Interview No. 76

Interview By: @Atlas

Today I have with me one of the best voice actors in the audio portal. His username is "@GiantJuicyKickballs".

Q: How did you find Newgrounds and what made you join?

A: I found out about newgrounds back in the 96'-97' era, back before it was the Newgrounds we know and love today. I was in junior highschool and the internet was really cool, as was Netscape...which I guess dates me a bit. However I remember that Yahoo was the big big site to go to if you wanted to find fun new things on the web. One day my friends and I were in the school library and stumbled upon a site called "Sites That Do Stuff" which by now is not the same site. It was just a basic list of links to click that would bring you to sites...that do stuff. Two of the links which really stood out were Assassin, and Club a Seal. I would spend hours upon hours killing digital celebrities and helpless baby seals. Not to mention the fun of Teletubby Fun Land. ( I always thought that vacuum was coked up). So I watched the site bloom into what it is today, through its many changes, and pranks.

What made me join was the old school feel of the forums, the fact that you could not only vote but leave a comment (be it helpful criticism or just meaner than a drunk pregnant mother flushing a live kitten down a toilet).

Q: You've won 9 awards from 8 different collab projects. In each of those you voice acted. How did you get into voice acting?

A: Nine awards? Wow. I wasn't even counting.

I have been imitating voices and accents since I was a little child, loved watching Red Dwarf, and would just be amazed with Looney Tunes. I still watch cartoons to this day, some of my favorites are Ren and Stimpy, Beavis and Butthead, Bob's Burgers, and Archer. I absolutely love Jon Benjamin.

I got into voice acting through college radio actually. Being college radio we had a budget of Zero. So all the production/imaging/voices were created by the students (including myself). Having a morning show at the time, I thought hearing my voice throughout the day would become stale and boring, so I started using accents and different voices for ads, spots, bumpers, sweepers, station I.D.s, and other technical words. I noticed that when I sat in the room for hours, I usually came up with two or three good characters that would make people smile, pay attention, or downright laugh.

I decided to further delve into voice acting, and through research I found a site called Radio Daddy, which is a request forum mainly for radio stations looking for voices. So I created an account, grabbed my crappy computer microphone, and jumped in.

It was hard for me to break the habit of sounding like a radio announcer, and going more towards the smooth waltz of actually acting. Thank god I was in a couple of high school plays. I saved up enough money to actually invest in some equipment. My microphone is an AKG Perception 120, I use a shock mount, pop filter, and a Blue Icicle. The recording software I use is adobe audition 1.5 and 3.0.

I guess I rambled on a bit there. Oh well, NEXT QUESTION!

Q: You don't have any solo projects and haven't done anything with any games is there a reason why?

A: Solo projects as in animating as well as voicing? Well, I don't know anything about flash whatsoever, as far as games go, while I have not voiced for any games here, I have been offered in the past to, it was for an XBOX Live indie game, unfortunately I was going through a tough time in my life and couldn't voice act due to lack of internet/space to record. That went on for about two years.

However I would LOVE to voice act for some games, I think it would be really fun and a new experience for me.

And if anyone wants to teach me how to use flash for free, I would not object.

Q: You have 23 audio submissions and most of them have a score of at least above 3.50 how does that feel?

A: Crimany! I have 23? I better get cracking on more.

I just checked, and I do have one that just reached 3.50...not tooting my own horn. Maybe just a little.

It feels pretty good considering the amount of audio files on this site, that people have somehow found mine (which I do honestly credit a lot to the flashes that I have voiced for). I do feel humbled, and appreciative that people like my work. Albeit smart or stupid audio. Or ones that you cannot hear...but yes, I am deeply honored.

Q: You have one art submission, Murphy The Detective Mobster. How was it making art for a change?

A: To be honest, I was really tired, cracked out on Monster energy drinks, it was about three in the morning, and I was sitting at my computer, bored out of mind. So after about thirty minutes of messing around in Photoshop 7 (because I am poor) and a half a pack of cigarettes later, I created Murphy. I had a voice pop into my head, and I wanted to create what I thought the voice looked like if given a face. It took about three hours.

I really enjoy using photoshop, and who knows, I do have some ideas for a series, with Murphey, and I do plan on contacting some animators whom I admire, and/or have worked with in the past.

Q: It seems you and Kieran-s can make great animation together so how did you meet him?

A: First off, thank you!

I received a message from him back in May 31st 2009. (I still have the pm) And he asked me "Are you interested in playing the role of the main character's enemy."

I think I replied "Hell yes" or something to that effect.

So we talked back and forth for a couple of days, looking at rough scripts, trying different voices, some with effects, some without, and finally settled on the one that you hear as the first vampire in the Edwin series.

I'm not quite sure how he found me though...Australians are very mysterious to me. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly it is that makes them magical.

I know fans of Edwin who are reading this are probably thinking to themselves "Why hasn't the next episode come out yet?"

Life gets in the way. But I haven't actually voiced anything since early 2010.

I like Kieran's style of animation and writing, to be honest, I didn't say yes off the bat, I looked his previous flash and instantly loved it. Then I said yes like a giggly school girl who has just been asked if she liked candy.

Q: Now besides being known for voice acting you also have a bunch of Rock songs. One in particular I liked was "Hangover Blues". Anything you can say about that song that you didn't in the comments?

A: I originally wrote the song when I was 16 or 17, it was a slower song back then, mostly inspired by Tom Petty for the chords and style, I might upload the original version of it one day, digital drum loop and all. We used it as a warm up, made a couple of changes, liked it enough to keep it.

Q: You only have a total of 70 posts and your latest one being posted over 2 months ago. Any reason to the low amount of BBS posts?

A: Not really, I've just been pretty busy moving, finding jobs, moving again, not really having time to post.

Q: How many more Edwin episodes do you think you will voice for and will come out?

A: Good question, I've been pretty busy with school as has Kieran, but we do talk about it....

Q: Is there one other voice actor pro or amateur that you like to listen to?

A: I do like Sapphire, we've worked together on more than just Edwin, for other sites and people, I find her voice so easy to work with, like liquid gold. Makes me a little gushy.

Q: How did you think up your username?

A: It was inspired by an old DJ from KISW by the name of Ricker. One of his favorite things to say/talk about were Big Giant Juicy Kickballs, and I was trying to think of a name while listening to him, then just typed it in.

Q: What do you think of The Interviewer?

A: I think it is great for this website, it also helps bring attention to some people who are not so well known, as well as obvious "celebrities" on this site. I hope it becomes a permanent staple on this site.

Q: What can we expect from you in the future?

A: More voice acting, maybe not as frequently, but at least some podcast updates. I do have some sketch ideas, so I'll be talking to my animating friends and see what we can do.