Interview with Chuck Duran and Stacey J. on Voice Acting

Hey, this is Chuck and Stacey from VeoBuzz Weekly.

And you are listening to GeekCast Radio Network.

They are awesome! Hello and welcome to this latest

interview here on GeekCast Radio Network. I am

of course Mike Blanchard and I have the absolute

pleasure of talking to those global web show

hosts from vobuzzweekly .com in Chuck Duran and

Stacey J. Aswad. Hello! Hello! Yes and of course

they both have have done many many many other

things uh... stacy is a prima ballerina she is

the uh... the voice at walt disney world uh...

so much other stuff but the current project that

they're both embarking on is veal buzz weekly

dot com which is the global web show dedicated

to voiceover they've talked to the likes of Debbie

Derryberry, Rob Paulson, Tara Strong. You guys

haven't had Mark Hamill on yet, have you? Not

yet. Not yet. You know, they've got 29 two -part

episodes. I think my only problem is, and it's

not really a real problem, it's not available

on iTunes anymore. It was so easy for me to just

download it on iTunes, but I still support the

show every Sunday and go to the website. So let's

start out with Stacey. You know, I looked you

up and I looked you up on Google and all that

good stuff and it came up with your website and

you have this whole bio here. Where did you like,

when you were a kid, did you say, I want to grow

up and I want to be a dancer. I want to grow

up and be a roller skater. How did you get into

the, I guess, business of being in Hollywood?

Well, it all started when I was 10. Your voice

is too deep to be Stacey there, Chuck. You know,

I am that good of a voice actor that I could

do that. No, I think I've been performing since

I was little. I mean, I started skating when

I was five years old. And I always kind of, I

think my family always knew that I was not the

typical child that sat still. And, you know,

I mean, I was a good student in school and knew

I had to get good grades, but I wanted to perform

every chance I got. Yeah, definitely. I started

skating when I was five. I started ballet when

I was nine. And kind of around the middle of

junior high school, I said, well, I want to go

to Juilliard and be a professional dancer. And

it just never occurred to me that I wouldn't

get to go to Juilliard. I don't think I understood

the whole concept of you have to audition. They

may or may not accept you. I kind of just said,

oh, that's what I'm going to do. So I set my

sights on that and was able to go there and graduate

from Juilliard. do a lot of really cool things,

dancing in companies around the country. And

I think, yeah, I always knew that I've done other

things with my life. I've had other careers.

I was a personal trainer, and I've been a schoolteacher.

But in my heart, I always knew that performing

was what I loved, and it was part of it. It shows

me. I have no choice, really. So the medium for

how I perform changes here and there between

on camera and voice acting. At the end of the

day, as long as I'm performing and people are

enjoying it and I'm enjoying it, that's what

kind of makes me take the loudest. Awesome. Now,

there isn't a type of performing you prefer over

the other, is there? Do you prefer voiceover

versus the on -camera stuff or do you? Well,

if I'm having a bad hair day, it's very convenient

to have a voice acting day. I mean, I love live

performance. you know when you have no take two

that you have to get it right the first time

that I still there's still such a high from doing

that um I you know I couldn't I couldn't pick

you know it's like picking your favorite kid

you know I just I I just love to perform I love

the challenge each one has their own challenge

me voice acting is so challenging because you

can't use any visual cues for the comedy you

have to create it all so I like the challenge

of all of them and all the different kind of

the high you get from each one. Yeah, just go

to one of Chuck's concerts. You'll get high.

Now Chuck Duran is actually when I first heard

your name, it was I saw it on the Rock Sugar

Band dot com website. And I'm like, wait a second,

is he part of Duran Duran? Wait a minute. What's

going on here? Because I first found out about

Rock Sugar through a friend of mine, Benjamin

Dali, and I saw the Don't Stop the Sandman video,

and I was like, this is genius. This is amazing.

How did they do that? And of course, you know,

the Rock Sugar band bio is, you know, they were,

you know, trapped on an island, you know, with

all the hard riffs and and you know uh 16 year

olds you know pop lyrics 13 year we were stuck

on an island for 20 years with nothing but ourselves

our instruments our knowledge of metal and a

13 year old cd collection so tell us the true

story behind chuck duran Well, you know what?

The bio on the Rock Sugar site is actually pretty

close to my life. I mean, the only difference

is that I wasn't on an island for 20 years. I

was here in LA, but everything else is true.

