I met Chris Lewis in 1997 when I was on my first tour of the US. He
was tattooing at Trader Bob's in Saint Louis.
After knowing Chris all of five minutes. He insisted I sit down for a free tattoo. I was impressed.(free tattoos!!!)
He knocked out a panther head on my calf. Simple. I always wanted a
panther tattoo and there it was. This guy Chris. Larger than life.Big
and broad.Covered in tattoos,mean tattoos.Pig ring in his nose.
Jet black hair.He even gave himself a dueling scar. I guess he
thought they were menacing looking. This guy was a character . Gruff.
Sharp wit. Hilarious. His house was out of this world. I don't know where all the
stuff came from . I think the house belonged to the current president
of the El Forastero motorcycle club . So imagine what an outlaw bikers
house looks like . World war two doodads everywhere . Flags and daggers,
kinda like Lemmy's apartment. There was a coffin standing up and a
werewolf dressed in an ss outfit. It just blew my mind. Comic books and
porno mags. It was pretty intense . Lots of red and black. Chris was a
conflicted character . He could be bashful and introverted one moment
and then brash and brutal the next. He wasn't mean. He just opened
himself up to me and the guys . He would of given us his last bite of
food, his last drink of water. All the time entertaining . All the time
fun and a riot to be around. At one point he tattooed our filipeno
tour manager . He confided in her that all the bad guy implements the
swastika and junk weren't because he believed in that stuff . He just
liked that stuff the imagery ,the menace.
Chris's house was open to all the neighborhood punk rockers .There was
a whole clique of misfits and outcasts ,trouble makers and hell raisers
and they all rallied around Chris. I was so impressed with him .
He was so giving . We would sit and talk about comic artists we liked .
He was a really talented artist but was so humble he couldn't brag.
I don't remember when I wrote the song. I was waiting for the 7 train ,
sitting on my bass case when the lyrics came to me . I wrote a song
about Chris being the "saint " of Saint Louis which was retitled "lewis"
after his name . His larger than life persona fueled the song and some
of his favorite sayings became lines in it. The next trip to Missouri
we played the song. I told Chris we had written a song about him. He
was bashful about it. Days off in Saint Louis led to BB Q's and all
nighters. Strip bars and madness. And more tattoos from Chris. The next
time I was there I got a skull and wrench tattoo gratis from Chris. We
had some heavy discussions when he was working on me we talked about
alcoholism and depression .Things that Chris had been struggling with.
He was really upset about a recent breakup with his girlfriend. Months
later when we returned to New York we found out Chris committed
suicide.The news floored me. His cash strapped family couldn't afford a
gravestone after the sudden expense of his funeral. My band went down
to St.Louis and played a benefit show so his family could raise money.
Chris doc from ampeg set it up. It was in a beautiful old theater. High
emotions were in the room . Different people spoke about Chris and broke
into tears. Other people but on a brave face and tried to be stoic
about the situation. There was a good turnout and our set was really good.
Lots of kids rushing the stage for sing-alongs. I had to maintain my
composure , I started crying backstage before the show and had to
collect myself. The song "St.Lewis" turned into a rallying cry for all
the kids in that town . One by one they got the lyrics tattooed onto
themselves. The next thing there were st.lewis crew t-shirts and
jackets. Every time we returned to that town and performed that song it
was an explosion. A celebration of life . A mixture of sadness and joy.
It was powerful. We made a profound impact with that song. It became a
memoriam for Chris and a battle cry for the st.lewis crew.
Chris touched my life. He impressed me with his devil may care attitude.
One night on one of our trips to st. Lewis we were in his
basement bar goofing around partying and smoking cigars . Chris turned
to us and said..."y'all need switchblades, you guys are in a rock band
you need switchblades. " he dug through his collection and gave each of
us a beautiful switchblade. Mine had a blue handle. More like a piece of
art that a deadly weapon. It inspired me. As a totem for myself to
remember not to let my demons overcome me inspired by Chris and his
gift. I started working on my back piece in November . the work is by
Miss D'jo from Lark Tattoo in long island.
Thank you D'jo you are my the best .
Thank you Chris Rest in Peace
Long Live the St.Lewis Crew
