I think early high school was when I decided I'd probably want to get at least one tattoo. It was when I was still figuring out metal culture, and I thought it was pretty vital to the aesthetic — it's actually not, but it helps. It makes you look tougher and cooler and blah, blah, blah.

The real purpose of tattoos, which I discovered once I started getting them, is that they tell stories. They reveal who you are before you've even told someone about it. They're great conversation starters and a way to look back on who yo u once were.

In my senior year of high school, when I was planning on getting one, most people gave me the usual shtick, "What about when you get old and your skin wrinkles?" "What if you get one you regret?"

I'd never really regret a tattoo because of the reasons I just mentioned — it represents a period of your life, and there's no shame in wearing your story on your skin.

My first tattoo was early in the summer of 2015, and it's a bass and treble clef combined. It's on the inside of my forearm and is a reminder that music is something I've always been drawn to. I spent my high school years in chorus and pushing myself toward vocal work. It's not my focus now, but choral performance brought about a lot of personal growth in me. It pushed me to be more present in front of a crowd, and not be afraid to be vulnerable onstage.

My second tattoo is on the other side of my forearm and is usually one of the first things people notice about it. I got it only a month or two after the first one and it's pretty important to me. It's a tattoo of the TARDIS from "Doctor Who." "Doctor Who" was initially just a phase for me in high school for some personal reasons — I was trying to impress a girl, go figure — and I eventually fell out of it, and picked it up again on my own. Because I grew to love it of my own accord, I found it so much more fulfilling and meaningful as far as TV shows go. It was a big inspiration for a lot of my creative outlets like songwriting and my personal philosophies. The tattoo itself took more than two hours, so it was definitely worth getting. Plus, wherever I go, I use it to find out where the other Whovians are.

My third tattoo was one I got myself for my 19th birthday. I got money from relatives and dug up another $100 out of my savings and got myself a very relevant tattoo. I'm the drummer for a local band, which I care about very much, Toxic Crew. And playing drums has always been a musical endeavor I was interested in, but never had a chance to pursue. So with this opportunity, I've very much cemented myself as a drummer and decided to get a tattoo that fit that part of my identity. So my third tattoo was a paradiddle (RLRR LRLL), one of the basic drum rudiments. Rudiments are to phrases as words are to sentences; they're the building blocks for the language of drummers.

And finally, my most recent tattoo, my sister paid for it as a birthday present. I love her to death for this. She has as many tattoos as I do — we usually go and get ours around the same time, and we've gone to the same guy for all eight thus far. She really wanted a matching tattoo because we're so close, so I picked the ouroboros. It's a symbol that shows up in many mythologies and religions, usually depicted as the dragon or serpent eating its own tail to represent cycles and rebirth (think of a phoenix, but a little more badass).

All in all, I really love my tattoos and the stories they carry. You may look at them and go, "Why the hell would you get that? You're gonna regret it in 30 years." Well, I'm not. I'm proud of the images I've put on my body. Some are definitely more meaningful than others, and some will not be relevant to my life in 30 years, but they were relevant and incredibly poignant once, just as everything is. I really encourage anyone to get a tattoo — definitely not something obviously silly, like on a dare or something — but something deliberate that means something to you. What you put on your body is your choice and reflects you as a person.