ChinMusic!: Do you consider yourself a person who is obsessed about baseball or just a really, really big fan?
Owen: I don't think I'm obsessed about baseball but it is definitely up there in the top 5 favorite things in life of things I like.
CM: What are the others?
OC: My artwork, snowboarding, surfing, women, and baseball and food. How many is that? (laughs)
CM: Six.
OC: It's in the top six.
CM: Were you a good player when you played as a kid?
OC: I was good when I was in the 6th grade and then I was really shitty in JR high and High School--I was too tall, too skinny and got too into skateboarding.
CM: Are you a Mariners fan because you are from Seattle?
OC: I can only cheer for my home baseball team, all the other teams are the enemy. I can like a player from another team or root for another team in the playoffs or the World Series if they don't ever play against the Mariners in the American League. I can only really, by principal, cheer for the Mariners.

CM: Will you watch the playoffs even if the Mariners aren't playing?
OC: Oh yeah, I'll watch other games.
CM: Are you like me and have to pick a team to cheer for in that case?
OC: Ah, I think there are just certain teams I hate, (laughs) other teams I tolerate, and then there is the Mariners.
CM: What makes you hate a team?
OC: It's a non-rational thing. I hate the owners if they don't have any cool history, philosophy, or integrity. I hate all the money teams. I hate the NY Yankees cuz they are the Mariners' worst enemy.
CM: You got a ball, huh?
OC: I got a first-nighter certificate. I went to the very first Mariner game when I was 13 with my Mom, Dad and my sister.
CM: Right on.

