About Andy

Greetings and thank you for finding my website.   My name is Andy Howl and I am a tattoo artist, illustrator, painter, vocalist, publisher, and priest.... That's the short list. 

If you would rather see a list of interviews rather than read this long rambling essay, click here.

I was born in 1976 on a B-52 air force base in Northern Michigan.  I grew up a middle child near Lansing and Detroit Michigan and spent most of my time in basements playing Dungeon & Dragons computer games in DOS, watching horror movies on VHS, stealing heavy metal cassettes from the mall, and collecting comic books.  I was completely focused on drawing and fine art as a kid and was encouraged by my mother to pursue art from a young age.   My first piece of exhibited artwork was in a Russian gallery while I was in 1st grade (via a exhibiting pre-school art teacher). I was obsessed with drawing, and later painting, throughout grade school. As a senior I self-published a underground newspaper and comic (via long nights at Kinko's). The paper, entitled the "Hymenopteran Proctologist" was almost immediately banned by my art teacher and the principal.  But it began a DIY career of making and doing shit on my own, including t-shirts and lots of bad photocopies. 

After graduating high school, I left Michigan to attend Savannah College of Art & Design.... studying comic book illustration and script writing.  My love of bold, high contrast black and white horror comics, logos, and op-art was quenched when my professor, Bob Pendarvis (who created the sequential art program and also nicknamed me "Satan-boy"), brought in comic book legends Bernie Wrightson and Charles Burns for private workshops.   During this time, I also started to crystalize a dark, psychedelic and pop art influenced visual language that I had been working towards since high school. My influences of horror movies, comics, metal, and pop art began to coalesce.

Before graduating from SCAD in 1997, I taught myself screen printing and started a t-shirt company featuring my black and white artwork, Kobra-La.  The name was based on the GI JOE movie from the 80's, which featured an army of pre-human snake people bent on reclaiming the earth.  The shirts were sold in headshops and counterculture shops around the country, including Noir Leather in Detroit and Planet 3 in Savannah.   

I moved back to Michigan in late '97 and eventually got a real job working for an educational software company illustrating stories, doing interface and package design, and web design. 

After a few years I stumbled into a new online art job, working in the High Times realm.  Running websites like Marijuana.com, 420times.com, 420girls.com and Legalbuds.com, doing magazine ads, packaging, photography, logos, and marketing.  It was weird and fun, paid the bills, but gave me PTSD with the amount of responsibility I took on.

In 2002 I had my first and only child, Zane, and soon after began learning to tattoo, part-time, with the intent of getting away from working on computers.  Essentially an early mid-life crisis, I wasn't drawing and painting like I wanted.  I had the realization that I was now a dad, and my own life was beginning to pass me by.

EARLY FLORIDA DAYS
In 2004, we relocated to South Florida, and I was able to buy my first home.  For the next 5 years I worked there and raised my son in the Florida Everglades. It was an ideal scenario to be a stay at home working dad...... except for the hurricanes and isolation.  I was getting cabin fever.  Any artist that can stay home fulltime and just draw, is a beast.  School doesn't teach you how to handle isolation.  You have to earn it.  But being able to have that time with my son was priceless.

HOWL GALLERY/TATTOO
Meanwhile I never gave up on learning how to tattoo and build machines.  After finally getting sick of working in front of a computer, I eventually  found a group of like minded tattoo artists in Florida, and we opened a shop in downtown Fort Myers.  

In 2008, I signed the lease for HOWL Gallery/Tattoo, an art gallery and tattoo shop.  I hosted shows with well-known artists like Derek Hess, Death album cover artist Rene Miville, BASK, Skot Olsen, Seldon Hunt, Frank Frazetta (via Sara Frazetta) and many more.   We also hosted well known tattoo artists such as Mike Fite, and Clay McCay.  While in downtown Fort Myers, I also created, managed, and did artwork for the popular community events Art Walk and Music Walk, that continue to drive business to the historic district of Fort Myers.   The first year in business I was also featured on German television, Tattoo Berlin on DMAX and hosted a monthly local morning news segment on CBS WINK-TV featuring local bands.  Within a few years I was given a 40 under 40 business award from Florida Gulfcoast Business magazine, Best Tattoo Shop in Southwest Florida awards, Trailblazer awards,  Fort Myers News-Press.

THE DEVILS REIGN
In 2014, during a Frank Frazetta exhibition at HOWL, I was introduced to Peter H. GIlmore and Peggy Nadramia, the High Priest and Priestess of The Church of Satan, by my longtime friend, Thomas Thorn of the Electric Hellfire Club.   Being a huge fan of CoS and the writings of Anton LaVey since grade school, I was eager to pursue more conversation with Peter and Peggy.    We ended up creating The Devils Reign art book series and art exhibitions.  The first show toured Florida, New York City, and Boston.  Each of the first four books featured a different theme, The Infernal Names, Psychedelic Blasphemy, Daikaiju (giant monsters), and All of Them Witches.  The 5th Devils Reign book, "Tyrants," is in the works, but currently on hiatus. 

In 2019, I also hosted the 50th Anniversary of The Satanic Bible and held the first US screenings of The Devils Avenger film and An American Satan, both documentaries on the life of Anton LaVey and the history of the cultural movement he created.

BURNED AT THE STAKE
In 2019 with a divorce looming and the need to create a new emotional outlet, I created the metal band, Burned at the Stake, with friends in the local music scene I had previously hosted at HOWL.  James S. Scott, a widely known metal guitar virtuoso and skilled guitar maker, was one of the first to join.   Our debut video was released in 2021, directed by my aspiring filmmaker son, Zane.   The band mixes black metal aggression with doom/black sabbath groove.  Most of the lyrics I write focus on concepts of hopelessness, betrayal, and the long history of public execution and humiliation.  We've had countless band member changes over the last 5 years but are working on finally releasing an album within the next 6-8 months.  The band has been fortunate enough to get street level success for our live shows and build a decent following in South Florida and Tampa.  

BLACK SUNDAY
In 2023 I was asked to host Satanic Baptisms on stage in Tampa for an event that I had been featured tattooing at for several years, The Tabernacle of Oddities.   The convention was created by my good friends, Liz and Dan that run Dysfunctional Grace in Ybor City - Tampa, with the help of "Tall Dan" that manages The Tampa Orpheum.   Having been previously awarded a Priest/Reverend title by Peter and Peggy for my work on The Devils Reign and related events I hosted.  I had yet to use the title for any specific purpose, so I began planning a stage performance in-line with the original theatric presentation, in the tradition that LaVey and Gilmore had established.  I worked for about 8 months with Peter crafting the baptism ritual and creating a backing track with  theremin and keyboard.  The event, which I titled 'BLACK SUNDAY', was held at The Cuban Club in Ybor, on their (haunted) large historic stage.  I baptized around 20-30 people that night and followed it up with an additional ritual at BLACK MASS, held at The Brass Mug in Tampa on Devils Night, October 2023.    In early 2024, I was asked to add weddings to a follow-up performance at Tabernacle.....  The second Black Sunday was held on August 18th, 2024 and was a near sold out crowd for the theater, which was a very pleasant surprise.

I'm currently working on the next incarnation of Black Sunday, which most likely will be a touring show and include sideshow acts, burlesque, metal, and live music to accompany my stage performance...... 

Click here for a list of my Interviews with links.