Carolesdaughter

As tattooed people, we seldom consider how our body art will impact the people around us. But, it only takes a stranger seeing one tattoo, one time, to change their entire worldview.

- By Devon Preston. Photos by Troy Conrad

“When I was young, I wasn’t really allowed to listen to different types of music,” shares singer-songwriter Thea Taylor, known to the world as Carolesdaughter. “But then I saw a Black Flag tattoo at SeaWorld. I remember going on Reddit, seeing that symbol as I discovered punk music, and making the connection. That kind of unlocked everything else for me.”

Taylor grew up as the youngest of 10 kids in a strict Mormon household. Not only was she forbidden to listen to hardcore music, but tattoos and piercings were also a serious taboo. Despite the restrictions, or perhaps because of them, Taylor was a rebel from a young age. “I gave myself my first tattoo when I was 12 or 13,” she says. “I have a bunch of random stick-and-pokes that I’ve done on myself over my teenage years. My first one was a wave that goes into a sun on the inside of my middle finger. It’s actually stayed really well, so I must have stabbed that one in.”

Before she was able to ornament her body with a single tattoo, Taylor was a songwriter. It was her experience going through hard times that gave her the clarity to write some of her best music. “I wrote a ton of music while I was in rehab, and that’s where a lot of my songs are from,” Taylor says. “There’s a difference in writing when you think nobody is going to hear [the songs]. I was completely candid with what I was experiencing at the time without thinking about how people would react.”