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Interview – Dávid Molnár

March 3, 2014 By Matt McDade

David Molnar - C3YoYoDesign - EYYC 2014

David Molnar, 2014 EYYC 5A Champion. Sponsored by C3YoYoDesign.

Dávid Molnár is a C3 Professional who is a highly accomplished 5A player, being the EYYC14 Champion. Proving his skill at many competitions, Dávid is a well respected and easily recognized face in both the European scene as well as the community worldwide. Dávid and I had the chance to talk tricks, contests, his new signature yoyo, and more!

Dávid, as the 5A Champion of EYYC14, contest organizer, and C3 Professional you’ve definitely proved yourself in yoyoing so far. How did you first start yoyoing?

I got my first yoyo in the summer of 2007, but managed to break it within a week. So, I count December 2007 as the beginning. One of my classmates had a yoyo, and I saw him doing Double Trapeze. I was mindblown, and that was the moment I decided to start.

That’s interesting, I think I broke some yoyos too when I first started. How did you first learn tricks back then?

I think everybody breaks at least 1 yoyo in his career 🙂 In the beginning, I was watching YouTube for the first couple of months. After that, it turned out that there are meetings in Budapest every weekend. I joined them, and they were very friendly and helpful.

What were some of your favorite tricks then?

I didn’t have any favorite trick, but I loved all kind of slacks- Follow, for example. Interesting fact…I hated 5A back then.

Wow, that’s surprising! How long was it after you started yoyoing that you first tried 5A?

It was at a 2008 New Years Eve party. We had a yoyo party at a players home. Dana Bennett was studying in Hungary back than, and he was there too, showing off some tricks. Completely changed my attitude towards 5A. Not even half a year passed, and I won the first 5A division I was competing at, and in December 2009 I became the 5A Hungarian National Champion.

That’s so awesome, would you say you learned 5A pretty quickly then?

I think I learned the basics fast, but we all are still learning.

Did you have any inspirations in 5A/1A back then?

In 5A I was watching Petr Kavka, Tyler Severance, Dana Bennett, Takuma Inoue, and in 1A Guy Wright, Yuuki Spencer, Sebastian Brock. Mostly USA guys, but nowdays I almost only watch Japan/Asia players and some upcoming talents from the USA.  Some of my biggest inspiration comes from Hiroyasu Ishihara, Soujun Miyamura and still Takuma Inoue.

Those are all inspirational yoyoers in my opinion too. At what point did you decide to start competing?

I decided to start competing from the first second I found out that there are competitions in Hungary.

What was your first contest?

My first was August of 2008. Offline Sport Games in Hungary, and I got Semi-Pro 5th out of more than 20 players.

That’s really impressive for your first contest. If you had to pick, do you think it’s harder to compete in 1A or 5A?

It is very hard to compete in 1A, since there are the most players, and it is the division most people admire, but most of the time I just enjoy myself on the stage. But since I have chosen 5A to be my main division, I have a huge pressure in the division even at the smallest contest I attend.

That’s true, I know what you mean. I think it would be hard to compete in different divisions at the same contest. When it comes to tricks, how do you make your tricks up?

I don’t really have a method. Sometimes I watch videos, and when there is a move I really like I stand up, and try to figure out something from it. Sometimes, I just open a bottle of wine, put some chill music on and start to play, and the trick comes by itself. I invent a lot of moves, or mounts, but I throw most of them away if I don’t find them good enough for competition.

That’s awesome, I think that everyone has their own method to creating tricks but it’s really what works best for someone that helps make a trick good. How long does it take to prepare for a contest?

For me it all depends on when I can choose the music. I always build my freestlyle on the music. Most of the time, I can only find music during the last week before the competition, but in the meantime I practice the tricks a lot. I have the order in my mind, and I just change it a little to fit the music.

Did you plan on taking 1st in 5A at EYYC14?

I really wanted to win this year to show what great yoyoing it is, so I practiced a lot. It turned out that I did well since I won with about +17% compared to second place. I was really happy.

That is really good, I would definitely say that it was a well deserved win. On another note, how did you end up getting sponsored by C3?

Actually, I was in Turning Point first. I quit from them in June 2012, and right after I quit was when official C3YoYoDesign offered me a place. They only had a few yoyo back then, but they were amazing people with great goals, so I decided to join them.

C3YoYoDesign Dymension - David Molnar Signature

What was the process like in putting together your new signature yoyo from them?

For my signature yoyo, I just told them what I like and what I want it to play like. Ron got my proto designed in December, we changed a few things by January, and I was sent some samples to try. I loved it, so they went to final production, and they turned out even better than the prototype. I would like to mention Balint ‘Vooper’ Farkas for helping me to find the perfect name for the yoyo.

That sounds like a pretty painless process to me, I really like the name too. Lastly, do you have any advice for any aspiring yoyoer in any division?

I would recommend to watch lot of videos, go to lots of contests and meet other players. Try to develop your own style no matter what division, set a goal for yourself, and don’t stop practicing until you have reached it. Then, it is time for a short break, and to have new goals. Thank you very much for the interview Matt.

Go big or go home! 🙂

I totally agree, no problem! Thank you Dávid!

 

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: 5A, c3yoyodesign, champion, counterweight, david molnar, eyyc, featured, freehand, hungary, Interview

Interview – Paul Kerbel

February 28, 2014 By Matt McDade

Paul Kerbel - EYYC 2014

Paul Kerbel performing in the 1A Open division at EYYC 2014. Photo by Harald Klemm.

Paul Kerbel is a great player from Mexico who is sponsored by YoYoFactory and was recently crowned the EYYC 2014 1A Open champion. A well-known name in the community, Paul agreed to do an interview and I knew we had to talk his EYYC 2014 win, his beginnings in yoyoing, his upcoming signature yoyo, and more!

Paul, as the recent champion of the 1A Open division at EYYC 2014 and a name that a lot of yoyoers will instantly recognize, how did you start yoyoing in the first place?

When I saw a close friend named Ariel Cohen in school doing the beginner’s tricks I really liked it, so we went to free yoyo classes in Mexico with Isaac Kanarek. Then, I saw modern yoyoing and I liked it very much so I went every weekend for years to take the classes. Now, I still go to the meetings/classes and I teach or I just hang out with my friends of the Mexican Yoyo Association.

That’s so awesome, I think it’s really cool that yoyo clubs and classes are available in so many different places.

Who were some of your favorite players early on?

Hmm, its a huge list of players:

Fash, Paul Han, Yuuki Spencer, Simon Welch, Ando, Hank Freeman, Drew Tetz, Steve Brown, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Shinya Kido, and many many more

What were some of your favorite tricks to learn when you first started?

I don’t really have any favorite tricks, I just like variety in yoyoing.

I totally agree.  When did you decide to compete, and what was your first contest?

Since the beginning, since we had small contests I wanted all of the prizes! But, I started to compete at Mexican Nationals in 2007 where I got 2nd place in Mexico.

How long did it take for you to get good at yoyoing in your opinion?

I became good after the WYYC 2010, with Horizontal Circular Eli Hops.

Those do take a lot of skill, I wish I could do those without looking like I was trying to break something in my house on purpose. Was it through winning contests that you got recognized by YoYoFactory?

I got into YYF very early in my yoyo life, I was 13 in 2008 and I entered on the junior team.  But, I think after that freestyle in 2010 at WYYC in winning 10th place and taking it more serious they recognized me more and entered me in the contest team

Is there anyone you like competing against?

I love competing against everybody!  I wish I could see more freestyles at contests, but I practice too much so I can’t see many of them.

That’s good though, the hard work definitely pays off. Did you expect to take the 1A Open title at EYYC this year?

I knew I could get in the top 3, but after knowing that Tatsuya Fujisaka, Iori Yamaki and Marcus Koh were going I knew it was going to be harder than expected.

Definitely, I would be intimidated to compete in the same contest as any of them. What’s your process like when it comes to making up tricks for your freestyles?

I just chill with some music and yoyo to make up tricks, I try not to be forced to invent new stuff. Then, I choose some good tricks and try to fit them with my freestyle music. I might change songs that I find nice fitting with the tricks, and I even edit the songs and practice until I find ugly parts and start working on them. I edited the song 3 or 4 times before getting on stage at EYYC 2014.

Wow, I think all of that editing and hard work really makes for a great freestyle in the end. Aside from competing, what are some of your other favorite parts about yoyoing?

The yoyo community is great, and competing its amazing. The creativity and coordination I’ve gained is great too.

What are some of your favorite elements to put into tricks?

My favorite elements are those that make the crowd/people just go crazy, so bangers in general!

As a watcher of freestyles, I definitely have to say that those are some if my favorites too.

Steve Brown told me that you have a new signature yoyo coming soon from YoYoFactory, is there anything you can share about that?

Hmmm, I can say I made the first design with a friend in Mexico. It will have a different shape than normal yoyos, but we made that shape that way so it would make horizontal tricks easier. It will be oversized.

That sounds good, I’m personally a big fan of oversized yoyos too. Do you have any advice for any aspiring yoyoers out there?

Perseverance.

And what can we expect to see from you in the future?

From me, I don’t know. I’m aiming for the World Title and I also want to make the first Israeli yoyo contest happen. I’m actually living in Israel right now, so I want the yoyo community here to grow.

Wow, that’s interesting. I hope you can achieve both. Seeing yoyoing being spread to new places is great. Thanks for doing this Paul!

Thank you!

Paul Kerbel

Photo courtesy of YoYoFactory.

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: featured, Interview, paul kerbel, yoyofactory

Interview- Ky Zizan

February 24, 2014 By Matt McDade

Ky Zizan

Ky Zizan is an extremely innovative 1A player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who is also the inventor of a fairly new and innovative sub-style of 1A called Double Dragon (one yoyo, two strings). Sponsored by Werrd, Ky is known for his unique slack tricks that certainly inspire me as well as many others to push yoyoing to it’s creative limits. Ky and I talked his beginnings in yoyoing, tricks, Double Dragon and more!

Ky, thanks for doing this! As an extremely underrated player (in my opinion), you’ve been killing it in the 1A scene for a while now. How did you start yoyoing?

I started yoyoing by random chance, funny enough. My first actual yoyo that I started to practice on was a green ProYo. I got it in the summer of 2004 on the day after my cousin’s wedding in New Mexico. My family and I went to this tiny science museuem and in the gift shop were yoyos. I just knew it was what I wanted to do. Also, thank you for the kind words!

How did you start learning tricks back then, and when would you say you started to get good?

Well, first I learned from this book that had all of the classic tricks. From there, I moved to Sector Y and Ken’s World on a String. I would say I started to get the hang of it and make my own stuff about a year and a half/two years in. I made up my first trick around when I was 13.

There are still a goldmine of old elements/tricks on websites like Sector Y! Who were some of your early inspirations in making up tricks?

My biggest inspirations early on were Yuuki Spencer, Johnnie Delvalle, Boyd Seth, Jason Lee, Mark Montgomery, etc. I could list more, but it would be a lot more!

How long would you say it took for you to get good at yoyoing?

I would say I started to get good maybe around ’07, then took a break. Really, I have just started to hit my stride about two years ago.

Nice! A lot of people give you credit for really innovating in 2013. With such a good style, what’s your process like with making up tricks/combos?

I would say that I try to incorporate as many ideas from other things that I enjoy as much as possible. I feel everything is related, its just a matter of figuring out how they connect, and they will connect after a bit of fiddling and tinkering. For instance, a lot of the Double Dragon tricks are based off of scratches due to both having a nature of equilateral movement. Sometimes, I just have an idea out of nowhere and implement that too as well. I think a happy medium of the two is the best method to figuring out a completely new idea, whether it be a trick, song, device etc.

I have to agree with you there, your creativity definitely shows in all of the things you’ve done. Speaking of Double Dragon, how did you come up with that style and what made you decide to bring it onto stage at contests? It’s definitely been well recieved.

It just sorta came to me. One day I just thought, “Man, I could totally make this work!” and this was before I had seen Rei’s AP.  This was probably about 2 and half, three years ago and the only person that I told about it at the time was Boyd (Boyd Seth). He came up with the name. After I started to have some tricks figured out, I knew it was something more than a sub style of tricks or anything like that. It was a completely untouched field that has so much potential for tricks and ideas only possible through dragons. I competed with it because I wanted to show people that the dragons could not be contained by modern competitive standards and I hope that maybe that will change one day.

That’s so awesome, I think different, innovative styles of yoyoing were more common back in the day so it’s really nice to see something new and interesting today.

Ky Zizan

I know you mess around a little with beat production, what are some other things you’re interested in other than yoyoing?

Yeah, this year I’m trying to take my production game to a new level but aside from that I am a DJ.  Recently, I’ve been gearing up to start entering DMCs, which are the competition for turntablists.  I have also been teaching myself piano, and I draw.  That pretty much encompasses all I do these days.

Also, my soundcloud is: soundcloud.com/argiemor

That’s awesome! Any last advice for any aspiring yoyoer out there?

My advice for aspiring yoyoers is to have faith in yourself and to keep pushing yourself.  Always try to go for what seems unattainable.  It will be in your reach sooner than you think.

Thanks Ky!

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: Interview, ky zizan, Werrd

A Primer on Technical YoYoing

February 19, 2014 By Drew Tetz

The deeper one gets into yo-yoing, the more one is exposed to all the wonderful jargon and nebulous concepts that its enthusiasts have come up with. One of the trickiest bits of vocabulary to define has always been “technical yo-yoing”: most players know it when they see it, other players can give you a vague definition, and non-players will look at it and walk away shaking their heads.

