After playing an integral part of the wildly successful reality TV series “L.A. Ink,” Corey’s existence over the last 6 months has been cathartic. These days, we find a post-L.A. Ink-Miller very excited to lend his artistic talents to everything from album covers to a new bottle design for Tuaca, vanilla citrus liqueur, bottles. Corey’s drawing of Travis Barker is on the cover of a recent issue of Modern Drummer and he is now experimenting with the new (to him) technique of wood burning on a custom guitar for Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx.
I had the inspiring opportunity to spend the day with Corey and his family. We talked about motorcycles, how his artistic mind sees the world in broad brushstrokes connected together by the smallest detail and that no topic is singular. All things are woven together with the fabric that is art.
Corey had the San Gabriel Mountains in his backyard and been riding them since he was a kid. His first bike was a 1978 Yamaha YX80. At 20, he wanted a chopper and spent several days in what he called a really scary house with very bad characters doing bad things. “That would have cured any normal person from a career in tattooing, but with a couple grand and a lot of tattoos later, I rode away with my first Harley,” Corey says. “It was a ‘57 rigid Frankenstein with a ‘73 Shovelhead engine, bad welds, rusted parts, straight pipes, and no turn signals or speedo. Each side of the Fatbob tanks was painted different colors. I remember sitting at a stoplight thinking how badass I was and a cop pulled up behind me. The light went green and I made some lame hand signal and my helmet flew right off my head and bounced down the intersection. I saw the cop looking at me just shaking his head and laughing at my stupid ass as he drove away. That was the beginning of riding choppers… it was awesome.”
While at a bike show in the early 2000’s, Corey eyeballed the Jesse James “Diablo” chopper and voiced his honest opinion while, unbeknownst to him, Jesse was right next to him. “Jesse must have found it refreshing,” Corey reminisces, “because he was always very respectful of me and really liked my art. I ended up tattooing the infamous hundred-dollar bill on his back. I called it his family crest. I traded Jesse for a CFL frame and some West Coast Choppers parts to start building my own bike. I traded another local builder, Hellbound Steel, for a huge Dragon painting for the front end and wheels, I did a few shirt designs for Ron Simms for some Performance Machine parts, and then went back and traded Jesse some more artwork for a tank and rear fender.
I remember picking those up from Jesse, and in his usual bravado was all ‘I actually hand pounded that tank and rear fender.’ I thought “So what, dude? That’s what you do,” but I was naive because Jesse was really blowing up. The next time I saw him he had a factory of workers and told me that was one of the last tanks he hand pounded…
I finally pulled everything together and met Mike Lambertson here in Ontario. He is an awesome pinstriper. I had drawn out the image and he nailed it gold leaf and all. I bartered almost everything on this bike for tattooing or artwork except the S&S 113 motor. It’s not a WCC bike; I pulled together all the elements I wanted for a Corey Miller original.” This bike was completed in 2005 and this is the first time his chopper has ever been featured right here on Bikernet.
Before the show L.A. Ink, Corey was always very private, keeping his personal life out of the limelight. Corey is a family man with three young children and lovely wife Kat. He has always prioritized family, and then came Dev… a new son – a new 25-year old son. They met for the first time only months ago. It started with a private message on Facebook from a girl he had met 25 years ago, and her last sentence said that she had his son. Corey immediately tracked him down and they met. In one of their first meetings with his newfound son, Corey asked, “So now what we do?” Dev’s response, “I was hoping we might go for a motorcycle ride,” and that’s just what they did.
That’s what we all did; we saddled up and went for a ride in the San Gabriel Mountains, Corey on his Husaberg, Dev on his Yamaha 800 and me on a Triumph Rocket III. The two interacted as if they had known each other their whole lives. We owned the road that warm Wednesday afternoon. As we rode I thought about ‘Nature vs. Nurture,’ that motorcycling isn’t something everyone just does. In fact, only a small fraction of us actually have an M1. Watching them talk about riding, about bikes and music, and finishing each other’s sentences was uncanny. Nature and genetics had definitely overruled nurturing.
Corey on LA Ink: “Look man I do what I do, I never had an agent, manager for all those years, and I suppose I should have but I was just a tattoo artist. I had no idea about television. I just stayed totally focused on the detail of each customers tattoo and always tried to be true to myself…I remember in the opening credits of the show, they wanted me to wear a Marlon Brando “Wild One” hat. I said” No way” you guys want me to look like the Village People? (laughs) Sometimes that show became an artistic distraction, but it was great exposure for me and for tattooing itself. Aside from some cool licensing deals and notoriety, the best thing that ever came from that show was finding my son Dev. There’s no reality show actors’ union, SAG, no royalties, no residuals, just exposure.”
Corey on Family Matters: “Having kids totally changed me. I suddenly became concerned about lasting, about being around to see them grown. I grew up with the punk rock music scene of the early ‘80s, and lasting wasn’t a priority to me. I never saw my son Dev grow up, and he never knew about me either. Ironically, he’s just like me. He’s a musician, artist and motorcyclist.” (Dev sings for the L.A. based band MOMENTEM)
What Corey really rides: “I grew up right here at the foothills of the San Gabriel’s. I love riding the mountain roads and trails. I rode my Harley to L.A. Ink and what a freakin’ nightmare. You almost die ten times a day in that traffic. I recently bought a Husaberg 570 Super Motar from Malcolm Smith in Riverside and I love the thing. It’s ugly bright blue and yellow but at 240 pounds it rides itself through these mountains.”
Corey’s Band: ‘Powerflex 5’ includes Steve Alba, the legendary skate boarder who plays guitar and Corey plays drums. “Its instrumental surf-punk, rock electric gumbo if you will. I always tell people it’s kind of like a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack, it’s just fun good time music,” Corey beams.
Tattooing Today: His shop “Six Feet Under” has been in the same location in Upland for 15 years. “We get customers from every walk of life. Just as the popularity of tattooing has grown, so has the number of amazing talented artists. People aren’t afraid of walking into a Tattoo shop anymore and I guess you can thank shows like L.A. Ink for helping with that.”
Corey’s art is currently on the cover of Modern Drummer, he just finished an album cover work for Face to Face, designed a guitar for James Hetfield and a signature drum set for Ludwig Drums. He is featured in the upcoming motion picture documentary Tattoo Nation, which will hit the theaters in 2013. His shop Six Feet Under is teeming with activity. He hosts art shows and is involved in his community.
Tattoos, motorcycles, music and art are at the core of Corey Miller. Art is a very personal; people don’t buy art they hate to put in their living room and look at every day. At least you can change that, because putting art on your body for life is the ultimate commitment, and the artist you pick to do that is critical. Its obvious Corey Miller is art driven, putting his heart into his work and his family.
