Ink'd: Denise Borders

The first of many segments featuring the Ladies of Metal which is a bad ass modelling/promotions company that is all about the support of independent metel. Almost like what I am doing, except that they don't look nearly as great as I do!

First up is Denise Borders, owner of punkworldviews.com and productions coordinator for a couple reality tv shows which we discuss later on. We also talk tattoos which is what this is all about, so if you like ink, metal, and purdy ladies, this will become a feature you won't want to skip!

Hello Denise (I hope you read that in a Hannibal Lecter kind of voice) can you tell us a bit about yourself, who you are, where you're from?
HI TIM! Lovely to meet you! I am horrible at describing myself so I will just say that I was born and raised in Kentucky and I moved to Los Angeles three years ago because I really wanted to sit in traffic for three hours a day.

Cro Mags song

At what age did you get your first piece of ink done? What was it?
I went to some weird basement tattoo shop in Richmond, KY when I was 18 and got a horrible blue and black tribal and stars tramp stamp because I was a fucking idiot. Now, 10 years later I've had three laser tattoo removal sessions done to lighten it up and I am getting it covered up!

The feeling of nervous excitement right before the needle hits, does this feeling ever go away for you, or is it always like the first time?
Now that I've been getting tattooed for 10 years, I don't really get nervous or excited anymore. It's almost a relief when I get one done because I have SO MANY things I want but I try to space them out so I make sure I'm putting them in good places and stuff so when I get one done, it's like SHEW moving along!! :)

You have amassed quite a bit of tattoos since then, tell me which one is your favorite? Tough to narrow it down, I know.
Oh yes, picking a favorite is hard!! I think it's a toss up between the snake and dagger on my shin and the Milo shark on my wrist. Both are really meaningful to me in different ways. The snake and dagger on my shin has a banner than reads "Don't Tread On Me" which I got on my one year anniversary of Living in Los Angeles. It's the name of a GREAT Cro Mags song as well as the motto on the Gadsden Flag. When I was making the cross-country move, very few people believed in me or supported me at all and it was a great "fuck you" to everyone that said I couldn't do it. As far as the Milo shark goes, the Descendents have changed my life and it was the first of my two Milo tattoos. I first heard them while riding in the car with my brother in 2nd grade and that day I lectured everyone at lunch that "I like food" was my favorite song ever and I've been hooked since!!!

Apparently some places hurt more than others, which do you believe was the hardest to get done? How about the easiest?
I have a stupid mustache tattoo on my right index finger and while it is tiny it hurt WAY WORSE than any other tattoo on my body. Besides that, I would say the inside of my wrist, ditch and the front/sides of my ankle hurt the worst. The easiest was probably my arm where the peacock and roses are.

A lot of people have meaning and emotion behind their ink, are there any stories surrounding yours that you would like to share?
Besides the ones I've already talked about, I have a few that have meaning and a few that are just for the hell of it. I have multiple Kentucky-themed tattoos ranging from an outline of KY with crossbones in the ditch of my left arm to a mock of the KY Best cigarette box with a banner reading "DANG MANG" on my leg. If you don't get it say it out loud really fast. Even though I left, I will always love Kentucky. I grew up around the nicest people and have lifelong friends there not to mention most of my family still lives there so I can back to visit whenever I can!!!

I see the Descendents mascot gracing your body, I really do hope this is your favorite band! Are there any other bands you would pay respect to in the form of a tattoo?
Oh yes!! One can never have too many Milo tattoos!!! :) It's really hard for me to pick just ONE favorite band because I refer to many bands as my favorite. However, the Descendents are of course one of those bands and they have definitely changed my life. As far as other band tattoos, I have a Sick of it All dragon behind my right ear, an old school Good Riddance logo on my left thumb and Danzig lyrics (from 777) on my left forearm. As mentioned earlier, the piece on my shin is from a Cro Mags song (among other things).

Left: Descendents Milo, Right: Sick of it All dragon

Left: Danzig 777 lyrics, Right: More Milo

You run Punk World Views, what is it all about and what made you want to start it up?
I sure do! I started PWV in late 2008 when I was working in at a newspaper in Louisville, KY. A guy in the cubicle next to me was a freelance web designer and helped me create it after telling me that I needed to make a creative outlet based on the 8 hours a day he spent next to me at that job. I was mostly writing editorial pieces as content in the beginning because the music world didn't know I existed yet so I wasn't on any press lists. I started hitting up bands and labels asking to do interviews and such and slowly but surely I started snagging a few. I don't feel like PWV got on the map until I did press at the 2009 Warped Tour in Cincinnati. I did my first in-person interviews and got on the PR company press lists and the rest is history!

