Ibiza Ink

Summer on the party island of Ibiza isn’t just about the music, DJs and parties. Charlie Dawson flies to Ryanair’s newest destination to meet the ‘Needle King’

Imagine being condemned to wear your 1984 experimental mullet for the rest of your life. Picture yourself in skinny jeans when you’re 60. A tattoo is for life, not just your holiday, so it’s a big decision whether to ink the name of your current squeeze in Sanskrit on your backside. Luckily, if you’re in Ibiza this year, there’s a tattoo scene that will make sure that doesn’t happen.

The history bit

Long before Ibiza was the party island, it was the arty island. The kooky crowd arrived in the 1930s, escaping the fascist rule of General Franco. Beatniks followed in the 1950s and, after that, hippies. Ibiza became the European equivalent of San Francisco – full of artists and writers the locals called ‘peluts’, or ‘hairies’.

“Eventually, the art progressed onto skin. Ibiza has a hot climate, so the body is on show and tattoos became another form of selfexpression,” says Neil Dalleywater, editor of Skin Deep magazine. “There are less-inhibited types of people in Ibiza who are creating and wearing them, so that makes for some great work being showcased. There’s a lot of tribal stuff done – big, black Polynesian designs. Some of the studios open at 6pm and work through the night. It’s a nocturnal scene, which can be very focused and intense. Oh and thankfully, a lot cooler!”

The Needle King

In the corner of Plaza Mercado in Ibiza’s old town are a pair of open French windows, framed by the sign ‘Inkadelic’, with a soul-funk record by D’Angelo blasting out. If you want to make it into Neil Ahern’s famous tattoo studio you’ll have to negotiate his dog, Scratch, and share the same taste in deep, funky house, soul and Stones remixes – the soundtrack to accompany your pain and that his famous DJ friends have urged him to put onto a compilation album.

Neil, 40, has been living in Ibiza since 1999, and visiting since 1993. “I travelled a lot, to London, New York, all over,” he says. “After eight or nine years I stopped where there was a good vibe and a client base. There was a feeling of freedom, and decent, open, creative people – genuine artists.”

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