma Publishing Ltd. Andrew informs me that they too have not been paid for the printing of Tattoo Revolution Magazine to the sum of £5,800.

It would seem that the magazine was moved to another printer, in this case Imagery, when they could not pay the bill, it would also seem that someone else is now printing Tattoo Revolution Magazine, in the wake of the two previous print companies that have not yet been paid.
I am strangely starting to believe in Karma…  ..and as for this “ethical” tattoo venture …. don’t make me laugh!”

Stuart’s not an idiot when it comes to publishing and libel laws; these statements are indeed verifiable. I guess you can see quite clearly why I want the tattoo world to know that I’m not involved with Neil or the magazine in any context. When I was edged out of the business, the printers were paid upfront for the magazines and credit was not an option whilst I was part of the company. The first priority was always to pay the printers and get the magazine out, and frankly I think it takes the piss that these print companies are now out of pocket. TRM Publishing has sprung up as the publisher of Tattoo Revolution Magazine, but Stuart was torn to shreds over his dealings, and I’ve yet to hear a murmur of objection about Neil’s handling of things. What kind of bullshit double standard is that?

Now we’ve established that I’m not part of the Revolution any longer and why I’m so disgusted at what’s gone on, let’s get to why I ceased to be part of Tattoo Revolution Magazine.

The week before my daughter was due to be born in April of 2011, Neil met with me to collect some magazines from my house and then out of the blue informed me that the Divine Karma Publishing could no longer support us both. He had brought with him the termination forms required by Companies House to rescind company director appointments and asked me to sign out of the company. I had no stake or liability in Divine Karma Publishing’s financial affairs so this just left one question: what was to be my involvement with the magazine? Neil told me I was to remain as editor on a freelance basis and articles I submitted would be considered on top of the basic editor work (i.e. proofing, copy editing, etc). We agreed that we’d come to a join statement announcing my departure and it would be something upbeat and positive.

I read in the first Tattoo Revolution editorial following my termination as director of Divine Karma Publishing that I’d left the magazine to spend more time with my family and pursue freelance work. I had no say in the content of that statement, and it’s a flat-out lie. I mean, how many people do you know can afford to decide to suddenly drop out of a full-time roll in a venture that they’d committed career suicide for? Doesn’t make sense, does it? You might allege that the whole ‘agreement’ about remaining as editor was a porky pie used as leverage to ease my signature onto those termination papers.

I was removed from the magazine contact section as editor by the very next issue and my editor ‘contract’ lasted just one month before I was again told “the business couldn’t afford me”. I wrote a total of three articles for Tattoo Revolution Magazine, and I chose to bring this to an end for three reasons. Firstly, because payment for my last article was way overdue and took a lot of chasing to secure. Secondly, because the look and feel of the magazine wasn’t what I identified with or wanted to be a part of. Thirdly, because my new full-time job demanded all of my time and attention, time that apparently should have been spent with my newborn daughter.

The question I’m sure anyone reading this will ask is “Why did you wait so long to put this information out there?”. That’s simple: I told two groups of friends what had happened at the time of these events and there was barely a raised eyebrow amongst them, let alone any show of support towards me. That told me all I needed to know about where loyalties would lie should I go public. I was still green in the tattoo world by comparison and I wasn’t part of the crowd that makes its voice heard above all others. I colluded to a lie by keeping quiet and fading away without a murmur at the time because I really didn’t see how anyone else would care what had happened. If your friends don’t take your side, then who else do you look to?

I’m sure others will decry all of this as lies, and you’re of course welcome to your opinion if you think I’ve made this up. You’d be wrong, but again, welcome to your opinion. Ask yourself this: what would I stand to gain by lying about it now? I have no stake in the tattoo world in any guise and nor do I intend to reprise a role. Sorry to piss on your bonfire, but there’s simply nothing in it for me to go around making stuff up after a year of keeping it quiet. All of this is the truth, albeit an undoubtedly inconvenient truth for some people.

I’m doing this now, making my story public now, because I’m not the only one who has been affected by either Neil Dalleywater or Tattoo Revolution’s ‘ethics’. This isn’t about whether or not people will believe me or about starting up the next battle: it’s simply about disassociating myself from Neil and Tattoo Revolution because businesses are now being affected by their collective dealings, and I want everyone to know I had no involvement or prior knowledge of any situation that would lead to a default on future debts.

In September of last year I took a step back from the tattoo world, deleting my Facebook and relinquishing the freelance work I occasionally embarked on with Total Tattoo (to whom I’m extremely grateful). I was tired of seeing sycophantic posts and remarks from people who had no idea as to what had gone on and knowing full well that trying to correct the misconceptions and fallacies on Facebook would be as productive as pissing into a hurricane and hoping to stay dry.

As 2012 dawned I took stock of all that had gone on and realised there was an irony in that I’d spent so long trying to destroy one person’s place in the tattoo industry when I ultimately lost my own. If that’s not karma, I don’t know what is. I don’t seek sympathy because this is the outcome of the risk I took, and I knew full well that losing my career was a possibility. The situation just is.

In seeking to redress the balance, I met up with Stuart earlier this year to put an end to our feud. We apologised, shook hands and left with what I think was a sense of closure on the situations we’d put each other through. I’ve no doubt that will get the rumour mill churning and have people questioning my motives for this post, but I again refer you to my earlier disclaimer: I honestly couldn’t give a fuck what anyone’s opinion of me may be. My conscience is clear. I wonder how many others can say that with hand on heart?

