The following is an
interview with GlitchxCity, a musician specializing in video game remixes.
Where are you from, and how did you get into music?
I’m based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas. I got a
late start in music when I chose choir as my arts elective in middle school,
and then carried on with that in high school.
How
did you get into Pokémon, and when did that start crossing into your musical
work?
I got into Pokémon when I was 5 back in the 90s (like every
kid)! It was actually the anime that introduced me to the series, and I’ve
stuck with it ever since. It wasn’t until I was in high school where I wanted
to have a creative outlet to show my love for the series.
How do you choose
which tracks to remix/rearrange/create?
It depends on how I’m feeling and what the community is
feeling. When a new generation drops, I pay attention to the characters that
may have huge potential in the game and hope that their themes match up to my
expectations. Outside of Pokémon tracks, I’m working on other projects from
originals, to commercial work, and even tracks from other video game series!
What are some songs you've put out recently?
My most recent Pokémon track is the “Battle! AI Professor!”
theme from Scarlet and Violet. The original was written by Toby Fox and I was
so ecstatic to get my hands on it. It’s honestly one of my favorite battle
themes I’ve worked on and I’m thoroughly proud of how it came out!
Anything coming in the near future you'd like to tease?
I just wrapped up a large project that will be launching on
May 5th and I’m really excited for people to hear it! I’m also working on more
long-form compilation projects that will launch during the summer in
collaboration with a few illustrators!
Where can folks find you online?
You can find me on YouTube where I upload all my
Pokémon and other video game related remixes, Soundcloud for an ad-free
listening experience, and Spotify and Apple Music
for streaming my music!
I recently had a chance to interview Michael Haigney, localizer and voice actor in the early seasons of the Pokémon anime. We talk about his career in entertainment, as well as his new podcast, "Original Pokeman":
In the first segment (1:18-12:33), I interview Veronica Weygandt, a percussionist who's done several covers of Pokemon music. Despite being relatively early in her career, we still had a lot to talk about, including how percussion is much more than just drums, how those instruments have been brought into the digital realm, and how she's revisited some of her earlier work.
Our second segment (13:43-1:10:11) is a discussion of the music of Pokemon Puzzle Challenge for the Game Boy Color. While most of this title is similar to its N64 counterpart, the music definitely isn't, and Anne from Pikapi Podcast was happy to help me cover it. As usual, we have a game discussion after the outro:
Percussionist Veronica Weygandt (V-Ron Media) joins me to discuss her history as a musician, experience with Pokemon, and recent covers of music from Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, and Pokemon X/Y:
Transcript:
Steven: Hi folks, Steven here. I'm on the phone with Veronica Weygandt, who is a percussion teacher, but more directly relevant she has been doing a number of Pokemon covers. We're going to talk about a couple in particular. She recently did a cover of the "Duskull Graveyard" theme from "Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire" for Halloween a few weeks ago, but that's just one of the things we're going to talk about. But first of all, Veronica where are you from and how did you get into doing music?
Veronica: I'm from Spartanburg, South Carolina and I actually got into music...my father just retired as a band director, so when I was growing up, like if we were cleaning the house, instead of just whatever's on the radio we would have music such as 80's pop or jazz or classical or romantic era music playing in the background, so I grew up listening to a large variety of different types of genres of music.
Steven: And what was your sort of formal training like? Did you take instrument lessons as a kid, or how did that work out?
Veronica: So I started-dad and I would kind of play around at our piano in the living room, but then I did start band in fourth grade and I played percussion in band class through high school, and then in high school I actually joined a class called "percussion ensemble" so instead of sitting in the back of the band room every day. we all played on percussion instruments the whole time, so it was only percussionists in the class, so we got some specialized instruction, which is always kind of nice.
Steven: Yeah, it's always nice when you can get that sort of specialized training there. What were sort of your main instruments because a lot of folks they think, "percussion? Oh that's just drums," but it's actually a fairly wide array of instruments. What were some of the ones you learned back then?
Veronica: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that, because sometimes people just say, "I need a drummer," or you'll get piano players that can only play mallets, but I'm thankful that I get to play a lot of them, such as the marimba, the vibraphone, xylophone, bells/glockenspiel which are all under mallets, and then I did some snare drums, some concert snare drum and rudimental marching snare drum, and some bass drum and other auxiliary...or the toy instruments like triangle and tambourine. I also learned to play timpani and drum set.
Steven: That's a really great variety there. I think you mentioned a little bit about marching band there. Have you ever had to perform at sporting events? What's that like?
Veronica: So, my freshman year of high school I was in the front ensemble, and I played marimba and then I marched a bass drum for one year and snare drum for two years, and now I actually work at that same high school and now I teach for the front ensemble.
Steven: That is a neat little circle of life there, I suppose. All right, well let's talk about the Pokemon side-how did you get introduced to that franchise?
Veronica: So, funny enough I was actually obsessed with "A Bug's Life" as a kid, and my parents couldn't get me to watch anything but "A Bug's Life" and then one day they showed me the first Pokemon movie and specifically the "[Pikachu's] Vacation" special, and then I became obsessed with Pokemon. That was followed by the whole movie, starting the cartoon or anime, and then I got a little bit into "Pokemon Silver" and "Pokemon Red and Blue", but I mainly played a lot of the side games, such as "Pokemon Stadium", "Pokemon Stadium 2"-I love the minigames-and "Pokemon Snap" is always dear to my heart.
