on tattooing, music, and building a life that never really slows down

The kind of place where even when nothing’s happening, it still feels like something is. People coming in and out, tattoo machines running, music in the background. It never really turns off, and that’s the kind of environment Nick Beaty has always gravitated to.

Growing up around skateboarding and alternative music, tattoos were always part of it. Not in a distant way, but something right there in front of him. He was drawing on himself with markers as a kid, trying to look like the people he looked up to, and by the time he was 17 and hanging around a shop in his hometown, it clicked almost immediately.

“I knew from the second I walked in [to a shop] that I wanted to spend as much time there as I possibly could.”

It wasn't a decision, more like something he just stayed close to. After dropping out of school in the ninth grade, there wasn’t much of a traditional path waiting for him anyway.

“No matter what I was gonna have to get creative to make a living.”

That mindset carries through everything he does now. Tattooing, music, skateboarding, it doesn’t really feel like separate things, more like different versions of the same thing. They’ve been constants for him for a long time, even as everything else shifts around them.

Tattooing in particular has changed the way he moves through the world, even in small ways. The same way a skateboarder scans a street without thinking about it, he finds himself constantly noticing things.

“I catch myself staring at strangers trying to see their tattoos all the time or taking mental photographs of all sorts of unrelated imagery that I could use for reference.”

It’s not something you turn on and off, it just becomes how you see the world. And the work doesn’t stay in one place either. It leaves with people and becomes part of their lives.

“Especially when people travel from far away to get tattooed by you… there’s a huge chance you’ll never see that tattoo again, but you know it’s just out there in the world getting lived in.”

That same need to stay in motion shows up outside of the shop too. Sitting still for too long doesn’t really work.

“If I go too long without making music things just start to feel off.”

Music was there before tattooing, and Ricochet Star didn’t come from a big plan, it just happened organically. He had already been playing with band members Blake and Luke for years, and once tattooing felt stable enough, it made sense to pick it back up again.

It fills a different space. With tattooing, there’s always a responsibility to the client and making sure they’re happy with the final result, but with music, it’s different.

“With tattooing, it’s always a priority to make sure the client is happy with the final product. With music, we can make exactly what we want to hear and just hope whoever listens enjoys it as much as we do.”

Playing live is where that really comes together.

“We put so much work into these songs and the fact that anyone cares to come watch us play them on a stage is one of the most rewarding feelings I can imagine.”

Right now, everything is moving at once. Opening a tattoo shop in Atlanta, playing in the band, staying busy in a way that doesn’t really leave room for anything else, which is exactly how he likes it.

“Between the shop and Ricochet Star, that’s taking up 100% of my time and that’s exactly how I like it to be.”

There isn’t really a version of life where things slow down, and it doesn’t sound like something he’s interested in anyway.

“I don’t think I’m cut out for a regular 9-5.”

For him, it comes back to something simple.

“If you truly care about something, you don’t really have a choice but to give 100% of yourself to it.”

That’s what makes something feel real. Not how it looks from the outside or how it’s received, just whether or not you actually put everything into it.

It doesn’t really feel like he’s chasing anything, just staying in motion inside what’s already there.

NICK’S TOP 5

Button up shirts
Liquid IV
Littles Food Store
The gang
Juke Mag

NICK’S INFLUENCES

Shane Nesmith, Alex Malmquist, Fabian Silva, girlfriend Courtnee, and mentors Rodney Pendleton, Evan Grover and Phil Colvin.

GEAR HE CAN’T GO WITHOUT

Neural DSPs Quad Cortex Digital Amp

LAST WORDS

“We’re in a time right now where it’s not “cool” to try. But if you truly care about something, I don’t think you really have a choice but to give 100% of yourself to it and if you aren’t, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Nonchalants is OUT in 2026.”

004 NICK BEATY