Former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone will DJ at Rock the Ink.

AP / Matt Sayles

Rock the Ink, the three-day extravaganza that celebrated the mix of loud music and tattooing last October, is returning to Providence this summer.

Organizer Paul Zukoski says that the festival will hit the Rhode Island Convention Center Aug. 21-23 with a new, lower ticket price, a more concentrated venue and 35 bands, as well as hundreds of vendors hawking everything from tattoos to tattoo supplies to jewelry and more.

So far, the biggest confirmed names on the bill are the California punk/hip-hop hybrid (hed) p.e. and the loud-fast Otep. Former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone will DJ, and Zukoski says he has other negotiations in the works.

Last year’s Providence show “gave us a direction,” Zukoski says. He was happy with the results but decided that the ticket price was too high and that splitting the festivities between the convention center and the Dunkin’ Donuts Center weakened the focus. (It also made the crowd look smaller than it was, particularly the nearly empty Dunk.)

This year, tickets are $15 per day and $35 for the weekend, and the convention will take over the entire convention center. Zukoski envisions everything happening in one room, allowing people to watch bands while getting tattooed, to head straight for the vendor booths where specific fashion-show items are on sale, and more.

The other big difference is that while Rock the Ink was a one-shot affair last year, this time around the Providence show is the first of four Rock the Ink shows nationwide. Zukoski says he has shows booked Oct. 16 to 18 in Albuquerque, N.M., December in Atlanta and early next year in El Paso, Texas.

Zukoski also says that the festival will honor Ron Daigle, who has been tattooing in Providence for 60 years, and that shows elsewhere in the country will recognize long-time local tattoo artists.

He adds that he’s glad to be coming back to Providence, saying the city “embraced us” the first year, when the whole convention was just an idea, and has been extremely supportive.

Kristen Adamo, of the Providence and Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau, says Rock the Ink is part of the arts scene that the bureau uses to market the city. She allows that the lifestyle isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but that “It’s enough people’s cup of tea or they wouldn’t come back. It speaks to the city, where we’ve always been a bit quirky and had an independent streak. And that’s something that we promote.”

Zukoski thinks his festival will continue to grow as the tattooed lifestyle continues to grow. He cites a New York Times report estimating that 8 million people will get their first tattoos this year. “It’s a lot more inclusive now than it’s ever been before.”

For more details, go to www.myspace.com/rocktheink.

rmassimo@projo.com