Steven: Yeah, especially that first generation, they did really experiment with what they could do with the Pokemon franchise, and the side games really do show that. We're hopefully seeing more of that now with the "New Pokemon Snap" and whatnot, but moving on let's talk about your little YouTube channel that you created-how did that get started?
Veronica: I started it back in college-my junior year, I believe my third year of college-and I just started out kind of messing around on the piano figuring out what I could do and what I couldn't do, and then I would put that into a music writing software or notation software-I use Finale, some people use Musescore or Sibelius but dad had Finale, so I just always learned Finale-and then I would export that when I finished it. I would export it as a MIDI file-it's an electronic sound font or so-and I would import that into Garageband, and then I would mess around with the library samples to see what instruments those sounds sounded on the best. Then I would just upload those to YouTube, so it was all electronic based when I started, but last December I got what's called a Vibekat, and it's actually an electronic vibraphone that comes with a bunch of different sounds such as xylophone, bells, and a bunch of other things that I've mentioned previously, and now instead of filling up a room with a bunch of different big percussion instruments, I can just change the channel on this one Vibekat, so it's really useful for recording, and now I can perform in my studio and have it feel more like a live recording.
Steven: Yeah, one thing if folks look at your more recent videos, you do that sort of split-screen thing where you're performing each part of the of the composition and stuff like that, so it's it's really interesting how that's evolved over time.
Veronica: Yeah, and I do want to point out one more thing is that a lot of different percussion instruments-specifically mallets-use different mallets on the mallet instruments, such as the xylophone uses harder mallets whereas marimba you use yarn mallets-it's just softer mallets. And so, even though I'm performing on the same instrument, I still use the different mallets in each part so you can tell the instruments apart on the screen, such as the top left or bottom right.
Steven: That'll be a great thing for folks to look for the next time they watch one of your videos. That's pretty interesting. All right, well let's talk about one of your covers in particular. The one you put out at the end of October for Halloween was the "Duskull Graveyard" theme from "Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire". Now, I do know that you had earlier done a cover of "Lavender Town" from "[Pokemon] Red and Blue" which is sort of the default Halloween thing that a lot of folks do. So. aside from having done that already, what made you choose this one for for this year's Halloween?
Veronica: I've always loved the spin-off games-like i mentioned previously with "Pokemon Snap"-and I was actually watching a live stream on YouTube of someone playing "Pokemon Pinball", and that sort of gave me some inspiration because I had been looking for something I was thinking maybe "Jack's Theme" from "Animal Crossing" because I've done a bunch of "Animal Crossing" arrangements, but I just really love "Pokemon Pinball Ruby [and] Sapphire", and when I heard the "Duskull Graveyard" theme, I was like, "oh, that's it." I mean I get that feeling and that you pulled into it and then suddenly you lose a couple days in the studio. That's how that works.
Steven: Yeah, inspiration can often strike in a manner like that where you just happen across something and you realize it's exactly what you've been looking for, and it sounds like that's what happened there. Are there any particular parts of the cover that you wanted to call out that were interesting or difficult or you learned something from?
Veronica: Yeah, a couple things come to mind. The first thing is in the original version that's in the game, some of the instruments are actually a little bit out of time in the melody. The clarinets are not with the bass part-the bass line per se. It's electronic so it's a little hard to figure out what instrument it is sometimes in the older games, but in my arrangement I still played it in time, and at first I wasn't sure if that was going to work out or not, but in the end it did and I'm really glad that it did. I think it sounds better from a 2020 performance.
Steven: Yeah, it can be a little difficult sometimes to tell exactly what they meant there. Obviously they were trying to have a little bit of fun-we're talking about a graveyard you know in a Pokemon game not Silent Hill, so it's going to be a little bit different there, but yeah it sounds like you did some experimentation there and took some risks and sounds like you're happy with the result, which is you know an important thing for musicians to do sometimes.
Veronica: Yeah, one thing I'm really happy with is the part where the drum set comes in because before it's just kind of spooky and ominous with [just] the auxiliary instruments-the triangle, the claves and the wood block and and just the marimba and the bass marimba part and xylophone on the melody, and you're like, "oh, is that it is it over?" And then the drum set comes in and the melody doubles on vibraphone and bells and it just kind of builds, and then towards the end the marimba changes to four mallets and it just becomes an epic ending of sorts, and I'm really happy with how it built up the entire time.
Steven: Yeah, you had a great experience, which you know given that making a video like that is a is a lot of work, I'm glad you have some positive emotions to show for it. All right, well you did another Pokemon cover recently. Do you want to talk a little bit about that one? It's from "[Pokemon] X and Y".
