Kellen C. Clark, 28, Tattoo Artist, Dad, Recovering Addict. My birthday's April Fool's day 'cause my life's a fucking joke. {Santa Monica RP, not actually Jesse Rutherford}
“No window breaking!” She said, pointing an accusatory finger at the man. “I can’t afford to fix that shit and my mom would kill me.” And probably one of her sisters because of the fact it would let bugs into their house.
“Damn! Okay! I was just joking. Fuck, sorry.” He turned away from her to search the sidewalk for keys. So far, he didn’t see any keys, just a penny, which he bent down to pick up. “Heads up. Maybe we’ll find them after all,” he stated, handing her the coin.
Enzo had started off by raising his brows a bit impressed as his old pal had started talking, only to grin back at him before laughing. “You almost had me there for a second, up until you mentioned fucking bitches, then I knew it was all going to be bullshit.” He teased him with a wink.
“Oh fuck off.” He rolled his eyes. He could find someone to sleep with if he really wanted to. It had been a while, but he could if he wanted to. At least that was what he told himself to make himself feel better. “Okay, but what have you been doing?”
She pointed in the direction she’d come down the sidewalk before pulling her hair back up into a ponytail. Today was a bad day to wear long sleeves to work but she hadn’t been able to laundry. “Fuck. I guess there’s nothing else to do but backtrack I guess.”
“Yup. All we can do is go backwards and hope for the best. And if all else fails... I dunno. I guess I could break a window?” he half-joked. This wasn’t how he planned on spending his afternoon, but he’d feel bad if he left her high and dry.
3. A song you really like by an artist you otherwise don’t listen to very much (whether that’s because you usually don’t like their music, or just because you haven’t listened to the rest yet)
“‘Notice Me’ by ROLE MODEL. I really don’t know his other songs.”
13. If you could talk to any musician, who would it be? What would you want to say?
Answered here.
23. Name a song that you associate with being sad
“Uh... everything I’ve ever written? But seriously, I’m gonna pick ‘I Don’t Love You’ by My Chem for this one.”
33. Do you wear a lot of band t-shirts? If so, do you like it when strangers comment on them?
“I wear them pretty much every day. And hell yeah, I love when people comment on my shirts. Makes for good conversation.”
13. If you could talk to any musician, who would it be? What would you want to say?
“I’d talk to Justin Furstenfeld, the lead singer of Blue October. And what would I say? Fuck, what wouldn’t I say? I really just want to thank him. His music’s really been helping me lately.”
14. Is there any band/musician who you really strongly dislike? If so, why?
“Gene Simmons. Fuck. KISS made great music, don’t get me wrong. But he’s such a fucking piece of shit. He’s a racist, sexist, greedy cocksucker. If I ever see him, it’s on sight.”
15. Have you ever traveled outside of your area to see a concert? If not, would you want to?
“I’ve gone to different parts of Cali for concerts, but I’ve never left Cali, for a concert or for any other reason. I’d like to travel in general. Maybe one of these days I’ll drive out of state for a show.”
Enzo laughed at Kellen’s joke. “Oh shut up, Clark!” He said with a huge grin. It was nice running into a familiar face. Especially one he had not seen in a while and had a history with. He was always different around those sorts of people. “I’ve been alright. Same old, same old really - What about yourself?”
He grinned back at his old friend, replying, “Eh, you know, livin’ the rockstar life. Fuckin’ bitches, gettin’ money... Except I’m fuckin’ no one and I still work my day job, so really not living the rockstar life at all.” He laughed.
Triggers: Child abuse, drug use/addiction, incarceration, death, overdose
Track 1: Hell is for Children- The Relentless (child abuse tw)
Kellen was physically and emotionally abused by his father for the first 16 years of his life. While his mother and siblings also faced Kevin Clark’s wrath, Kellen was the most frequent target. In his father’s eyes, he could never do anything right, and he needed to be punished for it. On top of it, he was also trying to protect his younger brother from facing the same abuse. He was told from a young age that “What happens in this house stays in this house” so he stayed quiet, living in his own personal hell until he was kicked out at age 16.
Track 2: Problem Child- AC/DC
Ever since he was young, Kellen was considered a “problem child.” He had a hot temper, and caused a lot of trouble in school. He was a class clown and showed no respect for authority figures. Teachers hated him, while his classmates had mixed reviews. His teachers all thought he was just an unruly kid, and never considered that he might be lashing out as a means of coping with his unstable home life.