So .. this is the new and more ‘ethical’ future of tattooing, is it??!!!

Stuart Mears — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:49:28 +0000

On 15th March, just as I was leaving work for the day, an email (a very interesting email) appeared in my inbox. I have since spoken to Dean at Imagery, the printing company this email was from and he is happy for me to show you what he wrote to me.

Hi Stuart,

I have recently read a blog from your regarding our mutual friend Divine Karma Publishing. We printed four issues of Tattoo Revolution. Two of which we have been paid for. Then in Jan Mr Dalleywater tells me sales have not been that great and he can now not pay us the £ 12,000 he owes us and further more has sold the magazine. However he seems to have sold it for nothing but magic beans.

Or what is more likely just transferred it to a different name leaving us up a certain river without a certain paddle. We are sending the matter to our solicitors today. If you have any information on the wonderful Mr Dalleywater I would appreciate it if you could let me know.

He paid his first issue upfront and then his second on thirty days and seamed a very nice chap. It appears all is not what it seams

Thanks
Dean Booth
Commercial Manager
Imagery

In my conversation with Dean he also said that when Neil Dalleywater, whilst acting very friendly and nice (as he always does!), was asked who he had sold the magazine too, said he “did not know their details”! Dean also told me that from his research, Neil had set up another company – called TRM Publishing Ltd. whilst Imagery was printing his magazine for Divine Karma Publishing Ltd. – suggesting Neil knew that he was never going to pay their print bill.

It seems that Tattoo Revolution is now being published by TRM Publishing Ltd. It also seems that Dean was right, Neil Dalleywater may have sold his magazine for magic beans, to himself! For Neil Dalleywater is the sole director of TRM Publishing Ltd.

WHEN ARE PEOPLE GOING TO WAKE UP TO WHATS ‘REALLY’ HAPPENING HERE? HOW MANY TIMES CAN THE WOOL BE PULLED OVER YOUR EYES!?!

I have since had a conversation with Andrew Jones. Andrew is the Group Managing Director of Stephens & George Print Group, who printed the first few issues of Tattoo Revolution for Neil Dalleywater of Divine Karma Publishing Ltd. Andrew informs me that they too have not been paid for the printing of Tattoo Revolution Magazine to the sum of £5,800.

I am strangely starting to believe in Karma… :)
..and as for this “ethical” tattoo venture …. don’t make me laugh!

More lies continue about us :(

Stuart Mears — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:43:36 +0000

It seems that I am having to correct the lies that are being spread once again about us. Again I have proof of this, as I do about everything I have written on my blog, it is all FACT.

On Neil Dalleywater’s FaceBook page a lady asked:

SN – What happened to the old Manchester convention?

Neil Dalleywater – They went into liquidation sadly.

Lies! As you may or may not know, we purchased the Manchester Tattoo Show off the previous organisers, and it is still running as you can see, (as Neil Dalleywater well knows) here www.manchestertattooshow.com It will be on 4-5th August in the same venue as previously Manchester Central an amazing building in the heart of the city, and we look forward to seeing you there.

On Neil Dalleywater’s TR magazine’s Facebook page I posted this in response:

Stuart Mears – And contrary to what you are telling people Mr Neil Dalleywater the original Manchester Tattoo Show did NOT go into liquidation, it is on 4th-5th August. You put the Tea Party on in the previous shows dates, in Manchester, to try and cause confusion with the original 10 year old show. When are you going to stop telling lies? http://www.manchestertattooshow.com

Stuart Mears – Oh one more thing, look to the left ‘About’. It says your magazines is Published by Divine Karma Publishing Ltd. which is has been up until now, but parts of your website and latest magazine now say its published by TRM Publishing Ltd. Interesting… I don’t expect these posts to last long, as you are good a concealing the truth, but if a few people read it, then eventually people will see the real facts of whats happening here

Strangely enough despite them being liked by 12 people before they went, they have been deleted, as Neil wants the truth to remain a secret….

I can and will be correcting the false facts I find as long as I have to. You will in time see they come from the same group of people, who, despite what they make you believe, are all in this for one thing… themselves.

Silent majorities, noisy minorities

Stuart Mears — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:11:59 +0000

I read a blog post the other day I would like to share with you… http://craigylee.com/blog/

Over the past year and a bit there has been a lot of what I call “politics” within the uk tattoo industry, negative hate mail posted on facebook, forums and websites about skin deep magazine and the conventions it is involved with. After a year and a half travelling working in Australia and New Zealand it is saddening to see all this going on as I didn’t experience any of this abroad, maybe its just a British thing to be bitchy and bad mouth other people within the industry you work. But the tattoo industry in the uk is in a terrible state, which I think is a lot to do with small mindedness and small town syndrome, people need to get out and see the bigger picture.

Most of the people posting this are hypocrites and I will tell you why.

These tattoo magazine’s and conventions put out tattoo talent to a huge audience, they also promote upcoming talent and introduce people to artists from all over the world they may not have heard of before, for the most part they are promoting tattooing in a positive light.

Most of the people bitching about it have been featured in the magazine and worked their conventions, in fact it was skin deep and tattoo jam where I discovered a lot of these artists myself, it appears they are happy to lay in bed with the devil when it suits them, and then once they have got what they want out of it they turn their back on it and call it a whore!