No, seriously speaking, what do you want to know,

Mike? I'll tell you anything. Anything, everything.

How did you like growing up because I mean, I

know that you're a musician I know that music

has been a big part of your life just from reading

all this stuff on on the rock sugar website and

everything else but like Growing up. Did you

say I want to be in the bay in a band for the

rest of my life I want to be as famous as just

off the top of my head the one example I can

think of is James Hetfield or Ozzy Osbourne or

any of those guys. Yeah and I'll tell you exactly

what happened and going back to the Rock Sugar

site because it even talks about this and it

jokes around but like I said there's a lot of

truth intertwined in that whole thing and when

I was 13 years old or 12 or something like that

I didn't play music at all. And I was listening

to the radio and the song came on the radio is

called Do You Feel Like We Do by Peter Frampton.

Or Do You Feel Like I Do, whatever the hell it's

called now. I heard that song and then I heard

the guitar solo with the guitar talking and the

talkbox and do you feel like I and I was like

oh my goodness gracious I have to do that. I

have to do that so literally the next day I had

a buddy of mine who had a little you know Yamaha

electric guitar from Sears and a little amp that

probably cost him about $39 or something like

that and I had this mini bike this motorized

bike that my parents had bought me and I said

dude I'll trade you my mini bike for your guitar

and amp and he's like Okay, and I took that little

amp home and that little guitar I locked myself

up in that in my room with the little record

of that song and I made noise for weeks and hours

and hours finally my parents are like listen

Maybe we could buy you some guitar lessons. Would

you like that? And I'm like, yeah So I started

taking guitar lessons and the rest is history,

man I mean so from that moment on I was like

I want to be a rock star Awesome now tell us

the story Chuck of how you and Whackle Warner

became friends That's a funny story man when

I was in junior high school I met Jess and then

we went on to high school and then high school

When I just landed in high school, I was looking

for I joined a band and And we needed a lead

singer. And I met this guy who was one of my

classes who kind of looked like this guy from

Texas, even though he's from LA. Well, you know,

he kind of talked like this and his name was

Tex. Hello, my name is Tex. Seriously, I'm not

kidding. And I go, hey, man. He goes, how you

doing? My name is Tex. What's yours? I'm getting

chucked around here, man. He goes, you a rocker?

And I'm like, yeah, yeah. I'm looking for a singer.

And he goes, I'm a singer. And I'm like. Well,

actually, I'm looking for a different kind of

singer, like, you know, a rock singer. A good

singer. A good singer. And he's like, oh, you

got to meet my friend, Jess Harnell. He's awesome.

He's like Robert Plant. And I'm like, you're

kidding. He's like, nah, man. So literally, the

next day, I go to school, and I see that same

guy, Tex, running through the schoolyard, and

these two guys chasing him, covering him, and

shaving cream. Right. This was for before school

even started I'm like what the heck is going

on and he stops right in front of me and he goes

Hey Chuck, this is Jess the guy told you about

gotta go and he goes running again. I'm like,

that's the guy Literally, I got to meet him or

a little bit and he goes. Oh, yeah, man Give

me your phone number, you know, he gave me I

gave him my phone number and he never called

me And so a week later, I'm like, hey, man, you

never called me. He goes, oh, dude, I forgot,

man. Give me your phone number again. I lost

your phone number. So I give him my phone number

again. He never called me again. Oh my gosh.

Right? So even at a young age, Jess Harnell was

a forgetful person. He was crazy. I mean, he

was crazy. Oh, I'll get into that for in a second.

But anyways, the third time I said, hey, man,

give me your phone number. And he goes all right

my phone number is but no no actually I'm sorry

I asked that guy that text guy for justice phone

number And he gave it to me and I called him

up on a Saturday afternoon, and he answered the

floor I mean the the phone He answered the phone

and he said and I said okay Just listen to this

real quick And I put the phone down and I started

playing eruption by Eddie Van Halen over the

phone right and we were like you know what 15

years old or something like that right and I

stop and I get back on the phone and he goes,

oh my God, dude, that was killer. He goes, okay,

hold on, listen to this. And there's silence

and all of a sudden I hear Led Zeppelin, the

immigrant song in the background. And I hear

just. And he starts singing and he starts singing

the song and I'm like cracking up, right? And

that's how we met. And after that. we became

best friends literally we talked every day after

that and been in like bands you know we've done

everything together after that it's crazy they

are brothers yeah awesome awesome now with with

Rock Sugar it it exploded like like I said my

friend Ben pointed it out to me And I was like,

what is this? And then I heard, and I know this

is an interview about you guys, but sadly we

have to talk about Jess. I heard Jess as both

Hetfield and Steve Perry. And I'm like, oh my

God, this is amazing. So Reimaginator came out.