Track 3: Rebels- Call Me Karizma
As Kellen grew older, he only became more rebellious. Once he reached high school, he started hanging out with older kids who had no regard for safety or the law. Many of them also came from unstable homes, so he felt fully seen and heard by them. He felt on top of the world when he was raising hell with his friends. Little did he know that it would all come back to bite him in the ass when he was older.
Kellen was a sophomore in high school when he tried heroin for the first time. He was addicted from the start, and kept taking more and more hits. He thought that he could fill the void in his heart by getting high and forgetting the world around him. He knew that it wasn’t good for him, but he didn’t seek help. He just kept killing his body more and more while trying to soothe his soul.
Track 5: The Perfect Drug- Nine Inch Nails (drug use/addiction tw)
Heroin became Kellen’s “perfect” way to cope. He didn’t care how it was affecting his mind or his relationship with others. It made him feel better when nothing else could. Additionally, around the same time, he entered into his first relationship with a girl named Cassie Greene. Being with Cassie, both physically and emotionally, also became addictive for him. Without his vices, Kellen’s world would fall apart.
Track 6: Father and Daughter- Paul Simon
On April 3, 2010, Cassie gave birth to a daughter, Kelsie Rose Clark. Kellen and Cassie were juniors in high school at the time, but decided to keep the baby girl and raise her together. Despite being young, Kellen loved being a father. He vowed to never be like his father, and to give his child all of the love in the world. He knew as well as anyone that growing up was hard, but he was going to be there to help his daughter at every turn.
Track 7: Only One- Kanye West & Paul McCartney (incarceration tw)
Kellen’s relationship with Cassie was never a stable one. The two were on-and-off for three years until Kellen was sentenced to six months in jail and Cassie ended things once and for all. At the end of it all, he still had Kelsie. He constantly gives her affirming messages, things that he wished someone had told him as a child. He tells her that she was loved no matter what mistakes she made and that she would grow up to be something special.
Track 8: Don’t Look At Me- POORSTACY (drug use/addiction tw)
Kellen spent his early 20′s in and out of sobriety. As much as he wanted to get clean for his daughter, he couldn’t handle the overwhelming dread that filled him up when he was sober. Withdrawing from heroin made Kellen incredibly antsy and paranoid. He didn’t want to be left alone, but at the same time, he hated people seeing him how he was. This song is an expression of Kellen’s fragile mental state during his periods of sobriety.
Kellen’s high school best friend, Sidney, was also addicted to heroin. In July 2018, Sidney died from an overdose. This is when Kellen realized how dire the consequences of his actions were. He had been trying to escape the pain of his upbringing for so long that he pushed the risks of drug use to the back of his mind up until this moment. Sidney’s death was what made Kellen decide to give up heroin for good. Not only had it taken his best friend away from him, but it also had the potential to leave Kelsie without a father, a fate he didn’t want to see actualized.
Track 10: don’t worry, you will- lovelytheband
Kellen met Gracie Rothschild shortly after the loss of his best friend. Despite the fact that the couldn’t be more different from one another, the two ended up dating after six months of getting to know each other. The relationship couldn’t have been more perfect in the beginning. For the first time ever, Kellen had some stability in his life. This song reflects Kellen’s fears that Gracie would one day find something she didn’t like about him-- whether it be his criminal record or his past drug use-- and break up with him because of it. Eventually, this proved to be true, but not for the reasons he thought.
Track 11: Daphne Blue- The Band CAMINO
In the end, Kellen’s past caught up with him and Gracie broke up with him after a year and a half of dating. The fact that he hid the truth from her is what put the nail in the coffin for their relationship. Going about his daily life became difficult after the breakup, as he was constantly reminded of Gracie and how he messed up. He hated how much he was constantly reminded of her, and running into her in public only made it worse. He didn’t want to be strangers, he didn’t want to be friends. He wanted-- and still wants-- to be her lover.
Track 12: Someone Saved My Life Tonight- Elton John (overdose tw)
After a six-month period of binge-drinking and smoking, Kellen did what he vowed to never do again: he relapsed on heroin. He purchased the drug from his former dealer after running into him at a bar during a moment of weakness. After two and a half years of not taking the drug, his tolerance wasn’t what it used to be, which resulted in him taking too much and overdosing. In a stroke of luck, his roommate, Vito, came home from a date with his girlfriend and was able to call 911 just in time to save him. After Vito literally saved his life, Kellen realized that if he was ever going to fully heal and live a normal life, he needed to further preserve his life by going to rehab and starting therapy.