This particular style of tricks is known for its intense complexity, its focus on slight details & variations in tricks, and its heightened level of difficulty. Yo-yo tricks exploded in growth with the introduction of the bearing, and it could be argued that the roots of technical play were established with Steve Brown, Neff, and the SpinDox during the Renegade era. However, “tech” as we know it would really hit its stride in 2003 with Johnnie DelValle’s groundbreaking championship freestyle.

The focus on intricate string play and long, risky combos was a huge paradigm shift. Though the Eli Hop and other showy choreographic moves have found their way back into competitive play, technical play shows no signs of leaving. If anything, the championship title awarded to Hungarian tech wizard Janos Karancz a decade after JD’s victory seems to indicate a new golden age of tech.

I thought it would be best to turn to the pros to discuss some of the core tenets of technical trick construction, and am proud to feature well-respected trick theorists Mikhail, Rafael, Isaac, Spencer, Gabe, and Jacob. Let’s hear about it.

How would you define “technical yo-yoing”?

 

Mikhail Tulabut (Team YoYoJam): “The simplest way I can define it is a trick/combo whose string geometry is more complicated and dimensional than Double or Nothing. It’s like holding up a flat piece of paper compared to holding up a paper airplane.”

Rafael Matsunaga (Duncan Crew): “For me, if I call something ‘technical’, I’m mostly thinking about complexity of tricks. Even though some simpler concepts may require more technical expertise and are actually harder than what I call technical, I’m probably more inclined to use technical to describe trick with multiple string folds and hard-to-describe mounts and moves.”

Jacob “Elephark” Jensen (Werrd): “I think of modern yoyoing as the sort of yoyoing that focuses primarily on creation and sharing ideas, as opposed to classical yoyoing, which gives importance to mastering a set of tricks and/or performing for the sake of selling yoyos.

I think of technical yoyoing as the facet of modern yoyoing that focuses on concepts and elements for their own sake, or the sake of the trick. The science of yoyo tricks, if you will. … For me, I think the term ‘tech yoyoer’ is most accurately descriptive of a player who studies and preferably attempts to expand the library of trick concepts available to the community. Kind of like a scientist. Okay, exactly like a scientist. And there’s theoretical science and there’s practical science, and each scientist gets to choose how many scoops of each to put on his plate at lunchtime.“

Isaac Sams (Duncan Crew, Innovation Movement): “Technical yoyoing: sequencing that is too complex to fully follow without learning it.”

Spencer Berry: “I usually lump technical yo-yoing into most of the tricks that non-yoyoers may be amazed by, but probably can’t tell apart. Which is a huge lump! To a yoyoer, I could probably even get more specific: tech tricks are those that explore holds beyond the building blocks. Sometimes tech tricks explore new concepts or combine multiple simpler concepts into single motions, but more often than that they are the product of kids seeking originality while they bounce from string to string, knot to knot. If the trick is complicated, it is easier to be unique, right? I often hear tech and flow pitted against each other – but a trick can easily have both or neither and of course grades in between.”

What, in your opinion, makes a trick or combo “good”?

David Ung (Team Yoyofactory): “I think a good trick is one that requires every motion. Extraneous movements in tricks and combos really bother me (in most cases. Some people have really interesting “useless” moves that I think are fantastic). Good tricks generally have great pacing, too. I don’t know exactly how to explain/define good trick pacing… but just look at Yuuki or Charles to get a good idea. There is always enough original material/moves sprinkled throughout the trick to keep you entertained the entire time.”

Gabe Lozano (Duncan Crew, Sector-Y): “To me, a trick or combo should follow a general theme. This can be done in several ways, but my personal favorite is taking a move or hold, and then finding all the neat transitions in and out of that move/hold, and then tying it all together in a way that flows nicely. That way, all the pieces fit together and feel cohesive.”

Mikhail: “1. Dynamics. There should be a rhythm to it. Kind of like the 3 Act structure of story-telling. Setup (Mount), Confrontation (String hits and maneuvers), and Resolution (Banger/Reveal/dismount).

2. Flow. Things should always be moving and feel natural. When I’m working on a trick, I like to feel and “listen” to where the yo-yo and my hands want to go. It obvious when I try a movement and the yo-yo just won’t have it.

3. Surprise/Originality. Natural movement and flow is nice, but I also like to see movements/slack/mounts that come out of nowhere and haven’t been done to death.”

Rafael: “I believe good combos are like good music. Everybody likes a different style, but some characteristics are universal to good combos/music. First of all, a good combo must be well executed, otherwise, it’s the same as a fantastic sheet music being played by a mediocre musician. Then it comes to composition itself. If the elements follow a certain pattern or just go well together, that’s a nice combo. I know that’s a bit vague, but like music, once you listen to a good song or see a good combo, you know it. And just like music, some styles and elements end up becoming a fad and nobody cares any longer, even if people keep doing it (like dubstep, or I guess trap these days)”

Spencer: “I’d say most of MY favorite tricks that I CAN do have sensations to them. Either a motion that just fits right or a theme that carries the yoyo through some sort of story (not necessarily literal, but motions that build, climax, release, arc, etc).

As far as tricks I enjoy watching, my favorites are usually exemplary examples of someone’s personality made yoyo trick. I think Rojas and Haycock are perfect modern examples of this – watching them play they are unmistakeable – often imitated – but never faked. There is a sense of identity – suddenly holds, moves, even tricks you’ve maybe seen before become infused with a fresh personality.

The real challenge, I find, is making a trick sufficiently simple for me to both want to learn it and enjoy doing it. In the past i was drawn to long, complicated, proprietary tricks. Because I knew they were mine and I felt like it was new territory. But I’ve definitely shifted into a seek the simplicity phase where it is equally challenging to find something that is simple but fresh and fun to do.“

Isaac: “Since the ‘modern’ style of yoyoing is so young, we have to take inspiration from the non-yoyo world to make any sense of what we’re doing. Some of today’s best tricks are made like this, and the reason why they’re the best is because everyone can make the connection, not just yoyoers. A good combo has no borders.

Another thing to take note of is utilizing all your possible zones. A really long combo done in front of the player is boring, it usually doesn’t catch enough attention. A well-scoring combo will consist of tech placed inside-arm, outside-arm, overhead, over arm—basically, cover as much area as you can.”

What pitfalls should be avoided during combo construction?

Gabe: “I personally dislike combos that are disorganized. If you’re throwing in hops, boings, stalls, grinds, arms, etc. into one combo, it’s just a disorganized mess. Even if every element is cool, when you throw them all together, your elements don’t get the recognition they deserve because they’re surrounded by too many other moves that don’t complement it. The trick then becomes forgettable. Good tricks are memorable, and having a strong theme and focus is key.”

Isaac: “What kills a combo for me is when a player stays in a mount for a while without accelerating through the trick. What I love about the Russian style is that their combos only consist of ridiculous transitions, so you can barely tell when they are in a mount before they’re already out.”

Rafael: “A trick is boring/bad if no effort is put into it. If you’re just taking existing elements from two popular combos and putting them together, there’s no effort in creativity. If you come up with a new hold but can do nothing with it, there is no effort in construction.

Overusing the music metaphor again, if you’re just doing other people’s combos, you’re that dude with a guitar playing covers on the beach. People may enjoy it, even give you props for playing their favorite song, but when Tom Morello parks across the street you’ll be as good as dead. Good tricks and combos come from trick artists.”

Mikhail: “Never-ending combos. I attribute this to ‘contest yo-yoing.’ Yo-yos spin longer, and regens save time to get more points, but holy crap when a trick should obviously end at a trapeze, and they just regen out of it to regen out again it feels like a run-on sentence that should have clearly ended a while ago but it just didn’t and kept going because it could and it didn’t even use a comma to break up the thought and just started a whole new thought because it was easier to just keep going even though the statement was clearly over and came to a natural and fitting end but nah never mind let’s just keep going for a little bit because I can and then an abrupt. End.”

Spencer: “I don’t want to say that any tricks are bad, I think if someone came up with it and it brings them joy then it is a success.

If a trick or combo is boring it is probably having trouble distinguishing itself. With the abundance of tricks that exist now, it is very easy to create something that may be technically new, but has nothing fresh about it. Which is strange to say—because people make fresh tricks out of old holds, old moves, old tricks all the time—but there is also a lot of new tricks that don’t seem fresh because they don’t assert themselves to anything beyond a series of moves someone put together. Does that make any sense?”

Technical yo-yoing may rightly be regarded as one of the most unapproachable styles, but persistent practice and mindful trick design can also make it one of the most impressive. This is by no means a complete summary of the wide world of tech, but hopefully is enough to inspire you to try some kink mounts.

Filed Under: Interview, Players, Trick Theory Tagged With: david ung, gabe lozano, Isaac Sams, jacob jensen, rafael matsunaga, spencer berry, tech, technical, trick theory

Interview- Guy Wright

February 11, 2014 By Matt McDade

SPYY-Legacy

As a huge fan of 1A, I have to say that I would be willing to defend my opinion that there is a special genre of 1A that I would refer to as “Guy Wright Tricks”. In other words, Guy Wright is a unique and awesome player that has definitely made an impression on modern 1A. Formerly sponsored by SPYY, Guy Wright is the inventor of tons of extremely creative and unique tricks and just as well known for his awesome clip videos. One of my favorite players of all time, Guy agreed to do an interview and I was immediately excited to learn more about one of my favorites.

Guy, thanks for doing this! From inventing great tricks to putting out several instant-classic clip videos, you’ve definitely left a mark on modern yoyoing. How did you get your start?

Well, the main thing that got me into yoyoing was when I first saw the Viking Tour promotional DVD that my buddy (who was/is not a yoyoer) showed me in 2005. He told me about it and I was like, “yoyos are lame” but then he showed me the video and I was like “I bet I would be really good at that!”. So, I went out that day and got a FH2 from Target, and that was it. I have always been into juggling, so yoyos seemed like a reasonable thing to get into. Also, the fact that Steve Brown made it look cool and it wasn’t just some nerdy ass little kids made me think it would be cool even though I was already 21.

I feel that way too about how yoyoing kind of can appeal to a lot of age groups and not just little kids. Did you just start throwing 1A with the FH2? How did you start learning tricks back then?

I didn’t start with 1A at first. I went right into Freehand and learned a lot of the tricks from the Viking Tour DVD (Beestings, E-fans, etc. I did 5A for about 5 months before I got into 1A). The more videos I watched online, the more I wanted to get into slack tricks and it’s kinda hard to do slack stuff while holding the die so I eventually dropped it and started exclusively doing 1A. My next yoyo after a couple Freehands was the Hspin Pyro (I also had a big fascination with grind tricks at the time, so it seemed right.)

Oh yeah, Steve had those “Walking Grinds” in that video too, and 5A definitely has a feel like juggling more so than 1A I think. What were some of your favorite 1A tricks early on?

My favorite 1A tricks when I started where suicides, whips, slack, and grinds.

I loved the idea of the suicide, because it was so simple and obvious. You know exactly what’s going on, and why it’s difficult. Clean, simple and badass.

I loved slacks because they were big, graceful and pretty (when done right).

I was also really into grinds because they had the same feel as skateboard tricks and I was a big skateboarder when I was younger, so those elements were appealing to me.

Guy Wright at the Bay Area Classic YoYo Contest

When did you start making up your own?

It’s hard to say when I started making my own tricks. I feel most of my tricks were/are just variations of other tricks. Then again, isn’t that every trick? How far away from an existing trick does a variation have to be to be considered “new”? How many existing elements do you have to put into a combo before the combo is considered a new trick in itself?

Short answer: I would always try to make my own versions of tricks ever since I started.

I totally know what you mean. For a while, I was confused between the differences of a “trick” and a “combo”. I saw people throw “combos” that looked like entirely new tricks to me and I still sometimes get confused if I’m looking at a trick, or a combo that’s so good that it looks like something entirely new.

My favorite Guy Wright trick/combo/yoyo thing (a lot of other people’s probably too) is definitely Cupcakes. I love both repeaters and chopsticks tricks, so of course it’s perfect. A lot of your tricks are not only technically appealing but extremely visually appealing as well.

Yeah, I have always thought that the way tricks look is way more important than what’s actually being done. It’s like, yoyos are essentially a visual thing, so if it doesn’t look good, why the hell are you doing it? Granted, I have always thought I was extremely sloppy so I don’t know what that means.

SPYY Punchline - Guy Wright Signature YoYo

Your SPYY signature yoyo was the Punchline which I’ve never thrown but featured a really cool shape that I like. What was the process like in designing your own throw?

As far as the Punchline goes, when we were coming up with it I just told Steve (of Spyy) that I wanted something bubbly, friendly, and…well….floaty. I wanted a yoyo that I would get along with, something that wouldn’t fight me and wasn’t aggressive. Like, I could say “Hey yoyo, how about we go over here now?” and it would say “Ok Guy, that seems fine” then we would hug.

I gave him personality traits and had him work his magic to make something physical out of my vague stoner descriptions. I mean, I did say I wanted it about 66 grams and a little bigger than the Pistolero. but aside from that I just gave descriptions about how I wanted it to “feel” and I have to say Steve nailed it. He sent me some CAD designs of a nice, bubbly, round yoyo with nice rounded-off rims and I was in love.