Regarding what PWV is about: I started the website because I wanted to bring some high quality press coverage to a scene I felt was lacking it greatly. I wanted to see different styles of interviews and have a creative outlet to promote and talk about music. Once I started being able to invest in nice camera gear, I got more and more into doing video and trying to bring high quality stuff to, again, a scene that I feel is lacking such.

Being submerged in the punk/metal world, tattoos are quite common, but in the 'real' world have you ever felt yourself being judged or treated differently due to your tattoos?
I think every tattooed person has been negatively judged or stereotyped at one point or another. Obviously, in this day and age they are much more accepted so it's not really a big deal, but I've had jobs in the past where I had to cover them up and that was always lame. I don't really have ONE story that stands out where something dramatic happened because I have tattoos or anything like that.

Almost forgot this is a feature about the Ladies of Metal as well. How did you first hear about them? What made you want to become one?
In the last two years or so, I would randomly hear the term "Ladies of Metal" or see a photo online and through passing people would mention that it would be a good crossover promotion for me to be one so I eventually took the time to look into it and see if it was something I'd be into. After cruising the Facebook page and everything, I felt like there would be no harm in submitting myself and seeing what happened! I'd say that was about a year ago and I've had nothing but positive things come from it. I've met some great women and definitely received some positive promotion for PunkWorldViews! We all have something in common whether it's tattoos, music or whatever. I'm more of a dudes-girl since I like sports and ride motorcycles, so it's nice to get more interaction with chicks for a change!! :)

Are there any other organizations or causes you are part of, or simply want people to know more about?
When I first read this question I thought, "Hmmm I don't think so..." and now it's worrying me that I am just totally forgetting to mention someone!!! I will say that last month, I met a guy named Robby that started an organization called Stop Hate Movement and I really like what he has going on. We've been talking about what we can do to team up on some stuff. The link is below:

http://www.StopHateMovement.com/

It focuses on preventing teen suicide caused by bullying, and I know there are multiple other organizations for this (Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center, Bullying.org, It Gets Better Project, The Trevor Project, etc...) and Stop Hate donates 30% of all proceeds to other bully prevention organizations to help spread awareness even more. Bands like the Cro Mags are very big supporters of this project and you know I'm behind anything John Joseph is! Good god I love that man.

Rumor has it, you are working on a show for the Syfy network. What is it about and how is it coming along?
The rumors are true!! To put food on the damn table and pay for all the PWV expenses, I work as a freelance production coordinator. I mostly do reality TV because that's where all the jobs are now a days. Due to confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, I cannot talk too much about the shows I work on until they air. What I can tell you is that it's a documentary style reality show (think Real Housewives format) and we follow around some Cos Players, documenting them making costumes to wear in competitions all over the country (at conventions). If you don't know what Cos Play is, I recommend googling that shit!

One google search later...

I've been working in TV production for about three years now (ever since i moved to Los Angeles) so I've worked on a variety of shows on various networks. I'm sure you've watched a few that I've worked on! :) The TV world is crazy and I work INSANE hours. Our days are 12 hours long minimum and since I am a coordinator, mine are often 15 or more (I am the first one in, last one out, I'm not even kidding). It's cool though because since I'm freelance i work on a show-by-show basis so I'm about to take breaks between gigs if needed, I just have to be smart with my money so I don't screw myself over. It's a pretty cut throat industry though because you can literally be fired and replaced in the matter of an hour since there are so many other people in LA that do your same job, so you really have to be on top of your game and have a great work ethic along with the ability to work with a variety of personalities. It's often high stress and it can really make you wanna punch some people in the face... hehe

I don't want to keep you too long so let's wrap this up with an age old saying 'Never judge a book by its cover'. Tell us something about you, that your 'cover' doesn't reflect.
I have to say that I am an open book actually. I'm very "tell it like it is" and I don't play games with people or beat around the bush or anything like that. I take that attitude and apply it to every aspect of my life from my website to my job to my personal relationships. If I don't like an album I'm reviewing, I won't sugar coat it, I will say that it sounds like someone is shitting in my ears after drinking a bottle of hot sauce. If I like a guy, I make him aware of it and don't play a bunch of 'hard to get' games and try to let him figure me out, I just don't have time for that shit. I work too much to waste one minute of my time so I'm just very out there. This is both good and bad but I definitely don't plan on changing anytime soon! If I had to pick ONE THING that surprises people about me, it's the fact that I get manicures all the time. That's it! :)

You can find more of Denise below at all the standard social media outlets.