Freshly Inked Interview with Megan Massacre
Images by Steve Prue.
How did you transfer from Megan Woznicki into Megan Massacre? What inspired that name?
I first started to use this name a few years into my tattooing career, which started in 2004. At the time my friends and I were fans of hardcore music. We went to a lot of shows. This kind of music attracted a sort of violent behavior. Some fans would mosh for fun, others used it as an outlet for aggression. My friends and I were there for the fun of it, being young we tended to get picked on by the older more aggressive fans. Many of these fans belonged to “crews” and adopted tough sounding names. In a mocking sort of sense, my friends and I did the same. It was really just all in fun till the older people started taking it more seriously, and the other younger people wanting to join our friend circle as they were also tired of being picked on. We grew in numbers and before I knew it, it was becoming an actual thing. Soon after, my first tattoo magazine article came out, and right next to my face on the cover it read “Megan Massacre, Philly’s femme fatale.” I just thought “well I guess I’m stuck with this now!” Honestly, people only remembered me by that name anyway, Megan Woznicki never had much of a ring to it.
How have you dealt with or handled rejection in the past?
Honestly, when I was rejected I thought my chance at tattooing was lost. I was disappointed, but I also knew there were many other forms of artwork I could try to make into a living. I imagined being a photographer, interior designer, calligrapher, fashion designer, hair stylist, even non-artistic careers like a veterinarian or a farmer, haha. I was honestly never that worried about my future, I sort of just kept trying to pursue whatever opportunities or ideas came my way, and if it didn’t work out then it just wasn’t meant to be. I’ve never been afraid of failing.
What’s been your favorite transformation tattoo?I’ve done soooo many cover-ups I think it’s impossible to have a personal favorite. However, I do have a pretty good story. (Sorry for those who already saw this on the America’s Worst Tattoos TV show when it aired, but it was one of the funniest cover ups on the show!) A women had two very large tattoos, on each side of her chest. One was of a cowboy boot filled with French fries. The other was a pocket that said “I heart Nashville” on it, inside the pocket was an animated hot dog playing guitar, with a Native American headdress on. She wanted to get them covered before her wedding day as she was planning to wear a tube styled top dress. It was a super hard cover-up, those tattoos were big and dark. However, we were able to pull it off with a full chest piece of colorful autumn leaves blowing in the wind. Took about 3 sessions of 8 hours each I believe.