I like those kind of yoyos too. For me, it’s either that or a heavier yoyo that can also do what I want it to without being extremely heavy on the string and overall being kind of annoying to throw. In watching the “SpyyGuy Comics” clip video, that throw totally fit your yoyoing. Speaking of which, what’s your favorite clip video that you’ve put out?

It’s a tie between The Letter blue, Amplifire, More and Oh, and the first Punchline video.

The Letter Blue because I feel it has the best tricks.

Amplifire because I feel just about everything in there looks the way I wanted it to and it has the best song.

More and Oh because it was the most fun video to make and everything went well. Both me and Elliot hit our tricks within a reasonable amount of time, it was a nice sunny day, the editing was painless, and the song goes really well with it.

Finally, the first Punchline video because I have crazy hair in it.

I agree with you there, some of my favorite Guy Wright tricks appear in The Letter Blue as well as the first Punchline video.

Do you have any advice for any aspiring yoyoer out there?

The best advice I can give is simply, make it look good. That’s the only real important thing. If it doesn’t look good, why would you do it? It doesn’t matter how hard a trick is as long as you can do it with style.

I totally agree, that philosophy definitely shows in all of your tricks. Thanks Guy!


 

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: featured, guy wright, Interview, punchline, spyy

Interview – Augie Fash

January 17, 2014 By Matt McDade

Augie Fash

Augie Fash is a name that most yoyoers will instantly recognize, partially because he’s been yoyoing for so long but mostly because he has serious skill and is (in my opinion) one of the best yoyoers of our time. Sponsored by C3YoyoDesign, Augie competes, releases killer clip videos and generally inspires many with both his attitude and tricks that I genuinely wish I had the ability to come up with. Augie agreed to do an interview and we talked Spindox, tricks, his new signature throw and more!

       Augie, thanks for doing an interview! You’ve been yoyoing for over 15 years now and have several 1st place titles and signature yoyos to your name. Not only that, but you are one of the most well-known faces in the yoyo community. How did it all start?

I started playing yoyo in the 5th grade. I randomly found a Klutz yoyo and book kit in a teaching store while my mom and brother were out shopping. I pored over the book and started collecting every yoyo I could find. We didn’t have internet back then, so I would scour every store we went into, trying to find spare strings, and any sort of yoyo material I could get my hands on. I read and watched everything I had so often, I literally had a lot of books and video material memorized by heart.

For example, I still remember reading that Alex Garcia dreamed of someday owning a VW Passatt. I still remember reading about how Jon Gates and Dave Shulte’s yoyo tour van got broken into in Marseille, France. I dreamed of someday traveling the world and living their lives. It’s what I really wanted. I’d walk out to every recess with my shorts stuffed full of every yoyo I owned, and I’d spend all day practicing. I was addicted.

Augie Fash

I can totally relate to being absolutely obsessed with yoyos when first starting, for me I think it was a lot of “right place, right time” that led to me being able to practice for hours each day just for fun and it totally payed off. When did you start to get really good, and what were some of your favorite tricks early on?

It actually took me an awfully long time to start getting good. I started getting noticeably good around the summer of 2003, so I’d already been yoyoing for about 5 years. My favorite tricks from back then are still my favorite tricks now – Breath, Kwijibo, Iron Whip, and Boingy Boing.

Nice! I remember hearing that you went to Spindox meetings back then too right?

Yes, I did! I think my first Spindox meeting was in 2000.

What kind of yoyos were you throwing?

Some of my favorite yoyos from back then are still some of my favorites: SuperYo Renegade (Original black, and later, the marble generations) and Bumblebee GT I threw back in 2000. 2003, I was throwing Freehand 1’s and the Night Moves 1 exclusively. I collected hundreds of spent friction stickers (“friction biscuits”) and used my Night Moves so much that I wore the starbursts off of the sides.

That’s so awesome, such a different time as far as the yoyos go. Is there anything you specifically miss about back then that’s different now? 

I think, as with most hobbies or art, you definitely miss that magical feeling of being fresh and inexperienced, where everything seems so new. Lots of nostalgia for those early times. Many of my favorite players, tricks, and even memories date back to that first 4-5 years of throwing.

When did you start competing, and when was your first 1st place win?

My first contest was the 1999 US National Contest, Sport Ladder. My first freestyle was California State Contest 2002, and my first win was California State Contest 2003.

How did you originally end up getting sponsored?

I originally got sponsored in 2004, when Dave Bazan invited me to join Team Buzzon, the crew for the new company he was starting at the time.

I’d met Dave earlier the year before at BAC 2003. Like every other year (and every other contest) beforehand, I had failed to pass the compulsory round. I had only gotten to freestyle once at that point. I was super bummed out about not making it in, but Dave saw me yoyoing and decided that there was enough time to let every single person freestyle. So that became my big break in professional yo-yoing, and I got to join Dave’s team the next year. It was a dream come true.

I’ve never thrown any Buzz-On’s but I really like those kinds of throws that were popular then. With some signature throws under your belt, what are your favorite qualities in a yoyo and what is the process like in designing your own?

I tend to prefer heavy yoyos (they slow me down) with minimalist design and clean contours.

The first yoyo I’ve really had a hand in designing has been my new yoyo, the Electric Flash by C3YoyoDesign. Unfortunately, with my last sponsor, I didn’t have an opportunity to give input on my signature yoyos. With C3 though, it’s been great. I started with sending some weight, shape, diameter, and width preferences to C3. Then we mailed prototypes and emails back and forth between Hong Kong and the US, with me giving feedback on every new prototype. The whole process was pretty quick – around 3 months or less. I’m proud of the result.

That sounds sweet, I would personally LOVE that opportunity and I think it would be cool to see everyone like a throw that is exactly what I like too. As a professional yoyoer that’s admired by many, who are some of YOUR favorite yoyoers?

Oh man, I’ve got so many favorites.

As far as contemporary 1A players go, my favorites are Riccardo Fraolini, Anthony Rojas, Charles Haycock, Isaac Sams, Janos Karancz, and Gentry Stein.

Of all time, I’d also add in: Jason Lee, Justin Weber, John Ando, Jensen Kimmitt, Yuuki Spencer, Sid, Kota Watanabe, Hidemasa Senba, Johnnie Delvalle, Vashek Kroutil, Mateusz Ganc, Brent Dellinger, Gary Longoria, Paul Escolar, Mark Montgomery, and Spencer Berry. (Hope I’m not forgetting anyone!)

I’m also a 5A player, but my favorite 5A players of all time is a short and easy list: Shingo Terada, Rafael Matsunaga, and Sterling Quinn. I pretty much love everything they do.

Lastly, John Higby is a huge inspiration to me, both on and off stage. He was an early influence for me and still a huge one. Performing with him in Dubai was one of the best experiences of my life.

Good call on Justin Weber and Kota Watanabe, those are two yoyoers that probably wouldn’t pop straight into my head but I would have to add to my list of favorite players too. We actually share almost all of the same favorites!

That’s so cool. I think that means we have good taste 🙂

Yes! From a trick standpoint, what are your some of you favorite elements to work into tricks?

Probably my favorite elements are Eli hops, whips, and off-plane. I love the impact and immediacy of hops and whips. Off-plane/plane-bend I love because it’s flowy and beautiful and weird.

Do you have any advice for any aspiring yoyoers out there?

Yes I do! Absorb and digest as many different styles and trick concepts as you can. But most of all, stay true to your own style. It will make you memorable and take you from being good to being great.

I agree, that’s advice that you’ve definitely followed. Thanks for taking the time to do this Augie, and good luck on your future endeavors!

Augie Fash - Electric Flash by C3YoYoDesign at YoYoExpert.com

Augie’s newest signature model, the Electric Flash by C3YoYoDesign, is available now at YoYoExpert.com 

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: augie fash, featured, Interview

Interview- Seth Peterson

November 20, 2013 By Matt McDade

Seth Peterson

Photo by Sonny Patrick

Seth Peterson is one half of the yoyo lifestyle brand, Save Deth. Founded by Seth Peterson and Dave Poyzer, Save Deth is a streetwear brand both influenced by and featuring art from the yoyo community as well as putting out great DVD’s and clip videos full of original footage of your favorite players. Seth is a former member of the Duncan Crew, as well as an extremely smooth and talented player with an awesome mentality towards the art of yoyo. Seth agreed to do an interview and we talked tricks, yoyos, music, and more! Check it out!

Seth, thanks for doing an interview! For those that don’t know, you along with Dave Poyzer started Save Deth, a streetwear brand influenced by the yoyo community and featuring designs by yoyoers/artists like Paul Escolar and Danny Severance. How did you originally start throwing?

I started yoyoing back in 1996. A friend of mine got a yoyo and showed me some tricks. So, I got my own and was hooked. I grew up in a small town in Iowa, so we didn’t have anyone to learn from. I can’t tell you how many hours we spent trying to learn tricks from trick books and videos.

Wow, that’s a while back. Have you stuck around the scene since?

I wouldn’t say I was even part of the scene till 2000 when I went to my first real yoyo contest. But yeah, I’d say I was pretty into it since I started.

That had to be such a different time in yoyoing, I think it would have been cool to see big changes in yoyoing like unresponsive play, more accessibility via the internet, etc. What were some of your favorite tricks back then? What would you say the biggest difference between yoyoing now and yoyoing then is?

I would say the biggest difference for me is the equipment. When I started really getting into learning harder tricks and competing, there was so much tuning and modding you had to do to get something to play well. Not to mention availability. Now, you can get really good bearings yo-yos at Toys R Us. And you have YoYoExpert with a huge selection of modern yo-yos. It’s really a great time to be a yoyoer. As far as tricks, back then, Spirit Bomb was my Holy Grail trick. Also, Steve Brown’s H20 mount tricks like Water Bomb had a huge impact on my way of thinking about tricks.

Those H20 mount tricks are awesome, although I never learned them. I remember seeing Chinese Water Torture and Water Bomb in some Spindox clips. I’ve seen another old trick called Spring Water by a guy named Spiky Haired Raver from back then which uses that mount too.

You have such a smooth style when it comes to your own tricks, when did you start making your own up? 

I think making up tricks was just a natural progression. Back in the early 2000’s, everyone was making up new things. Sector Y and the Spindox videos really brought that to the forefront for me. The trick section was full of new, never before seen tricks and concepts. I think we’re still unpacking what they did over a decade ago.

Do you have any approach to making up tricks?

As far as approach, I try not to try. I don’t compete so I don’t have that pressure of showing new stuff all the time. I’m really glad for that, I love doing my old tricks, and redoing old stuff really helps me with new tricks.

That’s kind of what Paul Escolar said about old concepts when I interviewed him, and it’s true. I’ve been throwing for about 2 1/2 years now but I’ve never competed (except in a trick ladder when I first started). Competitive yoyoing is still cool and I give so much credit to those that do put out fresh material and win contests, but yoyoing for a long time just for the fun of it makes for one good stress reliever.

Seth Peterson EGO by Bio Industries
Seth Peterson EGO by Bio Industries
Seth Peterson EGO by Bio Industries

Seth Peterson EGO by Bio Industries

Back around 06/07, you released a yoyo with the now-defunct B.I.O. Industries called the Ego. I actually got one off of YoYoExpert’s BST a few months ago, but it needs K-Pads. How did that release end up happening? I really liked the way it played before the response wore out.

You’re really pulling skeletons out of the closet! I don’t know how it started actually. But it was an insanely quick process. Basically, I wanted to make an aluminum X-Con, with a D bearing. within a week of describing what I wanted to Alex, it was done and for sale at Nationals. It was a good learning experience, for all the wrong reasons.

I know B.I.O. Industries was notoriously a really, really sketchy company, but that’s another story for another day. Save Deth came along not long after, right? I’m a huge fan of both streetwear and yoyo videos so Save Deth couldn’t really be more of a perfect company. With the yoyo community being a kind of fashionable one, Save Deth is a pretty welcome fit. How did you and Dave get the idea to start the company? Did you wonder whether or not it would not it would catch on at first?

When the Ego happened Alex had just started BIO, it wasn’t till after it happened that I started hearing about all the yo-yos and money he owes people and stuff like that. It’s a bummer.

But, as far as Save Deth goes, it all started with making yoyo videos. The first video of Volume 1, “Downtown” started it all. Dave and I were really inspired by Miguel Correa’s “Manifest Destiny”. It was the first video I’d seen that told a story, and there was as much energy put into the production as the tricks. SO, we set out to try to make a visually interesting video. That was the spring of 2005. Once Dave was done editing that video, we realized we had something that might work as a DVD. So, we spent the next 2 years filming people who would come into town, and eventually we had Volume 1, which was released at Worlds 07. The catalyst for the clothing side of it was sparked in 2006 when I went to BAC and saw Kiya’s store, Turf. Seeing all these cool t shirts and shoes, it made me want to make cool stuff too. Our first shirts were just spray painted stencils. Later, as a “thank you” for making an Anti-Yo Eetsit video, Kiya and Sonny gave us a screen printing kit and a Polaroid camera. I don’t think they could have realized what they were about to start!

After that, it just started to grow. Volume 1 was really well received, and people were really into the stuff we were making.

Did you wonder whether or not it would not it would catch on at first?

It was never a question of if it was going to be successful, we just wanted to make rad stuff with our friends.

