PSC Tattoo: Talking shop with artist Dave Cummings

It’s easy to walk past PSC Tattoo (aka Tatouage Pointe St. Charles) without so much as a glance. Faint neon lettering and a faded “walk-ins welcome” sign in the shape of Felix the Cat peers out from behind tinted glass. The door is covered in stickers. Inside lies an establishment in the city’s tattoo parlour history.

Tucked between cafes and coiffeuses, Montreal’s oldest tattoo studio is a time capsule of red-and-black checkered floors, original signage, and oversized posters filled with Betty Boop flash.

“Those were Tony’s window blinds,” owner and artist, Dave Cummings, corrects.

“He worked out of a basement in New York after the tattoo ban of ’61. The blinds helped him hide out. It was only for a couple of years, though. He met a girl down there and it turns out she was from the Pointe. I don’t know what she was doing in New York. Maybe running away. They eventually ended up back here.”

Their earlier storefront popped up on Centre Street in ‘76, mere steps from its current location. In the early nineties, a twenty-year-old started idling the shop, looking for a job.

He told me to tattoo my friends and he’d tell me what I was doing wrong. I owe everything to him.

“I had never used a real machine,” Dave says.

He doesn’t count the couple of years before meeting Tony, where his buddy found out from a friend from juvie how to make a jailhouse tattoo machine “with a tape recorder and motor and these crazy contraptions. We made one and tattooed a bunch of my friends with that thing. Some were good, some were bad, some just were.”

Dave had already dabbled in fine arts, but was eager to learn the tattoo trade. When asked if he apprenticed under Tony, Dave laughs.

“Tony never really liked that word. He’d ask, ‘what are you going to do? Are you going to wash my floor?’ and I said, ‘I’ll do whatever you want.’ He told me to tattoo my friends and he’d tell me what I was doing wrong. I owe everything to him.”

That’s something that Tony always told me. He was never into advertising because he believed that the best advertisement for your shop was a good tattoo. I think I’ve always stayed true to that.

“Tattoo Tony”

While Canada’s alleged oldest tattoo artist passed a few years ago, Tony D’Annessa’s spirit lives on in PSC Tattoo’s aesthetic, which revolts against the gentrification that is swallowing the Pointe whole. But there’s another reason for the old school vibes.

“This shop is pretty new. I met Tony across the street at his second shop. When we moved here in 2006, I signed the lease. Tony was stubborn. He thought we were abandoning him. He didn’t get that he was coming with us.”

The main reason for the vintage look was “to get Tony to be as comfortable as possible, to keep the shops the same,” Dave adds, fiddling with his Expos flat cap while seated in a black leather barber chair.

Paired with the spiral pole above the front door, it comes as no surprise that the building was once a barber shop. Tony used to get his hair cut there when he first moved to the area.

He lived out his last days in the apartment in which his girlfriend grew up. He’d been zigzagging up and down Centre Street since arriving from New York.

I think Montreal has its own style. We’re kind of set apart from the rest of Canada. It’s not just language, either. I think Montreal is more East Coast. When you think of the States, everything out east is faster and more aggressive. Like New York.

Tradition, Tradition!

Dave prides himself on upholding traditional values within the tattoo community. Just like New York in the 60s, Dave prefers to keep his business word-of-mouth.

“That’s something that Tony always told me. He was never into advertising because he believed that the best advertisement for your shop was a good tattoo. I think I’ve always stayed true to that.”

Dave blames the shift in tattooing from subcultural to mainstream on TV and the internet. “It got some respect that way from more conservative crowds. And now it’s just all blown out of the water.”

Dave mostly steers clear of social media, besides individual Instagram artist pages for him and his colleagues Hugues Lauzier and William Hamel Butt. Even PSC Tattoo’s website is sparse in detail, and at the time of this article, they've only just launched the parlour's Instagram page.

“People don’t want to talk anymore, like on phones or face-to-face, and it’s so hard to feel what that person wants as a tattoo. If I get DMs, I always ask for their phone number and I’ll give them a call.”

Every tattoo means something to me. I can’t pinpoint one in particular. Every back piece takes a lot of dedication to get through, so you become one with the person and the tattoo.

The Big Picture

While Dave has traveled back and forth to New York—both to get tattooed by artists he admires and to guest spot in Queens—his heart remains in Montreal.

“I think Montreal has its own style. We’re kind of set apart from the rest of Canada. It’s not just language, either. I think Montreal is more East Coast. When you think of the States, everything out east is faster and more aggressive. Like New York. As opposed to California or Vancouver. Their tattoos are a little bit more artsy and refined.”

Today, Dave is known for his Oriental pieces that cover large portions of skin and take anywhere from thirty to eighty hours to complete. He blends Japanese styles with traditional American elements to produce art inspired by his hero, Ed Hardy.

“I liked what they were doing in New York, and I had already pretty much gotten a full body suit from Chris Trevino in Texas. When I started with Tony at twenty, he wanted me to do all the big stuff, and I was just starting out. More half-sleeves than full body, but still. Tony was into tattoos that took a half hour or less. He found it too time consuming to do the bigger stuff…so I figured it out.”

Something about tattooing is that you never stop learning. If you do think that you know it all, then you’re missing out. A lot of these kids think they know it all. I still learn something every day off these guys. It keeps me on my toes. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

The Deeper Meaning

“Every tattoo means something to me. I can’t pinpoint one in particular. Every back piece takes a lot of dedication to get through, so you become one with the person and the tattoo,” Dave says.

“I can’t take a week off in Montreal and not come to the shop. Even when I’m out of town, I’m itching to go back to work. It’s therapy for me, too. Coming here. I think it’s awesome that after all this time I can walk into the shop and be like ‘ah, cool’ and forget about everything else.”

It’s also a safe space to learn new things “all the time. Something about tattooing is that you never stop learning. If you do think that you know it all, then you’re missing out... I still learn something every day off these guys. It keeps me on my toes. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Check out Dave’s work on Instagram here and PSC Tattoo here.