Some of their arguments are “these people only make money from tattooing” well what do you do apart from make money out of tattooing? Ok you sit in a shop and tattoo but what do you actually put back into the industry? These conventions and magazines are constantly promoting artists both established and up and coming. And its not as if they have just popped after the boom tattooing has seen in recent years, this magazine has been around for sixteen years.

You make money from tattooing to live and eat so do they.

Most of these people buy their tattoo supplies from company’s that have nothing to do with tattooing, they are not tattoo artists themselves, all they do is make money from tattooing? Yet their happy to support them by buying supplies and equipment from them.

Most of the tattoo conventions in the UK are not organised by tattoo artists? In fact most of the biggest tattoo shows in the world are not organised by tattoo artists.

There are also a lot of tattoo shops out there owned and operated by people who do not tattoo, and this is a problem you can fix, if they didn’t have artists to work for them they couldn’t stay in buisness.

This is exactly how I see it, and sadly there will always be people who want to destroy the success of others. This is not hate mail towards anybody and I am certainly not taking any sides I think people just need to get some perspective, even if you are against skin deep and their conventions if they were not doing it somebody else would be.

Also I would like to add something about the new “great British” convention, which people see as being in direct competition with the London convention. Firstly London is a huge city, seven million people live there, a country like New Zealand has four million people living in the whole country yet they have three conventions there a year, and they all do well. Secondly London is a very well established convention, which has the best artists from all over the world working it, it is quite literally the cream of the crop and has a three year waiting list for booths, it is a prestigious event that most tattoo artists in the UK cannot work, not because their not good enough, but because they are not a big enough name. It is a goal many of us strive to achieve, working this show means you are in the very small top percentage of the artists in the world. The “great British tattoo show” is giving those other artists a chance to work a show in the greatest city in the world.

Some of you may well be reading this now and thinking “well you are bias as you write for skin deep magazine” well let me tell you this, i “contribute” to the magazine, I do not get paid for my article, I am a freelance writer and have no allegiance to anybody. However for the past year I have spent my time (and money) visiting tattoo studios across Australia, New Zealand and given them some exposure and introducing them to a new audience, people who work hard within their craft putting out great tattoos deserve some recognition. I do this because these people’s work deserve to be seen, I do this because I feel it’s my way of giving something back to the industry I make a living from and I do this because I love tattooing.

people know my views, i have always been straight up with everybody and never tried to hide anything.

Seek out the truth, read the facts from both sides and make up your own mind, because there are far to many people who want to make it up for you.

I would like to thank the people who have supported us during the onslaught of attacks and abuse we have and are still getting. Thankfully there are silent majorities, noisy minorities.

Hate mail, hate posts and bullying…

Stuart Mears — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:06:37 +0000

For over two years now, my colleagues and I have had to endure internet abuse to an unbelievable degree. Featuring on forums, Facebook, blogs and email; this abuse is in the public domain for my colleagues, friends, associates, our customers and even my children to see. This abuse (which, I have been informed has been taking place as recently as Tattoo Freeze) has now been directed at the many businesses, studios and artists that have a healthy working relationship with us and our products. There was at least one artist that received an abusive text message because he was working Tattoo Freeze, and if there was one, I am sure there would have been more.

What is happening is disgusting and terrible for Tattooing and it’s future. It makes a mockery of all the hard work we and many others have put in … making this art form truly credible. So that tattoos are not stereotypically associated with criminals, thugs and hooligans, as they sadly were not too long ago. These people are really doing so much harm to a wonderful industry I have worked in for the last 14 plus years.

There have been an incredible amount (literally hundreds) of vile, hateful posts directed towards me and my business, and these are just the ones that I know of. Two individuals:

Gray Silva
Rampant Ink Tattoo Studio http://www.rampantink.co.uk
6 Meadow Road, Netherfield, Nottingham, England, NG4 2FF.

Mick McCormack
Underground Tattoo Studio(s) http://www.undergroundtattoo.co.uk http://www.29tattoo.com
90 – 91 Lichfield Street, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 2BZ.
17 High Street, Brownhills, West Midlands WS8 6ED.
31 Market Street, Tamworth, Staffs B79 7LR
71757 Twentynine Palms HWY California 92277

have being relentless in driving this forward and – between the two of them – have posted more of these comments than anyone.

There have been others posters too. Although these others not really knowing anything about the situation and why they are posting. They are innocents that have been led to believe certain false facts because of the ferocity of these scathing attacks. Some of these people over time have now become my friends, having seen the truth .. and I am sure they are embarrassed by just how easily they were led up the garden path.

Here are just a handful of ‘Quoted’ comments for you to understand the sheer magnitude of the situation (not a word of any of these quotes has been changed):

Gray Silva – why do you expect anything else from the corporate little maggot that is STUART fucking MEARS. Boycott this little wankers business, stop fucking around with bullshit excuses, don’t attend his shit, buy his shit or frequent his shit, it doesn’t matter which of your ‘faces’ are attending his shows, or how much business it brings your. im sure they’ll be guesting spotting elsewhere before or after the event!

Woody Brighton – Taken from a certain mags ethics policy, my fav is No3!
(Screen grab from our Skin Deep website on Woody’s post)
Gray Silva – hahahahaha, he’s a fucking wanker!!

