Miguel ‘Bounce’ Perez’s Culture Flows Through His Ink

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Miguel “Bounce” Perez is a visual artist who owes a lot of his talents to childhood memories with his family. His mother introduced him to sketching, as she’d draw “chola-style” portraits of women with feathered hair and sharp brows. His uncles taught him the art of lettering in “Cali-Chicano” Old English script. And Bounce’s father was part of a car club in West Berkeley, a neighborhood that was also home to a number of graffiti murals.

Through these interactions Perez was introduced to what he does today: spreading culture through murals and tattoos.

He’s a versatile artist who sees collaboration with his clients as central to his work. He’s done touch-ups for people who’ve been incarcerated, and even inked a team of mathletes. His art is detailed and graphic, ranging from Mayan goddesses to anime characters.

Perez says he doesn’t have a “specialty,” but he’s often asked to do cover-ups of faded tattoos; a community service of sorts.

He’s also part of the art collective Trust Your Struggle, which paints murals in other countries that have been historically colonized and thus, under-resourced.

Given Perez’s experiences with both impermanent aerosol and indelible ink, I figured he’d be the best person to start this exploration into the culture of tattooing in the Bay Area, and what it feels like to create permanent artwork— if such a thing exists.

This story was originally published September 2, 2022  as part of  “Permanent Behavior: Getting Tatted in the Bay” a four-part series, about local tattoo artists.

Episode Transcript

This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.

[Music]

Pendarvis Harshaw, Host: Hey, what’s up ya’ll! Welcome to Rightnowish, I’m your host Pendarvis Harshaw bringing you some heavy news. 

Rightnowish, the podcast that has brought you a taste of Bay Area arts and culture for the past five years, will be ending soon. Our final episode is July 18th. 

We’ve had a great run, gleaned wisdom from the practitioners, gotten insight from the social scientists and soaked up game from the artists who make this place what it is. Thank you all for this run! Looking back at what we’ve done, it’s amazing. We’ve created a huge archive of what was happening in the Bay Area for the past half decade. 

I’ll share more thoughts on the final episode, but for this week we’re going into that rich archive for a classic episode from the summer of 2022, where we talked to a handful of Bay Area tattoo artists for our series called Permanent Behavior.

Beyond the idea of needles rapidly jabbing through skin and leaving indelible ink, we talked about the ins-and-outs of tattoo culture. The art, the business and the politics. We also discussed family, which is a big part of today’s guest’s story.

Miguel “Bounce” Perez was raised in West Berkeley, where his parents taught him artistic techniques like shading and cholo-style lettering. 

He also learned about the impact of declining industry in his neighborhood and his family’s connection to the local car culture– all of which poured into his artistic craft. At the center of our conversation was this idea of permanency. 

Pendarvis Harshaw, in clip: You do work that’s permanent and long lasting. Like I just I talk to artists all the time and there’s a certain impermanence to the art. And so in doing tattoos, like, how do you even approach doing something that you know is going to stick with folks forever? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez, Guest: That hit me weird, too, because ah, you know, I started got into graffiti mural art and that’s like, you know, part of the game is it’s going to get covered, it’s going to get gone over. And so I like doing something a little more permanent. I feel like definitely at first, I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t, I can’t go fix this up later. I can’t, I can’t like touch it up in a couple of years when it fades.’ I mean, you can kind of with tattoos, but it’s a whole different thing. So made me a little nervous at first, just like, okay, I definitely got to get it right first time. I never did anything in my life permanent seemed like. [laughs] When they start tripping about being permanent, ya know, only until you decompose. [laughs] 

Pendarvis Harshaw: More deep thoughts from Miguel “Bounce” Perez, right after this. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: Bring us back to the origins, how’d you get started in art in general?

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: The first influences are like from my mom. 

[Music]

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: She used to draw the little old school, like these kind of chola drawings, you know, the Chicano style. Cholas would like the feathered hair, all nice and detailed. 

I remember I used to like kind of create my own little comic characters and my uncles drew too, and they all kind of did that same kind of that Cali-Chicano style. My uncles did like the the cholo letters, you know, we’d see them around the house, like written on the books and all this stuff. 

I think it was just more about like seeing them make stuff with their hands. Like my dad was also like carpenter, mechanic, built lowriders and stuff. 

