“Michael Malone’s life has been a series of adventures, excursions, and ups and downs. Through it all, his humor, spirit, and perception have been a positive force in advancing the eccentric world of tattooing.” - Ed Hardy

Many know the name Sailor Jerry for the innovation he brought to the world of tattooing; however, the legacy he left behind was carried on. Though many may not know who he was, Mike (Rollo Banks) Malone was an incredibly talented artist that accepted the torch from Norman Collins and made sure that the light didn’t burn out. He was known for his adventurous spirit, artistic talents, dedication to his studies and continuing his education, quick wit, and his ability to tell a story. He created more designs than anyone and always had something new in the works, even after he retired from tattooing. The Mike Malone tattoo journey is one that deserves a spotlight as he was also a true staple in tattoo history. Though he may have been a bit of a late bloomer compared to many tattoo artists, many of the things that he did in his career like his iconic flash designs and taking over Jerry’s shop in Hawaii, Rollo was an important player in the evolution of tattoos.

The Rise of Mike Malone aka Rollo Banks

Mike Malone was born in 1942 near San Francisco and as he grew up, he was known for being a bit of a wild child. He and a few friends had broken into a shop as kids and made off with a tattoo machine and some ink. Malone was intrigued and decided to experiment with it, but never really went anywhere with it considering he couldn’t control the machine. It tended to run away with him and so he decided to give up on that short-lived adventure. But in a way, it could’ve been the spark that started his journey with the arts that lead him to his future in tattooing.

He had always had an interest in art but during a good chunk of his younger years, he took up barber school. It was one of those eras that many of us go through where we try out different paths trying to find the one for us, but he burned out from that pretty quickly. He later described the experience of barber school as a less-than great experience. He told stories in his book, Bull’s-eyes & Black Eyes, of various incidents like the time his class-mate cut the ear off of a guy while attempting to give him a shave.

The mix of personalities and environment was no picnic in the park, and it was far from the vibe Malone was hoping to find. His barber phase was not exactly the highlight of his years but it did give him an idea of what he didn’t want to do with his life. So, he took a left turn and decided to take up photography which would end up kickstarting a very different future.

He took up photography in the 60’s and eventually crossed paths with Thom DeVita in New York. At this time, there had been little to no documentation of tattoos or the art of tattooing, so he began a bit of a pioneer in the art world by photographing DeVita as he worked. Tattooing was illegal at the time in New York, so artists pretty much worked exclusively out of their apartments and it was a very different experience than what we have now. Rollo was the first to document all of this and it ended up opening more than one door for him along the way.

- Mike in his younger years with his Rollomatic Machine

Where the Mike Malone Tattoo Journey Really Started

In 1971, Malone paired up with Bert Hemphill to curate an exhibition at the Museum of American Folk Art called Tattoo!

This was the first event of its kind and ended up being a huge success. This is the event that ended up sparking a long-term friendship with Ed Hardy and Sailor Jerry as well as steer Malone’s life deeper into the tattoo industry. Ed Hardy was a part of Tattoo! and was how the connection was made between Sailor Jerry and Malone. Jerry sent art to be featured in the show and the written exchanges between the two continued after the show was over.

Tattoo! Went so well that Malone ended up following Brent Hemphill with the Electric Circus in New York to help with and document the events with his photography in. Keeping up with his art and communications with Sailor Jerry along the way, he was setting up his future without even realizing it.

After about a year of Electric Circus, he headed to San Diego in 1972 to partner up with Ed Hardy. In 1973 Ed Hardy made the move to Japan to learn tattooing techniques from the artists overseas, so Malone went to work with Zeke Owens. Mike had quite the experience with Zeke as he was constantly pressuring Malone to push the limits of his talents.

Often referring to Zeke as “a testy SOB,” Malone did end up actually learning a lot from him and also recalled him as seriously talented and professional. Zeke was exceptionally hard on Malone, but when looking back on it, Mike said it was actually part of what made his art better in the long-run. It was a push to hone his skills that he needed without knowing it.

By this time, Malone had essentially abandoned photography completely, was fully immersed in painting and tattooing, and the biggest shift was right around the corner.