You guys have been touring nonstop. I know you're

not gonna give me a lot of detail with this because

we talked about this off air Yeah, what is next

for rock sugar? We are the world is waiting for

reimaginer Reimaginator part two, please tell

us give us something nope. Oh Come on All I can

tell you is this man When we put those songs

together, we really, really, really thought it

out, which is why a lot of people like yourself,

you know, listen to it and go, wow. And if you

listen to it and you can, you put it side by

side with any record that's out today, the actual

production quality and sound and everything,

it's, it stands right next to anything that you

have out there. And because we spent a lot of

cash to get it to sound great, we spent a lot

of time to get it to really, really sound great.

And And it takes a lot to actually not just come

up with, I mean, we're coming up with new songs

all the time. I mean, we could have three records

right now, but it's going into the studio. And

as you know, Jess Harnell is a master at what

he does. He's also extremely busy. Stacey and

I are extremely busy with VO Buzz Weekly and

demos at Rock here. And it's like, everybody

is so, so busy that... We just haven't had the

time to go into the studio and lock ourselves

in there and start slamming these things out.

And it's not one of those things that just takes,

you know, two seconds. You know what I mean?

It's not done in a weekend. It's a really, it's

a big time commitment, which we, but we're talking

about it. We're talking about it. Yeah. Now,

Stacey said off air that you guys are playing

some new songs at the live shows. Now, for someone

like me who doesn't travel a lot and doesn't

have the extra cash to travel to see a show,

seeing as how, you know, apparently the town

I live in is too cheap to even have you guys

here. Oh, I thought you couldn't travel because

of the ankle bracelet. Sorry, I thought. Ah,

no. No, no, no. The ankle bracelet came off a

long time ago. Can you tell us, maybe, for the

ones that can't go to one of the shows, can you

tell us a couple of the new songs that you're

playing at the shows? Absolutely. One of them's

called Since Your Immigrant's Been a Barracuda.

Oh my god. Yeah. So Since Your Immigrant has

Been a Barracuda. It's basically a mashup of

Hart's Barracuda, the immigrant song, and Since

You've Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson. Oh my god.

It's crazy. Is it on YouTube? It's on YouTube.

You can check it out. It's on YouTube. And the

other one, what's the other one called? Oh, the

other one's called Any Highway You Want. What

do you think? Any Highway You Want? Well, it's

Any Way You Want it from Journey. I know that

part. Yeah? Any Highway You Want. I don't know.

ACDC's Highway to Hell. Okay, okay, yeah. For

some strange reason, when you said any highway

I want, for some stupid reason, I'm thinking

of any way you want it in a Highway to Heaven

episode for some stupid reason. Yeah, exactly.

Well, anyway, these songs are both available

on YouTube to check out. I'm sure there's videos

of it too, so knock yourself out. Alright, so.

That would be YouTube .com. Youtube .com slash

Chuck4u I think is your YouTube handle, right?

Alright, so VeoBuzz Weekly, what made you guys

want to do this? Stacey and I, man, we talk about

business all the time, and she's really, really

super smart, and I have such a good time. Whenever

we do anything together, we just have really,

just a blast. We used to go on nightly walks

and just, you know, walk for, you know, hours

and miles. My feet are wearing off, for God sakes.

Our inventions. Yeah. And we talk about like,

you know, maybe things that we could do and things

that we could, and we had some really cool ideas

and I'm like, ah, you know, that wouldn't work

because of this. And, and so slowly, but surely

we started thinking about, Hey, what if we took,

what if we made a video? podcast a podcast but

had a video show and had it and it formatted

it more like a like a like a like a talk show

an entertainment show like something that you

would see on tv and you know it started kind

of like you know goofy but now if you're watching

the later episodes the set's changing a little

bit we just changed our set even a little bit

more so the newer episodes you're going to see

some more and and it just keeps improving but

the thing is this we wanted to bring something

to the voiceover community that the voice of

community didn't have, especially for people

that didn't live in Los Angeles. We wanted to

bring Los Angeles and the world of voiceover

to the world. And so this is our gift to everybody

in the industry. The cool thing about it, man,

it's like you were talking about earlier, and

you said, wow, why aren't you guys on iTunes

anymore? It was so convenient for us, and blah,

blah, and all that stuff, and I totally get that,

but this is where we're coming from, and maybe

it'll make sense to you, Mike, since you're really

smart, and that's this. The time ... that it

takes us to produce these things. We have to

call people. We have to put them on a list. We

have to get them here. We have to coordinate

with their incredibly busy schedules, as well

as state -of -the -art. We have a film crew.