I think definitely with the family was the first influence and then I think what really… like in school. I would definitely always try to try to wiggle my way into ‘Ay, Can I just do a poster for like half credit and like, you know, only write half the assignment? Oh yeah.’ So, I started like, you know, early on, I knew I could kind of wiggle it that way, so that was cool. 

Like, honestly, one of the things that got me really serious was when, you know, girls would be like, ‘Ooh, that looks pretty. Can you write my name?’ [laughs] All right. Yeah. Okay. They like cursive. I mean, let me get my cursive game up.

Pendarvis Harshaw: Gotcha. Okay. So it’s the amalgamation of all those influences, you know a little bit of everything pouring into you. How would you describe like cholo style for someone who was goofy, just didn’t know, you know? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Like the style kind of came from them trying to emulate, like, old English. And what you’re saying is like old English was ah anything important was written in Old English, like a death certificate, birth certificate, always Old English. So like when you look at cholo style, it is like kind of a simplified version of Old English, just like, you know, the straight up and down letters. But all the letters have this similar like structure that they’re made from. 

But it’s something you don’t need a fancy brush to do. You can do it with like one line or the spray paint or, you know, marker or something. And the thing has always been about, representing people that aren’t really seen and it’s like always been about that. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: It is kind of mind blowing to me that you said, all right, so writing in that like dignified kind of font, if you will, and how it comes from Old English by way of like governing forces. You mentioned like birth certificates, death certificates. And I know that there’s a stereotype around like that type of lettering that it comes from prisons as well, or that there’s, you know, like it’s related to, you know, kind of prison culture. But to say that like, ‘No, this is a way to dignify a people, you know, a group. Hell, whatever I’m writing, whatever word I’m putting in there,’ because I know in like yeah, I know in black culture as well there’s that Old English is definitely a form of tattooing styling that you put words or even commemorate a fallen friend in that font. Sorry, just had a lightbulb moment right there. [laughs] 

[Music]

Pendarvis Harshaw: Miguel’s a child of immigrants who raised him in the industrial bay side neighborhood of West Berkeley. 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Kind of moved around Berkeley a lot. Mexican side was like more West Berkeley, my Filipino side was more technically in North Berkeley. We called it South Central Berkeley.

Right, parents first came over. They both came when they were probably about 13, 12 ish. And they happened to both come to Hunter’s Point, there first, and then came to Berkeley around the sixties, something like that. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: How did they describe sixties West Berkeley, to you? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: They never really explained too much about like old school Berkeley. They more… feel like they talk more about when they’re in high school and their partying. Kind of always about chillin’. 

[Music]

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: My parents met when they’re when they’re in high school and they’re in Berkeley High. Actually the story is my dad was working at a gas station right on what is like University and MLK or somewhere right there. And my mom was like walking from Berkeley High. And like she said that she saw him smoking a cigarette or somethin’, you know, smoking at the gas station. Some 70’s shi*t. [laughs] She came over and, you know, asked for a light and supposedly, like he lit her hair on fire like, well, he was. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: At the gas station? How dangerous is that? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Yeah, that’s the story I heard. I mean, my dad my dad was known for embellishing a little bit, so it could be made up, but it sounds pretty cool. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: They were part of a car club, right? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Yeah, it was called Pueblo Nuevo…Pueblo Nuevo de West Berkeley. My dad and my uncle from my mom’s side had started the car club. 

[Music]

Pendarvis Harshaw: So how did, how did Berkeley, as a city, pour into your work as an artist? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: I feel like there’s a lot of murals around Berkeley that influenced me. The Che mural, the West Campus, the recycling mural that was on MLK. The apartment we lived on, it was on Bancroft and, like McKinley, literally a block below Berkeley High. I went from seeing all the Chicano styles that my family was doing and seeing the graff on the street and the murals, I think that definitely seeped its way in. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: Miguel also came up with a crew known as Trust Your Struggle. The collective of artists do work for low or no cost in communities that could benefit from murals or other visual art that supports local culture. They started in 2003, and they’ve done work not only in the Bay but in Hawaii and the Philippines, and other places. 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Trust Your Struggle is like like, it was definitely like-minded folks who had a lot of the same passions and same views on the world, politics and life and everything. I think we’re more just like a crew of homies. 