Veronica: So, "Laverre City" was actually the very first arrangement I did for my channel, and after graduating college and growing as both a musician and an arranger, there are some things I felt like i could do better, especially now that I have microphones and proper recording equipment and the Vibekat. Now I could do it for my main instrument-percussion ensemble-rather than just plugging it into Garageband and figuring out what kind of worked the best but wasn't really what I wanted, now I could really do what I wanted, so I upped the tempo a little bit and I had some fun with that. I had a pretty challenging marimba part-I had to practice those notes quite a bit-but I'm really happy with how that turned out at the end. I had a nice blend with the bass marimba and piano as well. I've gotten a lot better piano this year too. so I was able to put all those things together, and I was really happy with that.
Steven: Absolutely-the more you practice the better you get. That's true for pretty much anything. Alright, well anything else you're planning on doing in the near future that you wanted to share with the audience?
Veronica: I'm planning on doing "Snowbelle City" sometime in December or January to fit the wintry theme. It's going to be kind of similar to "Laverre City", but I'm going to have a lot more auxiliary instruments in this and I'm really excited to show some of those off for sure, and I'm probably going to do some Animal Crossing too, maybe "Turkey Day" hopefully I can get that out on Thanksgiving, and a couple others as well, one that I'm really excited for.
Steven: Yeah, "Animal Crossing" another big one on your channel there, so if folks are interested in that great place to look. Speaking of which, why don't you go ahead-what's your YouTube channel name and also why don't you tell us, do you have any social media accounts yeah you can find me on YouTube at "V-ron Media" , and if you go on my YouTube channel you can find my social media in my banner or you can look it up on site so on Facebook it's @vronmediamusic at Twitter it's @vronmediamusic and then if you want to follow me on Instagram my personal account is @vlweygandtand it's mostly updates on my channel along with pictures of my cats.
Steven: All right, well thank you very much Veronica-it's been great having you on.
Veronica: Thank you for having me-I really appreciate it.
I recently had an opportunity to interview Jordan Moore, a musician who's produced a number of covers of both classical and video game music. We discussed his musical training, starting his YouTube channel, and his more recent and future work:
The following is an interview with Stephen Morioka, winner of the Masters Division at a 2016 Pokémon VGC Midseason Showdown in Janesville, WI.
Where are you from, and how did you get into competitive Pokémon (and Pokémon in general)?
I am from Chicago, Illinois and I am a longtime Pokémon player. My relatives in Texas gave me a Game Boy Pocket and Pokémon Blue Version as a parting gift during my family’s summer vacation in 1999. I have played through every generation, even when Pokémon’s popularity was declining in the early 2000s.
Nintendo Power magazine is what I credit for entering me into the competitive Pokémon scene. In the winter of 2005, there was a one or two-page spread advertising qualifier tests that funneled into a Pokémon tournament celebrating the release of Pokémon Emerald. I managed to make it all the way to the tournament, which was single battle, later that spring. I didn’t win it but from the other players there I learned a lot about many of the hidden features Pokémon has to offer, such as effort values. Knowing that I could improve my training, I was always on the lookout for future competitions after that tournament. My search led me to the Journey Across America (JAA) in 2006 and VGC’s first official season in 2009.
What was the team you used for this event?
It was a spin of Wolfe Glick’s Winter Regional 1st place team. While the team normally consists of Primal Kyogre, Dialga, Mega Salamence, Ferrothorn, Thundurus and Landorus-Therian, I used Mega Gengar instead of Landorus.
Why did you choose the Pokémon you did?
Several members of the team are very good checks to the common Pokémon in the 2016 format. To provide some basic examples, Salamence does well against Groudon, Ferrothorn does well against Kyogre, and Dialga does well against opposing dragons such as Salamence and Rayquaza. The team also has several options for speed control, such as Thunder Wave, Tailwind, and Trick Room, which is an important part of any VGC format. As for Mega Gengar, I selected it over Landorus simply due to personal preference-I wasn’t really comfortable with the way Landorus was played on the team despite its incredible synergy. On the other hand, I have been using Gengar for a good majority of this format, so I went with what I knew how to play. Gengar is quite useful against teams built around Xerneas and simplifies the game a little with its Shadow Tag ability. Were there any particular matches that stood out in your mind?
I would have to say the quarterfinals against Calvin Chan, in part because we have a long history. Back in 2006, we actually played in the Chicago Regional for JAA in the round of 8 or 16-I can’t remember exactly. Regardless, Calvin won and ended up playing in the finals for both that regional and the national championship later that summer in New York City. He was somewhat of an idol to me growing up, so it is always an honor to play against him.
For this tournament, both our Swiss round and Top 8 matches were extremely tight, 3-game sets. I lost game 1 in both series, and lost the match in Swiss, but was fortunate enough to come back from that deficit in the Top 8 match.
If you used a team similar to this again, is there anything you might change?
I would actually consider using Landorus instead of Mega Gengar as was originally intended. The rest of the team is a very solid core so reconfiguring that doesn’t really make sense to me. However, minor adjustments can always be made to suit a player’s personal playstyle.
What are your thoughts on the new VGC format?