“When I left photography behind, I really abandoned it. It’s still difficult for me to take pictures. That’s why thousands of neat tattoos I’ve done have gone unphotographed. — The tattoos are the point, and the fun of doing them and seeing them done on people is the point to me, not creating artifacts.” - Rollo Banks (Bull’s-eyes & Black Eyes)

The Old Man and the Wild Man

The day Mike Malone got the call about Sailor Jerry’s passing in 1973 was arguably one of the largest turning points in his life. Norman Collins stated to his wife that his beloved shop in Hawaii was to be sold to one of the only 3 people he trusted it with (Zeke Owens, Ed Hardy, or Mike Malone) or burned to the ground. No other options. Well, Ed Hardy was living in Japan and elbows deep in his work there, Zeke was busy with his own life happenings, and Mike Malone was still searching for his place in the world, so he took on what seemed like the challenge and honor of a lifetime.

- Ed Hardy, Kandi Everett and Rollo in front of China Sea Tattoo in Hawaii

“It was really strange coming here after Jerry had run it [for] so many years and just sit in the chair and try to take that over. My experience barely had me ready to face what I had to face here. — It was like everything was still here but him.” - Mike Malone

Malone packed up, moved to Hawaii, and embarked on yet another new adventure. Was he in over his head? In the beginning, probably. However, he put in the hours and made it work so that the legacy could live on. There was an interview done with Malone for the documentary on Jerry, Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry: The Life of Norman K. Collins, where Mike spoke of the numerous accounts of people coming into the shop looking for Jerry even years after he was gone and how odd it was for everything to be the same yet totally different all at once. Malone did end up renaming the shop “China Sea” in homage to Norman Collins being a merchant marine sailor on the China seas.

While working in the shop, he continued building machines, like the Mike Malone Rollomatic tattoo machine, and tattooed with the same kind of traditional styles that Jerry built his legacy on. In the mid-70’s Malone invented Mr Flash and created Mr Lucky, a skull with a top hat that became his mascot of sorts. He also accidentally created somewhat of a Hawaiian tradition with the “Hawaiian Band” design.

Mr Flash was his own little company that sold flash designs by the sheet for $2-3 each out of a catalog of about 75-80 sheets. Each Mike Malone tattoo flash design was created was new and original. They sold like hot cakes and were extremely popular. It was a big game changer for tattoo artists all over because it allowed artists that weren’t good at creating designs to purchase an array of options for their clients to choose from.

Up until this point, you could tell the talent of the person sitting in the chair because of the designs they had on the walls. They were all hand-painted and not all artsist can curate their own original works, especially not like Rollo. There was an increasing number of shops opening in all areas, and now you could be in the middle of Kansas and get well-composed designs via the great flash art that Mike created. It was a complete game changer because now shops had really good designs without needing to have excellent skills in creating their own.

Moving On and Moving North: The Birth of The Aloha Monkey

Mike’s tattoo journey didn’t end in Hawaii, but he said that after years, the island started to feel smaller and smaller. So, he headed out on another adventure. Though he didn’t let go of China Seas right away, he did move on from the island and ended up in Minnesota.

Back in Hawaii, Rollo had met a woman that did cosmetic tattoos in Minnesota while she was on vacation. He thought this lady was the best thing since sliced bread because she was a large, tall, cigar smoking scandinavian woman and was exactly his type. He worked with her a bit and saw that there was some serious opportunity for creating a successful tattoo business in Minnesota. He eventually found a spot and settled on a spot in Burnsville, Minnesota. There wasn’t much of a tattoo scene since it was still very taboo, but Mike was always one for ruffling feathers so it was perfect for him.

He opened a shop right off of 2 main highways, 35E and 35W in 1999, and called in The Aloha Monkey in homage to Sailor Jerry. He even made Romeo a part of the business by using Sailor Jerry’s “Al-O-ha” tattoo design for the logo. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, definitely go read about Romeo in our previous blog featuring Sailor Jerry.

The Aloha Monkey was one of the first good tattoo shops in Minnesota considering it was still a relatively new idea for the conservative northern europeans that made up most of the current population. But Mike was content with making moves that tended to create unease in the townsfolk. Unlike today, Minnesota tattoo shops were few and far between, so it was entertainment for him to see the locals give his establishment the side eye.

Keeping Japanese American Tattoo Alive: The Mentee Becomes the Mentor

The Mike Malone tattoo legacy lived on because The Aloha Monkey is still one of the most popular destinations for Japanese American Tattoos in Minnesota and is thriving. The shop’s journey was oddly very similar to Jerry’s shop in Hawaii. They say history repeats itself, and in a way it did with Rollo and his mentees.