Track 13: Not Warriors- Waterparks
After getting out of rehab, Kellen and Gracie started on the path towards repairing their relationship. The process has been a rollercoaster, but the one thing he knows for certain is that he’s still in love with her. As a sober man, his feelings for her only feel stronger. For now, all he can do is show her that he cares and that he wants to make things work.
Track 14: love song- YUNGBLUD
Kellen’s perception of love was warped by the abuse he faced as a child. All he knew of love as a child was that it hurt, physically and emotionally. As he grew older, he found love through his friends, his daughter, and his exes. However, Kellen never learned how to love himself. He tries his best to show affection towards his loved ones, but without loving and caring for himself, he can never really give them 100%. He’s trying to love himself and grow from his mistakes, but he still has a long way to go.
Track 15: Blame- Jesse (drug use/addiction tw)
Staying sober has been difficult for Kellen. Since exiting rehab, he hasn’t touched heroin, marijuana, or alcohol. However, the cravings have still been there. Before his heroin relapse, he was trying to numb his emotions with alcohol and weed. Now, he feels every emotion at full force. He often wonders if staying sober is worth it, but he knows he needs to for his own wellbeing.
“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. You like perform, then I take it?” It took a lot of courage to get up in front of a crowd like that; it was something Blake would probably never do. Playing guitar at home was one thing.
“Yup. I’m a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. I didn’t perform anywhere for a while, but I started getting back into it this year.” It felt weird saying that, but also good at the same time. “But my day job is tattoo artist.”
“In passing, yeah! I’ve seen you and Maya hanging out when I was a kid. I’m her neighbor, you probably don’t remember me because all my teeth grew in and my hair’s significantly lighter. I used to be the one that would use my trampoline to peek and see what you guys were doing,” Nova admitted to her much more nosier days…as if that ever changed. “Hm? Oh, no. I do gigs elsewhere, I’ve been here before though! The open mic nights are pretty solid!”
“Oh shiiiiit! You’re the neighbor kid?! Ah man, that means you saw me at my ugliest.” Back then, he had acne and crooked teeth. He still had crooked teeth, but now his acne was cleared up and he was covered in tattoos; the tattoos were his most noticeable feature now, which he liked. “Yeah, that’s pretty much the only good thing about this place, in my opinion.”
“Yeah, my brother is a little paranoid.” She almost never locked the deadbolt. The fact that it was locked, just clued her in to the fact that Lennon had been the last one out of the house. “Uh, I finished my shift at work and then I took the bus part of the way and walked the rest.”
“Seems like it.” Someone in her household had to be paranoid for a deadbolt to be used. “Which direction did you come from? Maybe you dropped your keys somewhere along the way during the walk.”
Enzo pulled out his guitar from the case as he started pulling his fingers over the strings gently, tuning it in so it was ready for later. He had decided to grab some lunch before band practice, and was patiently waiting for his club sandwich to arrive when someone stepped into the light in front of him, “Do you mind?” He asked, “I was kind of enjoying that.”
Kellen had an hour before he had another client booked, so he decided to go out on the town for lunch. He spotted an old friend and decided to bother him. Kellen stood directly in front of Enzo, waving his hand in front of the other’s face until he noticed. “I see you’re basking in the sun like the lizard you are, Russo,” he teased, stepping to the side. “How the hell have you been?”
Task: A Day in the Life of “The Elusive” Kellen Clark
When: August 9, 2021
Where: Mendoza/Clark residence and Catalyst Tattoo & Piercing, Santa Monica, California; In-N-Out Burger, Marina Del Rey, California
Featuring: Vito Mendoza and Joe Catalan (boss)
Triggers: N/A
“Three, two, one, aaaaand action!” Vito announced, turning on the video camera provided by the city. “Kellen! Kellen! Kell, it’s time to get up!”
Kellen groaned as he was shaken awake by his roommate half an hour before his alarm was set to go off. “Leave me alone.”
“I can’t! We’re filming today! A day in the life of Kellen Clark! The people want to know!”
He rubbed his eyes as he sat up. “Do we have to? Can’t I film you instead?”
“Nah, we did the coin toss fair and square. I was heads, you were tails. It landed on tails, so now I’m filming you,” Vito answered, grinning as Kellen finally got out fo bed. “The elusive Kellen Clark gets out of bed and heads towards the bathroom to take his morning poop.”