I enjoy the 2016 VGC format, but a majority of the community probably doesn’t share that sentiment. The general complaints consist of too many luck factors outside of players’ control and strong centralization around a select group of Pokémon. I have been playing competitively for a long time and those issues have arisen every year to varying degrees. I simply brush them aside because I’m used to it and well hey, it’s Pokémon. Another important thing I don’t think players realize is how special this format is. This format allows for two restricted Pokémon to be on your team from a group of 15, such as Mewtwo, Groudon, and Kyogre. Normally, since they are so overpowered compared to other Pokémon, they are always sitting on the sidelines because they are not allowed to play in official formats. This year is only the 3rd time I’ve been able to use these Pokémon in a double battle format (the last two being in 2006 and 2010), so I am appreciating every second of this format because who knows, it may be another four to six years until we see these Pokémon in competitive play again.
Any advice for other players?
First, I strongly recommend watching the YouTube channels created by accomplished players Aaron Zheng, Markus Stadter, and Wolfe Glick. All three of them are repeat National Champions, provide high quality content, and are generously using their own time to entertain and more importantly to educate the VGC player base, both old and new. Also, I think for beginners it’s important to stay positive and not get easily discouraged if success eludes you early on. Pokémon players also need to be self-critical about their play, which many struggle to do. To elaborate, I tend to be very hard on myself when I make mistakes and accept the luck factors for what they are. Lastly, be sure you are playing Pokémon for the right reasons: Play because the game is fun for you. Play because you enjoy the people you are around when you compete. Play for the love of the game.
The following is an interview with Justin Alford, one of the top 8 finishers in the Masters division of this year’s Pokémon TCG Wisconsin State Championships. Justin’s deck focused on Giratina EX, but had a few additional twists.
Where are you from, and how did you get into the Pokémon TCG?
I am from South St. Paul, Minnesota and have lived in that area my entire life. I got into the Pokémon TCG when it first came to America, but to me that doesn’t really count, because sometime soon after the Gym Heroes/Gym Challenge sets I stopped collecting the cards, and I didn’t play with very many people back then either. I regained my interest during the autumn of 2014 thanks to two key factors: My neighbor Dallas and a relatively new local game store called Level-Up Games. Level-Up had been hosting Pokémon TCG tournaments on their own for a while and my neighbor had been participating in them for some time. One day I made my first stop into the store and decided to buy some packs just to see what they were like now compared to a decade or so ago. I saw some cool things that sparked my curiosity and eventually asked Dallas for help constructing a new deck and getting information on how decks are built nowadays. After that, I went to nearly every tournament Level-Up has hosted and personally, I think I do pretty well.
What’s the basic strategy of your deck, and why did you choose this deck for this tournament?
The deck I ran in this tournament uses the Fairy Transfer Ability from Aromatisse (XY) and Giratina EX (AOR) with Double Dragon and Fairy Energies. Double Dragons are considered any type of energy as long as they are attached to a Dragon-Type Pokémon, so I can transfer Double Dragons to other Giratina on my bench when my Active is hurt or in danger of being KO’d, then I can use AZ to remove the damaged Pokémon and resume attacking with a fresh card. There’s also the various locks that Giratina does to the opponent: Preventing Mega-Evolution damage with his Renegade Pulse ability limits some potential threats, and Chaos Wheel locks the opponent out of playing Tools, Special Energy, and Stadiums for one turn, a potentially crippling scenario for my opponent (I’m looking at you, Night Marchers).
If for some reason Giratina isn’t working out, Mega Mewtwo EX with Psychic Infinity is there to also take out threats, punishing high energy-using opponents. The result is a well-rounded, tightly built, versatile deck that can go first or second and still come out on top.
What are some of the other important cards in the deck?
While Fairy Transfer by itself is pretty good, kickstarting it with Xerneas’s Geomancy (XY) is crucial so I have plenty of energy to play with early on. A combo of Level Balls and Ultra Balls help ensure access to turn two Fairy Transfer which in turn helps ensure I can attack. For Pokémon Tools, since Giratina and Xerneas both have an attack that does 100 damage, I added Fighting Fury Belts for an extra ten to get KO’s on Shaymin EX. The extra HP also helps prevent potential one-hit KO’s from Night March, or even help in mirror matches (I had a friend in the tournament who played a similar deck). I also threw in Ace Trainer with the idea that I will usually lose a Pokémon to my opponent before my strategy to lock their hand takes effect (a well-timed Ace Trainer cripples their options even more when combined with Chaos Wheel). For Stadiums, Fairy Garden is almost a no-brainer in a deck that runs Fairy Transfer-after all, who doesn’t like free retreat? One more card that helps cover more bases is Hydreigon EX (ROS), whose Shred attack counters any Jirachi using Stardust, Regice’s Resistance Blizzard, or even Aegislash EX. You have staple Supporters (Sycamore, Birch, Lysandre) as well, so Trainers’ Mail helps when looking for the right card at the right moment. Also, while most decks run multiple, I’ve found I only need a single Shaymin EX to make that first turn successful while keeping that bench open for your battle-ready reserves.
What worked for the deck?
It’s very rare that I face a deck that doesn’t have some form of Special Energy, and this tournament was no different. With the love (or hate depending on who you ask) for Night March and Seismitoad , Double Colorless is very common. Those aren’t the only ones, though-I ran into Mega Manectric decks twice and as soon as my opponents saw Giratina they were forced to either sacrifice damage or energy reuse.