Seth Peterson

Photo by Gabriel Lozano

That’s awesome. Manifest Destiny is a good video, another one I like from that era that is kind of along those lines is Fidget by Spencer Berry and Jason Lee. I actually saw Save Deth Volume 2 first and it’s a great video. Not only did it introduce me to a few new players but some great music as well (the song “The Creeps” by Boy Noises from Vol. 2 is really good). What’s the process like in dealing with players, musicians, and all to put together a DVD? It makes for a really unique and enjoyable watch.

Fidget is amazing.

The process was such a learning curve, especially the music. Music Licensing is no joke, and we wanted to make sure we did it right. We would start with a list of bands we wanted to use and just go through and research them, contact labels or agents and try to get them to listen to our pitch. We are also really fortunate to have talented friends like The Envy Corps and Parlours.

Once we get the conversation going with a band or label, the next hurdle is the negotiate a rate. Each song we use, we have to pay for, every time we use it. So a portion of every DVD sold goes back to the artist. Our ultimate goal would be to pay the player as well.

The editing of the videos is basically Dave just working his magic. I’ll start by going through all the footage and cutting out all the misses. Then Dave goes it and sets the shots to the music track, puts in b roll and color corrects the footage.

Wow, I guess when yoyoers post little clip videos on YouTube licensing isn’t a huge deal. But, translate it to a DVD and having rights to use a song is pretty important. If you had to pick, what would your favorite clip from any volume of Save Deth be? I personally couldn’t pick but Danny’s part from Volume 2 comes to mind for having some really great stuff in it.

Yeah, when you start selling something, and it uses someones work, it opens up a whole can of worms.

As far as all time favorite, I’d have to say Abe’s part. I had so much fun filming that.

Not sure if I’m being off topic either but do you know the band Real Estate? They’re a really chill sounding band that I was into a while ago, and I can see some of their stuff being in a Save Deth clip.

I really like Real Estate too. Miggy introduced them to me. I think we listened to the Album “Days” at least once a week when we were roommates.

I listened to “Days” too all the time last year, a lot of good stuff on there. What about Wild Nothing? They’re a little different than Real Estate musically but they’re another band I like. Don’t know about their music in a clip though.

Yeah, Wild Nothing is dope too. I was going to use “Chinatown” for a video a while back. I think it was an Elliot Jackson video?

Save Deth 5 Panel Corduroy Hat

5-Panel Corduroy Hat by Save Deth

Anyway, what can we expect to see from Save Deth and you in the future? I know you recently released some pretty nice 5 panel hats that I’ve seen make some appearances in some clip videos recently.

The future, thats a good question. The new hats are the start. I’d like to do more with Save Deth, both on the clothing and media fronts. We haven’t put out a shirt in a while, but I’ve got new ideas and I hope we can put some of them out. As far as new media, things have changed a lot since we released Volume 2. YouTube was still growing, and HD video was a luxury not a norm. Now, everything is streaming in HD. In a way it’s awesome because now we don’t have to get DVDs made and have to deal with shipping. But, the infrastructure of online video is tricky.

It’s amazing how much of a leap there’s been in video within the last 5 years or so, I discovered YouTube around ’06 and remember when there were “Director Videos” on the side of page as well as putting that special code at the end of video url’s to make them stream in HD.

Dave and I have always wanted to make a photo book of Polaroids we’ve shot over the years. So, maybe we’ll be able to do something like that.

A photobook would be awesome, I’ve been getting into photo zines lately and although a photobook isn’t necessarily the same anything kind of analog-driven in great. Shirts too, I don’t think the popularity of a well-designed, comfy tee will go away any time soon

For me, my wife McKenzie and I just moved to Portland yesterday. There’s so much going on in this city, I love it. And I hope I can be part of it all. I’m setting up a little screen printing shop, and I hope to start a few different projects that I’ve wanted to start, but didn’t have the time to. Ask me the same question in 6 months and I’m sure I’ll have a much better answer.

I’ve never been to Portland, let alone Oregon, but I wish you luck! Any advice for anyone trying to get into yoyoing/photography/filming/graphic design?

I think there are still great places for physical, analog things. I really enjoy good books and zines, records, toys. Stuff that’s fun to interact with. Videos, I don’t think I’ll miss DVDs.

Portland is awesome. Every time I visit, I dig it more. I’m stoked to live here now.

As far as advice, I’m still figuring it out myself. Just ask questions and enjoy learning. If you have an idea, work to figure out how to do it.

I totally agree and feel the same. I should grab “Days” on vinyl or something, although my ipod is convenient nothing beats the warm sound of vinyl. On behalf of myself and YoYoNews, thanks Seth! I really appreciate it, and like I said good luck!

Thanks for inviting me to be a part of it!

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: featured, Interview, save deth, seth peterson

Interview- Chris Neff

October 22, 2013 By Matt McDade

Chris Neff

Anyone involved in the spin top scene will most likely recognize Chris Neff as the 2011 Spin Top World Champion and one who is very active in the modern spin top scene. Before taking the title in 2011, Chris was a Duncan professional who appeared alongside Steve Brown in the infamous “How To Be A Player” series from Duncan as well as “Kickin’ Tricks”, SuperYo’s VHS from the late 90’s featuring many of your current favorites such as Steve Brown, Paul Escolar, and Gary Longoria. Chris disappeared from the yoyo scene in the early 2000’s to focus on his career as an architect, later resurfacing around 2010 and clearly becoming amazing with a top. How To Be A Player was the video that really helped me understand yoyoing when I was young, and I was extremely excited to chat with Chris about tricks, spin tops, donuts and more!

Chris, thanks for doing an interview! Not only are you extremely good with a spin top, but for those that don’t know you were also a Duncan professional who threw along with Steve Brown in the How To Be A Player videos (as well as appearing in Kickin’ Tricks, SuperYo’s infamous VHS). I’ll go in depth into spin tops later, but how did you originally start playing with a yoyo? I always liked your style, especially in the sections of the How To Be A Player videos where you and Steve would throw your own combos.

The week we spent shooting How To Be A Player was the best time of my previous life (My wife might read this so… yeah).  So much fun, no partying, just yoyoing… and slushies and duct tape and donuts, ermegersh!

I started yoyoing right after high school in 1992 when I bought a Duncan Imperial and the Duncan trick book.  By the time I went to college I could do most of the tricks in the book, and my roommate Brad was impressed enough to get a few yoyo’s for himself.  Soon a deadly match of one-upsmanship began and kept us busy all through college… except when we were learning to be architects and stuff like that.  We lived off of Duncan Wheels and Arnie Dixon’s YoYo Extravaganza video.  Fixed axle bosses.

Chris Neff

That sounds so cool, when I started yoyoing it was of course all over the internet so I definitely had the advantage of looking at online tutorials, but I learned everything from a Sleeper to Mach 5 from How To Be A Player. You and Steve definitely did an amazing job with the Duncan Wheels (those in the video had bearings though, right?) and the FH1 prototypes, in that video too.

You were also in Superyo’s “Kickin Tricks” video, throwing some classics like Meltdown and Blackhole. How did you end up in that video, and did you have any approach to making up tricks back then? Meltdown is still one of my favorites (both the trapeze-to-1.5 and straight up 1.5 versions.)

Kickin’ Tricks is an excellent snapshot in time; SuperYo brought a professional film crew to Nationals one year (1998 I think?) with the soul purpose of capturing every original trick they could find performed on their new Renegade yoyo.  I was just stoked to be working with my first yoyo hero Arnie Dixon.  So many great players on that video.  It’s unique because so few people there were sponsored directly by a y0yo company, (most were sponsored by kite stores) so anybody who had a decent trick could be on the video if they wanted.  Of course not every influential player of the time is on the video, but what a great sampling of players and tricks.  Has there been a video since with so many different players on it?

My approach to building combos has always been based on flow and contrast.  Trick elements should glide from one part to the next, unless the effect is to intentionally interrupt the flow, like a stall or something.  A combo should have contrast like change in speed and/or size.  The elements themselves come from the influence of other players or the occasional accidental discovery of my own.  Meltdown came from a bit I saw in Dennis McBride’s “Cyclone Racer” and a rudimentary diabolo stall trick.  Black Hole is just a name for “pinwheel on each hand all the way to triple or nothing,”  lolz.  My advice to emerging players is; don’t force it, that’s annoying.  Just play with the darn thing with an open mind and have fun.

I agree. I really don’t think there’s been another video like Kickin’ Tricks but I do remember the video saying something about a “Volume 2” which unfortunately never came out. As far as flow goes, I really couldn’t really agree more. Another trick I’ve always liked from you but never been able to figure out is Chainsaw. I actually performed for my Aunt’s elementary school class once and a kid kept asking me to do “the Chainsaw”- I don’t think he was referencing the Chris Neff combo though.

Ah, Chainsaw is easy, maybe we can meet up at a contest and I can show ya.  Did any of the kids ask you if you were a robot?  I used to get that all the time.  That, and, “Were you struck by lighting?”

Nope, but I have been asked if my yoyo had batteries or if it was “motorized” before. I’m pretty sure I would lose my composure if I got asked if I were struck by lightning, I might just have to stretch the truth there.

I always liked how proficient you were in a lot of styles like 2A, 5A and 1A, as well as “Apparatus Play” which you invented, right? I remember the segment in How to be a Player where you showcased some Apparatus stuff and it was pretty cool.

Being proficient at several or all the styles is what separates the yoyo professional from the yoyo glam punk.  My 3A is terrible but the rest I know enough to get a kid excited about the style and get him started.  Ben Conde and Hank Freeman are two of the most well rounded players that I have ever met.   ANYWAY, yeah, the Apparatus.  I would never go so far as to call that a style, just a sub-chapter of 5A, but I tell ya what, it’s fun.

How did that come about?

I built two apparati in my RV on the 1999 Duncan RV tour.  I brought a bunch of  tools with me and spent most nights in my RV parked in Walmart parking lots modding and cobbling stuff together.  The inspiration was the upcoming How To Be A Player video – we wanted it to look like a skateboard video, and what better way to do that than to yoyo ON stuff?  Handrails and jungle gyms were obvious choices but sometimes hard to find so I wanted to make my own portable yoyo gym to work some tricks out on.  POOF. Apparatus.  Some apparatus stuff at the end of this video:

The part in How To Be A Player where you and Steve literally “grinded” the offstring yoyo down the railing was awesome, plus the 5A around the bike racks too. One thing I liked about actual instructional videos was the variety and entertainment factor that you don’t really get with all internet clips. I remember watching that video for the first time and being in awe at how proficient you both were with yoyos in general.

Yeah, in HTBAP Vol. 2, I was but a youngling. Steve had tricks of his own and he had learned how to regenerate (create more spin kinda like you do with a diabolo). There were only a handful of active players in the US back then who could regenerate; maybe just Steve Brown, Herman Lau, Jon Gates and Dave Bazan? I had two weeks notice to brush up on my spin top skills before we shot HTBAP.

How did you get started with tops? From what I understand, you were pretty much a novice in How To Be A Player (never thought that when I saw it though.)

Jon Gates got me interested in spin tops. I saw a red Duncan Imperial spin top in his bag at YoYo University (1998 Team High Performance rally conference in Honolulu for the ensuing Bandai X-Brain campaign… ah, nevermind) and asked him what he could do with it. It was easy to learn the basics from him, but what really hooked me was when he showed me how make them spin smoother by using a little blob of putty as a balancing weight. It’s like turning a useless lump of coal into a diamond. I takes some time to find the right spot through trial and error, but since I learned I have never put up with a rough spinning top. Learning spin tops is a lot like learning offstring yoyo; there’s a lot of chaos and frustration when you first start out, but once you get the hang of a trick, the sense of accomplishment is noticeably stronger than your average 1A trick because it was so much harder to get there.

Wow, I’ve never thrown a top but I can imagine how hard it could be to really get a trick down. That sense of accomplishment has to feel great. Merry Go Round is a way to regenerate spin, right? I always thought you and Steve were pretty smooth with tops, the roughest spins in that video would probably be from the smoking/exploding tops in the video.

Merry-go-round doesn’t generate spin.  If I remember right, the only time you see regeneration moves like roller coaster in HTBAP is when Steve is using that giant pink top.  Here is a quick run-down video of  basic regeneration moves:  

Like a lot of players from the early 2000’s, you disappeared from the scene for a while before resurfacing around 2010, actually becoming the World Spin Top Champion in 2011.

In 2001 the yoyo boom that started in ’97 was dead and gone, and it wasn’t so easy to find a yoyoing job anymore, so I fell back on my architecture degree and got a job in my home town, got married, house, kid… I never stopped yoyoing really but nobody else around me was in to it, and I was too busy to keep track of what was developing in the yoyo subculture.  I think it was 2008 when I got an e-mail from John Higby with a link to one of Black’s contest videos, saying “Black says YOU are his favorite player!!!”  That blew me away and so did his tricks.  I didn’t even know that binds existed so it was kind of surreal.  It looked like cheating to me, but I finally gave in when Takeshi (who I hadn’t even met yet) sent me one of his modded Freehands.  I started judging at MOYO each year and slowly got acclimated to the new yoyo scene.  This got me motivated enough to design a family vacation around Worlds 2009.  I was speechless at the level of tricks around me, and I was too embarrassed to even put a yoyo on my finger.  I needed something else to do.

What made you decide to come back, and gravitate more towards tops this time?

I met a fellah who calls himself Ta0.

