Anrijs Straume is the world-famous tattoo artist, musician, and progenitor of the dark trash realism tattoo style!

Working out of Bold As Brass Tattoo Co in Liverpool City Centre, Anrijs’ work mixes black and grey realism, horror and tattoo lettering to create his distinctive tattoos.

We had a chat with Anrijs about the tools he uses, the seminars he offers to help all artists improve, and a little bit about his music project, STR A UME.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Since I can remember I was always drawing, and writing stories, making clay models, and doing almost anything that was creative and possible back then. I guess my dream was always to create some art… Music, drawings, movies, paintings, books or anything…

I didn’t even know about tattoo artists when I was a kid. I loved comic books and cartoons and thought how awesome it would be to create books and cartoons. But I don’t think I was thinking a lot about the real world or jobs as a kid. Mostly just living day by day.

In my teen years when I started to listen to metal music, I definitely wanted to be in a band and become a musician!

Who helped you or inspired you the most at the beginning of your career?

When I started tattooing, the biggest influences to my work were comic magazines, graffiti, new school tattoos, a lot of colour work and cartoons.

For the first few years I didn’t really know much about tattooing, like the history, or artists, designs and backgrounds…mostly I was just looking at photos of tattoos in magazines, or watching Miami Ink.

I loved all Tim Burton’s work and always used some of his references in my work.

Joshua Carlton’s portrait work and some of his videos inspired me to do more realism.

At the beginning in the studio where I started, we were just doing flash of the wall, and sometimes I would get to do some of my own drawings.  I was just drawing things on paper and then tattooing it as it is anywhere a customer wanted it.

Learning more about tattooing, and gaining studio experience, my style changed more towards neo-traditional and realistic, but I never felt like it was something that suits me. I continued to experiment with styles and techniques which slowly progressed into more black and grey work, realism and Lettering.

How long have you worked at Bold as Brass, and who else works there with you?

It’s my 11th year now at Bold as Brass Tattoo!

It’s an appointment only studio located in the City Centre of Liverpool, and the studio owners are Nick Baldwin and Rachel Baldwin.

They are class traditional tattooers with a lot of experience and great knowledge of tattooing and tattoo culture. They are not just owners of the studio, they work in the studio everyday, and as hard as everyone. None of us feel like coworkers, we are more like friends who just all hang out there, listen to some music and get to do cool tattoos!

We have a nice team here -

Rachel and Nick Baldwin of course.

Megan Tremarco, Beth Kweeday, Jessica Brown, Max Amos and now my wife Monami Frost has also joined our team.

How did you develop your signature Dark Trash Realism style?

I was always a huge fan of horror art. I love ghost stories, horror movies, atmospheric dark music, and photography. I try to put some of that feeling in my tattoos. 

It wasn’t something that I came up with overnight. I believe I was developing it for many years.

Everything I’ve ever drawn or ever seen has mixed together and my style is what came out of it naturally!

I was learning new techniques, more black and grey type of work with higher contrast. I was experimenting with a new approach in my designs and trying new things, somehow a mix of all of it helped me to create a few designs in this style, and that’s where it all kind of started.

I realised I had never seen anyone doing the mix of this together, and I fell in love with the way I could see that feeling I was looking for in my artwork. That's when it clicked and I continued to develop this style further.

I’ve started to see more often that many other artists are inspired by and start using some of my artwork motives/signatures for their tattoos and drawings. Customers and other artists started to call it “Anrijs Style” or some other weird names, so I wanted to name it myself, so that there would be a real name for that style.

So I decided to name it Dark Trash Realism.

Dark - for a more dark atmospheric feel in designs rather than just it being horror style.

Trash - I like to make the work messy/sketchy, and dirty.

Realism - as I use photographic references for most of my work.

What’s the furthest anyone has travelled for a piece from you,?

I’ve had people come from all over the world, including the USA, Canada, China and  Australia to name a few.

Most people who travel further, try to make a quick UK or Europe holiday too, not just to get tattooed and back.

While it’s an honour that people are traveling to add my artwork to their collection, I always treat each of my customers the same and I always try to make my tattoos the best I can for the day!

What seminars do you run, and who are they aimed at?

I have two seminars available on my website.

One of them is  ‘’How to find your unique style”. This one is more aimed at other artists around the world who want to stand out with their own artwork.

It’s not specifically for tattooers. I go through details and explain it all in easy  steps - how to develop your style in art, with many different examples that I’ve learned and seen over the years in many different art-forms. I also take from my own experience and my journey in finding my style.

I truly believe it’s my best, detailed video to help anyone who is looking to find their own identity in art!

The second seminar is  ‘’How to draw tattoo lettering’’. I don’t have a background in calligraphy, so I had to learn it the hard way - my own way!

In this seminar I share my knowledge and go through guided steps on how I approach my own lettering designs.  It would be helpful for anyone who is looking to do more lettering and doesn’t know where to start.

What can people expect from your book 10 Years of Tattooing?

I put this book together to celebrate my 10 year mark in tattooing, as an inspiration for people to see how following your dreams and working hard can make them all come true, and even go beyond!

It’s more like a coffee table book to flick through, with some interesting facts and stories about my art and life.  The book goes together with my short film on Youtube video with the same title - “10 YEARS OF TATTOOING” - THE STORY.