One of the harder matchups I was able to beat was YZG (Yveltal-Zoroark-Gallade). This was a difficult game because Yveltal EX destroys a fully-powered Giratina while the opposite is much harder to accomplish. In that match, I used Mega Mewtwo to take care of an issue that Giratina could not.
What didn’t work, and would you make any changes if you used this deck again?
In the two rounds I lost in this tournament, my opponents utilized a similar tactic-energy removal. Whether it was hammers, Xerosic, or Team Flare Grunt, I found myself losing because I was out of energy. This is the only thing I fear when I play with this deck, but in most cases I feel like I can overcome this as long as I get the early game Energy lead with Geomancy. For that reason, I still see no reason to change this deck, at least until the next set rotation, and even then I’ll keep this one intact for a long while for Expanded play.
Earlier this week, I had a chance to interview Mark Chait, co-writer of "The Power of One" by Donna Summer from Pokemon 2000. In the interview, we discuss how he got started in music, what writing the song was like, the song's impact (and yes, we discuss Herman Cain, as well as one other politician), and his current work producing music in Los Angeles and China. It's a great listen if you want to learn more about the song, or the state of the music industry:
If you want to learn more, you can visit Mark's web site for additional information.
Editor's Note: Hangzhou is actually the location of the 2016 G20 Summit, not G8. This year's G8 Summit is in Japan.
Transcript:
Steven: Hi, I’m Steven Reich here at the Poke Press
Studios in Madison, Wisconsin. I’m on the phone with Mark Chait, who co-wrote
“The Power of One” song from the second Pokémon movie. But Mark, before we get
into that, why don’t you start at the beginning? How did you get involved in
doing music?
Mark: I grew up in South Africa as a child prodigy
of music. I actually have a Masters of piano performance and violin. So, I was
an early start at music. And classical music, I actually represented my country
at 15 years old. So, I traveled the world as a classical musician. So, I was a
very early starter.
Steven: So, that was your education in music. How
did you get involved in the music business itself?
Mark: Well, I actually went to Columbia University
for 5 years. And when I was in New York, I started playing around with film
music. And I had met a lot of people in the industry who forwarded my music to
Los Angeles where I met a lot of film producers who saw that I had a talent for
doing film scores. So, that’s how everything started. And that was Steven
Segal, the actor, who actually gave me a big piece of music to write for a film
that he ended up not doing. Basically, that’s how I ended up having a big large
orchestra score that ended up in my first film, which was 1992 in a small short
film for Sony Pictures that had Brad Pitt staring in it. It was a very
interesting way of entering the film business.
Steven: What were some other pieces you worked on
during the 90s?
Mark: I wrote a lot of film score music in the style
of Ennio Morricone, because the first film that I did that actually went to the
Oscars for Best Live Action Short, was a film that Morricone was going to do.
He told Sony Pictures and the studios that they would have to wait 9 months.
So, the director wanted somebody that could do him. When I first started, a lot
of the film music that I wrote for the various films that I did work on in the
90s, were of that genre-the very melodious, similar orchestration pieces. And I
also wrote a lot of piano and violin, but they weren’t published at that point.
So, I just mainly did my work for film score music. And this is way before I
started doing songs for films.
Steven: What eventually led to you doing vocal
songs? How did that get started?
Mark: It was a lot of interest from record producers,
actually. Like David Foster and Charlie Midnight, who said that my music has a
very good song quality and we should try and put vocals to them and see how I
am writing songs. I wasn’t sure that that was the way I wanted to do it. But I,
nevertheless, tried it. And I have a good talent for summing up a feature film
in 4 minutes in a song. I originally started working with Randy Goodrum who
wrote a lot of hits in the 90s as well. He took me under his wing like a lot of
other film composers did as well.
Steven: Nice. So, let’s move on to “The Power of One”. Do you know, how did you get chosen to work on this project?
Mark: I had met the head of music at Warner Brothers at the time. He still is, actually. And a very nice man who was a fan of my music. And he said, “We’re doing this Pokémon, do you want to have a look at the film and see if you can come up with an idea?” And I did. And then, I invited Merv Warren to join me in co-writing the song. Basically, that’s how it got started.
Steven: What was the writing process like? Did it come together quickly? Did it take a lot of time? How did that come about?
Mark: The first draft came about pretty quickly, like they always do. If you’re a musician and an artist, you understand. These things come quickly. And then, there was a lot of time involved in changing things and producers involved. The lyrics, I would say, was much harder than the music. The music took about 2 weeks to come together. But then, we had to actually find the correct lyrics that matched the movie. That was about a 3 week to a month process. It was a very pain staking process to get that correct. I loved working with Merv Warren. He’s a fantastic songwriter. We really enjoyed the process. I think that’s the key to writing a hit song.
Steven: Definitely made quite an impact. Very memorable. Are there any particular lyrics that you’re particularly proud of, or have an interesting story behind them?
Mark: Well, the obvious one is the one that everyone talked about with Herman Cain. It inspired a lot of people in avenues that I never thought was even possible. The opening four lines, I think, are the ones that are mostly used, even to this day. “Life can be a challenge/Life can seem impossible/It’s never easy/when so much is on the line.” I think those lines pretty much say a lot.
