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Welcome to the Tattoo Budcast, the hilarious podcast where tattoo artists and buds Sanae Garcia and Jimmy Jam blend their love for tattoos with their knack for storytelling. Broadcasting from their cozy tattoo shop, they bring you a unique and hearty dose of humor and unfiltered shop banter. Think of it as eavesdropping on a tattoo session, but with fewer needles and more laughs. Each week, Jimmy Jam and Sanae tackle everything from the wildest tattoo requests they’ve ever gotten, to bizarre client stories, to deep dives into the culture of tattoos. Whether they’re discussing what happens when someone asks for a tiny dragon on their wrist (and it turns out to be the size of a toddler), or recalling the most cringe-worthy tattoo trends they’ve seen, it’s a perfect blend of humor, and real-life tattoo shop antics. The Tattoo Budcast will also be featuring guest tattoo artists and the most interesting tattoo clients, listeners will feel like they’re right there in the shop. It’s a mix of sharp wit, irreverence, and surprisingly insightful takes on tattooing and life in general. Get ready for confessions, advice, funny shop mishaps, and stories that will make you laugh out loud (while maybe questioning your next tattoo choice). Catch your buds at your weekly session, on the Tattoo Budcast.
Episodes
Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
We’re kicking off PRIDE Month the only way we know how—by handing the mic to someone better suited and wiser than us. This week, veteran tattooer, shop owner, and self-proclaimed “rainbow” Yesi Concepcion joins the Buds to talk about her 15-year journey in the tattoo industry and what it’s like living between “girls’ girl” and “one of the boys” territory. We get real (real dumb) about queer identity in tattooing, the spaces that shaped her, and yes—there are still plenty of wheeze-laughs along the way. It’s heartfelt, it’s hilarious, and it’s basically tattoo shop conversation with mics on. Watch now, and HAPPY PRIDE!
Read the rest of this entry »Tuesday May 27, 2025
Tuesday May 27, 2025
Live from Arizona! The Buds hit the road and somehow didn’t get kicked out of the Grand Canyon State Tattoo Convention! This is our first-ever on-location episode, recorded straight from the floor of the con. We’re chopping it up with the masterminds behind the madness, Drew Rhinehart and Lloyd Parrack, and vibing with a killer lineup of artists—Sam Avitia, Mikey T, Nestor Gonzalez, and our returning roadbud, Franklin Allen. We’re swapping convention hacks, artists personal histories, and finding inspiration through these solid guests. Come for the tattoo talk, stay for the traveling circus energy.
Read the rest of this entry »Tuesday May 20, 2025
Tuesday May 20, 2025
The Tattoo Buds are reunited and it feels... weird!
After over a month apart, Jimmy Jam’s back from tour and Sanae’s back from guest spotting in Hawaii—and they’ve brought travel stories, snacks, and sunburns. This week, they’re asking the real questions, like: Why don’t tattooers take photos with their clients anymore? Is it time to bring back the awkward arm-around-the-client shot?
The Buds also let AI guess what they look like, and it’s alarmingly accurate for one of them. Speaking of creepy tech—have you heard of AI brothels? Because apparently that’s a thing now. Plus, what happened to their monthly flash challenge? Chaos. Tune in to catch up on all the nonsense.
Read the rest of this entry »Tuesday May 13, 2025
Tuesday May 13, 2025
Welcome back to another chaotic session of the Tattoo Budcast, where Jimmy Jam is mysteriously MIA (no, really—someone check his location). But don’t worry, Honorary Bud Goonies is back in the co-pilot seat with Sanae, and the girls are talking DRAWERS BLOCK, baby. Goonies shares how she clawed her way out of an inspiration slump and back into the tattoo groove.
Then things get unhinged with the viral “Hear Me Out” TikTok challenge, where the Buds expose their most questionable crushes—we’re talking cartoon hotties and hotbeds from their youth.
We’re also diving into a serious tattoo topic: misconduct in the industry, and how it hits different when you’ve been navigating tattoo shops since before you could rent a car. Sanae and Goonies reflect on their early days in tattooing, when being a young girl in the industry meant dodging creeps, clichés, and coil machines.
Engineer Jake jumps in with some spicy AI questions—like should robots be allowed to tattoo? And we close it all out with a stupid (and sketchy) Cover Up confession from Sanae. Spoiler: it's juicy.
Read the rest of this entry »Tuesday May 06, 2025
Tuesday May 06, 2025
The Buds are reunited and they’ve brought in a certified Flash Machine! This week we’re joined by our longtime friend and unflappable tattoo wizard, Brandon Servillon—master of many styles, with over 15 years in the game and well over 100 hand-painted flash sheets to prove it. We’re grilling Brandon on what keeps him chill, inspired, and not rage-quitting after sheet #87. Then we tackle one of tattooing’s great debates: which direction should your tattoos face? (Apparently some of y’all need a compass.) Finally, we close it out with our Cover Up segment, where Brandon confesses to one of the worst tattoo blunders we’ve ever heard—and that’s saying something.
Read the rest of this entry »Tuesday Apr 29, 2025
Tuesday Apr 29, 2025
Sanae's out this week, so honorary Bud *Goonies* steps up as co-Bud, and together with Jimmy Jam, they welcome the one and only *Pokey*—a personal friend of the pod and officially the Nicest Man in Tattooing™. With 20+ years under his belt, Pokey gives us the lowdown on his career, shares a regrettable (and hilarious) story from the vault, and we all collectively lose our minds reacting to a viral video of a 9-year-old in Arizona getting a political tattoo (yes, you read that right).
We also dive into the chaos of people bringing their kids to their tattoo appointments, and try to crack the code: how is Pokey this nice? What *does* make him mad? Is he secretly powered by puppies and positive Yelp reviews? Tune in to find out if being nice ever gets in the way of running a tattoo shop—and whether we can finally get him to snap (spoiler: we can’t).
Read the rest of this entry »Tuesday Apr 22, 2025
Tuesday Apr 22, 2025
Jimmy Jam is back from allegedly starring in an action movie where he definitely did his own stunts and absolutely didn’t just hang around craft services. He and Sanae reunite after a brief separation (no, they’re not mad at each other) to react to the latest so-called "innovations" in tattooing—including people getting full pieces done under general anesthesia. It’s upsetting. They’re upset.
Also: listener questions, bad advice, and questionable mentorship wisdom for someone trying to land an apprenticeship.
So put on your emotional support hoodie, lie down on something sticky, and enjoy another chaotic session of the Tattoo Budcast. You might laugh, you might cringe, and you’ll probably wonder if anesthesia tattoos are a sign of the end times.
Read the rest of this entry »Tuesday Apr 15, 2025
Tuesday Apr 15, 2025
**Welcome back to another session of *Tattoo Budcast*!**
This week, our Honorary Bud **Goonie** is riding shotgun (seriously—has *anyone* seen Jimmy Jam?), helping Sanae wrangle our guest: the *Billy Zane of Hair* herself, alt-hairdresser **Karen Rivera**. (Btw, who was the real villain of Titanic?)
Karen’s booked *and* unbothered—she’s so booked, she doesn’t even take new clients anymore. She’s spilling the tea on how she built a ride-or-die roster and created a career on her own terms. Tattoo artists, take notes—some of these moves might just work for you too.
We’re also reacting to a viral video of a stylist dragging her client for not paying... and, uh, the Buds might be siding with violence on this one.
Plus: mistakes we’ve made in our respective crafts that keep us up at night, and client red flags you should *run* from.
It’s unhinged, it’s funny, it’s weirdly inspiring. You know the vibe. Buckle up.
Read the rest of this entry »