[Music]

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Some of the earlier things we were doing was these mural tours. You know, like the first one we went to is Mexico. We went started in Mexico and like worked our way down, like on bus all the way to Nicaragua. It is basically donated murals, you know, linked up with different organizations and painted. And I remember one of the last ones we did in 2009, went to the Philippines. 

We were meeting up with these orgs and stuff. Like this is the one we’d probably raised the most money for and put together. And we get out there and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna do this mural for y’all, it’s free, blah, blah, blah.’ And they’re like, ‘Great, this is beautiful.’ And then we see like how they living and they’re like, ‘Oh sh*t. Like, they don’t need a mural. They need food. They need, like, some clothes.’ 

I think it made us think of different ways. it humbled us and you know, like you ain’t gonna save the world with a painting. Like, it might look pretty. But, you know, some of us have got more into, like, actual, like, legislation. Y’know, my boy Rob is, like, doing, like, children’s books, you know? 

I mean, I’m doing tattoos, which is just like not like a political thing, is a smaller scale, intimate thing, but the thing that’s cool about tattoos it’s always, like well not always, there’s definitely some people are not is getting it for the aesthetics but it’s like you know it’s always some transitional period in most people’s lives when they’re getting it. And it’s pretty cool to share that with them and even help them guide them through it. You know, if they don’t have, like, the exact idea what they want to do with it.

Pendarvis Harshaw: That’s so tight, bro, like thinking about life in those transitional periods and like change is the only constant. But like to get something to signify that you’ve gone through a transitional period is to say that I want something to last forever from this doorway that I’m going through. And you’re more or less holding that door open or helping, you know, construct the doorway. 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Even sometimes I’m closing it, like, now, you know, don’t go through that door! 

Pendarvis Harshaw: You’re right, right. [laughs] 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: I don’t know if you want that door.  [laughs]  

[Music]

Pendarvis Harshaw: Do you have any specifically that came from a point of transition in your life? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: The first big ones I got were um, actually my dad had this rose of my mom’s name and I pretty much just tried to, when he passed away in 2009, I pretty much just did the exact same thing he had, on both arms. I mean, those are probably my most meaningful tattoos, maybe I would say. The other ones have been a little more loose. Like, like, ‘Okay, yeah, that looks cool. Let’s do it.’ 

Pendarvis Harshaw: I definitely know people like, ‘Whatever, I’m in Vegas, time to get tattooed, I ain’t trippin’. But yeah, definitely. When I was younger, it was like, What’s my first tat going to be? Don’t do anything stupid, you know? I went with, you know, my aunt, my mom, my sister, family names, you know, that kind of thing. 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: You can’t go wrong with mom’s name, right? [laughs] 

Pendarvis Harshaw: Right. And so when your mom saw your tattoo that you did in honor of your father, how did she react? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Um. I mean, I think it definitely. She was sad just because it reminded her of my dad. You know, I remember even. I mean, her saying one time she was like, ‘Damn, you got your dad’s hands. Like, especially with, like, the tattoo.’ Like the same thing.

Like, same placement. Yeah. She’s also proud too because she thinks she’s she’s really proud that I get to do what I love for a living, you know? I feel like it’s almost like that was the reason why they sacrificed to come to this country when they’re young so the kids can, like, do what the f*ck they want. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: Miguel’s got a strong POV when it comes to his work, but he says he doesn’t stick to just one style. 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Well, I think, like the big thing for me with tattooing is, you know, I’ve always been about collaboration in my paintings and painting with the crews has always been collaborative. But these like tattoos, it’s like a real collaboration, like because it’s like this is long term bonding. You’re making every time with somebody. 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: So I generally try to have it be about more about what they want, you know. I definitely will take, you know, my knowledge and expertise and try to, like, make sure it’s going to be something that’s going to look good years down the line, make that work with what they want, you know. And I think that’s kind of my specialty is like versatility. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: I’m sure you get a mixture of people coming in with different ideas for artwork that they want. 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: I remember we got this math club one time, which is funny is they all got like inner lip tattoos, but they all like, if you seen them, you know, you would never thought that they would have had tattoos. But I guess that’s why they went with the inner lip, because that’s like the most hidden places, you know? 

