Thread: Company Interview: Anti-Yo

Hey Folks This Time we are going with something different! A Company interview…and whose is first on our list for the company interview?

These fools…


Interview

Yin: So, it’s you two. They told me you guys existed, but I didn’t believe ‘em. In all seriousness fellas, YOU are Anti-Yo. The Eetsit, the Fluchs, and the Bapezilla. You are one of the now, known names in the yo-yo community. Let’s start from the beginning, How did you two meet?

Sonny: I met Kiya through a yoyoing messageboard in May 2004. In true Team COY form he asked if I wanted to meet up at a bar in SF, and we started hanging out regularly after that.

Kiya: Sonny posted on yoyoing.com that he was into yoyos and if there was anybody in the Bay Area that was also into it. I contacted him through the board and we decided to meet at the 540 Club, a dark dingy bar in the Inner Richmond of SF. I figured if he ended up also being into hackeysacks I’d be able to kill him, dispose of his body, and nobody would notice at such a dark and lowly place.

Yin: Now how did you two get into yoing? I know Kiya has been around for a while. Sonny is fairly new to the scene but quite vital. What got you two throwing?

Kiya: About 7 years ago (in 1999) my best friend moved into a loft in San Francisco, the room he moved into had two things left in it, a dirty rug and a Raider. I picked up the Raider, threw it a few times and thought “wow, I haven’t touched a yoyo in over ten years”. My friend and I would go out at night and argue about who got to play with the yoyo (imagine two 21 year olds arguing about who gets to play with the yoyo, it’s not funny). Eventually I gave in and went into a FAO Schwartz in Union Square and bought a Bandai Hyper Warp. I spent a good year straight just walking the dog and doing round the worlds. While on a flight to New York I thought to myself “am I the only one carrying around a yoyo?” As soon as I got to a computer I did a search for yoyos, came upon a web board (yoyoing.com) and realized I was NOT the only one, there were people out there far crazier than I. I found Dave Capurro’s team, The Spindox, I emailed Dave, and a few emails later I was at the meet in Oakland’s Jack London Square. Dave looked at my yoyo and said “that’s a piece of $#$#$#$#, you need a butterfly yoyo, I’ll sell you this used YoyoJam yoyo for 25 dollars”, I was hesitant (is this guy trying to rip me off? a USED yoyo for 25 dollars??). I bought the yoyo and spent the next three months trying to land a Trapeze. In my first three months, six years ago, I went to BAC, Cal States, Golden Apple Comics (SoCal), and Nationals. That answer was far longer than it needed to be, I apologize.

Sonny: I went to Tahoe for my 26th birthday and went to this really cool indie toystore. It was like a timewarp in there, my wife bought me an RBII the Yonomicon and two issues of Fiend magazine, this is all in march 2004. I don't think I put the yoyo down the whole trip, I just fell in love with it. I never had had a ball bearing yoyo before this, the stuff it could do blew my mind. I have been throwing everyday since.

Yin: Now when did Anti-Yo come into play? How did the both of you just decide, “Hey you know what, we should make yo-yos!” And where did the name “Anti-Yo” Come from. Because everyone knows what Anti means, and I hope everyone that is reading this knows what a yo is.

Sonny: I think that's pretty much what happened. It was something we both wanted to do, I think more to just make yo-yos for ourselves at first then we realized there was a place for us in the yo-yo market and Anti-yo was born.