OC: Yep, 1977. (Pause) I don't know, it's more irrational. I just like some teams more than others. The players, owners, the city, it's a combination of everything. Like I hate Florida teams cuz I hate Florida.
CM: So, do you think Jay Buhner (a.k.a. "Goat Head") can get his average up this year while still swinging for the fences?
OC: I don't think he'll ever hit .300. Now he is injured and in the middle of his career. He swings for homeruns, but that's the kind of hitter he is. I don't think he'll ever hit for average, he's just not that kind of player. But he's more of a fielder and crazy, out of control player. I like that.
CM: If the Mariners don't make it to the playoffs this year, is it time to get rid of Sweet Lou?
OC: No, I think they should keep Piniella. He is one of the most interesting managers in baseball. He still throws fits and he is politically incorrect in this slowly totally boring politically correct way that sports are going. He is still opinionated and a little weird. The reason the Mariners haven't won is because the players haven't been winning. Piniella is awesome, he is not squeaky clean. Sports these days are becoming less local color and all just goody-two shoes squeaky clean bullshit.
CM: And that sucks because baseball is historically scrappy and ornery.
OC: Surly, yea like back in the day when Babe Ruth was out partying every night and Mickey Mantle drank 3 gallons of wine a day. They were like super-humans and super cool and people didn't care, they were stoked on it. Now when a player is seen at a bar drinking beer and the media talks about it for 3 days and everyone thinks he's like Satan reincarnated. We are all so concerned about our perfect role models and it is just a bullshit illusion that people are trying to chase, how not interesting.
CM: Do you think the Mariner bullpen can step up this season?
OC: They have always sucked. It is hard to get pitchers, there is not that many in the league. I don't know why our ownership won't spend the money.
CM: Enough was spent on the stadium. Are you totally psyched about the new retractable roof outdoor stadium?
OC: I'm happy, but I will be glad when the newness has worn off and the Mariners have had 5 shitty seasons in a row and the stadiums half full and empty.
CM: That was a shady city deal, that stadium vote. They basically bought an election.
OC: I bought 4 of my friends' votes.
CM: You did?
OC: I bought Laura a pack of cigarettes and beers for the others. (evil cackle)
CM: I still love you. So back to the bullpen. Would you advise the Mariners to trade a hitter for a stopper?
OC: I just don't think there is that many desirable pitchers to get, usually. And then it is just paying a lot of money for a good pitcher. And I'm like one of those fans that follows the season when the season starts. I don't get all concerned with the specifics. I'll watch the stats because they are interesting but there are some players I don't like.
CM: Oooooo, who? Do tell!
OC: Well, I kinda hate Alex Rodriguez because he is so perfect, too much of a golden boy. He doesn't have enough surliness in his personality. Ken Griffey is boring as hell. They are great to watch play, but as far as following their personalities and stuff they're just boring jocks. I like the head-case players, like Bobby Ayala, fucking DUIs and coke problems, you know, totally out of control. Like Randy Johnson was a complete head case psycho that would do weird shit, which is more interesting to me than some guy who is doing all these benefits for a DARE organization bullshit. I like the characters in baseball. But you are seeing less and less of that because our culture is so uptight and obsessed with being perfect.
CM: So, how old was your Dad when you tattooed him?
O: He was 63.
CM: Your parents are pretty accepting of you being an artist?
O: They are stoked that I work in my own studio and make a living off my art. They would have been bummed if I worked in a tattoo shop and did fucked-up tattoo flash only to make money. They are 100% supportive, which made it easier because the rest of the world tells you when you're young that there is no way you can make a living off your art. That's bullshit. My high school career counselor told me to go to Architect school because I liked to draw. So, I went to Architect school for a quarter and it took me that amount of time to figure out that all the girls and all the people that were having a good time partying, and were passionate about their work were in the art department. I switched over.
CM: When did you make the move from strictly canvass and paper to skin?
O: I was in art school finishing up my degree and was getting tattooed and took a personal interest in it. I graduated and wanted to supplement what I was making from graphics and painting but I didn't want to work in a tattoo shop. My friends told me to buy all the equipment and I started on my friends and myself and then the more I did it the more I got into it.
CM: Do you still do a lot of painting or album covers and posters?
O: I don't do as much as I used to because most of my time is spent tattooing and my tattooing is mostly freehand which is my artwork anyway, so I get that. I'll do graphics projects if they are proposed to me. Anybody that wants me to do my artwork and not really dictate to me how to do it I will do, like catalogues, logos, whatever.
CM: People with a lot of flash-esque work get really curious about my tattoos and ask me who did them because they are so not what you normally see. They show me their angel or cross with daggers or even original pieces that are done with a lot of fine-line shadow stuff, which is the status quo style, but really takes a talent to be good at. That is the part of tattoo culture I can't get into. I think the flash style is entertaining, but I feel that the flash fine-line style as the epitome of tattooing leads to an acceptance of mediocrity in tattoo art and a lack of artistic exploration. I feel that is what has kept tattooing from being seen as a legitimate art form here in the U.S., and thus perpetuates societies puritan opinion of it. There is a rock star here in Seattle putting out shit and charging for it and people are going to him because of who he is and not the art. Just because it is a skull or jack of diamonds done by so n' so doesn't mean it isn't a hack job.
O: Well, it is really just like anything else. 90% of alternative music is bullshit and 10% is cool. 90% of tattooing is bullshit and 10% of it is cool. 90% of all baseball players are bullshit and 10% of them are cool, interesting, unique, genuine, original, ya know? I think you can make that cross-section with almost anything. I don't think tattooing, or art really, is any different. Most of it is pretty watered down.
CM: What makes me aggravated is that people accept the mediocrity. With tattoos, my friend that just got hacked by the rock star and paid good money thinks he got some art, a real representation of tattoo work because this guy did it. Why do people accept such things so blindly?
O: I just don't think about it. I think you have more of a social conscience than I do. I just don't give it a lot of thought outside of the work I do and the work my friends do. I live in my own little world that I have created and if I get outside that world then all that shit starts to bother me.
CM: Do you think that being that way keeps your art and work organic and original, like not worrying about being out in the tattoo scene or art world keeps your focus organic?
O: I'm just doing what comes naturally because it is easy. If I tried to like have a different style or do something different because I thought I could make a lot more money and have people like me, that seems like an incredible amount of hard work. Which amazes me about artists and bands who go out there with an agenda and try to figure out what the public wants. I just sit down, turn on some music and draw. I don't have to make any conscious decisions. I don't have to add or subtract to do what comes naturally to me just because that seems easy to me. That seems to me the way it works and I don't have to concern myself with any other decisions like trying to make it look like this or that for some reason. When someone is telling me an idea of what they want, I try to get inside their head to try and conceptually collaborate with them--that is cool and is a challenge. It is also a pretty simple way to approach it. It really amazes me when stupid bands that are contrived are really successful. As dumb as that is, you kind of have to respect it because they are successful at something that would be really hard to do.
CM: I don't think you really realize your success either. Maybe it just doesn't really concern you but you are viewed as like an upper echelon tattoo and graphic artist. People know your work, recognize it immediately as being Owen Connell's tattoo or art work and seek it out, I don't know if that is going to fuck with . . .
O: Actually that is a huge compliment and it totally feeds my ego and that is a nice thing because it doesn't have anything to do with, you know, money or how much I make or whatever. That is one of the higher compliments. It makes you feel that you are doing something different and that always feels good.

