Brantley Gilbert has a lot of tattoos, but he has never considered getting a celebrity’s face or their autograph inked on his body. But he has encountered fans who have tattooed either his face or his autograph on them and Brantley says, “It’s definitely permanent. Yeah, they don’t come off. Honestly tattoos are as unique to people as their fingerprints are. What’s special to them, who am I to discount what they get or why they got it. To me, yes, it’s extremely weird because if somebody gets my face, it’s my face on somebody else’s arm.”
Brantley does think it’s cool when fans get tattoos of lyrics from his songs. He says, “It’s flattering and it’s an extreme case of one of the most rewarding things about what I do for a living, is when somebody comes up and says, ‘Hey man, this song helped me through this’ or ‘I relate to this and it inspires me for this’. Then gettin’ a tattoo of song lyrics is an extreme form of that to me. So that’s cool.”
Brantley tries to understand what would compel someone to tattoo his face or signature on their body. He says, “As far as my signature and my face go, maybe my signature is a reminder of a song that means something to ‘em or maybe something happened at a show that’s memorable to ‘em. The face thing…. Yeah … yeah … uh, yeah (laugh).”
Brantley recently kicked off his Not Like Us Tour with Michael Ray and Lindsay Ell, which means he and Lindsay will get to sing their latest single, “What Happens in a Small Town,” every night together on stage.
Brantley Gilbert – tattoos of his face :56
“It’s definitely permanent. Yeah they don’t come off. Honestly tattoos are as unique to peoples or fingerprints are. What’s special to them, who am I to discount what they get or why they got it. To me, yes, it’s extremely weird because if somebody gets my face, it’s my face on somebody else’s arm. But a lot of people will get song lyrics and stuff, and that’s really cool. It’s flattering and it’s an extreme case of one of the most rewarding things about what I do for a living, is when somebody comes up and says, ‘Hey man, this song helped me through this’ or ‘I relate to this and it inspires me for this’. Then gettin’ a tattoo of song lyrics is an extreme form of that to me. So that’s cool. As far as my signature and my face go, maybe my signature is a reminder of a song that means something to ‘em or maybe something happened at a show that’s memorable to ‘em. The face thing…. Yeah … yeah … uh, yeah (laugh).”