Kiya : Yeah, as Sonny said we initially wanted to make some yoyos for ourselves that were visually very different than anything else out at the time. We wanted wild color combinations. Once we realized we wanted to start a company we knew that we wanted to do things differently than the rest. Our image is a reflection of our personalities, we wanted Anti-Yo have emotions and a sense of humor, as opposed to just a fancy website and a logo. About the name.. haha.. Here’s the thing, it’s something I’ve never really wanted to explain to the public because it would seem too wishy washy. Here it goes… I’m fascinated by extremes and contradictions. We have contradictions in our lives every step of the way; I find that too many people deny the fact that contradictions are a huge part of living. With the name I’m trying to say that it’s ok to go “extreme” in one direction in any situation, it’s ok to contradict yourself, it’s ok to be irrational at times. If the human race follows a set of rules too closely we’ll never evolve as humans. The name “Anti-Yo” threw a lot of people off at first, I got a lot of emails saying, “Are you saying that yoyos suck?” or “I don’t like the name, It’s not positive”. The German philosopher Hegal stated that every situation (thesis) should be confronted with it’s opposite (antithesis) to come to a better situation (synthesis). Anti-Yo is an illustration of this idea. This is all too much about what I believe and very little about yoyos, I’ll stop now.

Yin: Now also the way you guys run your company is different from others. Not only do you guys have yo-yos, but shirts, belt buckles, and even your whole company is for sale on Anti-Yo.com. What is your main influence for your company. What makes you guys try different things?

Sonny: My main influence in Anti-yo, is to try to run it like a skate company. And have fun with it, I wouldn't do it if it wasn't.

Kiya: Yeah, we’re trying to have fun most of all. And secondly advance the yoyo scene as much as possible by furthering the aesthetic value of what we love so much, yoyos. And I’m trying to run this company like a six star hotel; once you’ve been with us for a few days you’re gonna hate checking out.

Yin: Do you guys have any plans for any more clothing? Anymore belts or shirts? Or maybe even an Anti-Yo yo-yo backpack?

Sonny: We have some really cool stuff coming up. Keep an eye out for some Jack Ringca signature hotpants.

Kiya: Those are going to come with balls. With holes in them. You know, for like, counter weights. Look out for a set of skateboard decks we’re releasing this summer. Three decks, three artists, three tricks. Each deck’s art will be based around a trick with the artwork designed by the inventor of the trick. Deck number one will be The Green Triangle by Paul Escolar, Deck number two will be Third Generation Boingy by Mark Montgomery. There will be shirts to go along with the decks. Deck one is almost done, Deck two should be done in a couple of months. Wait till you see Paul’s deck, it’s the illest thing ever.

Yin: Now let’s get to what Anti-Yo is known for, besides their amazingly pimpin owners. Your yo-yos! Let’s start with the First one, The Fluchs. First of all where did you get the name from? You always choose interesting names for your yo-yos. Fluchs kicked off not only the interesting names but the multi color of your yos. Why Pink and Black? Basically how was the Fluchs born?

Kiya: We did a few prototypes of a yoyo we wanted to make that had a larger diameter than most, and when we decided on the shape, the colors were easy to decide on for us. Pink and Black, they looked great together and they were soft and simple. At the time, if I’m not mistaken, there weren’t any metal yoyos that were colored anything like that, and the entire Pink Craze that took place in the yoyo world was sorta set off by the Fluchs. I could be wrong about that, but it seemed like it started right around when we put out photos of the prototypes. I will not divulge the secrets of the names behind our yoyos. It’s genius, that’s all you need to know. We need to keep up the good names so we can keep selling yoyos, so we can send out players to contests and so we can buy a DeLorean.

Yin: Now on to the next one, my personal favorite looking so far, The Eetsit. Now you guys went to an interesting color to start with brown and silver, and the “Minus Heart”. Where did the logo come from? I notice it’s on the Anti-Yo stickers, but what does it mean? Yo-Yos need love to fellas!

Kiya: The reason for the “Minus Heart” once again goes back to the theme of contradictions. The colors had a double meaning. One meaning has a relation to the name of the yoyo, The Eetsit, which I won’t say any more about. And the other significance of the colors is that they’re to represent Sonny and I. He’s white, I’m brown. We’re bruthas from different muthas.



Yin: Now Baz Pads, how did those come into play? What made you choose Baz pads for your yos? Did you guys just decide that they would fit with your yos?

Sonny: They were different and work very well. They're my favorite pad.

