Travis McElroy and Andy Warr.

A few weeks back, Travis McElroy, the 36-year-old owner and operator of Thick Syrup Records, lay flat on a fully-reclined black leather chair, his snap button shirt halfway open. “Me and Andy’s got a bromance,” he said, letting loose a full body laugh. Which broke a central rule for sitting for a tattoo, according to Brooke Cook, of Anchor Tattoo and Piercing in Benton, who had to stop work on a large tattoo on McElroy’s chest of Andy Warr, of local band Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth, to chastise: “Talk all you want, but no giggling!”

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McElroy’s tattoo of Warr shows the musician in profile, the best angle to capture his flowing Moses-style beard. Laurels grow out of a circular border that frames the face, while the words “In Warr We Trust” float above. It’s McElroy’s fourth tattoo of a local musician, and the largest. Warr’s face takes up a large part of McElroy’s chest (“He’s a big dude,” McElroy offers). When I wonder how many tattoos he has all together, he asks “What’s one tattoo? They all run together.”

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