May 24, 2001 16:45

WHEN TATTOO TRIBES GO TO WAR... Slayer Tickets

The promoters of last year's Tattoo the Earth gigs believe that this year's Tattoo The Planet gigs have a very similar name...

The promoters behind the TATTOO THE EARTH spectacle which tracked across the US last summer with SLIPKNOT, SEVENDUST and COAL CHAMBER and a travelling caravan of body-artists, are set to sue rival promoters in Europe over their TATTOO THE PLANET event.

Scott Alderman, the man behind TTE told NME.COM that the rivals had stolen his idea after the two groups had been in talks about bringing TTE to Europe.

"He is launching a replica of the TTE 2000 US tour in Europe called Tattoo The Planet, a trademark he first registered on September 11, 2000," explained Alderman.

"Tattoo The Earth was registered as a trademark in the US on March 9 1999 and the web address for tattootheplanet.com was registered by TTE on October 8 1999

"Now, we know we weren't the first ones to bring music and tattoos together, but we were the first ones to call it Tattoo The Earth. There are only a couple of synonyms for earth, and with all the different ways to express the tattoo/music connection, this promoter chose Tattoo The Planet. We feel this is wrong."

Tattoo The Planet, with co-headliners Pantera and Slayer, is set to kick off in September with three UK gigs at Birmingham NIA (September 14), London Wembley Arena (15) and Glasgow SECC (16).

However, Alderman does not plan to sit idly by.

"We're preparing the case against them right now," he said. "There are also others in Europe who may have a case against them for copyright infringement and they will be coming forward shortly.

"In addition, TTE and the tattoo artists associated with it are on a mission to bring quality tattoo art to the mainstream and we, as a community, are very serious about the way this art is represented.

"Tattoo The Planet is simply trying to exploit the word 'tattoo' to sell tickets. This is completely unacceptable to the tattoo community and we don't support it."