He eventually came around and got a tattoo himself.

Yeah, he got a Famous [Stars & Straps] tattoo. One day he came home with an F on his arm, and I was like, "Why do you have a sticker on your forearm, Pal?" He goes, "No, I went and saw Franco Vescovi and he gave me a tattoo.” I was tripping! But it was so cool to see pops come full circle.

How old was he at the time?

Probably in his 60s. I think for my dad he just wanted to make sure I'd be okay, that I wasn't going to end up in jail and that I'd actually play music. Once he saw how dedicated I was and how hard I worked he wasn't so worried about me anymore and we could both enjoy it.

You let your kids tattoo you, right?

I have this portion on my thigh where basically anytime I get tattooed, if they're around and they want to, they can grab the gun and doodle on me. It's like a sketchbook. Those are the memories that are really priceless. It all started because Landon wanted a tattoo. He didn't understand why he couldn't. He was worked up and in tears. I had to explain that I'd go to jail if you get a tattoo. So I said “Let's make a deal, you tattoo me.”

Do you have any go-to artists?

I grew up getting tattoos from Jon Sanchez, Mike Dewey, Larry Garcia, Mister Cartoon, Franco Vescovi, Chuey Quintanar, Mike Giant, Mark Mahoney. Those are my guys. There are a lot of great tattoo artists out there, but those are some of my favorites and they're really close friends.

Have you seen any fans with your signature ghetto blaster?

Yes! Tons. And lots of portraits.

What's next?

I'm probably going to start on my legs, my feet, then my armpits.

Armpits? Sounds painful.

Oh yeah. It's painful. At one point before the tour I was going to do my eyelids, but I just couldn't narrow down a concept. I usually don't think long and hard about stuff. I just do it. At this point I don't have much room left [laughs]. I want to think them out.

Are there any tattoos that you regret?

I mean there are people who've come and gone, an ex-wife, but it's all memories. It is what it is. You know, you see these kids who get the best tattoos from the best artists and they let them heal properly. I don't care if I have nice, shiny tattoos. Mine all tell a story and make up who I am.

Did you get any ink to celebrate finishing up an album?

There's The Transplants gas mask on the back of my head. I'll probably get something from California since D**Face did it. He's a great friend and one of my favorite artists. Ever since the self-titled album I've taken care of all the artwork and quarterbacked it. Me and my buddy Max did the logo for self-titled. I had Mike Giant do Neighborhoods. Franco Vescovi did Dogs Eating Dogs. The albums before were quarterbacked by the record labels, so I wasn't personally attached. I might get an Antemasque tattoo.

How's [new vocalist and guitarist] Matt Skiba? Has he settled in nicely?

It's been awesome. Originally there was no talk of ever continuing after the Musink show. Mark and I were like, we still really want to do this, but how? We weren't expecting anyone in the band to decide they didn't want to play these shows we booked and take a little hiatus. So we thought about it for 24 hours and I said, "There's no one except Matt Skiba." If you really think about it, he was the only one who could really pull it off and do it justice.