Mick ‘Shooter’ McCormack – Tattoo Freeze suck my balls…
Don Bishop – huh!
Gray Silva Allegedly – And lick my arse.
Mick ‘Shooter’ McCormack – Don-It is a tattoo convention run by a ballbag who wants the monopoly on tattooing over here.

What’s interesting in this last bit of conversation is that Don Bishop clearly does not know what’s going on here, despite him being the registered owner of http://www.stuartmears .com that was changed from Mick McCormack’s name. It’s almost as if it was changed to Don’s name without him even knowing?

Mick ‘Shooter’ McCormack – I couldn’t help noticing that they used the footage shot at Tattoo Jam. Nice one Mears you cunt. Now that’s what I call an own goal.

Mick ‘Shooter’ McCormack – We are calling for a complete boycott of Skin Deep and SKin SHots magazines. They are filled with bullshit adverts for the owner, Stuart Mears, own shows and products. The new edition has a sixteen page review of tattoo jam a Mears production. Yet the Liverpool show, a much better one had a few paragraphs. Go fuck yourself Mears we love our craft.

Mick ‘Shooter’ McCormack – He is a knob Kelly. He is one of those idiots with “little man syndrome’ He has bitten off more than he can chew with me though hahahaha.

Gray Silva – Doncaster, home of tattoo jam, a spoilt brat, a tat and a know saboteur! Could it be smears! Dun dun duuuuuuuun!

Gray Silva – Well fuck me the little tosser! It’s a tried and tested method of making a fast buck then bailing out! How do we stop this little fucker from wrecking tattooing?

Phil Davidson – Stuart Mears is a stinking little cunt.
Gray Silva – Phil you are not wrong he’s a complete robbing bastard too!

Neil Dalleywater – Not gonna name but it should be pretty obvious. I’m not starting a S.MEARs campaign.

Gray Silva – i think, after much deliberation, i’m gonna send smears a message using his golden ticket, in a ransom note style. What should that message contain???
Gary Wiedenhof – Anthrax I tell thee

Mick ‘Shooter’ McCormack – The dedicated website in his honour is currently down but all the information on his shady dealings can be found on the companies house website. Just put in Jazz Publishing and it is there for the whole world to read.
Phil Davidson – what happened to stuartmears .com?
Mick ‘Shooter’ McCormack – The domain registration slipped. Our Russian friend will get up and running before the convention

Max MacAndrews – almost forgot: FUCK STUART MEARS! FUCK SKIN DEEP! FUCK TATTOO JAM!
Woody Brighton – You forgot Freeze, here let me help out…
Woody Brighton – FUCK TATTOO FREEZE
Max MacAndrews – HAHAHA YES WOODY! ***ESPECIALLY*** FUCK TATTOO FREEZE!

Gray Silva – Who’s up for another boycott? This time its The manchester Tattoo Convention, now owned by Stuart (the fraudster) mears and his Jazz Publishing shitehouse!

This was in response to an innocent request from a tattoo artist working our show.

Sway Tattooer – got one gap now due to cancelation at tattoojam on sunday afternoon, anyone want tattooed, message me
Stuart Rollisson – Get drunk, kill Stuart Mears!

And even more lies to try and do further damage to my business:

Mick ‘Shooter’ McCormack – Rumour has it that Jazz is in financial difficulty and the tattoojam show will be cancelled. No doubt at the last minute when everyone has paid up. Another folded company in a long list. (Saturday 12th March 2011 at 08.58)

Gray Silva – Can it be true? Has stuart mears now bought the, liquidated, company that used to put on the Manchester tattoo convention? It won’t be long until he’s turned our craft into corporate, mcdonalds like shite. If you support him you’re supporting whatever he intends to do, fill his pockets at our expense!

As I have mentioned there have been hundreds of posts that I have kept a neat record of. That nature of which are attacks on me and now it seems – starting on others. The ones I have listed are just but a few, but I am sure you can see quite clearly what I and my colleagues have endured for years now.

I will leave you with one last post; where Gray Silva turns on the many brilliant, talented artists that work our events and feature in our magazines; seems that Gray Silva feels these artists are not worthy of ‘his’ efforts…

Gray Silva – Some of us have been dong ‘something’ since I outed mears nearly 2 years ago. But the general apathy and lack of support from tattooists makes me wonder if those gutless apathetic arseholes who still support him are worth my efforts!

One final thought I want to leave you with – When you jump to conclusions, you often skip over the truth.

That Website! (pt. two)

Stuart Mears — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:48:39 +0000

As we have already established that http://www.stuartmears .com was registered on 13/07/2010 by Mick McCormack, The Underground Tattoo Studio, 90-91a Lichfield Street, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 2BZ

Do I know Mick McCormack? I have only met Mick McCormack once and all be it briefly at that. He was judging at one of our Tattoo Freeze conventions and at the end of awards presentations I went over to all the judges, introduced myself to Mick (I had already met Brim & Juliet) and gave him a bottle of Sailor Jerry as a thank you.

Mick McCormack said later in a post on our Tattoo Freeze Facebook page “Nice convention, well done chaps and ladies”.

Mick McCormack has also used our forum for years, with the username(s) ‘firepower’ and ‘firepower2.1” he registered on there in 2005 and with over 2,800 posts it suggests that he liked what we did.

Now, why would someone suddenly register a domain name (my name) and aim to do harm to me and my business? You don’t just randomly search online in great detail to dig up as much information as possible on that person, unless of course…. someone gave/told you that information?