Pendarvis Harshaw: Wait, hold on. Wait. A whole math club got the same inner lip tattoo? What did they get tattooed inside their lip? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: They didn’t all get the same thing, but they all got the same place. I remember one of them, I think, said, ‘F*ck off,’ actually. It was funny, they’re all were ‘Yeah, we’re the math club. Yeah. This is our bonding experience.’ And we get that, you know, we get the range.You get that. But we still get, you know, dudes that are spending a lot of time in prison and, you know, want to like, finish off their prison style tattoo. Actually, I’ve actually done a lot of a couple of prison cover ups, too, like: ‘I got this in prison. Can you fix this for me?’ I’ve done a lot of those I feel like.

Pendarvis Harshaw: Do you feel like your work is a community service? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: Yeah, I didn’t really think of it like that, but it really is, man. You know, just yesterday, my boy had a Raiders tattoo that, you know, the dude’s, the Raider face dude was like, was all smushed up. Like, you couldn’t see none of the features and 

couldn’t read the letters and I just brought it back. That was like a service to him, making him feel better about hisself something It’s like a service. It is a really a service, you know. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: All right. So another comparison or just a question I’ve had… So in the graff world, you go from a tool like learning into scribbles, you know, tagging your name to doing bubble letters and working your way up to, you doing huge murals. Yeah is there a similar chain of command in the tattoo world? 

Miguel “Bounce” Perez: It’s similar in that, um, you definitely got to, like, pay your dues you know to get, like, respected in the industry. You gotta like, you got to apprentice with somebody who’s already respected. Before like, recently the game has hella changed And a lot of a lot of those old-heads will say it’s f*cked up now because, you know, people are learning how to tattoo off of YouTube and sh*t where as even like ten years ago it’s like, literally like like damn near like a f*cking secret society that you had to like. claw and beg to get your way into it. Like a big thing with your apprenticeship is generally not paid. The Apprentice is the one that has to be there on time, has to spend the most hours. You know, has to do like the most like grunt work. And it’s like two years before you can even start to like pick up a machine or something. I mean, this is definitely more like the whole school classic way is definitely changing these last couple of years which. It’s all f*cked up now with social media. New tattooers would get like one famous client, and then all of a sudden they’re, you know, $2,000 an hour. Like damn, your work isn’t even that good. It’s like a big thing about tattooing is like, you don’t really know what you’re doing until you see, like, some sh*t you did like 15 years down the line, you know? 

Like it can be the prettiest, most detailed thing, but the real test is what’s it going to look like 15, 20 years later, you know? Is it going to stay? Is it going to – are the colors are going to hold up? Are your lines going to fade out. So I think definitely like the old school, the old school tattooers there, they’re definitely focused on that more, you know. So I mean, because even before I got into tattooing that traditional style that

they call it American Traditional, where it’s like. You know, like the real thick lines, kind of simpler drawings, like, you know, the classic images like the panther or, you know, the kind of like the pin-up style ladies and roses. 

Like a kind of didn’t really feel. Before I really knew about tattooing. I didn’t really appreciate that stuff that much, you know. But then after I started doing it and really like, ‘Oh, there’s a reason why those lines are so thick,’, or there’s a reason why it’s so simple because, you know, they want, you know, they want this to look good in 15 years, you know. And this just a. And there’s a reason why they make it bold and simple. 

[Music]

Pendarvis Harshaw: Thank you Miguel Bounce Perez! So much game, thank you.  

It’s wild to see the convergence of culture, community and environment– as well as family– all pour into the ways you express yourself artistically, both as a muralist and as a tattoo artist. Thanks for taking some time, and giving us a window into your world.
You can find Miguel’s work on Instagram at misterbouncer.

This episode was hosted by me, Pendarvis Harshaw. Marisol Medina-Cadena, Kyanna Moghadam and Corey Antonio Rose produced this episode. Jen Chien and Chris Hambrick  edited this episode. Ceil Muller and Christopher Beale engineered this joint.  

The Rightnowish team is also supported by Ugur Dursun, Holly Kernan, Cesar Saldaña, and Katie Sprenger. 

Until next time, y’all take care! Peace.
Rightnowish is a KQED production.

Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on NPR One, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.