Ta0 was eager to meet me and said I was famous in the spin top community because of HTBAP vol 2.  I thought he was crazy.  He showed me some very impressive tricks I had never seen before, but they weren’t so radically different like the new yoyo tricks I was seeing.  It looked manageable and I was eager to tackle a new skill.  Ta0 invited me to his spin top forum iTopSpin.com and I have been there ever since.  It’s a lot quieter than your typical yoyo forum because there’s just not as much going on as there is in the yoyo world.

There haven’t been many new products since 2001 when Duncan, Spintastics and YYJ all put out bearing tops for the first time.  YYF did some amazing tops in 2009 but don’t plan to make any more. YYJ quit making tops years ago and they won’t again until they figure out some design issues at the tip.  Crucial has talked about making tops, Werrd made some prototypes, Duncan has had a prototype one way bearing aluminum top ready since 2009.  Strummol8 emerged in 2010 to make the best spin tops ever fabricated IMO, but they are expensive.  What I’m getting at is that there has been very little development for the entry level spin top in the past 12 years, and it is no wonder there are so few new players.  It seems companies are waiting for demand, but that cracks me up because these are the same companies that CREATED yoyo demand.  OK sorry, I will get off my soapbox now 🙂

I’m about 95% sure I saw a video of Black doing a presentation/speech about yoyos to a group of people on YouTube once, and he threw Meltdown for them after saying “After practicing, this is what I could do with a yoyo” (don’t quote me on that, although I’m pretty sure).

I saw that video of Black you are talking about, and when he opened with Meltdown I was just blown away!

In my very unprofessional opinion, I think the reason that yoyos are so popular and the community is so busy is that it’s so accessible. Nowadays, literally anything you could possibly want to know/watch/buy about yoyos is just a click or two away along with a massive community of so many people that do it too.

I like your insight on accessibility…

I originally saw HTBAP sometime in the early 2000’s, but it was 2011 when I really started throwing consistently, not that long before Worlds 2011. In 2011, you became the World Spin Top Champion. What was the process like getting ready for that contest?

I won at 2011 Worlds because Darren Kim smoked me at 2010 Worlds AND Nationals.

Did you expect to get 1st?

I could do more difficult tricks than Darren but on stage it was obvious he worked a lot harder on his routine.  So for 2011 I worked on groups of tricks instead of tricks themselves and it paid off.  I haven’t been able to go back to Chico so I still want that National title.  Planning for next year.  Funny how failure can motivate.  I recently was part of the Kansas City Juggling Festival Main Show, and I was not happy at all with my performance, I just didn’t make time for enough practice.  Now I’m sneaking it in where ever I can, like during my son’s gymastics class:

Practice definitely makes perfect, and saying that you’re the 2011 World Champ has to be a nice plus. I don’t doubt you could get a National title, that would be another awesome accomplishment. Any last words/knowledge/advice you’d like to say about yoyos or tops? Thanks so much Chris, and good luck!

Thanks so much for this opportunity Matt, it’s been fun for me. There are so many more stories and anecdotes that come to mind but these couple of things I would like to share:

Thing 1: I have been teaching yo yo workshops (in-consecutively) for 16 years, and the thing that has always fascinated me is how various people learn, and my favorite observation is the difference between old and young people. Time and time again, there has been a father and son together in my workshop, and I watch the son pick things up much quicker because he has an open mind, and the father struggles because he is trying to force the object to his will. Stay curious, keep an open mind, and help out your dumb dad.

Thing 2: I am not up to date on yoyo videos these days, but one of my favorites it Mr. Bist’s “Take yoyo less serious” on youtube. I wanna see more fun like that. So many players these days try to cop this badass attitude in videos and on stage at contests that I judge, and man, that gets old. I suppose it just comes with the territory, most of these young men are at an age that is all about self assertion, but isn’t anybody out there after some fun? Like Seth, John and Abe and those guys?

I think it’s time for my nap.

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: 5a may, chris neff, duncan toys, featured, Interview, spin top

Interview- Spencer Berry

September 13, 2013 By Matt McDade

Spencer Berry

Photo courtesy of Elias Berry

In modern yoyoing, few can say that they’ve created as many memorable tricks as Spencer Berry. His name is synonymous with the undeniable classics Rancid Milk and Breath, as well as others such as Enigma, Havoc, and Wonder Woman. Spencer was a member of the Duncan Crew until 2008. These days, he is currently standing behind his own yoyo, the Walter. Spencer can also be found on 365yoyotricks.com every Wednesday in 2013, showing off another one of his tricks for an entire year. Spencer was kind enough to agree to do an interview for my site, and immediately I knew I had to dive into his tricks, how he got his start in yoyoing, and more.

Spencer, first and foremost I’d like to say thanks for taking the time to do an interview! I’d like to touch base on some stuff that I’ve personally always been curious about. You’ve been involved in yoyoing for over a decade, but how did you get your start?

Matt, thanks for showing some interest.

My introduction to yoyoing was sort of slow and took place over a few years.  I was given a Proyo II one year for xmas when I was pretty young, but never really learned any tricks. A few years later, during the boom, I got excited about the prospect of a ball bearing yoyo and paid something ridiculous ($30?) for a Raider.  But I never learned more than Rock the Cradle and One Handed Star.  And quickly lost interest. In 8th grade (1998/99), as a sort of joke, I chose yoyos as the topic for a huge research paper/presentation. Mostly I presented on the history of the yoyo and I was not necessarily learning tricks at that point. It wasn’t until 2000 that the perfect storm hit and I actually became yoyo obsessed.  That year a few elements combined:

  • I lost my older brother in late ’99, so I was full of grief.  I craved a hobby to distract from the pain of loss and to ease me through the drastic transition my family had to go through.
  • My literature class had a twelfth night secret santa type gift give away and a girl bought me an X-Brain (because she remembered my presentation the year prior).
  • My mother worked for a gift store and was given a copy of Kickin’ Tricks by SuperYo on VHS as a product demo.  She gave me the tape and it inspired me.

Those elements combined in January of 2000 and by the time I learned Braintwister, there was no turning back.  I would sit in my room, practice yoyo tricks while watching Kickin’ Tricks and using AIM/ICQ/IRC to chat with yoyo folks.  I probably averaged 6-8 hrs/day of practice in 2000.

Wow, I kind of began in a similar way. I picked up a Duncan Imperial somewhere when I was young, but could never use it. I got a knot in the string, and my Grandma cut the string off. She tied the string back on after getting the knot out rather than looping it, which caused the yoyo to come back automatically. I had no idea of course, and thought I was progressing rather quickly.

I put the yoyo down too after a while though, but got a FHZ for Christmas a couple of years later. I also lost interest though, and it wasn’t until 8th grade when a friend brought a yoyo to school that I remembered the few tricks I had learned on my FHZ (Sleeper, Walk the Dog, Eiffel Tower). and from that day on it was a wrap, and I’ve been yoyoing since. It seems like everyone has their own unique story with how they became involved with a yoyo, and I feel that it’s not just something you do but something that draws you in and really does become an obsession.

I’ve watched all of the Spindox videos from the early 2000’s, granted they were way before my time. How did you initially get involved in Spindox, and what was your early approach to making up tricks? Some of the early tricks I’ve seen from you include Grotty and Raging Demon, which if I’m not mistaken were before Rancid Milk (correct me if I’m wrong)

You must be young if you had a FHZ in 8th grade!!  I remember testing the original Freehand in the “FH dark ages” before bandai bought the FHZ mold. (Editor’s Note: Bandai didn’t buy the mold, the original Freehand mold broke. Bandai requested the old shape, and Duncan Toys created a new mold to meet their demand.)

I started getting really into yoyoing at the beginning of 2000 and spent a lot of time on the internet reading about it.  The first Spindox video by Gabe (02-05-00) was mindblowing at the time.  It took me a few months to get the courage and to talk my parents into driving me out, but my first Spindox was April 8th 2000.  I was just a kid and showed up.  And I was welcomed with open arms.  David Capurro (Cappy) even tried to talk my little brother (he was 9 at the time) into staying.  He asked him what trick he’d have to show him to stay. And he told him Kamikaze.  So Cappy called Paul Escolar over to show him.  It actually only took him a few tries to hit it.  I was in complete awe. I lived about 90 minutes away from Spindox but I was very lucky to have supportive parents who would drive me to club most months.  So there I met Gary, Jeff, Gabe, Paul, Cappy, and everyone else.  I’d just soak in all their madness and awesomeness and then go home and practice every waking moment until the next meet.

I think my first full length trick was actually Liquidizer or Ragnarok (though I’m not sure I ever had an ending for Ragnarok).  Liquidizer is in the X Games video.  The only inspiration for that was the under the arm suicide – the rest of the trick was mostly setup. Ragnarok on the other hand was more original – it was me trying to come up with complex new holds.  So very very techy but not a lot of smoothness built in.  In the beginning I was definitely more of a tech head than I am today.  And by that I mean really obsessed with numbers games, complex/unique holds, and the idea of taking a super complex hold and throwing it all up in the air to have it land in a trapeze.  Which was a common ending for a lot of my tricks to come. Raging demon was all about using your thumbs – but wasn’t too lush beyond that. Grotty I actually made up the day I shot it – so technically Rancid Milk came before.  I just liked the mount, but again, not a trick that stuck with me or I take much pride in. Rancid Milk was really the first trick I got a reaction from.  It was completely designed as a triple or nothing version of Kamikaze with more tech.  It start in a triple, has a kamikaze hop, then adds around the arm stuff, and then layers more complexity around each piece of kamikaze (at least the first half – no magic drop to be seen). But to address your broader question regarding my early approach to making tricks: Pre-Rancid Milk, it was usually a singular move that I built the trick around.  Rancid Milk and beyond I started to get much more into having a concept to explore:

  • Rancid Milk was Kamikaze extreme
  • Engima was all upside down
  • Cataclysm was all about plucks
  • Havoc about motion and growing complexity
  • Wonder Woman was an inverse Superman

You get the idea.

Then of course you have the laceration, which was just a lucky discovery one late night while trying to land a suicide on my doorknob. So there was definitely a growing order to my tricks.  I think right around the time Rancid Milk came out I saw a lot more tech tricks in videos across the world.  The Spindox helped me realize the value of smoothness and flow.  They influenced my tricks slowly but surely and I think my tricks became more potent because of their advice and influence

Spencer Berry

Yes! I actually turn 17 in February. Wow, that’s interesting. It had to be cool to meet all of the guys from the Kickin’ Tricks video in person. I definitely know what you mean about being a “tech head”, and how there were more tech tricks in videos around the time Rancid Milk came out. That sort of slow, techy, style was getting popular around 2001 and I’ve seen guys like Kalani Bergdorf doing it in videos from the era. I feel that it would be hard NOT to evolve in someway while hanging around the guys who made up classics like Seasick, White Buddha, Kamikaze, and Timetwister. Personally, I’d have to say that my favorite Spindox video is definitely “Wish We Were At Worlds”. Of course, that’s where Breath first appeared which is in my opinion one of the greatest tricks ever invented. I’ve heard that Breath was invented as pieces of other tricks that you were working on put together, is that true? The other tricks in the Breath series are Breeze and Inhale, right? I recently saw the 365yoyotricks.com video for Inhale, and it blew me away (heh). I think Breath is an amazing trick for being invented in 2001.

Breath was definitely an AHA trick for me.  It wasn’t really pieces of other tricks – once I had the first “breath” move – the rest of the trick followed pretty quickly.  But getting it all together and smooth took quite a while. I was learning White Buddha 2 during BAC of 2001 (I believe this was when Paul had shown me it, but it wasn’t yet “released”). There is that flip to plane bend that is the main new component of white buddha 2.  Well, one time, the loop fell off my left hand, but I had a strong pinch on my right thumb and the loop just sort of hung there.  And I cocked my head to one side and whipped the loop around.  From that the rest of Breath was born.  I see a lot of people trying to make Breath work with a traditional, thumb+index pinch.  To me that makes it look very forced and amateurish.  It is the “thumb butt pinch” that makes breath what it is.  I always hated pinched because they killed the flow of most tricks and made them look much more awkward.  So when I found the thumb butt pinch, I was really excited to put it into a trick.

Breeze is the sequel to Breath.  It is like breath but with doubled variations.  I was a bit bummed about Breeze because Gabe filmed it for Project Sector Y.  But before that project came out, JD came out with his grind videos.  And I thought they were very campy and I know the “palm tap” in breeze would be categorized alongside them.  Breeze sort of quietly came out years later but I don’t think it was a very popular trick.

Inhale was more of a sister trick.  It isn’t really a full length trick – it doesn’t really have a strong theme like breath/breeze (or the third trick which could be done one day).  But it has that crazy loop knot thing at the end.  So I put it in the same family but not really part of the linear trilogy.

Spencer Berry Debt In Knowledge

I totally agree about the “pinch” thing with Breath. I’ve hit that trick before, but it was more or less luck and it wasn’t smooth. I learned it from an old text description which described using your thumb for the pinch, and I know exactly what you mean. Everybody that I’ve seen do it besides you uses their thumb and index finger, which leads to tilting the hand in a weird way and does look awkward. JD is definitely sick and one of my favorite yoyoers, but I totally agree with you as far as being categorized with him goes. Breeze was probably created around the same time as JD’s first video, if not slightly before. Inhale is literally insane and I’d probably have to put it up there on my list of favorites despite only discovering it lately. It also appeared in your “Debt in Knowledge” video, what’s the story behind that? I know that video got some harsh and undeserved criticism, but I think from a trick standpoint it’s top notch.