We have cameras. We have lights. We have action.

We have all this crazy stuff, right? All of the

post -production, the audio correction and the

editing. The editing. The website alone has cost

us so far over $10 ,000 to do what it needs to

do for us to be able to bring this to people.

So all this we do for how much? Zero. Yeah. Well,

I'm not complaining that it's not on iTunes.

I was just wondering. And I remember I had commented

a couple months ago on one of your old Facebook

fan pages or on the Facebook fan page said, hey,

why aren't you guys in iTunes anymore? And the

response I got was it's a logistical thing. And

I understand that you guys are putting a lot

of time and effort and obviously money and trust

me, I know all about scheduling. You know, three

years doing GeekCast Radio Network, my buddy

Steve and I started this podcasting network and

we've interviewed tons of people and just, you

know, catering to their schedules, you know,

making sure that we're available, they're available

at the same time to get interviews done. I totally

understand it and I don't have a problem with

it now. I was just wondering, it was like it

was there and then it was gone, you know? and

what they do on the show. There's content and

licensing stuff. And so we just were trying to

kind of protect ourselves that way, too. But

no, I mean, we live in an iTunes world. And so

it may get there in some form or fashion. But

we put the promo videos on YouTube. So at least

people get a little bit of an inkling, and then

they can come to the website support thing. Exactly.

But we also really wanted to when we thought

about the show it was it was a service for the

voiceover world, too But also we wanted to honor

the incredible work that these people do in the

voice of our business Everyone from the agents

the writers the casting directors not in addition

to the actors because they're these sort of famous

non celebrities and They do this amazing work

and we really wanted to put a face to the voice

for not just the people in the voice of our world

but also the people in that are fans that are

animation fans and cartoon fans. That they could

really give these people their their do as far

as you know, I mean now you have the comic cons

and where they get a little bit of exposure there.

But we wanted to do something that was much more

intimate versus having it be with 100 people

or 200 people listening to a pan. We really wanted

to get, you know, up close and personal with

these guys and gals and give people an idea of

how they got to where they are and even though

maybe you're not a voice actor listening to it,

it's a human, it's about humanity, it's about

the human story and about persistence and finding

out what your dreams are and going after them.

So I think what's great, what I love is we hear

from people all over the world that say, I'm

not even a voiceover actor, I'm not even in the

entertainment business at all, but. you know

so -and -so story about how they just didn't

give up and how they got knocked down and got

back up that really inspired me in my life and

I'm a teacher I'm an accountant so I just think

that's really cool that that we are really proud

about putting things out into the world that

are positive and inspiring and make people think

about their lives and their journey and how they

can be the best mom or the best social worker

whatever it is that they do we're really proud

of that because there is so much negativity in

the world and we are we are not about promoting

that so we said what can we do and it's just

it's just this you know it is a lot of work but

you know it is such a labor of love and we are

exhausted but we are having just the best time

and it's just we feel so honored that people

have embraced it and have come on the show and

said we love what you guys are doing and keep

it up so yeah Mike that's the plan thanks that's

what I wanted to say but she said it better Well,

yeah, I mean, that's the thing, you know, not,

you know, I, I kind of in this day and age, I

kind of have to disagree with part of what she

said where, where voice actors are essentially

faceless. Not so much anymore. Not especially

with the internet now. Are you kidding me? Yeah.

You know, and, you know, and you got people like,

like Good old Yakko Warner, who started his own

podcast, who just, you know, takes his iPhone

and goes to his friend's houses. I love Rob Paulson.

He's awesome. He is awesome, man. Um, all right.

So you've got this, this weekly web show who,

can you give us a teaser, a preview of maybe

the next couple of weeks of guests? Do you guys

like plan that in advance? Like, to get the scheduling

worked out, or do you not know who's going to

be on the next week? No, we do. I mean, it kind

of differs from month to month because it depends

on our schedule and our guest schedule. Sometimes

we'll shoot a bunch of episodes in one week,

and then we don't shoot in three weeks, and sometimes

we shoot every week for the whole month. Next

week we have, or this coming Sunday, we have

Ginny McSwain, who is... an amazing voice director.

