My name is Ray Smith and I was born March 5th in Middletown Ny. I grew up in Wawarsing Ny but always hung around everywhere in Ny. I got my first tattoo when I was 14 from my brother in law Tom Maloy and from that first prick I was hooked. I dropped out of school when I was 16 and thats when everyone said I should get into Tattooing because all I ever did was draw, so I got my grandfather to buy me my first tattoo kit from Joe Kaplan & Sons. Tell you what tattooing is alot harder then it looks, my brother in law helped me as best as he could but some things you have to learn on your own. Lucky for me I had alot of friends that wanted ink but I wouldnt say they were too lucky lol. Today I see some of the work I did when I first started out and I'm like wtf was I thinking and then tell them never to tell anyone I did that lol. But I remember this old guy that was always at the local pizza place in Kerhonkson and he was always saying he was a old time Tattoo Artist but he would never tell me his name so I thought he was bullshitting me but he did give me good pointers from time to time. Which I was thankful for and then in 1996 I moved with my friend and now owner of Scrubby Ninja records, Rob Luther to RI I was still doing tats but I knew I could do better. After almost a year of doing odd jobs I landed a apprenticeship at Sin On Skin in Tiverton RI under the guidance of Phillip Girard. I worked my ass off there working from 10:30 in the morning till 3, 4 the next morning then doing it all over again. At that time that studio was hopping when I finally got licensed and started doing tats I was making mega money but I was doing the same long hours but I didnt care I was making crazy money, traveling around doing conventions and meeting all the greats. Then one day I was looking in a Tat mag funny huh a tat artist looking in a tat mag yes we do that lol well anyways I was looking and I saw a pic of this old timer and it was a in memory of page in the mag. Well remember the old guy at the pizza place I was telling u about well guess what that was him come to find out his name was Brooklyn Blackie and he worked down in the bowery of nyc back in the good old days. I couldnt believe I was so young and niave that I was getting knowledge from one of the greats back in the day and never realized it. Goes to show always listen when someone is giving you advise on things because you never know it could be coming from a great master. Well I stayed on at Sin On Skin for close to 8 years on and off tho because I needed a break every once in awhile. I learned alot tho from being there some from Phil but alot from the other great artists that worked there at the time like Jim Charette, Aaron Marco, Chuck Gibson, "Whitey" who passed away a few years back, Juan Zamora, Joel from Bamboo tattoo in RI and can never forget Jay "Blunt" and Peter Bergeron.