If you’ve hit Breath, it was practice, not luck.  So nice job.

I didn’t mean to say anything mean about being associated with JD.  I think he is an awesome player and his skill level in those days was leagues more technically advanced than mine.  I felt like the end to Breeze was more about the direction change than the skin contact, so it was more a feeling of it being associated with a concept that was very different.  Not unlike the way that Laceration are used as a label for an entire genre or tricks, but the original idea was very specific.

As far as Debt in Knowledge goes, I’ve heard before that it received a lot of negativity – but I don’t remember that affecting me much.  For some reason when I wasn’t making videos (2005-2007?  Maybe earlier) – people thought I had stopped throwing.  Debt was asked for by a lot of people (especially Adam Brewster), who had kept in touch and wanted to see what I was into.  So that is what sparked it.

I was also in film school.  So I was hearing a lot about music rights issues and and seeing videos pulled off of youtube, so I wanted to avoid using a copyrighted soundtrack.  I also was in a film sound class so I had a crazy collection of weird sound effects I had gathered with my group.  So that is where released soundtrack came from.  But I had originally edited the video to radiohead’s “15 Steps.” You can see that edit on Sector Y.

As far as the style of the film – I intentionally didn’t show any throws or catches.  This is a similar style to fidget.  The idea there was to avoid fluff.  There were a lot of yoyo videos at the time that had sloppy unresponsive catches, tons of mistakes left in the video, and all kinds of others time wasters that would inflate a video with two or three good tricks into a 5 minute production.

The choice to only bookend the video with full tricks came because I wasn’t making full tricks very often.  I was throwing long combos back then and so instead of having a few long throws I just decided to capture the components I liked most.  And then cutting them back to back.  I can see how that editing style would annoy viewers though.

I also wanted to make a point of minimalist lighting.  Lighting is often terrible in yoyo videos, especially when you can’t make out the string.  Debt was shot with my normal lights on, plus a single open bulb at my feet with some tin foil to cut it off my body.  That is why the string is sharp.  I wanted to show people they could make their videos look crisp with minimal equipment.  Plus the backdrop was an organized mess to sort of prove that lighting could make a yoyo video work even if you have white walls and clutter in frame.

There are also a couple weird easter egg-ish things I put into the video.  That image in the lower left behind my leg (and sometimes on my leg/crotch) is from a slide film projector I had laying around, intended to add some texture.  And in the final shot, during Shepherd, I tinkered with the green triangle sticker on the left side of the frame.  You can see it slowly go from de-saturated to glowing green.

And Shepherd was super sloppy, I know.

Overall, Debt was made very deliberately but not conventionally.  That was what made it worth doing to me: to try new things and to counter the yoyo climate with a video that I was proud of. Plus it is only 80 seconds!

Spencer Berry Walter

I honestly think that you and JD both have certain things you do that are very cool, but especially cool when you really understand what’s going on. That’s all honestly so cool. Going to film school had to give a huge advantage with yoyo videos. Yoyo videos are probably a small blip on the map as far as film goes, but it would be cool to know more. I always liked Debt in Knowledge because it looked like it could have been filmed in my house, but looks good.

All of the things you said make sense, but I wouldn’t have thought of them. I totally understand the “deliberately but not conventionally” thing. I personally think the yoyo world needs more of that, now even more than in 2007. On a side note, what yoyo were you using in that? Is it a FHZ?

Not long ago, you released The Walter, a tug-responsive yoyo that I’ve seen you pull off some really great stuff with on 365yoyotricks.com. Any more yoyos ever coming, and any other things we can expect to see from you soon? I personally think a sequel to Debt in Knowledge would be great.

I think the Debt yoyo is technically a Hyper Freehand.  Love that yoyo…

I’m glad you got the feeling that Debt was both attainable and looked good.

Walter has been a labor of love and took a very long time to complete.  Walter fit a very definite gap in modern yoyos for me:  responsive slimline that is ultra durable.  The ultimate pocket yoyo.  Now that I’ve finally completed the project, I do want to make more yoyos, but I am having to really think about what hole my next yoyo is going to fill.

Right now I have a full size responsive yoyo in the works named Theodore.  I hope to really take it to the next level in terms of finish and packaging.  The shape is somewhere between a Gnarwhal & the YWET (two of my favorite throws ever).  Theodore will probably be more expensive than Walter, partially because of the yoyo materials, but mostly because I am going to have a truly exquisite custom case made for each Theodore.  I hope I’ll have a product for sale before fall 2014, but I won’t rush him.

Oh yeah, I love Hyper Freehands too. That sounds so sick, the Gnarwhal is one of my favorite throws too, I’ve never thrown a YWET but seeing you throw one in your 365 videos has definitely made me want to try one. I haven’t gotten the chance to throw a Walter either, but I feel the same with that as the YWET, thats such an awesome throw to drop in 2013 (The Walter). Any last words/advice for any yoyers out there? On behalf of myself and YoYoNews, thank so much for doing this!

The YWET is from 2011, but I think I see what you’re saying.

And I definitely have some closing thoughts.

Most of all – throw what you love, when you love it, how you love it. There seems to be a lot of unnecessary drama in the yoyo world – as though one yoyo is inferior or one brand is the ONLY brand worth throwing. Get over it! Some people seem to feel the need to put people down or claim that they aren’t “real” yoyoers if they don’t do x, y, z. GET OVER IT!!! Everyone gets to find their own enjoyment in yoyoing and it may not match how everyone else enjoys yoyoing.

The hobby is incredibly multi-faceted – there are not only a plethora of divisions (1A-5A), but also responsive, fixed, p213, moebius, double dragon, whatever else. If you are getting burnt out or feeling an absurd amount of negativity – take a break or find something else that excites you.

There is no reason to poison the well and tell people what is right, wrong, cool or not cool. I’ve always been an incredibly self centered yoyoer – only competing when I wanted to – judging when I want to – making up tricks when I want to – not releasing videos for years on end. That is because I love yoyoing. It is an important aspect of my life and I want it to be there for me when I need stress relief, or a creative outlet, or just to have some goofy fun while waiting around in line. So cherish the joy you feel around yoyoing and don’t try and tell others that there is a right and wrong – because there isn’t. It’s a toy. Have fun.

I had 9 months where I only played with an imperial No Jive. Not because I wanted to prove anything – but because my life was incredibly stressful and I had no time to innovate or invent so the No Jive was like comfort food for me. I could go to the bus stop after a 13 hour day in the office and just do some loops or Braintwisters or behind the head regen to trapeze – and it was relaxing, therapeutic RELIEF. So while I didn’t move yoyoing forward or come up with a freestyle full of unique tricks, yoyoing still remained an important part of my daily life. That isn’t to say that making up tricks, building freestyles, and crafting videos aren’t fun too; they are, to the right person in the right frame of mind at the right time. So go with the flow and learn to enjoy yoyoing in the present – and spread the love.

Keep shredding.

Spencer B

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: 365yoyotricks.com, 5a may, breath, featured, freehand zero, hyper freehand, Interview, rancid milk, spencer berry, Spindox

Q&A with World Champion János Karancz!

September 12, 2013 By Rafael Matsunaga

Today we have a chat with the 2013 1A World Champion and everybody’s favorite slack trick wizard, János Karancz!

janos worlds award

photo: Duncan Toys

Thanks for joining us, János! Tell us a bit about yourself, what do you do outside of yoyoing and how did you get started? 

It’s my pleasure! Thank you for the opportunity!

I am 18 years old and I have just finished high school and I will start university this September to learn landscape architecture engineering. Sometimes I play darts and I have a banjo, too. I can’t play it yet, but I am planning to learn some good songs on it.

In 2005 my yearmates in school started to play with yo-yo and I found it very interesting, so I joined them. I can’t imagine my life without yoyoing and I feel extremely lucky my friends showed it to me.

What players were you inspired by when you first started?

When I first started, I was inspired by a lot of players including my yearmates in school and everyone I saw in videos, but the player who completely changed my attitude towards 1A was Takahiro Iizuka. When I first saw his videos in 2009, I couldn’t believe his tricks were possible. He showed me that anything is possible. Since then I have been very interested in slacks, whips and lacerations. He is my favorite player and I am very thankful to him.

How do you approach trick composition now? Are you still inspired by other players or do you focus on your own ideas?

I try to focus on my own ideas, but I get inspered by other players of course.

But I focus on using only my tricks/elements on stage and in videos. This is very important for me.

You are quite consistent even in your harder tricks. How much do you practice?

Thank you! I try to practice my freestyle several times every day and in the last 1-2 months before a big contest I focus on practicing it 10 times every day. I’ve been using this method for more than half a year now.

photo: Duncan Toys

photo: Duncan Toys

Had you competed outside Europe before? What were your thoughts and expectations knowing you would be competing against very strong and experienced players?

It was the first time I was competing outside Europe. I was very happy and honored I had the chance to meet and compete against the best players in the world. I tried to consider this opportunity more like an award than a challenge, but of course I practiced a lot and I hoped that I could do a freestyle I would be proud of and that the audience would enjoy. I hoped that the audience and the judges would find my tricks original and good and if I could hit them, I could get a good placing, but I knew that all of the finalists were quite amazing players. My main goal was to do a freestyle that the audience would enjoy and I would be proud of.

Does winning Worlds change the way you think about yourself as a player? What are your plans for future competitions?

Getting first place at Worlds makes me feel my tricks are scored well at competitions and I can compose my freestyles properly. I am very happy that I could achieve it.

My plans for future competitions are still to hit my freestyles on stage the way I would like to and to make the audience enjoy it. I also hope I can create good and innovative new tricks and that I can use them in my other freestyles.

The yo-yo you used at Worlds seems to have quite a bit of history. Tell us a bit about it.

Since I first got my blue Duncan Barracuda, I had been playing with it all the time. I used it at four competitions in a row and I got first place in all of them. I used it at Spanish Nationals, at Hungarian Nationals, at the European Championship and at Worlds. This yo-yo is still in that state, the way I binded it at the end of my freestyle at Worlds and now I keep it in an exhibition case in my room.

I wanted to ask about your freestyle construction. Although your tricks are very technical, your routine is neatly constructed. How do you approach building your freestyle? Why did you choose to use more than one song, for example?

Thank you very much!

I can’t remember how I built my first freestyles, but I’ve been using the same method for a very long time. When I create a new trick that I like and I feel that I have practiced it enough to put it into my freestyle, I replace one trick in my current freestyle that I don’t like that much with the new one. But I can’t put it anywhere, because there are some tricks that I must do at the beginning of my freestyle, because of the string tension.

I try to use more than one song and some sound effects too, because I think it makes a freestyle more interesting.

What’s next for you, are you competing in any contests soon?

I will compete in the European Championship for sure and I haven’t decided yet if I will compete in Hungarian Nationals too.

We’re reaching the end of the interview, would you like to add anything, or send a message to the readers?

I would like to thank everyone very much who has supported and encouraged me! It wouldn’t have been possible without your help! I am extremly honored to be a part of this community and I am very thankful to you!

Thank you, János!

janos bw

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: 2013, duncan toys, featured, Interview, janos karancz, world champion, world yoyo champion

Interview – Gentry Stein

August 31, 2013 By Matt McDade

YoYoNews Interview – Gentry Stein

Gentry Stein

To a music afficionado (or hip hop head), the term “G Funk” would typically be remembered as the style of rap music that was extremely popular in the early to mid nineties. Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Dr. Dre, the list goes on. To a yoyoer, however, “G Funk” is the name of Gentry Stein’s signature yoyo released in 2011. The G Funk is a pocket-sized throw which was released just after Gentry’s full-sized signature, the Super G. Now, in 2013, Yoyofactory is releasing Gentry’s 3rd signature, the Shutter. The Shutter is an awesome departure away from what we’ve seen in the past from Yoyofactory, and an exciting addition to Gentry’s list of signature throws. I had the awesome oppurtunity to chat with Gentry about tricks, contests, his new throw, and more. Check it out!

Gentry, you’ve been making waves and killing it in the contest, clip video, and trick development scenes for quite some time now, but how did you originally get your start in yoyoing?

Thanks! I appreciate the props! I started yoyoing after I went to the club at Bird in Hand (in Chico, California) years ago, in 3rd grade. I took a break after a year or two, and have been back at it for about 4 years since then. I started the contest scene and hit my first contest in mid 2009, then my second contest in early February.

Gentry1

Awesome! If I’m not mistaken you’ve been a member of Yoyofactory’s team since you originally became sponsored, and have been doing extremely well as far as evolving your tricks and doing well in contests, recently even placing first in California states and also making it into the top 25 at Worlds. What are some of your favorite elements to work into tricks, and how do you decide a trick is good enough to throw into a routine for a contest?

I have done a lot of work changing up my tricks and putting my own style into each element. Recently I have just been trying to create tricks that look interesting. For Nationals I have a few tricks that I have been working with that aren’t necessarily complicated, but are hard to really capture or understand for someone who hasn’t had the trick broken down to them by me in person. I don’t come up with any fancy complicated terminology for the elements in my tricks. I just do what feels right.

I definitely think that’s a great way to go about it for sure, and I think that the fact that you do so well in contests proves that method works. I personally think your style is sick because it looks so good not only in clip videos, but on stage as well. What’s going through your head just before you step on stage at a contest? What’s your favorite contest you’ve competed in?