She is responsive. She's been in the business

since Hanna -Barbera years. She's been in the

business since the 70s. She's one of the top

voice directors in the business. She's responsible

for so many half hours that you see and love.

And she's worked on, right now she's working

on Transformers Rescue Bots and - Transformers

Prime. She's so incredible. And she - She, we

just interviewed her and she's coming up the

next two weeks and she has such a great perspective

because she's really been a part of the industry

from the beginning. Even before their, I mean,

basically her job as a voice director didn't

exist. It was kind of created. So she's really,

really fascinating and gives you kind of a perspective

that you don't normally get. And then after that,

we are doing a really, really special episode

that we just shot. Well, actually, no. After

that, we're going to have, not necessarily in

this order, we have Dave Fennoy, who's the voice

of Hulu. OK. And he's done a bunch of really

cool games. Walking Dead is a new video game

he's got out. And then we've got Bill Farmer,

the voice of Goofy and Pluto. That's going to

be awesome. Yeah, he's amazing. We're actually

we're interviewing him tomorrow. We're actually

shooting him tomorrow. Sweet. And then we've

got an amazingly special episode coming up at

the end of August. We're honoring Don LaFontaine.

You know, he sadly passed away four years ago

in September, and he's the kind of guy he was

so generous and so about giving back that we

know he would have wanted to be on our show.

Yeah. We're good friends with a lot of his good

friends and they said, you know, they said this

is something that Don would have loved. So we

are doing a tribute to him and we have four people

who knew him the very best. His wife, Nita Whittaker

LaFontaine and his agent, his only agent for

his entire career, Steve Tisherman of TGMD and

his best friend, Paul Pape and Joe Cipriano who

were the co -founders of the Don LaFontaine Voice

Over Lab out here in LA. So it's just, we shot

it last week and we're in the process of putting

together what we hope will honor. It's gonna

be an amazing tribute, man. So that was such

a privilege for us to sit there in the Voice

Over Lab, you know, that he would have loved

and been so proud of with the four people who

literally knew him the very best and to hear

him. you know them talk about him and the influence

he still has on on them and and the voiceover

community because he really revolutionized the

trailer movie voice i mean that he was the trailer

movie voice you know that didn't that didn't

exist he really he really yeah i mean created

that yeah get this mike over 5 000 movie trailers

and i heard a couple figures out there but i

heard like combined commercials for radio and

television and promos, like over 750 ,000. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, the man was just everywhere. I

mean, he was the narration voice for anything

you wanted to do, whether it was something epic

or whether it was something comical. I just...

Another one of our podcasts, Tooncast Beyond,

which covers all manner, we review all manner

of cartoons from 1999 to today. We are starting,

we are kicking off season two where we're gonna

be talking about DreamWorks movies. And I just

rewatched the 2001 trailer of Shrek, and that's

him. Doing the Shrek to like I can see him doing

something like really serious and epic and the

inner world and all that Yeah, but it's like

something like Shrek, which is a you know a cartoon

comedy It's like you wouldn't think that that

voice would fit it, but it so does and it's so

amazing I think I think one of the other things

I saw him on before not heard him on as far as

animation before he passed away was he narrated

an episode of Phineas and Ferb, and at the end

of it, as the Disney Channel logo comes up, he

goes, in a world, there, I said it, happy. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. No, I mean, because he

was such an incredible storyteller. I mean, he

literally could take every single word off the

page and make it something special. So whether

he was doing some goofy comedy or an epic adventure

movie or something really dramatic, I mean, he

really He had such a gift that truly, I don't

think, I mean, the bar he has set is so high.

I think it's something that's great for us all

to strive for. But I don't think anyone's toppling

his bar anytime soon. I think the one that comes

closest to me, for me that I've heard that obviously

no one can copy, Don, but you guys actually went

to his home studio. Scott Rummel. Scott Rommel,

thank you. I remember the first name. I couldn't

remember the last name. Good old Aquaman. Alright,

so you've got this amazing web show that everyone

is watching, not just Hollywood is watching,

but just regular fans like myself, everything

else. Chuck, you've got Demos That Rock, which

you are a demo producer for. Tell the audience

a little bit about Demos That Rock. Demos at

Rock is my company and I produce demos for people

that want to break into the business and I help

people that are in the business that want to

take their voice of a business to that next level,

you know, to the Jess Harnell and the Scott Rummel

levels. You can't do that by yourself. You need

guidance and you need to do certain things and

you need certain tools to help you get there.