Kiya: We chose them because they’re red. We like red. Colors are very nice. That, and we’re trying to give enough money to Baz so he can move his hot smoking ass to San Francisco in a few weeks.

Yin: And now for the new one everyone is waiting for…the Bapezilla. I take back what I say about the Eetsit, this yo-yos is beautiful. Again the colors, what made you choose those colors? And of course the name…the name is quite interesting what made you choose that?

Sonny: I think we both wanted to go for something really loud after the Eetsit. Green and blue was the most ridiculous color combo we could think of.

Kiya: Yeah, the eetsit was all about subtlety and depth and emo-ness. This is the exact opposite, this is about gettin’ dumb and letting your car drive itself down the street while you’re dancing alongside wearing head to toe pastel pink and green camo and six hundred dollar shoes while listening to Droop-E while trying to bust a Green Triangle Suicide for all the sideshow watchers.

Yin: Now this question is directed towards Kiya. Where did you get the idea for Turf, a shoe/yo-yo store? Have you ever had a meeting with Reebok or something to make like and Eetsit shoe? Maybe a Bapezilla Air Force One (Copyright by me)?

Kiya: I initially wanted to open either a shoe store or a chocolate boutique. I decided on the shoe store because I found a space that was perfect for it. The chocolate boutique I’m still going to be doing either later this year or the beginning of 2007. The reason I decided on carrying a full line of yoyos is because I’ve always been jealous of skaters. For one, I can barely skate, and besides that I enjoy hurting myself by entering camel races in Dubai rather than face-planting into the side of a bus on a skateboard. Back to the jealous thing.. I always daydreamed of going to a place that would have hundreds of different yoyos, string, bearings, all the little mod items you’d ever need, and yoyo related dvds and t-shirts. A place you can go and just hang out and there’d be other yoyoers that would come in and hang out with you at all times of the day, every day. Just like a skateshop, but for yoyoers. So that’s what I did at Turf, we have lots of open space, we host yoyo meets, we sponsor contests, and we host contests. We even have Paul Han working for us. So like while you’re getting some shoes Paul can show you one of his face melting yoyo tricks.

Yin: Sonny, you have a yo-yo tattoo as an avatar on some of the forums. Are you planning to get anymore? I know there is not a lot of space on that canvas of yours but if you could get another one what would it be?

Sonny: I have plans to get a few more. After worlds this year I'm starting a wailing ship/sperm wale piece on my ribs. I really like old scrimshaw pieces and my family were wailers before they moved to America, so it's something I've had in interest in for a long time.

Kiya: What he’s not going to tell you is that he’s got the secret Slip Matte Coating procedure tattooed on his love rod. The procedure is seven and a half pages long.

Yin: What is your guys worst yoing accident? One that when people hear about it go “OW” or “Dang that sucks.”

Sonny: Probably getting punched in the face. At Coachella a few years ago some guy who was tripping balls comes up to me and asks me why I have a camera in my yo-yo and to stop filming him. I told him there was no camera and to relax, next thing he punches me in the side of my face. He ended up with a dif-e-yo imprint in his forehead by the time we were pulled apart.

Kiya: I was tripping balls at this huge music festival and this jerk was taking photos of me and shooting video of me dancing like a maniac with ten yoyos attached to my hands, one on every finger. I asked him why he’s so interested in my Naked Wild Donkey YoYo Dance and he punched me in the face with his camera.

Yin: What music do you guys usually listen to when you throw? Usually people are very interested in Techno Tap Dancing. Ben McPhee mentioned he enjoys Wolfmother. Do you guys prefer hip-hop or rock?

Kiya: I listen to John Zorn or Autechre. Nothing else. Nothing else while I yoyo at least.

Sonny: I'm probably split down the middle on that. Some of my favorites are; Chokebore, Morrissey, Three mile pilot, Del, Sole, Why?, Murder City Devils, and MF Doom.

Yin: What is your guys favorite yo-yo video? Which one do you watch and could watch over and over again?

