The Many Lives of Kat Von D, From ‘LA Ink’ to ‘My Side of the Mountain’: ‘Music Has Always Been My Biggest Crush’

Few artists embody reinvention as boldly as Kat Von D. Whether tattooing on camera during her LA Ink run, building a cult-favorite eponymous makeup empire, designing shoes or restoring Victorian interiors in rural Indiana, she has always approached creativity without limits. Now, Kat (real name Katherine von Drachenberg) is channeling that same uncompromising vision into what she calls her “biggest crush” – music — as she crafts her own haunting brand of synth-driven, post-punk pop.

Since the release of her brooding debut, Love Made Me Do It (2021), and its shimmering follow-up, My Side of the Mountain (2024), the artist has brought her distinct blend of “disco goth” to life. “We try to do our own modern take on ’80s analog synth sounds,” she tells Billboard Español, citing the moody brilliance of The Cure, Depeche Mode and Siouxsie and the Banshees as key inspirations.

Kat, alongside her bandmate Sammi Doll, recently completed a Midwest tour run, opening for metal powerhouse In This Moment with fellow openers Wargasm and The Pretty Wild. “Being on stage comes with the responsibility of being larger than life,” she reflects on her on-stage theatrics. “I like that aspect of storytelling. As an artist, we don’t just create music; it’s something that affects you sonically and visually.”

While she splits her time between the quiet of her Victorian home in rural Indiana and writing her third album — featuring “more Spanish songs into the repertoire” — she remains deeply connected to her Latin roots. Born in Mexico to Argentine parents before migrating to Southern California, Kat’s heritage is woven throughout her art. “When I record in Spanish […] it feels like I’m at home,” she says.

Her pride in her heritage also extends to her excitement at the rise of Latin artists on the global stage. “It’s amazing to see these Spanish-speaking artists […] selling out arenas around the world,” she says. For the multi-hyphenate, recording in Spanish is a way of honoring her roots while reaching new audiences. This influence is evident in songs like “Por Ti,” inspired by the romantic ballads of 1970s Latin crooners, or her Spanish rendition of The Cure’s “Lovesong.”

We caught up with Kat over Zoom as she reflected on her recent tour and life on the road — including homeschooling her son and fostering a close-knit “carny family” bond with her crew. She opens up about her creative process, her reflections on My Side of the Mountain, and why timeless love, goth aesthetics, and fearless experimentation remain at the heart of her journey.

Talk to us about the creative process behind some of the songs for your latest album.

For My Side of the Mountain, I teamed up with a very small handful of songwriters that are personal heroes of mine. Over the process of making this album, we have become best friends in a way, because you get really close to people as you start creating together. I wanted to write a goth disco song with “Vampire Love,” a disco groove but with a darker synth side to it. 

The music video is very cute — it tells a story between two vampires that needed to fall in love. The lyrics of the song, what it represents to me, is more about this desire to find an everlasting love. I think that’s something a lot of people are in search of, not something temporary. People tend to treat each other so disposable nowadays. I come from a time where I want something that lasts forever and beyond. That’s what the song really means to me.

I love that Cure cover that you did. That’s when I first realized you record in Spanish too! 

Thank you! Singing in Spanish is my favorite, actually. We’re now working on album No. 3, and we are definitely incorporating more Spanish songs into the repertoire. I have a lot of Latin fans. My motherland is Mexico, so I feel like it’s a huge part of who I am and my creative process, so it only makes sense. As far as the Cure cover goes, I feel like everybody’s covered that song, so I wanted to do a different version to it. We gave it this arcade synthesizer sound approach, so it sounds like you’re in an arcade game. Then doing it in Spanish, it gives this classic a different twist.

You’ve worn some really cool outfits on stage, like that beaded Matador suit and the red leather chest plate with the cross. Can you talk about some of the designs?

I’m a huge fan of music, and whenever I go to see a band play, I actually get bummed out when people don’t put in the effort. Being on stage, there’s a certain responsibility of being larger than life, and I like that aspect of storytelling. As an artist, we don’t just create music; it’s something that affects you sonically and visually. For this tour, we’re opening up for In This Moment, and I look at the lineup of the opening bands [to consider] what’s the way for us to stand out and bring something that’s almost like a palate cleanse [for the audience]. So it’s nice. My bandmate, Sammi Doll, and I really like to get into character before going on stage. I think our costuming is a big part of that.

You were born in Mexico to Argentine parents. Tell me about your upbringing and how Latin culture has made its way to your art.

Both of my parents are from Argentina. My dad was born in Buenos Aires, and my mom was born in Rosario. They were missionaries for the church. At that point, they moved to a small town in Mexico called Montemorelos, in Nuevo León. That’s where myself and my two siblings were born. We lived there up until I was about five years old. Then after that, we migrated to the States, where we lived in Southern California. I have a mixture of different roots, but obviously my Latin roots are the most prominent for me. They played the hugest role in my upbringing, not just culturally, but artistically. Even when I look back at my tattoo career, I was always gravitated towards a specific style that is very prominent in Latin culture, especially in Chicano culture. 