And so that's what Demos at Rocks is all about.

And, you know, Because of VO Buzz Weekly, Demos

That Rock is now a global company because I literally

have people coming calling me from all over the

world saying, yeah, you know, I want you to help

me produce, you know, a demo that rocks and blah,

blah, and I do, and I have, and they have success

no matter where they are because when you produce

something for somebody that's just, you know,

really, really great, it's a great tool, it just

works everywhere, whether you're in Alabama or

New York or UK. Awesome. Stacey, tell us what

you've been up to besides VO Buzz Weekly. I know

that you transitioned into theater for a bit.

I have. I've done some. A couple of years ago.

Yeah, I did. I did a few years ago. I did some

plays back east before I moved out here. And

then I did a couple since I've lived here. You

know, LA is not as much of a theater town as

it is back east. But it was a good experience.

And again, it gave me that kind of live. performance

fix but um right now i'm really focusing on my

on camera hosting and commercial career and my

voice acting career i actually just uh i just

got i can't say specific too specifically but

i just right the gig for um an in -show announcer

for uh a game show on um the hub discovery kids

oh cool Yeah, so we're going to be shooting that

in the next couple weeks. And so that was really

kind of cool. So I'm representing the chick announcers

out there. That's right, baby. She's rocking

it hard. The dudes can do announcing, but the

chicks can't too. So I'm representing us. Heck

yeah. Yeah, there's very few female game show

announcers. Right? Yeah, it was kind of cool.

I mean, the show is kind of going in a different

direction. And so. I'm really excited about it

and that's kind of a big deal right now in my

world. And I'm doing a lot of, I do an ongoing

thing for McDonald's, radio and TV spots, voiceover

spots for McDonald's. And every day it's kind

of fun because I never quite know what's gonna

happen in my life. I audition for games and animation

and commercials and you just never know. It's

always kind of a new and different thing. I've

got an infomercial I just shot about tax lien

certificates. Yep, tax lien certificates, if

you can believe that. And that's, I don't think

that's gone on the air yet, but that's a riveting

way to build your wealth. Heck yeah. You know,

if you ask me next week, there'll be some other

stuff going on. Stacey is kicking butt. We're

so proud of her, man. Thanks, Chuck. Proud of

you, too. And Mike, you know what? I got to tell

you, dude, that you guys over there at Geek Cast

Radio, well, not you guys, you. Well, no, it's

not just me. It's my buddy, Steve, who co -founded

it with me. And we have a bunch of other people

that produce content as well. I know, man. But

you guys are kicking ass and doing such a great

job, man. Thank you. Thank you for all that you

do. I mean your interviews are so great and and

you guys are so professional and so good about

You know being timely and all that stuff and

I just I really really appreciate you know people

out there doing that Yeah, you're doing it right.

You're doing it really really right we try We

try we're still trying we are still in fact trying

to get Mark Hamill for our Batman the animated

series review show I don't want to brag or anything

like that, but Mark Hamill calls us like every

single week and he's like Hey, when can I be

on vo buzz weekly? We're like mark. Okay, seriously

speaking dude. We have a waiting list and You're

not quite there yet. We're all we'll talk off

air about this This is not stuff for the on air

type of deal. Alright, so Stacey I know just

by looking at your website here, not to make

the entire thing all about you, but this is one

of the other things I know that you probably

want to bring up is, your autographed picture

is go to Save Animals. Do you want to talk about

that charity a bit? Yeah, thank you. Hold on.

Before she finishes that, I just want to tag

my Mark Hamill story by saying that I was kidding.

Yeah, sure. There you go. All right, go, Tacy.

Wait, hang on, Mark. I have to answer this question.

Hold on. No. Thank you for asking. I'm a huge

animal advocate. I'm a vegetarian. I love animals

of all different shapes and sizes. And what I

kind of decided, you know, people are so gracious.

And for some reason, what autographed pictures

of me, which is very nice. And so I thought,

well, I don't really want to charge people for

them and pocket the money. But I thought, what

can I do to help things that I'm passionate about,

about helping animals? So I decided I would ask.