What is your favourite tattoo that you’ve done in the last year?

One of my favourite ones will be a Robocop piece.  I’m a huge 80s/90s action movie fan, and it was an honour to make this tattoo.

What’s the largest piece of work you’ve ever tackled?

Back pieces! I haven’t done many massive projects really.

The biggest coverage  would be on my wife, I’ve done both of her sleeves, her back piece, full front, and one leg.

While it’s not all one continuing theme, it’s the largest collection of work I’ve done on one person.

Can you talk us through your workstation please?

I’m now switching between a few of my favorite machines - Acus M1, Cheyenne Unlimited and Critical Torque.

For inks I use and switch between Panthera or Eclipse black ink, and Fusion Grey Washes.

If I use a cabled machine, it’s either the Cheyenne Hawk Pen or Unio with Critical CX1 power supply.

My favourite needle setups are -

0603 Killer Ink Stellar Liner

0807 Kwadron Liner

1009 Kwadron Liner

1015 Curved Magnum Shader

1027 Curved Magnum Shader

And I always use Hustle Butter for the tattoo process, and Dermalize Pro Film after for protection!

 Do you exclusively use vegan products in your tattoo work?

YES, but from my knowledge in this day and age almost all the supplies we use in the tattoo industry are vegan.

Only a few ointments can contain some beeswax or soaps can contain animal glycerin. I make sure to not use any of them.

What are your favourite motifs to work into your pieces?

My favourite are portraits from movies, or of actors or musicians/bands. That way I can add some references from the movies or some details from the song, lyrics, or quotes.

I’m a huge fan of movies and cinematography, so it’s a great way to combine everything I love in my art.

How long have you been shopping with Killer Ink, and what are your most-ordered products?

I’ve probably been using Killer Ink for more than 12 years, since I’ve been in Liverpool.  I even visited their first location to pick up some orders in person!

It would be hard to pin down which would be the most ordered products, as I pretty much use it to order everything.

But if I had to guess, it’ll probably most likely be inks and needles.

Who are your favourite kinds of customers?

All of them! I’m extremely grateful that I have a chance to tattoo all of them and that they trust me with my art!

Which tattoo artists are doing amazing work right now?

ALL OF THEM !!!!

Haha it’s so, so hard to even answer this. I have so many favourite artists, and it seems that everyday there’s some new amazing artists appearing.

Some that come to mind -

Arcstattoo - Incredible dark artist who always introduces some unique details in his work.

Mashkow - Sick portraits with graffiti elements.

Beth Rose - Love the attention to detail and colour palette in her work.

Sneaky Mitch - Also an incredible artist with so many innovative details in his work.

How many tattoos do you have, and which is your favourite?

I can’t even count all of them anymore. It’s all blended into one.

A few of my favourites-

  • My proposal tattoo for my wife on my fingers
  • Memorial tattoo for my Grandma, of a soldier toy that she gifted me when I was a kid.
  • My kid's name tattooed on my fingers.
  • Cry now, smile later “Life with Louie” tattoos on my palms.

Can you tell us a bit about your music project?

Yes, of course, thanks for asking.

Music has been something so important to me, that I believe it has shaped everything in my life and is also a huge reason why I am a tattooer or even an artist.

I’ve always wanted to create music, but back in the day it wasn’t as accessible as it is today with all the technology. Unless you were wealthy enough to be able to afford an instrument, some lessons or even music books, not much was possible.

So long story short, after 30 years of listening to music daily, I felt that it was time for me to make my dream come true and create my own music.

Part of me likes to think that I wanted to create something that I would want to listen to myself, as it’s been on my mind for years how I have imagined a specific sound, but I have never been able to find anything much close to it. So I had to create it myself!

The name of my music project is - STR  A  UME

It’s Experimental Dark Ambient, inspired by out of body experiences, with horror and sci-fi elements, it will take a listener through a journey of their own.

With my music I wanted to gift some part of my art to the world for free

(it’s available to stream in any platform including youtube), as not everyone can travel to me for tattoos or purchase my prints/merch online!

My music is not an easy background listen, but more like a sound-art installation.

I have created 2 concept albums that in my opinion are unique and really interesting to listen to.

And if anyone has time and wants to check it out, here are the links to everything-

https://linktr.ee/straume

What else do you enjoy doing outside of tattooing?

To be honest, not that much, as a big part of my time and life goes to tattooing!

I always try to find time to spend with family and kids. I do love watching movies and just chill at home.  And if for some reason I do have any extra time, I work on music and some other projects that I always have piling up in my head, as my brain never stops thinking about the many different art forms and projects I could create.

If only there was triple the amount of time in a day - but that probably still wouldn’t be enough!

Do you have any conventions or guest spots lined up for 2025?

Yes, I will be working at the Gods of Ink Convention, in Frankfurt, Germany.

Following this I might do a guest spot in Berlin too.

And of course The Docks, Liverpool’s tattoo convention.

I have some others on my list I’m considering but haven’t yet confirmed.

 What does the future hold for Anrijs Straume?

I wish I would know myself. Only life will show.  Take it day by day and appreciate every moment that I get to create art!

Huge thanks to Anrijs for giving us so much information about his career, style and inspirations! Check out his work on Instagram or Facebook, listen to STR A U ME, buy a seminar,  pick up a print or watch his YouTube videos for more!

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