Mark Moore - Mantra Studio
February 2004
An Interview with one of the festivals main organisers.
Reflecting on the last two years, since the concept of the Mantra Tattoo Festival first dawned on you, describe your highs and lows in relation to the festival.
The last 24 months of organising the Mantra show, where do I start? From day one we have dreamt that one day we would have the best tattoo orientated show in the world. Our first initial thought was how many shows really provide the public with the standard of entertainment that the entrance fee warranted? In my opinion not many, that probably sounds a little harsh but people need entertaining, they want to smile, laugh and they want to leave the show wanting more and that is what we are doing.
The first idea was to get the backing of a major sponsor and that is where our good friend Micky Sharpz came in, someone who's name held the utmost respect in the tattoo community and someone who saw the potential in our idea and for that we thank Mick very much indeed!! With Mick on board from day one and the addition of other generous sponsors Danny Harkin and wildcat we have been able to scrape through!
The obvious highs of organising the show are meeting some of the world's best artists and watching them work, becoming friends and gaining priceless experience and tips!! Another massive buzz is seeing the doors open and the constant flood of smiling faces full of expectation and wanting to simply enjoy what we have created, the atmosphere the amazing line up of artists and entertainment and the awesome array of trade stalls. There are so many highs its impossible to tell you of them all but artists saying "yes", peoples faces as they walk around being surprised on every corner, Giving to charity and parents giving you a hug and telling you that you have made them the proudest parents in the world are some of the best feelings you can have!! Satisfaction and the feeling that you have given people an awesome weekend really do make it all worthwhile!! I don't really want to talk about the lows as they are few and obvious but making ends meet, constant juggling of finances, red tape and the obvious 24-7 workload for around 10 months of the year as well as running a studio is the stressful side of things! But what the hell, we keep going and our dream of being the best will be achieved.
It must be great to be in the position to invite the best artists in the world to the festival, are there artists you would still like to see at the festival?
As far as inviting artists goes, we are lucky in that department, we have made many friends very quickly and have had fantastic artists from day one. As word spreads around the tattoo world of the standard or our show more and more artist's are taking notice of what we have got going on and want to be involved so that makes approaching them a little easier, when you have the best in the world spreading the word on what a fantastic time they have had at the show it does nothing but good! We will be adding some more amazing names for 2004 so watch this space, we will offer the Mantra festival goer the chance to get wok done from the all time best and some of the best up and coming from around the world.
Have you ever been to a show or convention, or are there elements of other events that has really made you think, I want Mantra to be like that?
Have any other shows given us ideas? When you are the organisers of a show on this magnitude you take ideas from everywhere, seriously, from the last person to leave to the person selling hot dogs, from posters to tickets, from running times to bar prices it really is a minefield and something you have to keep on top off. We really try and just do what we do and to be honest I personally pick up on wrong things that other events do and try and make sure that we avoid them at ours. We welcome any criticism and really try and iron out any small problems. If the finances allowed we would I'm sure go even bigger but you must try and be sensible simply for the future of the show. As the show grows year by year it gains momentum and gets bigger and better and as long as that continues and people attend and enjoy then god bless Mantra and long may it continue.
What direction do you eventually see the show going?
As far as where do I see the show in 5 years, simple! It will be the biggest and best tattoo orientated show in the world with a line up of artists to make the collectors jaw drop, entertainment that will simply blow you away with names getting bigger and bigger as we grow, stalls growing throughout the many floors of the venue so even the hardest shopper could not leave disappointed and as always a atmosphere that is simply fantastic.
What has surprised you most during the whole organising of, or running of, the festival?
Surprises, umm...I think the biggest surprise is the amount of work that goes into it, seriously it is physically and mentally exhausting beyond belief, and I personally take my hat off to anyone who does a similar job!!
Any chance of any sneak previews of what could be planned for Mantra 2004?
A sneak preview of 04,let me see.... even more of the worlds best artist as I have said, a couple of real big favourites of mine personally, an even bigger and better show and a few small improvements where needed. I'm not giving too much away at this stage as we are adding new stuff all the time but we do have a couple of big surprises up our sleeve!!
Are the dates for next year's show confirmed?
The dates for next year are the 4th and 5th of September, the weekend after the bank holiday. We are already getting enquiries from around the world regarding tickets so we are advising people to keep an eye on the website for when they go on sale as the demand is going to go through the roof, can I just take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone involved with making Mantra the awesome show it is, from all the crew, the sponsors, everybody behind the scenes you know who you are and all who attended the last 2 years, thank you and I mean that!!