If people want an autographed personalized picture,

I would give them that. And for a $20 donation,

all of that, every penny goes to various animal

charities that I support and work with around

the country. And so people can go to my website,

StacyJAswa .com, and there's six different pictures

they can pick, and know that every single penny

will go to help animal rescue organizations and

organizations that are all about helping end

animal homelessness and cruelty and... make the

lives better for the animals, which is what I

would love. I'd love in my lifetime to see the

end to animal homelessness. That is my dream

that I'm working hard for. Yeah, and of course

people want pictures of you. You're the hottest

chick in Hollywood next to Tara Strong. Right

on, baby. it's a stacy walk around character

disney world but as far as i know that's not

the plans the funny thing is they're gonna stick

you in the suit if that happens right because

people email me and say hey we were at disney

world and we didn't see you there but we heard

you yeah i know but they think i was someone

thought i lived in cinderella castle literally

i'm sorry i don't All right, Chuck, do you have

any charity work that you do that you want to

pimp out or anything like that? No, my charity

work is Stacey. Do yourself and I. Everything

I get, I give to her. Oh. Everything I have to

give to her. Oh, you gave her your heart, so

there's not much more. I'm not even me anymore.

She's me. Yeah, and I gave him 4 ,000 Swarovski

crystals on his guitar. Whoa. One by one. You

gave him his guitar, right? Have you seen the

video of my guitar that she pimped out? Yes,

I did see that. Crazy, man. I do that, and I

make his stage pants. I make him custom pants

he can wear on stage. So when he goes out on

the road, I'm like, go. Go with my love. Here's

your guitar and your new pants. Yeah, that's

the one thing I miss about your YouTube channel,

Chuck, is the Rock Sugar Monday videos. The first

one I ever saw was the one with the school teacher

when she keeps slapping Jess. And I was like,

they need to do more of that. That was the School

of Rock. That was a good one. That was a good

one. That was a very good one, actually. That

was a pretty funny one. That was a pretty funny

one. Yeah, with the cookie. Yeah. Yeah. Nutty

nutty nutty man, so I would like your your listeners

man if if they're out there which they are To

come support us man and come learn about the

animation business and the commercial business

and the whole voiceover industry And be entertained

and at vo buzz weekly comm come join us. It's

free Yeah, get inspired get inspired about your

life and whatever you do because there's a lot

of great people out there telling their stories

and living their dreams and that's an amazing

thing yes yeah and it's just it it's an absolute

joy to see it every sunday i i don't particularly

like the cliffhangers but hey that's the format

that you guys have and it's like you know it

works because it keeps you know bringing people

back every week call for someone to sit down

for potentially an hour. Oh, no. Yeah, trust

me. I completely understand. And I appreciate

it. It's just it's like one of those things where

because it is such an interesting show where

you get to like the last like four seconds and

it's like, wait, you're next week. No, we do

to compensate for that is on the following one.

We just go straight to the interview. No bull,

you know, right, right. That's true. That's right.

We're not totally heartless. No, man. You got

to take the good with the bad. Oh, I know. I

know. All right. So do you have any? All right.

Each of you. Chuck, what is your one tip for

someone making a demo? Don't make one unless

you're absolutely 100 % ready to make one. How

do you know you're ready to make one? Study with

somebody who is reputable in the business and

let them tell you you are now ready to make a

demo. Acting, voice acting, people think that

voice acting is like, oh, it's easy. You're just

talking to a microphone and it's cool because

you're in your pajamas and nobody knows what

you're wearing and blah, blah, you don't have

to look great. And all that is true, but it's

not easy. It's the hardest kind of acting that

you could possibly do because you need to convince

people solely with the sound of your voice and

and so you really have to be a great actor especially

nowadays in the old days in the older days you

could have a great voice and people like oh wow

that's a fantastic voice and you could do stuff

based on that nowadays it's not the case anymore

it's not about having a great voice it's about

having about being a great actor so when you

can consider yourself, and other people can consider

yourself a great actor, then you're ready for

a demo, and then you call me. Stacy, what about

you? What are some of your, like, one major tip

you can give people of not just getting into

the voiceover business, but getting into, you

know, whatever part of acting that people want

to get into? You know, I think that if you can't

envision, you know, at the end of the day, it's

not an easy business. But I think if you Believe

in your heart that you have what it takes, that

you're willing to work at it as a business, not

just as a creative person. If you have that mindset

and that you're just absolutely, you have no

choice, there is nothing else you think that

you can do to make you happy, but be in the entertainment

business in whatever fashion that you choose.