When I record in Spanish, there’s a fluctuation in my voice that takes place that is different than when I speak English. I don’t know if it’s me sounding more like my mom, but it feels like I’m at home when I sing that way. Spanish was my first language. For a majority of my life, I dream in Spanish. It’s interesting to see the music industry now because there are so many huge Latin artists that are just blowing up. It makes me really excited to be a part of that. I think it’s really cool to see this uprising of Spanish-speaking artists. I absolutely love it.

You lived in LA for many years, and not that long ago, you moved to Indiana. What has been the biggest adjustment for you? And how has this new space been inspiring you?

I love Los Angeles. I still spend a lot of time there. My bandmate is out there, and all our production is done in Los Angeles. I like to compartmentalize my life in that sense. My husband and I bought land in rural Indiana, so we live in a tiny village of 1,200 people. It’s very quiet, but it really does help with creativity. I feel like I’m less distracted when I’m out there. It’s a very wonderful place to raise a boy. I feel like you can run freely, be crazy and zipline from one tree to another.

There’s pros and cons to both places. When you live in a big city, there’s the luxury of having some of the best cuisine, especially in LA, which has some of the best food. I definitely miss a lot of my friends, but I also don’t miss the traffic. The beautiful thing is that Indiana is just a three-hour flight to L.A. So it doesn’t feel like that much of a commute.

Your home is a masterpiece. You installed a penny floor in the bathroom, and a “blood” pool. 

I’ve been restoring old Victorian homes for years now. So when I found this particular one in Indiana, it had just got on the market. My husband and I had passed through it a couple of times on tour, but we didn’t know anybody out in Indiana. We said, “Let’s just go look at it. It’s a very unique property.” We just fell in love with the town and space. It was operating as a bed and breakfast for about 20 years. When we took it over, we renovated it to be more within our style. We’ve been remodeling it, without sacrificing the integrity of that era. It’s not completely finished, but we’re getting pretty close. 

The penny floor was the cheapest one in the entire house. It cost me $30. I’ve just always been a fan of do-it-yourself stuff. Coming from nothing and being able to still create things on a budget is cool. I feel like there are so many different ways of being able to express yourself, whether it’s through your environment in your home, to how you dress, to how you write music. I personally love detail. I love making your home feel like it’s yours. I put a lot of effort into my house.

You also created a children’s book, starring your son!

Yeah! To be honest, I thought it was going to be so easy, and it took so long. I’ve never illustrated a book before. I obviously do tattoos, I can draw and all that. I’ve never used an iPad to draw. I know that’s the new era. That book ended up taking me over three months just to illustrate. So it was a lot more work than I thought, but it was really fulfilling. I’m glad it did that, and Leafar loves it. We kept a box of 20 of them, and he gives them to his little friends. We might have a few copies left.

You’ve done so many things, like tattooing, and having a makeup line, and shoes as well. Are you still active with the shoe design?

Yeah. We’re about to relaunch my shoe line. So instead of being called Von D Shoes, we’re going to call it Von D Land, because we’re expanding into things beyond shoes, like accessories, gardening, and home decor — all things lifestyle. We’re planning on doing a big relaunch in October. With that being said, I’ll be opening up a brick-and-mortar store in my little town, an actual storefront for it. I’ll be able to do events, drops and meet and greets. It’ll be fun to bring people into our little town.

You and your husband [Rafael Reyes, the artist behind Prayers and the founder of the “cholo goth” genre] have a collaboration together, “Black Leather,” from 2017. Are you guys planning on collaborating again?

We have talked about doing another collab. When it comes to that stuff, it has to be so organic. He’s in Mexico right now writing his new album and releasing singles. While I’m on tour, he’s busy doing his thing. My husband’s music is the most authentic thing I’ve ever heard; it really comes from his heart. If he’s moved and inspired, I’m always going to be on board. Whenever he plays “Black Leather” and I’m in town, I always come on stage and sing it with him. It’s the song that brought us together as a couple, so I always love singing with him.

Your style is so unique and cool. Your decision to black out your tattoo must have been a big decision.

I’ve been blacking out my tattoos for a while now. I really like the aesthetic. I know that it’s off-putting to a lot of people, but it looks clean and simple to me. I’ve been getting tattooed since I was a teenager. There was not a lot of good stuff, especially as a tattoo artist, you use yourself to practice on. There are some tattoos that I was emotionally attached to, but for the most part, I’m okay with changing that chapter of my life. I think some of my fans were heartbroken about it because they were attached to a certain era. But everybody grows up, and everybody evolves.

I really love the blackout process. I know some people think there’s no art to it because it’s just black. But it’s a very difficult thing to make it look so smooth and so consistent. I get tattooed by a guy in Philadelphia named Hoode [Philly], and he specializes in blackout tattoos. We’ve been chipping away at my whole body for the last couple of years. I share here and there, but I’m pretty modest. I don’t show off my body too much. But maybe when I’m completely done, I’ll show a final reveal.

Your creativity knows no limits. Is there something else that you’d love to try yet you have not done yet?

Music has always been my biggest crush. I feel like it’s the one thing that fulfills my heart on a level that I can’t explain. Tattooing was like that for me, in a sense, but it was more on an individual basis, because you’re tattooing one person at a time. But when you’re playing music, you’re casting a broader net, and you’re connecting with more people at the same time. There’s something very moving about that. I love performing. I think it’s so much fun. We’re already working on the next album and figuring out what the next tour looks like. That’s very exciting to me.