Two young guys that were tattooing at a Navy base in Illinois, Kieth and Josh ended up crossing paths by calling Malone about his tattoo machines in Tattoo Times magazine. The two boys regularly wrote back and forth with Rollo. Mike seemed to really enjoy the almost “pen-pal” type of exchanges.

Eventually, Malone was looking for good artists. The way Josh Arment described it was that Mike asked if they knew any good artists and they essentially said “He wanted somebody good, not us, but we were there.” The unlikely match-up turned into a journey all its own. Rollo extended them the offer to come up and work for him, and the two couldn’t have been for excited for the opportunity. Keith had already finished his apprenticeship, so he moved up to work full time first. Josh, however, had a good chunk of his apprenticeship to finish up, so he would drive up from Illinois on his days off to work with and learn from Mike.

Shortly after Josh finished his apprenticeship in 2000, Mike ended up in a quick divorce. So, he asked if the boys wanted to get a place together. Josh said that “it was like being offered to live and work with your hero — like living and working with Eric Clapton or Michael Jordan.”

The three ended up moving into a duplex together where Josh and Keith lived upstairs while Mike lived downstairs. Josh playfully recalled that it was like “living with your great uncle and a 10 year old at the same time” because Mike wasn’t exactly known for being the most tidy person and his sleep patterns were all over the place. He’d have such wild hours that the boys would get to the shop before they opened and Mike would just be leaving after working through most of the night on different designs he had going.

He continued creating flash designs and lived with that same mentality that Jerry instilled in him. If you were in the shop and not tattooing, you were coming up with designs and working on your skills.

In a personal interview, Josh recalled multiple stories about Mike. He’d cut their hair, give them tips with the ladies (even if they weren’t the best tips), his fascination with claw machines, and tell them the most elaborate stories. One was that Mike Malone had this Red Rider BB gun that he just absolutely loved. Josh would often be reading out on the deck and Rollo would have him set up crackers on the rail that Mike would use for target practice. “He’d just be shooting right past my head. - It was an adventure living with him.”

“He was mostly known in tattooing for his storytelling, his ability to paint amazing flash with watercolor, his ability to do any kind of drawing or kind of distillation of imagery with the least amount of lines and still make it look elegant. - You can’t illustrate it with less lines than that and make it appear what it is. - They’re just perfect the way they are.” - Josh Arment

Eventually Mike’s mother became ill so he moved to the west coast, outside of San Francisco to be with her and sold the shop to Josh Arment in 2001. Much like how Jerry handed down his legacy to Mike, and Mike handed down his own legacy to Josh.

The Long Lasting Impression of the Mike Malone Tattoo Journey

Not long after selling The Aloha Monkey to Josh, Mike Malone ended up moving to Chicago after his mom passed away to be close to Keith. Keith had opened a shop there called Taylor Street and had a few kids of his own. Malone really enjoyed playing the uncle/grandpa role, so being able to stay close with them was something that made Chicago home in his final years.

In 2007, Mike Malone was asked to roast Ed Hardy at an event while the guys were out of town. Mike was afraid he would say something wrong and decided to skip the event. A few days later, Keith came home and discovered that Mike had sadly taken his own life in his apartment. In his lifetime, he became an art icon, left a mark on the tattoo industry, and left us with incredible art that will live on long after to remind us of his talents.

- Eagle that Rollo drew with his notes “let Jerry do it!”

The next time you walk into The Aloha Monkey, look at the walls. They are still covered with hundreds of incredible Mike Malone tattoo flash designs and his art. Some aspects of the shop have changed over the years, but his art and the iconic logo with the monkey, Romeo, are prominent reminders of how the shop came to be and the infamous man behind it all. The Mike Malone tattoo legacy lives on, much like his predecessor, and we are lucky to have a piece of tattoo history in Minnesota.

Josh still runs The Aloha Monkey with the same ideals that Mike Malone had built it on. One of the main things we still believe business is done is that every single day, walk-ins are welcome. We preserve that culture because Mike felt that you should be able to walk into a shop and impulsively get what you want done. Whether it be something small or a full back piece. The foundation built by Rollo and his personal touch on the shop is still very present and remains relevant throughout the shop and its employees.