Steven: Absolutely. Anyone can relate to that. We’ve all had times in our lives that are like that. You did mention, of course, Herman Cain. For those who aren’t aware, about 4 years ago, he was a politician running for US President. He sort of misattributed your song. He thought it was from the Summer Olympics and didn’t realize it was actually a Donna Summer song. First of all, how did you find out that that happened, and what was your reaction there?
Mark: It was very easy to find out, because it was all over the press all over the world. To be honest, it was at the Olympics, but it wasn’t part of the Olympics. NBC would cover the Americans during the Summer Olympics and at the end of every day, they would have the outtakes of all the events that occurred during the Olympic games. And, the song was perfect for covering that. The song was used many times by NBC to cover the Summer Olympics. It wasn’t the official song of the Olympic Games, but the confusion was pretty easy to make.
Steven: Was it funny when it happened? Did it make you feel like you had created something that was really memorable?
Mark: As any artist would tell you, any artist would be delighted that anyone would be talking about their work. Negative or positive, that’s not for me to say. But the fact that it inspired a conversation on the level for the Presidency of the United States, it tickled me pink. It really created a very warm feeling in me that somebody would use something that we created to further their career and use it as an example of, I think, the courage within themselves. So, any time anyone uses a song, it’s always wonderful. I had a similar experience with Hillary Clinton when she was at a dinner in New York for the Democrats. They chose my song, “The Power of One” and I got to perform it actually, with a wonderful singer from Broadway, Lillias White. And the same thing, it sparked a whole conversation. At the end of the performance, Hillary Clinton walked on stage, smiled, grabbed my arm and said, “Mark’s already summed up my entire speech in that song. So, any time anyone uses a song for that purpose, that you create as an artist, it’s a wonderful thing.
Steven: Just to clarify, that thing with Hillary Clinton, was that before or after the Herman Cain thing?
Mark: That was before. It was before, yes.
Steven: That is absolutely fascinating. I love hearing that type of story. You’ve really shed a lot of light. We knew a fair bit about it, but you’ve really put in some interesting details. Really glad to have that.
Steven: Alright. Well, since you did that song, you’ve had quite a long career after that. In fact, currently, you’re actually working in China. How did that come about?
Mark: Well, 3-and-a-half years ago, I was invited to score a live-you can call it a musical, but it was actually the largest multimedia event in the world. It was called Illusions [and was] just outside of Shanghai. And they had 5 composers who failed at doing the task, because the whole show was told through music. There wasn’t any language. It was a very big task. They had 5 Chinese composers who wrote Chinese music. And what they really needed was Lord of the Rings 400-piece orchestra and choir kind of thing. They had invested an enormous amount of money-much more than we would ever spend in this country-to create a show that would be on the world stage with actors from all over the world. And when they came to Los Angeles to find composers, I met the chairman and he fell in love with my film score and music. Because, it was kind of what they were looking for. It was very epic. A lot of my film scores have that epic sound with full orchestration, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Choir. And that’s what ended up happening. This show took a year and a half to build. The CGI film took four years to make. This was basically a show on an enormous stage that was built for us with 180 degree screens, 8 stories high. And in front of it, were 60 actors. Some of them being Cirque du Soleil and part of the New York Ballet. And that put me on the map in China. Since I successfully completed the mission of doing a musical of such stature, I was approached by a wonderful organization where they have a collection of masters from around the world in their field, and they are partners to help better and further the creation and the understanding of Chinese composers.
Steven: What else do you like about China, besides getting an opportunity to work on music there? What’s the country like for those of us who haven’t been there?
Mark: It’s mostly surprising for everybody who’s never been there. I’ve been there for 4 years. But it’s not that I’m there full time. I’m still based in California, in Los Angeles. And I have a studio in both Los Angeles and Shanghai. What we love about China is that they are open to experimenting. The process was much more different than it is here. Here, we spend years and years planning things. There, they spend a couple of months planning things and than put it into action and see how it turns out. And for any artist, I think it’s a wonderful thing to be in the sand pits of experimentation. There are amazing people that I have become connected with in the film industry-actually, in all industries-who are all part of the same consortium that we are. It’s actually called DeTao, which means “The Way”. It’s almost like an enormous think tank of world leaders coming together that creates something new. I think it’s wonderful. The other thing that I’m going to say will surprise most people. Living in Shanghai is like living Paris or New York on steroids. It is nothing really Chinese about it, although it is China. And it was actually the area that I live in is called the Former French Concession, and it was built by the French. So, in essence, living in Shanghai is much more enjoyable in many ways than living in other parts of the world.
Steven: That’s really neat. What’s some of the other stuff you’ve worked on recently in either place?