I started Jazz Design in 1988, straight from college, with a £2k grant and a £5k loan from the Princes Youth Business Trust (with my good old Dad as guarantor). I bought a drawing board, rotoring pens, and a dark room camera (no computers in those days!). I rented some offices in the Chester Enterprise Centre and naively set off to conquer the world. Things went well and around 1991, I got finance for approx £30k; I took on staff and bought our first image-setter (the thing that produced film/bromide for printers to print).

We moved offices three times within the Enterprise Centre as we grew and needed bigger units.

The Bureau side grew well, and in 1995 we were advised to turn this business into a limited company. We took on more staff, bought a scanner, another imagesetter and both design work and bureau work kept on coming in.

In 1998 I took the plunge to purchase our own offices. We were still growing and it was then that I purchased the property we are still working in today.

We invested heavily in the Bureau side, purchasing a large drum scanner (£40k) and yet another imagesetter, this time with online developer (£50k), we had state of the art kit and I was chuffed to bits but it was hard work.

I then met a chap who was using our Bureau services and produced a small VW fanzine. I had always wanted to have a go at publishing magazines and to cut a long story short, we launched a VW Magazine called Flat 4 onto the newsstand. It was received really well by the public and I had gotten the bug (no pun intended) to move forward into the publishing world.

I bought 3 magazines from Plan Z – a company that had just gone into liquidation. Skin Deep, Skin Shots and SuperTwins (a Harley Davidson magazine) became ours in that process saving several peoples’ jobs (Neil Dalleywater being one of them).

Things were going well. We decided to launch a custom bike magazine ‘100% Biker’, and Neil, who was editor at the time of SuperTwins, was asked if he would like to edit and launch this title. He agreed and the title was launched several months later. Just 3 issues later Neil left to work for a rival custom bike magazine in London. Thankfully, we soon found a replacement as we were left in the ‘doggy doo’, so to speak.

We also launched our VW Camper magazine.

Things were going really well and as we were expanding quickly, my accountant advised that we set up several companies, with a holding company overseeing them. The holding company had 100% of the shares in all the other companies and I had 100% shares in the holding company. It’s common practice to have several companies operating different elements of business.

So in 1999 this was done and we went from a sole trading company and one limited company, to Jazz Holdings (a none trading company) with 5 companies under it.

With us now producing so many magazines and having a growing list of design clients needing brochures and such; I had the bright idea that we could print our products, too. I set up a factory, bought a 6 colour B1 Heidelberg printing press (a two man operational beast), folding machines, guillotine, saddle stitchers, platemaking machine etc. etc; (half a million pounds plus of investment). In hindsight this was a terrible decision.

We ran 2 shifts between 6am – 9pm, (I worked both the vast majority of the time) opening up and locking up. It was knackering stuff. From start of opening the doors on day one, to eventually closing them, it was a nightmare. The printing press constantly broke down and at £75 per hour per man, the Heidelberg engineering bills were very expensive! When the printing press was not working the whole factory came to a standstill. There were 14 staff who worked at Jazz Print.

Over the next few years the industry we were in changed. The digital revolution was upon us, there was no need for scanning (digital cameras saw to that) there was no need for film or bromide (again work was being sent to the printers as a PDF) and because I had taken my eye off the ball on the publishing side with all of my efforts fighting with Jazz Print, our titles had begun to suffer.

We were hemorrhaging money and in deep financial trouble.

I had no choice but to go into liquidation. I closed my companies because I had to, having no choice. I did not close them to rip anyone off. There’s a ‘big’ difference…

It was heartbreaking to stand in a room and tell many of our employees (many of them friends) that they were being made redundant. It was one of the worst moments in my life.

We closed some magazine titles too, offering their subscribers a transfer to our other titles. Many took this option but for the very few people who chose not to, we simply could not afford to pay back the money remaining on their subscription. They were understandably very unhappy with this.

In the years that passed I have personally paid back the people who lost money on these subscriptions, although a few are still not happy about this. This of course, could have been better handled at the time. The amount of stress and pressure I was placed under made it impossible to make the right decision on all matters.

We continued with one company, having to close everything bar Jazz Fashion Publishing Ltd., the company I still run today.

The debts listed on Companies House in some cases are wrong – and in others misleading. There was a lot of ‘inter-company’ debt. For instance – Jazz Print did printing for all of our other companies, Jazz Bureau again did work for all of our other companies as did Jazz Design. This was all money owed to ourselves by ourselves. There was also a large amount of money owed to the finance company for the printing machines and equipment, although they took all the equipment back and sold it, therefore eliminating the debt. These debts though, still show on Companies House.

I had my solicitor and accountant issue a statement around the time of the launch of http://www.stuartmears .com and the initial start of personal online attacks towards me. No information has been changed on this website though, despite it saying “Any information that is shown to be untrue will be removed on receipt of the relevant documents proving that it is untrue.”

I would like to reiterate that accountants and solicitors documentation is proof of fact. Here is the statement, which the owners of stuartmears .com have not even had the decency to publish on the site or attempt to correct the false information they have stated.

30th July 2010
Statement from Jazz Fashion Publishing Ltd

Jazz Fashion Publishing Ltd and its Managing Director Stuart Mears have been the subject of a number of false and damaging allegations during recent days.