Sonny: For me it's the first two videos I saw; Welcome to Naptown (sector-y edit) and Glasslab 4. I also really like the more arty vids like "one third" and "the fidget" and any Pretty Boy Spinners vid.

Kiya: I’d say that most of my favorite videos are all the Brazilian vids that have come out over the years… everything from the music to the editing is tops on those videos. Those and pretty much anything that comes from Brian Cosky/Jeff Coons/Camden Moriarty, they’re hilarious and have the tricks to back up their humor.

Yin: Is there a plan for an Anti-Yo video in the future?

Sonny: Yes

Kiya: It’s being directed at the moment by Seijun Suzuki, it should be done later this year. You’ll cry, you’ll laugh, and you’ll want your money back.

Yin: So how do you guys choose who you want to be on Team Anti-Yo? Do you guys watch videos or do you guys receive videos to sponsor people? Or maybe you just sponsor good-looking interviewers? How do you guys choose who is allowed to be in you “Billionaire Club”?

Kiya: Initially we didn’t know what we wanted out of the team because it was an aspect of the yoyo world that we hadn’t handled before (putting together a company team). But we quickly learned that it had more to do with the personality of the player and less with how many contests they’d won. We try to pick our players at a younger age than most, ones that we think are going to grow with us and have the same strange off the wall humor that we do. Brian we have because he’s energetic and a really solid player all around. Philip because he’s a yo-yoing monk and he’s pretty much the nicest yoyoer I’ve met in the scene. Kevin/Nivik because he drips with sex and the ladies love him. Simon because he let me buy him a beer in a pub in London and he turned out to be one of the coolest yoyoers I’ve met anywhere; I could go on about Simon but I’ll save that for another interview. Jake because he impressed us so heavily with his videos he made with his eetsits, and others on the team were telling us “you better get him on the team!” And last but not least, Ryosuke. Ryosuke and I exchanged quite a few emails back and forth, he kept saying he was going to make a video, and when he finally did, he sent it to us and Sonny and I both freaked out. We have plans for Japan, to go deeper into the Japanese yoyo community than any other metal manufacturer has so far, and Ryosuke is going to be our man out there.



Sonny: We try to pick people who we'd want to hang out with, that fit the personality of Anti-yo, and are positive members of the yo-yoing community.

Yin: Have you guys ever used the fact that you make yo-yos or throw yo-yos to pick up women? Maybe even just showing the beautiful yo you have made.

Sonny: I leave that to Docpop.

Kiya: I’m with Sonny on that.

Yin: Where do you guys see your company Anti-Yo in the future? What is the future for Anti-Yo?

Sonny: For us to keep having fun, putting out yo-yos, and supporting the scene however we can. I'd also like to get a DeLorean out of it.

Kiya: I’d like to say only two things here. 1. We want to grow and put out fun products for all of you. 2. We want a DeLorean.

Yin: If the whole yo-yo community was in Turf, and you both had a mic and could tell everyone in the community something what would you say? What would you say to the thousands of people in your store (They probably won’t be very happy cramped in that store)?

Sonny: Just have fun with yo-yoing and be excellent to each other.

Kiya: Wow, I have too much to say, as you can already tell. If I were to sum it up to a few important things:
-Get off the boards and go outside and yoyo
-When you’re typing something out on the boards, think about the big picture; think about what you’re about to say and how it relates to the outside world beyond yoyos.
-start a yoyo club, don’t underestimate the power of monthly yoyo meets
-lay off the high fructose corn syrup and processed foods
-I love you all

Yin: Thank you guys for taking the time to do this interview. Is there anything you guys would like to say before we go?

Sonny: Everyone who throws an Anti-yo, anyone who has taught me a trick at a contest, people who keep putting out great videos, the modders, pretty much everyone in the yo-yoing community.

Kiya: I can’t believe we’ve gotten to where we are, and are still doing it even though the thought of quitting has definitely crossed our minds in the past year. But we’re at a good place now, and thanks to all of you, we’re going to continue doing what we do. To all of the players that made Anti-Yo related art and every person that’s written me an email praising our work, I appreciate every last bit of it, you warm the cockles of my heart. Thanks all, I love you, and good night.

