Larne tattooist drawson his musical talents

Lee Rodgers is known to people in the town as a respected local tattoo artist. But there is another side to the 33-year-old that many people will not be aware of. The Carrickfergus man, who owns Diamondback Tattoo Studio on Curran Road, is also a very successful singer-songwriter and has been hailed as one of the country’s most versatile and slick acoustic guitarists.

Lee, whose influences include Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and James Taylor, has worked with several big names in the music business.

He has also scored music for major Hollywood movies, and one of his songs even features in a long-running Brazilian soap opera.

And he is no stranger to live performances either, having gigged extensively throughout the UK and various locations around the world.

He said: “I have been gigging for the past 15 years and cut my teeth at venues in Belfast, such as the Empire. After recording a demo in 2002, I was subsequently picked up by English record label Zenith Cafe.

“I later travelled to Italy to record my debut album, Drawing Clocks, with the help renowned producer Marco Canepa, who has worked with the likes of Supertramp, Zucchero and Sting.”

The record was released in 2006 to rave reviews throughout the music industry and was hailed as an instant classic. Drawing Clocks has done particularly well in the States, with the song Easier making it to the top spot in the American Music Forte Chart. The track How Will I Sleep? has featured in the Hollywood movie, The River King, and Lee also co-wrote and performed the title track for the Diego Maradona movie, The Hand of God.

Lee has enjoyed equal success with his live shows and has played some of the hottest music venues around, including the Best of British showcase at Abbey Road studios in London, which went out to 70 million listeners worldwide. He was also offered a slot at the North by Northeast (NXNE) music conference in Toronto, Canada playing as one of only four acts on the official British stage.

While most of Lee’s success has been in England and USA, he is planning on bringing his unique brand of acclaimed acoustic blues to the Larne area. “I have never played in Larne before, but I intend to do some gigging locally in the future,” he said.

Lee opened Diamondback Tattoo Studio two years ago to cater for his other great love in life – art – and now divides his time between that and his music career. “I have been an artist since I was young, and the skin is the ultimate canvas. There is not always a steady flow of cash in the music business, so I opened the tattoo studio as a way to pay the bills. The business has gone from strength to strength since it opened and it keeps me very busy.”

Lee is now looking forward to the release of his second album in September, which has a unique and intriguing concept behind it. “The album is basically the soundtrack for a movie that doesn’t exist,” he told the Larne Times. “I am doing it all backwards, in the hope that people will listen to it and wonder what movie these tracks are from. Maybe someday it will get made into a movie. Who knows?”