Factually inaccurate information has been published on a small number of websites and forums suggesting that companies owned by Stuart went into liquidation leaving debts of more than £2million.

Stuart has been accused of being an unscrupulous businessman who has left fellow businesses, charities, HM Customs and the Inland Revenue with unpaid debts.

Stuart is disappointed that such misleading information could have been published on these sites and forums – with no attempt made to check or verify the information – and has taken the decision to put the record straight as quickly as possible.

While it is the case that a number of former companies owned by Stuart have had to be closed down during the past five years due to difficult trading conditions, it is simply not the case that the total debts left amounted to more than £2million. In fact, the final figure of unsatisfied debts resulting from the closure of these companies is less than £275,000, the majority of which was owed to a finance company, Customs & Excise and the Inland Revenue. Jazz Fashion Publishing and Stuart made good over £340,000 of the reported debts following the liquidations.

Stuart is currently in discussions with Companies House – which has responsibility for publishing company accounts – regarding amending his accounts to show the true picture.

Should any suppliers, advertisers or readers like further clarification regarding the information held at Companies House, they may contact Stuart or his accountants Crowther Jordan to provide this.

Jazz Fashion Publishing Ltd has established itself as one of the country’s most successful, innovative and dynamic publishers of specialist titles during the past 13 years. In addition, the company continues to put on a number of shows and events including CamperJam, TattooFreeze and Tattoo Jam, which aims to break two Guinness World Records when it takes place between August 6-8. The company currently employs 33 people.

During the past decade the company has worked with and raised many thousands of pounds for charities including the Teenage Cancer Trust, St John’s Ambulance, Cancer Research UK, Nicola’s Fund and, most recently, Papyrus, a charity dedicated to the prevention of suicides.

Stuart was therefore particularly disappointed to read on one of the forums the allegation that one of his companies had defaulted on a payment to the St John’s Ambulance. This is simply not the case – rather than allowing the outstanding debt to go unpaid, Stuart personally donated the amount owed to the charity to ensure a continuation of the strong relationship his companies have enjoyed with St John’s over the years.

It has also been wrongly suggested that Jazz Fashion Publishing made money from a tattoo convention run by Get Funky, one of the now liquidated companies. This is completely false as invoices issued at the time made clear that payments should be made to “Tattoo Jam” and were on Get Funky Ltd. letterheads. A few people made cheques payable to Jazz Publishing but these were transferred into the Get Funky account and Jazz Publishing never received any of the monies from the event.

Acting on advice, Stuart took the decision to liquidate several subsidiary companies in order to bring the business back under the umbrella of Jazz Fashion Publishing Ltd. Each decision was taken to protect the eight magazines and seventeen websites, which Jazz continues to publish, and the small number of annual events, all of which are much loved by their respective communities. Crucially, the decisions he took enabled him to continue providing a significant number of jobs to people in the Chester/ North Wales area, work for many freelancers and income for many external businesses.

Stuart Mears and Jazz Publishing continues to be as passionate about their work as their tens of thousands of readers are to their hobbies, interests and pastimes and the team at Jazz Publishing looks forward to continuing to provide its readers, advertisers and suppliers with the same high level of service you have come to expect.

As I mentioned earlier I continue to run this only company today. Basically having to start afresh we have continued to expand and purchased and launched more magazine titles. Because of the difficult economic times the country (and world) have faced – we have also had to close 3 titles in the last 4 years. Again, I had to make friends redundant. We have all experienced extremely tough times.

As well as dealing with the economic climate; 18 months ago our distribution company MMC went into liquidation. They closed their doors owing us an incredible amount of money. I have had to refinance that £180,000 (One hundred & eighty thousand pounds) which I’ll be paying off for many years to come.

People have asked me, ‘Why have you not taken the matter of stuartmears .com to court?’, ‘Why have you not got Companies House to amend the records?’

As stated – because of the current state of Internet law it would cost £100,000 to proceed with this. The law is set to change though, as there have been hundreds and thousands of cases like this and when it does? Well, that will be a different matter. With Companies House, that’s unfortunately another tough one. I have been told I would have to open all of the companies up again, re-supply all the figures and then go through the whole process of closing them down once more. A ‘very’ costly and time-consuming exercise.

In the last few years staff at Jazz Publishing had not received a pay rise. Times have been incredibly tough. I would not for one instance, waste money trying to correct these false and wrong accusations before rewarding my team (September 2011 saw us for the first time in nearly 3 years issue salary increases). I have already presented the correct facts and the total truth. If people simply ‘choose’ to continue to believe the lies – well, that’s up to them.

Incorporation of the companies:

Jazz Design – Sole Trader October 1988
Jazz Bureau Limited – 07/3/1995

Jazz Holdings – 17/3/1999
Jazz Design – 15/3/1999
Jazz Car – 15/3/1999
Jazz Bike – 15/3/1999
Jazz Fashion – 30/3/1999
Jazz Print – 27/3/2001

That Website! (pt. three) To follow…

I raise my glass to…

Stuart Mears — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:19:06 +0000

…a bit of nice, pleasant news (yes it does exist) to wrap up 2011.

The team and I have been working for several months on our new company website www.jazzpublishing.com. The shiny new site features illustrations from a very talented illustrator Rianne Rowlands. Rianne was given the challenge of creating caricatures for all of our team a while ago, which she did brilliantly. I personally would like to thank her for doing an amazing job. Made us all smile

Please check her work out here www.riannerowlands.com and please recommend her if you or anyone you know needs some amazing illustration work doing

She’ll be illustrating a Skin Deep cover in the future too, so watch out for that.