It’s hard to say what my favorite contest I’ve competed in is, but I would have to go with my first win at PNWR (Pacific Northwest Regionals) 2011 in Seattle. Before I step on stage, I think to myself that I get to show everyone what I have been working hard for. After that moment, it just feels like I’m in my room by myself practicing.

gstein3

That definitely makes sense, I think everyone that competes has their own method to deal with being on stage. Winning a contest has to feel like such a huge accomplishment, nothing like feeling hard work pay off. Back in 2011, I bought one of your signature throws, the G Funk. It was my first pocket sized throw, and still one of my favorites. What was the process like with your new signature, the Shutter? Did you have a lot of input with how it turned out?

Glad you like the G funk! I was offered both the Super G and G funk as signature yoyos, with designing something else as the other option. At that point, I didn’t know what I wanted, and they were too good to pass up, so I accepted them as is. After using both for a couple years, I learned more about parts of design that make a yoyo play a certain way. I could use both yoyos, mainly the Super G, for a reference as to what I like and don’t like in a yoyo. I wanted to maintain the spin and stability of the Super G, but adjust the shape to be more unique, comfortable, and agile. The Shutter has everything I liked about the Super G, but it is a lot more fun to play with, while still maintaining its assets that are wanted in a yoyo to rock the stage with. I also wanted aesthetics to be a priority. I’m stoked on how the final shape enables the logo to be integrated in the design. It fits together so perfectly. I couldn’t be happier with it.

 YoYoFactory Shutter

I love the shape of the Shutter too. I have to say, my favorite colorway is either violet/blue or red/black. The yoyo looks so good, I’m psyched to try one. I like how the logo integrates into the shape too, as well as the font that “Shutter” is written in. I wish you luck with this throw, I think it’s going to be a big one! I also want to wish you luck for Nationals, coming up October 5th 2013. Any advice for any aspiring yoyo champions out there? Although you’re about to release a new signature throw, what else can we plan to see from Gentry Stein in the near future?

My advice to any upcoming yoyoers on any level, is to not let anyone stop you from achieving greatness. There are a lot of people out there who are ignorant, and may seem as if they are out to get you when it comes to your yoyoing. Use all that as positive energy and let it improve your skill. What can you plan to see from me in the near future? Big things 🙂

I totally agree. Not only does that apply in yoyoing, but in all aspects of life. On behalf of myself and YoYoNews I’d like to say thanks for doing this, and good luck on your future endeavors! Personally, I’m excited to see you take on Nationals in October!

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: featured, gentry stein, Interview, shutter, yoyofactory

Interview – Paul Escolar

August 26, 2013 By Matt McDade

YoYoNews Interview – Paul Escolar

Paul Escolar

Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared on Throw Plaza. We were so impressed with the work that we invited interviewer Matt McDade to join the writing team at YoYoNews, and he accepted! We’re excited to have Matt on board, and are re-publishing his fantastic interview with Paul Escolar to welcome him to YoYoNews. – Steve

Whether you’re familiar with Paul Escolar or not, chances are you’ve learned, are doing, or have at least heard of some of his tricks and concepts. Paul is the genius behind Magic Drops, Kamikaze, White Buddha, Green Triangles and countless others. He is a long-time member of the Duncan Crew and currently still does demonstrations and more for Duncan. He is also a fantastic artist, and he can often be found sharing his art on social networks like Facebook and Instagram. Paul was generous enough to do this interview and share some information about the art of yoyo.

Paul, thanks for agreeing to do this! Back when I was first learning Kamikaze and White Buddha, I never thought I’d be interviewing the man behind them. Not only are you still appearing in clip videos today, but you of course are also featured in SuperYo’s infamous Kickin’ Tricks VHS from the late 90’s. How did you get your start in yoyoing back then?

Those tricks are so old now, that I actually am the “man” behind them! I made up most of those tricks when I was 16, and I pretty much only actively thought about yoyo tricks and combos for a couple years – 1999-2001. I’m still around obviously, I’ll usually just peek my head into people’s clip videos, or do old tricks and hope no one has seen them yet. Most of the time you can find me at the judges table. I would love to make more appearances in yoyo videos, but most of my “new” tricks have all been in progress for over 10 years. I’ll finish them one day, lol.

Someone at a demo recently asked how long I’ve been yoyoing. I said “15 years.” Then I had to pause and redo the math in my head because that sounded hella long. Whoa… that’s older than the kid I was teaching a trick too. Like a lot of us, I started in 1998 during the 90’s boom. SuperYo came and did school assemblies, Yomegas and ProYos were in every store, Team High Performance reigned supreme and yo-yos were the coolest sh*t I’ve ever seen. I was friends with Gary and Jeff Longoria, who would later create “Seasick” and “Spirit Bomb”. We joined David Capurro’s yo-yo club, the Spindoctors and there was no stopping us. That played a big part in how I stuck with yo-yos. We were fortunate to be around legends like Grand National Master Bill DeBoisblanc and legendary manufacturer Tom Kuhn. Spindoctors YoYo Club is responsible for developing some of the most influential players in new school yo-yoing; Gabe Lozano, Gary Longoria, Johnnie Delvalle, Augie Fash, Spencer Berry and others. And Sector-Y was there to capture everyone and share our tricks to the yoyo community.

Wow, well not to make you feel even older but I’m actually only 16. I’m definitely a fan of the of the old Spindox videos, I feel they were the equivalent of todays clip videos that are nothing but “bangers”, and it’s cool to watch those videos and see tricks that are now common premier for the first time. Do you think the Spindox kind of ushered in the whole concept of long, sidestyle tricks that really weren’t just transitions between mounts? Some of my other early favorites from you are Pure 143 and Red Clover.

Back then you could get away with doing very little and still have something very unique. The ball bearing yoyo allowed us more time to mess with string tricks, constantly explore new ideas, and run into a lot of “happy accidents”. I don’t think we intentionally tried to make yo-yoing predominately sidestyle, side style tricks were just more physically comfortable and just seemed to have more potential – uncharted territory.

I think a lot of us were just fortunate to be experimental at a time where New School yo-yoing was still at it’s infancy. Actually, I consider my era “Mid-School” yo-yoing – that’s the end of fixed axle / beginning of bearing transaxle BEFORE Non-responsive Binding (which I consider actual “New School”). There was a huge wave of creative players coming from California; NorCal had the Spindox and SoCal had the DXL crew, but of course anyone who was anyone repped them too, including myself – DXL WORLDWIDE!

Photo by Fatlace

Photo by Fatlace

I definitely know what you mean about sidestyle tricks having “more potential”, still you’ve definitely had your share of cool frontstyle tricks that I’ve seen. Speaking of “happy accidents”, is that how you invented the Magic Drop? What did you think of the Magic Drop at first?

Oh, and also speaking of “happy accidents”, do you also think Bob Ross really could’ve gotten down with a fixed-axle yoyo?

“Happy accidents” are a big part of many of holds and mounts I’ve used in the past. I think when you’re curious, willing to explore and dissect string tricks enough, you’re bound to discover something new. “Magic drop” was an accident, doing it I noticed the yo-yo’s spin forcefully throwing the string out of its plane and landing in a different hold, so I practiced it until I could control where I wanted the yo-yo to land. I consider “Magic drop” the simplest and earliest form of String rejection, and there’s still so much potential to explore it.

A lot of trick elements happen when exploring, making accidents and trying to duplicate them again. “What happens if I hit this string instead?” “What happens if I do this trick this way?” After all the layering, and plucking, you always find something that’s different and you have to keep experimenting! “Green Triangles” was also a trick I came up with to say “hey this mount is inside of a knot, whatever, lets do tricks with it.”

Haha, Bob Ross probably does have a copyright on “Happy Accidents”. R.I.P.

It’s cliche to say that yo-yo tricks are an art form, a lot of people say that, but I really believe it. Bob Ross would’ve been amazing at it. He goes with the flow, and if he makes a mistake, he figures out a way to fix it as make it look even better- that’s what yo-yoers should do. Embrace the mistakes and try to make something new and different from them.

In terms of combinations, I also use music as a metaphor for what I think makes a trick, combination, or routine look good. I haven’t competed or created a trick in a very long time, but I’ve done a good share of Judging and watching over the years. I think that every trick element visually has its own distinct sound and rhythm. What makes a good looking trick or combo is the players ability to “compose” them tastefully. Dumb that sh*t down as much as you can, keep similar sounds/elements together and make sure your combo has a beginning chorus and end. And your trick combo will surely make a greater impact and be more memorable.

That’s all so true. I look at it a similar way, and while I feel that today’s players have less of an excuse to explore things (it seems like everything’s already been done), great players are still coming out with extremely innovative stuff that blows my mind (Janos Karancz for example). Another advantage we have today is checking out older clip videos for inspiration for tricks. Twisting and bending elements to make them you’re own, building tricks with flow, all help with building a good library of your own tricks for sure.

I’m pretty much a fan of all of your tricks, but three of my favorites appear in the “Wish we were at worlds” clip video. White Buddha 2nd Generation, Yellow Airplanes, and Orange Tulips which are all sequel tricks, in my opinion, are some of the most creative work to come out of the “Mid-School” of yoyoing. What was the story behind that video & those tricks? So much good stuff in there.

Yeah. Janos is on another Level, his tricks are from the future, real New School sh*t – mind blowing. Most things have been done, but a lot of older tricks and concepts still have some meat on the bone. A lot of newer yo-yo players are easily amused by certain tricks, and there are frequently trends that get started and get more play during those times, leaving other trick concepts in the dust to be soon forgotten. If you watch an old/mid school player, we won’t be doing the most technically complicated combo, but I guarantee you might still see something you like or haven’t seen before. In a rare time when I am actually yo-yoing, sometimes I hear “That was kind of cool, is that new?” and then I laugh because I’ve been doing the same sh*t for the last 10 years. haha. It just goes to show that trick trends come full circle, and a lot of older concepts still need to be explored.

Well, I and a lot the Spindox owe a lot of credit to Gabe Lozano (created of Shockwave and other tricks) and his website, Sector-Y. “Wish we were at Worlds” is exactly that, none of our crew had money to go to Florida so we just filmed a bunch of videos back home instead, lol.

The Sector-Y clip videos allowed many of us to get some internet attention, gain recognition outside of contest, and make some noise in the yo-yo world. I was never a real competitor, never a national or world champion, I just liked playing with string tricks. I was very fortunate to have been awknowledged in our community without having to dance around on stage (No Offense to competitive players, Freestyles were VERY different back then). I should really relearn some of those old tricks…

Paul Escolar

Exactly. I’ve only been throwing for a little over 2 years but even I’ve seen some trends in tricks come and go. Some of my my favorite videos are the “BeFree” videos on Sector Y which are from 2002 and feature a bunch of players I’ve never heard of before. The tricks in those videos are absolutely insane and some of them really remind me of things coming out today. Speaking of White Buddha 2nd Generation, I learned that around December of 2011 and I remember learning it and thinking that the part in the middle after making the 1.5 where you swing the yoyo all around reminded me of Figure 8.

I definitely know what you mean about those Sector Y videos, and they definitely made noise outside of contests in that they were the place where so many famous tricks first appeared. I’ve even seen some of Johnnie Delvalle’s very early freestyles back when he was throwing a FH1 and doing White Buddha and Superman on stage..definitely a different time.

The early Spindox videos show almost all of you guys throwing Superyo Renegades, but as time went on you guys (and everyone else basically I think) started throwing Freehand 1’s and Spinfaktors. What was your favorite yoyo back then? What do you think of the modern yoyo itself, and all of the hype surrounding some current releases?

White Buddah 2nd Generation actually had elements of 3D/plane distortion/off plane – It may be hard to see, but the 1.5 elements are less of a Jason Lee/Scott Coyle Figure 9 and more of an actual 3D Figure 8. I wish the camera footage could’ve captured it better. Maybe I should relearn the trick and have it refilmed, lol. I think there’s still potential there as it went under the radar 10+ years ago.

JD is legendary, he is a fellow old school Spindox, trick innovator, and also one of my co-coordinators in running the Bay Area Classic Yo-Yo Contest. He also pretty much put his signature on yo-yo grinds and slack whips – do your history kids! But JD throwing a Freehand 1?! That’s amazing, I don’t even remember that.

I mention the Spindox Club and Sector-Y a lot, because it was the main reason I progressed in yo-yoing earlier on. We were and are a tight crew and always had new sh*t to show off to eachother. We also went through a lot of yoyo phases as far as what we were throwing. After starting on Yomegas like most kids, I was really into Team Losi for a bit because one of my idols, Steve Brown was working for them at the time. I even saw his freestyle debut of Freehand/5A using a Team Losi Cherry Bomb – one of my fav. FS of all time. I don’t remember how I started using Renegades , but it became The Official Spindox weapon of choice for some time. I think we might have been responsible for making those popular within the community , we definitely were the first to do the “Oreo” Gade mod and “Terror Gade”!

Gary Longoria and I were fortunate to actually have been sponsored by SuperYo and Arne Dixon and got to travel and do tours around Hawaii and the states via HPK marketing. Later, around 2001, I was picked up by Steve Brown and the Beginnings of the Duncan Crew and that’s where I’ve been ever since!! DCWW – Throw Duncan!