CM: When people that know your art or tattoo work ask me to pull up the rest of my sleeve, or they see my arms or back, it is not a who's who at what ink shop cool-a-thon, it is more like what did Owen do with this idea or that. It is way more about the art, the picture and what you made out of my idea or theme. What is also nifty is that there is such a vast difference between a piece you did on my forearm to the piece above it on my upper arm, which could be any tattoo shop U.S.A., even though it was my idea. I like your effect on tattoo culture.
O: I think everybody wants different things and I am stoked that people like my stuff enough that I can do it and make a living off of it. I see this as my occupation and career, it is the only thing I really have talent at in life. I can't write or play music or be a professional baseball player. I can't get along with people enough to work a job in the real world. I always felt I had no option, it was either do this or be really miserably unhappy and fail at everything else in life. I would be a miserable person to have as an employee.
CM: Do you have any pre-tattooing rituals like baseball players do before they play?
O: Well, I organize everything in my studio in an exact way and I put on really loud music to get wound up.
CM: What are your five favorite records to work to?
O: Well, today I listened to Megadeth for 3 hours cuz the client wanted to listen to Megadeth really loud, so we got fired up on that. I rarely let the clients pick out music anymore because the first time someone brought The Grateful Dead that put an end to that. I usually ask them if they want fast, medium, or slow music and if they know what is good for them they'll pick fast. Hmmmm, I listen to loud punk rock, Flaming Lips, Steel Pole Bathtub. I like listening to friends' bands. I like loud, chaotic music.
CM: Your art to me has such a sense of order.
O: I think I struggle between wanting everything in my life to be orderly and wanting everything in my life to be completely out of control. My artwork is kind of balanced I guess. All good design is science and order, either subconsciously or consciously planned, it is not random. I guess as you get older and do more art, music, or whatever then hopefully your unconscious mind becomes so trained it comes out of a state of discipline and training.
CM: 2 final baseball subjects for ya.
O: Okay.
CM: This is your moment to officially spiel about Garth Brooks. Fuck!
O: I think it is bullshit, what a geek. That is the most pathetic thing I have ever seen. I mean I could stomach Michael Jordan doing it because Michael Jordan is like super man or something, at least a professional athlete. Garth Brooks is such a loser. I hope some pitcher just nails him. I think that whole thing is an embarrassment.
CM: It is so fucking U.S.A. that someone with money and privilege could scam their way onto a team that guys have been working so hard to get on all their lives.
O: It is pathetic. I mean the whole Garth Brooks thing blows me away anyway, that he has sold more albums than anybody in the whole world...
CM: I know, he's huge--
O: I don't even understand it because I have never heard one person in my 35 years, I've never even been standing in a grocery line and heard one person say, "Wow, I really like Garth Brooks". I just don't understand what the hell is going on.
CM: He is gonna get hit, fuck that guy.
O: (Laughing) either that or just beat up by the other players in the locker room, "Hey Garth you fucker, we hate your music and we don't want you on our goddamn team". The fucking Padres--there is the reason to hate the Padres. They swallowed their integrity and tried a media stunt and it is just a joke. Before now I didn't hate the Padres. Now I'm gonna hate 'em for a long time.
CM: For the record, who is your all time favorite baseball player?
OC: My favorite all time baseball player, character wise, was probably Satchel Paige. As far as stats, nobody has touched him. He has the most wins, the most everything and he was this real interesting character. He drove around in this big car, this tall, huge character. Here, I'll show you a picture. (Scans through his giant collection of baseball books). The other thing I love about baseball is that people that normally just don't ever get along, once they're all at a baseball game everybody is just stoked that they're at a baseball game. Baseball is just unexplainable.

Tess Lotta is the ultimate fabulous babe and card-carrying member the bass-player bad-ass jet-set. Tess is loved and revered by all.

Garth Brooks on the other hand gave up his baseball dream just prior to the start of the 1999 season.