On the subject of great illustrations…

The multi-talented Mat Lapping has produced an illustration based around ‘Lady Britannia’ for our Great British Tattoo Show poster, please check this out HERE. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s stunning and we are all chuffed to bits here. Both Matt and Andy from Creative Vandals will be joining many other incredible artists at this new convention. More on that in the New Year, exciting stuff!

With everything we have lined up and more for 2012 it’s going to be a fantastic time.

Merry Christmas to all and have a Great New Year!

Stuart

How did the bad feelings start?

Stuart Mears — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:24:47 +0000

Firstly before I go on I want to reiterate that all this is fact and I, one again, have hard evidence to prove everything you are about to read.

Woody (David Wood) is owner of the Brighton Tattoo Convention (Brighton Tattoo Convention Ltd.), Ginger Tickets (Ginger Tickets Ltd), Black Heart Tattoo Studio etc.

April 2009 – Before anything was actioned or decided upon, I had an initial meeting with Neil Dalleywater (ex-editor of Skin Deep Magazine) to discuss my ideas and thoughts about Tattoo Freeze. I explained my philosophy for the event and asked for his thoughts. At the time his only concern was whether people would come – as it was so close to Christmas. I explained that I had similar concerns but the ticket price would be set really low, and hopefully people will attend. As it turned out they did; far more people attended than expected for this new show (and we ran out of wristbands ). Other points that were discussed was that Brighton was also in January – but this was dismissed as a problem because there was only one show in January (other months had more than one show). Also – it was two weeks away at the other end of the country and was a different type of show all together. We left the meeting with Neil starting to put the list of 100 artists together that he thought we should invite.

27/05/09 – Neil Dalleywater sent me the list of 100 artists we wanted to invite to Tattoo Freeze.

28/05/09 – We had a meeting regarding Tattoo Freeze and the website. There had been a lot of negativity about Tattoo Freeze from Woody, the Brighton Convention organiser. Because of this negativity, both Neil and Alex Guest (then editor of Tattoo Master magazine) had suddenly changed their tune. They had now decided that the show was not a good idea because of the abuse they had wrongfully been taking. Neil asked if we could delay the launch of the website because of this. It was a good time to launch the website because a) it was pretty much ready and b) The Liverpool Tattoo convention was upcoming and it would be a great opportunity for our team to talk about this new exciting show we were having. I took the decision to launch the website.

05/06/09 – Tattoo Freeze website went live with all of the artists we had already (or were going to) invite. We had beautifully designed invitations produced and were sending out several invitations per day.

It soon became very clear that putting the artists we had invited (but had not yet confirmed) onto the website was a mistake. There was uproar about this and we took the list down a few days after the site went live. This was a mistake I apologised for a great many times.

6th & 7th June – Liverpool Tattoo Convention 2009 weekend

The reason I mention the Liverpool Tattoo Convention is that quite a few things happened at that event. The one which concerned us all the most was the personal safety of Skin Deep staff.

08/06/2009 – Neil and Alex wrote to say that they had a number of angry and negative responses to Tattoo Freeze at this event. To quote Neil Dalleywater, “On the evening of the 5th June I was already receiving text messages on my personal phone from the Brighton show organiser stating that they were very unhappy with MY decision to launch another event in direct competition to their Brighton show.” He continued “More worryingly I spent the early hours of Sunday morning in Liverpool hospital A&E department, after my drink was spiked with GHB, a date rape drug. I have been attending bike rallies, tattoo shows and large events for 25 years and I have never had my drink spiked before. It may just be coincidence but I find it hard to believe that in a bar full of people I was the unlucky one… I believe that this was a warning, pure and simple. The effects the drug had on me was that I was paralysed for four hours. I could see, hear and understand what was going on but could not move or speak. This was terrifying.” “I would like to draw your attention to the thread “Tattoo Bully’s” on the forum. Hopefully this will help to demonstrate that the Tattoo Industry, in the UK, is not all sunshine and roses. It has a dark and violent undercurrent…”.

My employees are my utmost priority and I take their safety very seriously. I also hate bullies. Bullies are cowards at the end of the day. I made the decision to separate the magazines and events and both Neil and Alex were taken off the events to stop these personal threats to them. The events would be run without their direct involvement and any problems that people had with our shows would be directed to and dealt with, by me. We printed a statement in our magazine stating words to this effect.

15/6/09 – Neil Dalleywater forwarded me an email that Woody had sent regarding Tattoo Freeze and Brighton. Woody said how upset he was about the timing of Tattoo Freeze and that he was removing all advertising from our publications and that any Jazz employee will not be welcome at the Brighton Convention in any form.

15/6/09 – I sent Woody this reply email:

Hi Woody,

Neil has forwarded on to me your email.

I am sorry you feel you have to do this, as our reasoning behind Tattoo Freeze were not at all to go into competition with Brighton or indeed any other show.

The show that we are trying to create is totally different to anything else that is in the Tattoo Convention calendar. I am a little surprised that you feel that we pose a threat to Brighton as you have obviously also worked your socks of and have built up a credible event just after 2 years.