Yin: Awesome Anti-Yo, straight pimpin’!


Thanks again to all you readers out there. Represent TYYK, Anti-Yo, Theyo.com. All you guys rocks and please Buy a Bapezilla. I’m Out Support the Scene. Kiya takes us away….

Great Interview! I enjoyed it a lot! Thanks Yin, Kiya, and Sonny!

America is for dreamers.

Haha Man I laughed so many times during that interview it's not funny... or is it? I don't know. Anyway, another big Yin. Sonny and Kiya sound like a fun bunch to hang out with. Yo-yo geek's, are the best kind of geek's!

Great job Anti-Yo, keep those sexy Yo-yo's comin'

Great interview! Kiya and Sonny Rock!

Originally Posted by Yin_Yo

Yin: Is there a plan for an Anti-Yo video in the future?

Sonny: Yes

Kiya: It’s being directed at the moment by Seijun Suzuki, it should be done later this year. You’ll cry, you’ll laugh, and you’ll want your money back.

our first choice was Takashi Miike, but he has something against yo-yos.

takeshi miike rocks if he directed anti yo then the next yo would be called butcher up your wife and consume love visitor q and itcy the killer great interview kiya and sonny sound like my kinda people the kinda who are so random that we forget what the word random means.

Best interview ever.

Great job dude!

Sonny: I met Kiya through a yoyoing messageboard in May 2004. In true Team COY form he asked if I wanted to meet up at a bar in SF, and we started hanging out regularly after that.

Kiya: Sonny posted on yoyoing.com that he was into yoyos and if there was anybody in the Bay Area that was also into it. I contacted him through the board and we decided to meet at the 540 Club, a dark dingy bar in the Inner Richmond of SF. I figured if he ended up also being into hackeysacks I’d be able to kill him, dispose of his body, and nobody would notice at such a dark and lowly place.

The post that started Anti-yo:

http://www.yoyoing.com/news/viewpost.php?post=147836

Originally Posted by Rayofevil

Best interview ever.

Great job dude!

Yeah.

Not that we're biased or anything :)

Made me laugh a few times, I definately think you should do a collab with Bape or nike somehow.. I was slightly disapointed when I found out the bapezilla wasn't a collab but also slightly happy that the price wouldn't increase too much. Great Interview + Looking forward to getting a bape..

EDIT: I've found the car you want, shame that the auction ended before I remembered to put it here but meh:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...645309646&rd=1

Originally Posted by Sottle

Originally Posted by Rayofevil

Best interview ever.

Great job dude!

Yeah.

Not that we're biased or anything :)

I agree with Sottle and Rayofevil. Best interview EVER

Very funny interview I hope Kiya and Sonny do get Deloren's and then slip matte coat them so they can travel in time faster.Bring us back the secret of perpetual motion yoyo that spins forever.

that was really good.

Anti-Yo definately has a cool vibe to 'em.
Meeting Kiya at GA states definitely confirmed it for me haha.

I have high hopes for these guys in the future.
I like what I've seen from 'em and like what I'm hearing!

excellent interview... nice job once again yinyo!

Originally Posted by diffinctive

Originally Posted by Sottle

Originally Posted by Rayofevil

Best interview ever.

Great job dude!

Yeah.

Not that we're biased or anything :)

I agree with Sottle and Rayofevil. Best interview EVER

You crazy kids. Gotta love Anti-Yo Respresentin'

~Yin

great interview, yin y. thanks again for doin' this...very good read.

Kiya: What he’s not going to tell you is that he’s got the secret Slip Matte Coating procedure tattooed on his love rod. The procedure is seven and a half pages long.

so i guess sonny needs to be excited, when they go to the factory to slip matte coat somethin'?...

mgodinez

partly sunny...

haha. wherever did you find those images ;-)