Extreme punk rock bands like A Fire Inside and Blaqk Audio’s vocalist Davey Havok once had numerous tattoos on his body, especially on his arms. But in 2016, for a very personal reason, he had his sleeve tattoos covered in black ink.

The Motive Behind Havok’s Sleeve Tattoos

Havok has spoken candidly a few times about the rationale for his blacked-out sleeves. The singer shared his perspective in a Deeper Interview with Nikki Sixx episode from November 2016.

The musician admitted to Nikki that he had worn full-sleeve t-shirts all the time because he had been unhappy with his tattoos for years. At the time, he claimed that the major reason he despised the tattoos was that their cultural meaning had evolved through time and had started to signify something he did not identify with.

The 90s trend of people blacking out their sleeves also had an impact on his decision to do so.

The musician explained to Sixx that the fusion of these two concepts led to his blacked-out sleeves.

In the interview, the singer said that before losing consciousness in his arm, he talked about it with his close friend and mentor, R.J. Lime Peters, who gave him the go-ahead.

He still had more to say about this choice, though. Havok discussed how he was continuously evolving in an interview with The Washington Times in February 2017 and how blacking out his sleeves was a part of it.

He remarked while still trying to get his sleeves covered, “I have no idea how long it will take me to complete it or how far I’ll take it. As you are aware, I am continuously altering in an effort to hide poor decisions from even worse ones. That is how I conduct my life.”

The interviewer then questioned whether he was attempting to forget his past. The singer gave a negative response, adding, “History cannot be changed back; it can only be hidden. It is still alive and well beneath the wounds.”

The singer’s body is nearly half covered with tattoos.

The rock star’s chest tattoo of a burning heart is the most striking of all of them. Along with the burning heart, there are six nautical stars and downward-pointing daggers going down the sides of the man’s ribs.

The singer’s back is covered in a tattoo that is equally stunning. The majority of his back is covered with a massive set of black wings. The artist’s wings appear between his shoulder blades and descend to his hips.

Let’s now talk about the tattoos on his arms that he has covered in black. His arms were completely covered in jack-o-lanterns, black cats, witches, and other ghoulish figures that resembled characters from The Night Before Christmas.

The tattoos are now concealed. but not completely. There is somewhat of a pattern to the black coverings. On his arms, there are gaps in between large black patches that partially expose the previous tattoos that are hidden beneath the darkness.

Could he have made this decision to essentially reaffirm his beliefs about the past being present at all times? Or was this just a decision of style? They do appear extremely fantastic, but we’re not sure.