Our one day show will have no effect on Brighton whatsoever. Despite it being a different type of event, 2 weeks time difference, one day and a totally different part of the country. In fact it had crossed my mind that we may be able to work together in getting certain big name overseas artists to work our event, we then find them guest spots in other studios, (something we can do easily) and then they work Brighton making their visit to the UK more worthwhile. There are many shows over the year (some say too many but I do not necessarily agree with this), several in particular months and some even on the same weekend!

What are your thoughts on this? I did not initially ask as I was not too sure how this would work, whether this is a good idea, and I also thought you would tell me to piss off, but, being as you have now told us to piss off, I might as well ask!

Thanks Stuart

I then phoned Woody to discuss, but had to leave a voice message…

25/6/09 – We were told that we were not allowed to have our trade stand at the London Tattoo Convention despite us agreeing to run adverts (which we had already printed) in return for trade space.

8/7/09 – I received an email from Woody apologising for the delay in contact and could I give him a call tomorrow?

9/7/08 – I phoned Woody to discuss

14/7/09 – Woody replied from our telephone conversation, saying he had given some thought to how best to put this issue to rest. He understood that we could not move the Tattoo Freeze 2010 dates, but that he would certainly look more favourably on the event if we could relocate the show to early February. He suggested that it may be that Artists could work the 3 days in Brighton, stay over a few days and head North for the next weekend, with the following weekend being Milan.

14/7/09 – I phoned Woody to discuss

15/7/09 – An email was sent from me to Woody confirming, as per our previous conversation, that I did not have a problem moving the event to February. I also asked him again if he would be interested in working together with artists for both shows.

2/9/09 – We were told that we could attend to cover the London Convention but still NOT trade at the event despite our previous agreement. London Tattoo Convention agreed to pay for the advertising we ran instead, which they duly did.

1/9/09 – I received an email from Woody saying he was going to pass on the ‘doubling up’ of artists where we would work together so they come to both shows.

1/9/09 – I replied in an email asking why?

No Reply was received.

So, as far as I was concerned Woody was happy that I was going to move the dates and we had come to an amicable agreement.

After this I starting hearing several rumours that Woody was telling artists that if they worked Tattoo Freeze, they could not work Brighton.

I called Woody to ask him about this, direct. Get an answer straight from the horses mouth, so to speak. He assured me that he was not saying this.

26/09/09 – I visited the London Tattoo Convention to see the show and also speak to Miki. At that event I continued to hear the same rumours.

28/09/09 – I emailed Woody a letter that contained the following:

I heard rumours once again that people who worked TattooFreeze would not be allowed to work Brighton or London, but seeing as I spoke to you direct about this, and you said those rumours were untrue, I take it that this is still the case.

Also to let you know that as promised, I have talked with the venue about next years dates with TF and they have slots free in February, so TF will now be run after Brighton from next year as we discussed.

Hope things are well and be good to meet soon. I am assuming you are happy for me to attend and meet up at the Brighton Convention?

Thanks again, Stuart

I did not get a reply.

I continued to hear that artists were being told .. “If you work Tattoo Freeze you can’t work Brighton or London.”

22/10/09 – I then received written confirmation that this was happening from someone, as they too had been told this. I was gobsmacked, having been given assurances that it was not happening direct from Woody.

Needless to say, I felt that I could no longer trust Woody and therefore did not change the dates of Tattoo Freeze. I had been lied to.

It also amazed me that despite getting grief from Woody over the last year or so – and openly online for all to see, he continued to be quite happy to promote himself, jobs needed for his studio, promote his events and businesses etc. on our bigtattooplanet.com website. Unbelievable cheek!

I removed his last post and when he asked who removed it – this was my exact PM to him on 16/06/2011:

Hi Woody,
I have deleted this post.

It is a little ironic that you bad mouth me and our products (and therefore my staff) on other Internet sites, refuse us to cover your event in our magazine, tell me directly over the phone one thing and then do another, and then come on our website to promote your products.

I have no problem you posting what you want on our website(s), but not until the above stops.

Thanks Stuart

Woody is still to this day telling people if they work Tattoo Freeze they cannot work Brighton. Yes, I have hard evidence of this and the last email to state this was received only recently on the 31/10/11, to be exact.

So to sum it up Woody got rather annoyed that we dared put on another show in January before his. However… It’s perfectly OK for him to consider doing that to other shows, isn’t it?

Approximately a year before (19/08/2008) Woody announced the news that he was going to put on a Summer version of the Brighton Show. The timing of the show would be, and I quote Woody directly, “I am extremely please to say that slipping gently between the cheeks of derby and tattoo jam will be a Summer version of the Brighton Show”.

What are the exact dates planned for this? “Date is pencilled in as 25th/26th July”

Why did this show not go ahead? Well, he also says and I quote again, “the timing was between Derby and Tattoo Jam, neither show I was worried about going head to head with to be honest, the hotel thing is a big no no thou… I don’t want to go nearer August cos I’m busy with London in Sept…”.

Now did you hear Derby OR us – as organisers of Tattoo Jam, moaning and whining? No you did not! Did he give any consideration to the Derby Show or Tattoo Jam? No he did not. . .

Again, Woody’s actions were NOT done for the good of Tattooing but to protect his own event. The fact that he tells artists and traders if you work one of our events you can’t work Brighton is not only ridiculous but is outright bullying. Surely, this should not be happening?

I’ll leave you with that thought…