Eagulls Talk about Bill Murray Tattoos, Bill Murray Movies, and Bill Murray

If you were to meet film legend Bill Murray, what would you say to him? Would you tell him you’re a big fan of his movies? Brag that you’ve seen Caddyshack over 500 times? Or maybe quote a really obscure line from Ghostbusters? (“Tell him about the Twinkie.”) Well, whatever you’ve got, you’re never, ever going to top Eagulls.

Last week, the Leeds band was booked to play the Late Show alongside Murray. So the day before, they did the only rational thing they could think of: They made their bassist, Tom Kelly, get a tattoo of the words “Bill Murray” on his shoulder. They then showed it to Murray and well, let Tom and guitarist Mark "Goldy" Goldsworthy tell you about it…

Eagulls performing on the Late Show.

Noisey: OK, so walk me through this. You find out that you’re playing the Late Show, and you find out that Bill Murray’s on, so your first reaction is to get a Bill Murray tattoo?
Tom Kelly: No, not at all. We found out about a week before we came here. It was only when we went to the Partisan offices and were having a few drinks and Shira (Eagulls' publicist) was like, “My friend’s coming with a tattoo gun to do a piece for the Village Voice.”

Mark: When we’re on tour, there’s always times when we think we should go get tattooed and it costs a fortune so we’re like, “Oh fuck that, we haven’t got enough money.” So we were having some drinks, your friend (former Noisey editor and amateur tattoo extraordinaire, Sasha Hecht) was there with the tattoo gun, and we were all pissed. So we all started getting tattoos.
Tom: I was pretty drunk and everyone said, “You should get a Billy Murray tattoo underneath your Eagulls tattoo.”

E + BM 2gether 4ever

So you get the Bill Murray tattoo and then the next day, you meet him. What was his reaction?
Tom: We were at the top of the balcony at Letterman watching him do his rehearsals because he flew in as Peter Pan on a fucking zip line and shit. One of the Letterman people came up to him and he went, “Who’s playing tonight?” And she went, “Eagulls” and he went, “The Eagles?!” And she went, “No.” And he goes, “Oh, that sucks.” And then she said, “One of them’s actually got a tattoo with your name on it” and he said, “I hope it’s temporary.” I was shitting myself after that. I thought, “What happens if I show him it and he tells me to fuck off?”

Bill Murray's Late Show entrance.

So you then you showed him the tattoo…
Tom: He was talking to someone and it was getting towards the end of the night and I didn’t think I had much time left to do it so I was running quickly and I was like, “Bill, look at this!”

Yeah, that’s what every celebrity wants, for some guy to run up and be like, “Look at this! It’s not a gun or anything!”
Tom: Yeah, I start undoing my pants, “Bill, look at this!”

When I write this up, I’m gonna put in parenthesis, “Makes jerkoff motion.”
Tom: No, that was windmilling it.

Right, the helicopter.
Tom: There’s not much to helicopter though.

So what was his reaction?
Mark: He shook his head, laughed, and kissed it.

Bill Murray's reaction, in all its glory.

Before this, were you a Bill Murray fan?
Tom: I like his films.

What’s your favorite Billy Murray movie?
Tom: The Wes Anderson ones and stuff.

Latter-day Bill Murray, then.
Tom: Well I like the early ones like Groundhog Day.

Can I ask you a really dark question? One day, probably in your lifetime, Bill Murray is gonna die. And you’ll have the first commemorative tattoo…
Mark: He’ll probably die before Bill Murray.

Are you gonna make this a habit? Any time you play a big TV gig, get a tattoo of the other guest?
Tom: Well, I rang my mom the day it happened. And she said, “Why are you getting more stupid tattoos?” But then she was like, “…Well, what was he like?”

The author with the infamous tattoo.

Dan Ozzi will give you a tattoo prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be gray, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life. Follow him on Twitter - @danozzi