then I think you need to go for it. I think you

need to believe, believe, believe that you can

do it and that every time you have a setback,

you can look at it as a punishment or as an opportunity

to learn and grow and do better the next time

and, and, and be stronger. So, you know, I, I'm

really, I come from the place of nothing's impossible

as long as I'm breathing. So, I think it's really

important that you believe in yourself and you

surround yourself with a team of people that

believe in you as well and that can help you

with the business side of it and that you do

everything that you can do. and don't rely just

on those people, your agents, your managers to

do it for you because at the end of the day,

it is your business. You are the CEO of your

company and you have to approach it with that

kind of mindset because talent is great. If you

look great, you sound great, but that's just

a small piece of it. You have to know how to

do the business. Awesome. And you go to people

like Chuck to learn how to do that. And not just

because he's sitting here with his hands around

my throat. I will say that Chuck is extremely

unique. He's been doing this for decades and

he is not just somebody who's gonna come in,

take your money and record some stuff on some

Pro Tools tracks. He knows exactly what to do

and gives you amazing steps that if you are ready

to go into the business. He really customizes

your marketing plan and your journey to what

your goals are and what your process is. So he

really is very, very special like that. And he

does so much more than just record your demo.

He really takes you through the steps of what

you need to ultimately do to get an agent and

start working and build a career. So, you know,

he's he's really incredible at what he does,

and he's very passionate about it. And he loves

to help people and loves to make People's dreams

his dreams so that you're all on the same page.

So, you know, I I met Chuck he did my demo that's

how I met him and Thank God you guys fell in

love We fell in, you know, he gave me my first

job before I had an agent and hired me for campaigns

before I had representation and really believed

that I had something special and saw in me that

I was more than just a voice actor, that I really

understood that this is a business and really

did all he could to help me. And, you know, we

worked together for a couple years and it was

great. And so now doing this venture with him

of Viobas Weekly, Just makes sense because we

both have a passion for it and we both want to

help people and we both want to Give something

great to the world. And so I think it's kind

of a nice, you know, he's got more Experience

years of experience than I do, but I have experiences

in that he doesn't have so it's kind of a cool

combination. We kind of fill all the gaps. I

always tell people that Stacey, you know, whenever

people tell me, oh, you know, the business is

slow and nobody's doing that greed and blah,

blah, blah. And Stacey is my example of there's

always somebody out there making it happen. You

know what I mean? For every person that you find

that goes, oh, you know, I can't because blah,

blah, blah. She's out there proving them wrong

and making it happen. And that's what I love

about Stacey. She is a voice actor in the trenches.

You know what I mean? Every day, she's building

her business and going forward and giving it

150 % and just knocking it out of the park, man.

And that's what you have to do. You have to do

that. Well, and I would add to kind of a button,

a button on my tip is also, you know, this business

can be really vicious about comparing yourself

to other people. Yeah. And I would I would just

caution, you know, and I have to check myself

on this every single day that we each have our

own journey. And it's very easy to say, well,

why did she get that audition or I could do that

and she can't and he can't. when you're turning

your head all the time looking over your shoulder

comparing yourself and checking what other people

are doing you're losing focus and passion and

energy towards your journey so i would just say

you need to really focus on what your prize is

and your brass ring and you know there's room

enough for everybody there's work enough for

everybody so i think that um that that's just

a really kind of a negative waste of energy to

focus on comparing So, yeah, be sure to stay

tuned to vobuzzweekly .com. They have a new episode

every Sunday. Do you guys want to close out with

your traditional closing? That's right! Well,

just remember... Y 'all always have time for

a little buzz! It's time... for a demo that rocks!

Hey, everybody! It's Chuck and Stacey from Veo

Buzz Weekly. That's right. And you're listening

to Geek Cast Radio Network every day because

they rock. Thank you once again to Chuck and

Stacey from VeoBuzzWeekly .com. And as a special

treat, off air I asked Chuck if I could use the

new Rock Sugar songs that we talked about. in

the interview and he did give me permission to

do so. So first up is Any Highway You Want It.

badass track right there and the next track up

is Since You're an Immigrant Barracuda. Here

we go only on GCRN. at the website, GeekCastRadio

.com, where you can comment on all of our different

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