Mark: Many things. One of the things I got to really explore is that I am a concert pianist. And I just have a new sponsorship by Bösendorfer. One of the things we’re doing is we’re doing piano performances around Asia, which is usually accompanied by the films I have scored. And it makes for an interesting new platform of performance. So, we’re doing that. I’m also writing, getting involved with films and television series in China. That’s an exciting thing. And the great thing about working in China is not only am I scoring for film, I’m scoring for provinces and scoring for cities. I was asked by the mayor of Shanghai to write the soundtrack for Shanghai. That’s been a year long project. I just recently scored the Zhejiang province, which is a very wealthy province in China. The capital of it is called Hangzhou, and it’s on a beautiful lake. The G8 Summit [Editor's Note: Actually the G20 summit] is going to be there. So, the government officials came to me and they asked our studio in China, called Studio Chait, to come up with the DNA, the brand of music, that depicts what they are and how they’re represented to the world. This is a very large project because it involves many people and statistics and research. So, scoring locations and cities and provinces is sort of like scoring the Olympic Games for me.
Steven: In what way?
Mark: Because it’s scoring the emotion that comes out of an event. How do you feel when you go to Shanghai? What is the essence of the Zhejiang province? And because I’m good at encapsulating a 4 minute song to tell you the emotion of a one and a half hour film, it’s a good strand of DNA that goes through everything that is associated with it. In essence, it’s what we call music branding.
Steven: Neat. And you mentioned you have a studio-type establishment that you do work from. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about that? And it has website, doesn’t it?
Mark: Yes, it does. Actually, if you go to my website, which is markchaitmusic.com, there is a link to the Chinese studio as well. The easiest way to see what’s going on in China is to Google my name, Mark Chait, then put the word China in. Then, all the Chinese websites come up in respect to what we're doing in China. It’s really fascinating. Our organization is called DeTao, which means ‘The Way’. We have a staff, we have full scoring facilities, and we just did our official launch-opening up the studio-at end of July 2015. It’s almost like a full music studio/film scoring/sound design studio, and we are a full music solutions studio. So, if someone wanted to do a film and they want to have music and sound effects and sound design and all of the above, we fulfill those needs. That’s kind of the way of the future.
Steven: Fantastic. I really love that. Do you have any social media accounts you want to plug here? Why don’t you do that?
Mark: The social media accounts that we have are on something that I’m not sure your listeners can get onto. It’s called WeChat. It’s the Facebook of China, but it’s actually got every application combined. Most of our social media is on that. But also, I’m going to start adding things to YouTube. The best way for my social media is through my website, which is markchaitmusic.com.
Steven: Sounds good. Been great having you on. We’ve learned some fantastic things. Not just about Pokémon, but also about how the world of music is evolving. Thank you very much, Mark.
Mark: You’re very welcome.
Steven: This has been Steven Reich from the Poke Press studios in Madison, Wisconsin, on the phone with Mark Chait, co-writer of “The Power of One” song from the second Pokémon movie.
The following is an interview with Rowan Stavenow, winner of the TCG Juniors Division in this year’s Pokémon World Championships. Rowan used a Landorus/Bats deck in this year’s tournament.
Where are you from, and how did you get into playing the Pokémon TCG?
I am from the Toronto area in Ontario, Canada. I first got into Pokémon with my friends at school-they were trading the cards and I though they looked really neat. My brother Grayson also thought they were cool, so we started to learn how to play at home. When we went to the local card store (Comic Connection) in Oakville, we found out that they had a league on Saturdays and some players there helped us learn more.
What made you choose to use this deck for Worlds?
I am familiar with Landy Bats and have played it for about eight months. I like decks with options, and I feel that my deck has lots of them. For example, I can snipe Pokémon on the bench before they evolve, or I can deal heavy damage to the active. Also, I thought the meta would have lots of Manectric, which of course would be a good match-up for me.
What did other folks think of your choice?
One of my friends was talking to my dad at the beginning of the tournament. He asked about what deck I was playing and said “Did Rowan bring ‘Old Faithful’?” Another friend was always saying “I can’t believe you are playing Landy Bats”, or “you are playing Landy Bats again?” Well, I wasn’t the only one to bring Landy Bats to worlds-turns out it is a pretty good deck.
“Bats” decks have to make sure they place damage counters when and where they will be most effective. What are some general rules you use to decide whether to evolve?
I generally ask myself these three questions:
1. Will the bat get knocked out if un-evolved?
2. Does my opponent have a large threat (something with potential to do a lot of damage) in play?
3. Can I get a knock out if I evolve the bat (bench snipe)?
If the answer to any one of those questions is “yes”, I will generally evolve the bat.
In the finals, you were paired against a Primal Groudon deck. What was your overall strategy for that matchup?
Well, to be honest, I didn’t really expect to get to the finals. In the Top Four I was matched up against one of my friends. He is a great player, and he was playing Toad/Bats, which is a really hard deck for me to face, but I managed to get past it.
Now, as far as the finals matchup, during Swiss matches on Saturday I encountered two other Primal Groudon decks. My overall strategy was to snipe the Groudon while they were on the bench and before they became active. When they did become active my hope was that they would have enough damage on them so that my Hawlucha could one-hit them. I also didn’t want the Groudon to knock out any of my EX Pokémon. Giving up two prizes was something I wanted to avoid, and since Hawlucha can do so much damage for a single energy while only giving up one prize, I felt that was the way to go. I won both of those matches, so felt I had a good strategy in place, and it worked for the first game of the finals as well. I was going to use that strategy in the second game, but didn’t really need to because my opponent drew dead, and his Computer Search was prized.