“Vito, do not film me in the fucking bathroom!” He slammed the door behind him, taking an extra long time just to be inconvenient. He really didn’t want to be doing this, and was annoyed by Vito’s National Geographic approach to the video, but that free rent reward was extremely appealing.
“The elusive Kellen Clark has finished his morning poop and must now get dressed for work,” Vito spoke into the camera before turning it back off and backing out of the room where his roommate was standing only in his underwear and a pair of socks.
Kellen put on his signature black jeans and band tee combo and combed his hair before emerging in the living room. He then walked over to the kitchen where he made himself a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and a cup of coffee, and sat down to enjoy his breakfast.
“The elusive Kellen Clark eats his Cheerios just like you and I. Remember folks, they’re heart healthy. He doesn’t eat cereal every morning, but most mornings he does. He slowly sips his black coffee so he can energize for the day ahead of him. Kellen, would you mind telling the folks watching at home what your plan is for the day?”
Kellen took a long sip of his coffee before answering, “Well, my trusty narrator/cameraman and I are going to my job at Catalyst Tattoo & Piercing.”
After breakfast was done, Kellen and Vito got into Kellen’s car, and they drove to Kellen’s job. Joe knew this was happening today and was totally fine with it. In fact, he thought it would be good publicity for the shop. During the drive, Kellen smoked a cigarette and cursed about traffic. He forgot that the camera was rolling, so he didn’t hold back, using insults such as “geriatric bastard,” “cocksucker,” “two-balled bitch,” and, his favorite, “Oompa Loompa,” referring to a woman with a horrible spray tan.
As Kellen and Vito entered the tattoo parlor, they were greeted by a man in his 40′s who was covered head-to-toe in tattoos, including a few on his face. “Mornin’, Kell. Mornin’, Vito,” the man stated.
“Joe! You gotta pretend I’m not here!” Vito whined.
“Right, sorry.” Joe nervously scratched the back of his head.
Kellen turned to the camera, explaining, “This is Catalyst! That’s my boss, Joe. He opened this place up in 2010 and he’s been running the show ever since. Let’s get this show on the road!”
Kellen’s shift at work was seven hours long. During that time, Vito filmed his interactions with clients and the process of clients getting tattooed. Vito tried to only focus on Kellen and his clients, but other tattoo artists and clients got in some of the shots. He turned the camera off when Kellen went out for a smoke break or took a bathroom break. Vito also had to turn the camera off and charge it during Kellen’s lunch break, as the battery was drained.
Once Kellen’s work day was over, he and Vito returned to the car. Instead of driving towards their apartment, however, Kellen started driving down Lincoln Blvd. “Now, dear viewers, I’m going to take us to In-N-Out Burger, ‘cause I’m fucking hungry,” Kellen announced. There were plenty of places in Santa Monica he could’ve gone to, but he had a specific craving.
“You heard it here first. The elusive Kellen Clark has decided that we’re having In-N-Out Burger for dinner! There aren’t any in Santa Monica, so we have to travel to the distant land of Marina Del Rey!” In reality, Marina Del Rey was only a 15 minute drive. It was rush hour though, so it took much longer than that. Vito turned the camera off half-way through the drive, turning it back on once they had secured the food. “The camera battery is dying, but we’re here to tell you that the burgers have been secured! The next time you see us, we will be back in the apartment.”
Once they were finished with their car picnic, Kellen drove back to their apartment in Downtown Santa Monica. With the camera plugged in to charge and an extension chord in tow, Vito filmed Kellen watching reruns of Jeopardy on Netflix and practicing his guitar. He performed several songs for the camera, including “Island In The Sun” by Weezer, “Circles” by Post Malone, “Worst” by Waterparks, and two of his originals, “I Think We Should Stay in Love” and “Bloom Later.”
After he was done playing guitar, Kellen decided to head to bed. He would have worked on some lyrics, but he didn’t want to do that on camera; he never showed anyone his lyrics until he was completely done. Plus he was tired from all of the commotion of filming for this contest. Vito followed Kellen into the bathroom, filming him as he brushed his teeth. “Turn the camera off, I’m getting undressed,” he stated, pushing his hand in front of the lens. Kellen always slept in his underwear. Before Vito turned the camera off, however, Kellen asked, “You can edit this shit, right? I said some real stupid shit that I don’t think they need to hear.”
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