Definitely! That video of JD is actually his 1st place California yoyo contest video from 2001, I’m pretty sure it’s a yellow FH1 anyway. That’s sweet, I’ve never thrown a Renegade or a FH1 (I have a modded Hyper Freehand though, and my stock FHZ’s have been my weapons of choice lately) but it seems like there’s something about those old plastics that todays throws don’t have. You’re also an artist, and have done work for yoyo companies such as Save Deth and CLYW. Any new projects coming up? And any last words/advice/anything?

PLASTICS! When it comes down to it yo-yos are just toys, we should be able to play with them and not worry about beating them up or loosing them. Newer Plastic yo-yos are sufficient enough to still be a fun toy and whilst still being a useful tool for Modern yoyo tricks.

I’ve done graphic work for almost every yo-yo company. They’re all my friends, and I always take any opportunity to get my art out there, make sh*t look better and help their brands grow! I’ve been focusing mostly on my personal art recently but I have a few yoyo related graphics coming out, you’ll see them when they drop. There are so many talented artists in our community, it’s quite awesome and humbling to be a part of it. It’s very obvious that yoyos and creativity come hand in hand.

So to all the new players out there, BE CREATIVE! Yo-Yos are Toys, have fun with them. Practice your skills constantly, build flow and persistence, avoid trends. EXPLORE and EXPERIMENT!

Thank You!

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: 5a may, duncan toys, Interview, paul escolar

YoYoNews Interview: Steve Brown & Lone Ranger Movie

July 11, 2013 By André Boulay

The Lone Ranger Movie

National Yo-Yo Master Steve Brown recently had the honor of playing a role in the new Lone Ranger Movie by Disney! Steve reaching into his expertise in all skill toy manipulation not only invents but also teaches the main actors how to perform a nifty trick with a Pocket Watch.

We interview Steve here to find out more:


Andre Boulay:
So you got the super cool job of being the technical advisor for the ‘pocket watch stunt’ that can be seen in the new Lone Ranger Film! Tell us about how you got the job?

Steve Brown:
I was contacted by Kris Peck, the Props Master for the film. He’s worked on a ton of huge films, including several of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. His IMDB page is crazy. He was looking for a yoyo player to help with a stunt in the film involving a pocket watch…he was hoping that since they’re about the same size and shape, a yoyo player would be able to help bring to live a part of the script that they couldn’t figure out how to physically make work. Kris dug around online, tried contacting the National YoYo Museum and some others, and finally found me.

We got in touch, and he explained what he needed and that it was really time sensitive…so I grabbed a pocket watch and worked out three versions of what they were asking for, and shot video off to him that night. Within a few days, I had a plane ticket to Los Angeles to meet with the director, Gore Verbinski, to show him different versions of the stunt so that he could choose one for the film. It all moved really, really fast.


Andre Boulay:
So once you were on set you must have met and worked with some amazing people? Who did you get to meet?

Steve Brown:
I primarily worked with Tom Wilkinson, who plays Latham Cole. He’s the main villain of the film, and there’s a bit of business he does with a pocket watch that actually plays a key role in the story. That’s the move that I developed, and I had to teach it to Wilkinson, an actor named Steve Corona who plays a younger version of Cole, and Johnny Depp who casually nails it at the end of the movie. I ended up spending a lot of time working with Tom Wilkinson, since it was his landing the trick that was key to the film. He’s a tremendous actor, and I’ve been a fan for a while. He’s also a really kind and thoughtful guy, and I really had a great time working with him.

The Lone Ranger Cast & Crew Ring

Exclusive Lone Ranger Cast Ring: silver, and was only available for cast and crew.


Andre Boulay:
That is pretty amazing that you were able to come up with something on the fly like that! Can you say anything more about what the specific stunt entails? Or do we have to go watch the movie?

Steve Brown:
Go watch the movie! Ha. The stunt itself is deceptively simple looking. The thing about it is that it had to be distinctive, it had to immediately indicate a level of ability that implied a lot of time and experience doing it, but it still had to be easy enough for me to teach to three actors who are not into object manipulation.


Andre Boulay:
Do you feel that it was actually your yoyoing background that helped or more juggling?

Steve Brown:
I’m sure both helped. I’ve never really separated my yoyoing from any other object manipulation…I kind of lump it all into the same category of “I throw stuff and catch stuff”. So for me, it’s all kind of the same thing, whether I’m throwing yoyos or knives or pocket watches.


Andre Boulay:
So we know it was cool working with Tom Wilkinson. Was Johnny Depp cool to work with too? Did one of them nail the trick faster then the others?!

Steve Brown:
It almost feels misleading to say I “worked with Johnny Depp” because we met for about 15 minutes, I went through the mechanics of the trick with him, and then I never saw him again until it was time for him to film it and he nailed it on the second or third try. He spent so many hours at the beginning and end of the day in the makeup chair, and he was so crucial to the filming that by the time he was done at the end of the day I’m pretty sure “deal with the pocket watch guy” was dead-ass last on his list. Ha.
But for those few minutes it was easy to see why people love him so much. He was really nice and gracious, very respectful of what I was doing, and he obviously picked it up just fine.


Andre Boulay:
Hahaha. True – it is easy to forget how much work goes into all the acting and filming in a single movie. Still very neat you were able to meet them! Were you able to show off yo-yo tricks to anyone while you were there?

Steve Brown:
During the filming of the scene where Tonto is sitting in the jail cell, they brought me in to meet with Johnny briefly and Gore Verbinski called out the National YoYo Master tattoo on the back of my head and had me show it to Johnny in between takes. Then a bit later that day I was practicing in between sandstorms (not even kidding) and Johnny came over to watch me yoyo for a bit. Some got footage of him watching me, and if there is any luck for me in this universe it will end up on the Blu-Ray special features.

I also spent a huge amount of time hanging out on set with Armie Hammer, who is one of the only principal cast members I didn’t need to teach anything to, but who is hugely in to object manipulation! He’s an incredibly nice guy, and really into throwing and catching all kinds of stuff.

He used to be a junior member of The Magic Castle in Los Angeles, a meeting place for magicians. He spent a bunch of time on set working on trick roping and gun spinning, and we had pretty much daily yoyo sessions when I was there. For the record, he prefers the YoYoFactory Supernova because his hands are HUGE and he needs a full size yoyo.


Andre Boulay:
Let’s totally hope some yo-yoing ends up in the special features! That would be neat. Very cool about Armie Hammer too! So will we see any exclusive Pocket Watch tricks show up in your new project – 365CoolTricks.com?

Steve Brown:
I’m going to wait until the movie has been out a bit longer, but I’m definitely going to film the pocket watch trick from the movie for 365cooltricks.com. In the meantime, you can pop into the archives of 365yoyotricks.com for the guest trick that Armie did.


Steve Brown The Lone Ranger Credits

Steve Brown in Lone Ranger Movie Credits

Andre Boulay:
This was the second film you worked at on set? Zoolander you had an appearance where you played the hands of Hansel (Owen Wilson). Do you see more of these types of gigs in your future? Is it fun to do?

Steve Brown:
Yep, this is my second film credit. I was a YoYo Stunt Double for Owen Wilson in Zoolander, which was also really fun although I spent only a few days on set for Zoolander…all total I think I was on set for Lone Ranger for nearly 6 weeks or so. It’s hard to be away from my family that much, but I definitely hope I can get more gigs like this in the future…I met some truly amazing people working on that film, and everyone on the cast and crew were just fantastic to work with.


Andre Boulay:
Totally awesome! Two movie credits is pretty darn neat. Congrats! Well we certainly are looking forward to checking out the trick in Lone Ranger! Thanks for sharing a bit of the experience!

Filed Under: Interview Tagged With: featured, Interview, Lone Ranger, Movie, Pocket Watch, steve brown, technical advisor

Interview: Gabe Lozano talks Repeaters

June 20, 2013 By Drew Tetz

Today we’re joined by Gabriel Lozano to talk about what many consider to be the purest forms of tricks: repeaters. You should know Gabe as the brains behind Sector-Y, one of the most legendary pioneering online yo-yo resources ever, and as if that’s not pedigree enough he’s also a member of Duncan Crew USA and Spindox. He’s put together too many classic yo-yo videos to name, and has created such timeless tricks as Candyrain and Shockwave. He knows the difference between a good trick and a bad one by now and is here to tell us all about it.

How would you define a “repeater”, and what makes a good one?

Gabe: Obviously, there’s the baseline definition where a repeater is defined as “something that repeats.” But it’s much more than that. For example, take a trick like Mach 5 or Boingy-Boing. Both of these are visually striking because of an element that repeats over and over (rotating hands or bouncing yoyos), but most people would not call them repeaters. The reason is that there’s only 1 element that repeats. Much like you wouldn’t call multiple summersaults or multiple pinwheels “Repeaters,” one-element repetition doesn’t have enough substance to be called a repeater.

I would say that a repeater has a mount (however complex), then two or three elements that repeat over and over in sequence. Something like Mount > Element 1 > Element 2 > Element 1 > Element 2 > … > Element 1 > Element 2 > Dismount. A good repeater will have interesting elements that flow together nicely. To me, the construction of linking Element 1 to Element 2 (and maybe to Element 3) is extremely important. If the transition between elements is abrupt, then the repeater will look ugly. If the transitions are smooth, then everything will flow together nicely and the repetitions will look that much better.

Penultimately, a good repeater has to be relatively short and refined. You would never have a repeater be Mount > Element 1 > Element 2 > Element 3 > Element 4 > Element 5 > Repeat > … > Dismount, because it will take too long to get back to Element 1. There’s too many pieces n the way and the repeater is diluted. At this point, the repetition is no longer the focus of the trick because there’s multiple-elements in the way of the trick repeating itself.

Lastly, repeaters should be simple enough to be visually recognizable. This is definitely more subjective, but it follows from the previous point. If a repeater has too many elements (and is thus complex and not simple), it will not be a good repeater. The complexity of linking several moves together kills any style and grace for that repeater, so complexity (for the most part) should be left out when considering repeater-construction.

So to recap, the best repeaters are smooth, refined, simple, and visually recognizable as a repeater.

I’d love to see a top five of your favorite repeaters and what you like about them – what makes them work?

Gabe: There are soooo many great repeaters out there! In the end, here are 5 repeaters that stand out and exemplify the definition and spirit of the repeater.

Shockwave


Shockwave is one of the most basic repeaters. The fact that it’s so simple (only 2 elements) and flows together so beautifully is what makes it one of the best. OK, maybe I’m biased since I created it, but it really does capture the essence of the repeater concept. When you look at it, it’s very clear that it’s repeating and it does so in an elegant and zen-like way.

Nanda Kanda


Created by Hidemasa Senba, Nanda Kanda is another classic repeater that stands out because of it’s striking clarity and simplistic nature. I also love it because it’s a front-mount repeater that doesn’t involve any sort of somersaults, barrel rolls, or other “complex” components. Nanda Kanda really is as distilled as it gets; it’s composed only of mounts and dismounts.

Mark Montgomery’s Arm Repeater


This is a severely underrated repeater. The reason why I find it so intriguing is the motion in the arms and the motion of the yoyo work together to form an amazing rhythm. It somewhat reminds me of the coupling rods of train wheels, chugging along, repeating the same motion over and over. It’s hypnotic.

Infinity

This is a trick created by both Kalani Bergdorf and Anthony Rojas. This repeater is different from the other repeaters in that the moves are very different in style. The arms crossing and uncrossing, along with the yoyo popping up and over the string, is a really simple idea. The smoothness really brings these unique holds together to form something that looks much more visually striking than you might expect.

Anchovies


This repeater is amazing because of the incredible motion of the yo-yo. One of the factors in having a successful repeater is usually that there are only one or two small components that are repeating. Typically when you start to add too many things, the repeater gets diluted and becomes uninteresting. Anchovies bucks that trend. There are so many cool things going on and, most importantly, they all work together and complement each other to form a very cohesive and distinct repeater.

In addition to creating some of the most timeless repeaters, you’ve helped document countless others in videos such as “Things That Repeat”. How do you make sure that a trick stays interesting in a video even when it’s essentially the same thing over & over?

Gabe: I’ve never really thought much about repeaters being different in a context of the video, but now that you mention it, it there is one big difference that I can think of: when you film a repeater, you get to control the angle and view. This is the same as any other trick, but this probably matters more with a repeater because if you’re going to do the same motion 3 times in a row, you better make it look good. A prime example is Anthony Rojas’ trick Infinity. The trick looks boring when collapsed and filmed from a straight-on angle. This is because you can’t see the incredible 3D-ness of the trick. But when filmed from above at a 3/4 view, it looks so incredibly awesome. Compare this clip to the one above and see for yourself:

But don’t get me wrong. Angle isn’t everything. No angle can make a bad repeater look good. The key to having a repeater stay interesting is to make interesting repeaters. There’s no way around it!

Do you have any advice for anyone that is looking to create a new repeater?

Gabe: When it comes down to it, repeaters are simple tricks. They are not complex, long-winded combos, but rather purified elements that link together. The key to making a successful repeater is to make sure every single element is interesting. Since repeaters are constructed using only a few moves, it becomes extra important to make sure that each of those moves is interesting and important. Don’t fill your repeater with extra underpasses, somersaults, or other movements that are combinations of other movements. If you do, you will likely dilute your repeater into something more complex, and lose the magic that a simple repeater has.

Filed Under: Interview, Players Tagged With: citadel, Duncan, featured, gabe lozano, Gabriel Lozano, Interview, repeaters

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