Your finals opponent defeated a deck similar to yours in the Top Four. What did you do differently to get the win?
I tried to use Hammerhead as soon as possible, before he could get a Hard Charm on his Groudon.
The Top Four player attacked with Bunnelby. Dealing damage to the Groundon while they were still on the bench is a key strategy to win the match-up. While Bunnelby is attacking, no damage is done to the Groudon.
Any other tips?
The ability of Wobbuffet (or Silent Lab) to turn off Shaymin’s Set Up Ability was a difficult part of the match-up. The Set Up Ability is a great help in drawing cards and increasing the overall consistency of my deck. There were a few times that I couldn’t use Set Up, and had to hold my Shaymin in my hand. During the tournament, I saw other players making the mistake of benching Shaymin, while its Ability was shut down. I tried really hard to be aware of this.
I notice that when taking multiple prizes for knocking out an EX, you usually take prizes that are not adjacent. Is there a reason for that?
In some cases my deck may have been clumped, meaning two side-by-side prizes could be the same.
What does it feel like to be a world champion?
It feels unbelievable to be a world champion in my first year playing Pokémon.
Did you do anything else at worlds (or in Boston)?
On Friday, I was fortunate enough to win my first three matches. After that, I didn’t have to play anymore, so I could spend the afternoon playing in side events with my friends. I also went to the fifth floor of the Sheraton hotel as often as I could to trade cards and test matchups. On Sunday, after the closing ceremonies, I went on a Duck Tour of Boston with my family.
The following is an interview with Jacob Van Wagner, winner of the TCG Masters division in this year’s Pokémon World Championships. Jacob used a deck that combines Blastoise with Archie’s Ace in the Hole.
Where are you from, and how did you get into playing the Pokémon TCG?
I’m from Happy Valley, Oregon. I got into the game when my little brother discovered a league close to our house. I was reluctant to go but once I went the first time (now six years ago), I was hooked immediately.
What made you choose to use this deck for Worlds?
I had tested the deck a bit prior to the event and wasn’t comfortable with the chance of dead hands, however my good friend and teammate Travis Nunlist thought that after the results of US nationals, this deck would be a solid play for worlds. I was still somewhat reluctant but decided I’d have more fun with this deck than anything else, and ended up playing the same list as him for day one.
This idea has been floating around for a while, but most players decided it wasn’t reliable enough. What changes did you make to the deck to improve your chances?
We (my testing team and I) wanted to focus primarily on consistency and just add in a couple of things for the matchups we expected. We were expecting a larger amount of night march so we included the copy of Wailord and Articuno. The day one list also included a copy of Bunnelby, which was helpful in getting back Superior Energy Retrievals, Computer Search, etc.. It also had the potential to deck someone out if their deck ever got done to just a few cards, but that situation never occurred.
What were some of the other Pokémon in your deck, and what were they used for?
The deck included Keldeo EX, Wailord EX, Articuno ROS, and Mewtwo EX as attackers, two copies of Exeggcute for their Propogation Ability, and two copies of Jirachi EX and Shaymin EX for added consistency. Wailord EX and Articuno were included as techs against Night March and Raichu variants. Wailord has a lot of hit points and can hit for 120 damage, which will knock out all of the Pokémon in both of those decks. Articuno’s Ancient Trait allows you to take two prize cards when you knock out a Pokémon, and flipping a single heads lets it deal sixty damage, which knocks out most attackers in Night March and knocks out Zubat/Pikachu in Raichu variants. Mewtwo EX is primarily helpful vs decks that also utilize Pokémon with large energy costs, such as other Keldeo EX, primal Groudon EX, and Mewtwo EX.
If you couldn’t get Blastoise out on the first turn, what did you wind up doing? Did you generally have to concede those games?
If I knew I wasn’t going to get Blastoise out that turn, I’d try to just get at least the water down on a Keldeo so I could start powering it up manually, and either try to prepare my hand for the Archie’s Ace in the Hole the next turn, or play a different supporter such as N or Professor Juniper. If neither was an option then I can’t imagine I’d win that game.
In the second game of the finals, you had to go through a lot to get Blastoise out on your first turn. What was your thought process?
I wanted to leave myself with more options to discard conservatively if I drew weird combinations of cards, such as Ultra Ball and Superior Energy Retrieval. After not hitting the Archies off of my first draw with Shaymin’s Set Up, I realized I just had to hope for some good luck and see an Ultra Ball or the Computer Search, as either of those would give me the options I needed.
Do you think a variant of this using Primal Kyogre could work in XY-On, or does the deck lose too much in the rotation?
I think the deck really thrives on the "unlimited" damage cap with Blastoise and Keldeo EX. It doesn’t seem to me like it’d have as much strength in XY-on.
What about Expanded? Do you think this deck will see play there?
I do think it has potential in Expanded. It would basically have the same weakness as it does now, the need to go first so you can get your combo off before your opponent has the chance to mess it up for you.
How does it feel to be a world champion?
It feels amazing. I’m honored that I’ve gotten to represent my country at the highest level and earn the title.
