[Music] welcome to ear biscuits I’m link and I’m Rhett it’s time for another conversation with someone interesting from the internet and this week our guest at the roundtable of dim lighting is long time youtuber vlogger and video artist Mitchell Davis started his channel live lava live all the way back in May 2007 and he’s currently got 650 thousand subscribers in over 100 minimum of a million a total view since then now he’s a comedic vlogger he’s also a visual artiste he’s artsy guy and so we you know we talk about those two different worlds and he actually recently combined those onto his main channel just a matter of months ago right but we really can’t do justice to his visual art video you have to watch because they’re well yeah they’re visual to watch the visual one but it’s mesmerizing footage intoxicatingly edited is how I would describe it good word so it’s you know you know that thing on the iTunes visualizer I don’t usually turn that on but I remember like way back in the day the first time I ever started listening to music on iTunes what is this flower button and I press that and the whole screen turns into memorising intoxicating yeah it turns into this like like this graphic flower that morphs over time so when you’re listening to I don’t know John Denver John Denver’s are very excited yes I’m doing no justice don’t watch it well we’re just wetting your appetite so you will appetite so you will go watch him but another thing about Mitchell now first of all I’ve always thought that he’s just an incredibly funny dude only person and online and in terms of vlogging hit some of his vlogs or some of the funniest vlogs I have ever found on YouTube here’s an example of one because you don’t have to see this when you can hear it to find out how funny it is it’s called the panty-dropper so I don’t know if you guys know this but I’ve talked about it a little bit in the past year on live love live but I like Cologne I like wearing Cologne I don’t know why but when I wear it I feel like I’m invincible I steal I’ve been wearing the same cologne for a really long time like a long time and to be totally honest the only reason that I wore this cologne that I actually picked is because when I walked into the Cologne store as a young woman I almost said as a young woman I walked into a cologne store as a young woman when I walked into the store full of fragrances IV lines right for the the woman who was in charge and I said hi I’m Mitchell and I’m looking for something to make me smell better but like what hennas smell are you looking for I’m not sure exactly well if you’re not really sure we have this one and everybody buys it and all the dudes who work there a panty-dropper is the truth and I think that’s what makes it funny so she got the bottle when I smelled it and it was actually pretty nice and I’ve been wearing it ever since and it’s been a joke ongoing that I bought it because it’s a panty dropper but realistically it wasn’t now when a guy’s been vlogging for seven years you might think that you know everything about him if he’d been following him right but the interesting thing that we find out in there this year biscuit is that there was a whole lot of stuff going on that he wasn’t necessarily sharing with his audience at the time because that this really becomes a quintessential ear biscuit where the the curtain is pulled back a little bit and it gets personal I’m right this is a really good episode when Mitchell showed up I was like why is he wearing a curtain yeah because he’s pink so he can clean her behind so he can pull it back and you get to see you get to hear what’s under the curtain in this ear biscuit I mean things did get personal we talked about weathering the perceived rejection of his mom at a young age his bout with a paralyzing case of OCD and facebooking the father that he never knew and we talk about from a professional standpoint how he strikes the balance between being a vlogger and an artist and specifically how he decided to kind of go the artist route in spite of all the pressures to just be a YouTube teen idol teen idol teen idol you said it okay here it is enjoy our air biscuit with Mitchell Davis [Music] the other night um see the the streamys reception the one where we lost the streamys before the streamys yes yes the pre streamys yeah the one where we could have won an award and that you hosted but it was me and I was that a real stream I just that we didn’t win an award it was all up to me too and I was like who do I want no I mean you were making the decision yeah I was making decisions well and I think we all are on the same page of knowing that we shouldn’t have won that category and we didn’t sign it back to in education but I sauce won congratulations girls had to Michael I did notice that you hid your co-host on the head with the microphone I did I did and was that planned no no none of it was planned almost was Shira Shira yes she was it was kind of like a last minute thing where they were like do you want to co-host and I had never co-hosted anything and I’ve never hosted anything so I was just like very nervous about it actually and I was just like sure but no scripts for me just like tell let her do her thing and I’ll just kind of like squeeze in jokes and kind of just keep it light and funny and she was going so fast in there was no time for jokes that eventually I was just like what’s the best joke I could do without having to tell a joke I’m a Bopper on the head because like one the sound of a mic hitting anything is just great it’s just that right and well the sound that you expected shira’s had to make says a lot about what you thought of Shira so tread lightly at this point I wasn’t expecting it to be like or like anything like that I’m just saying I I’ve been here Chinese if it made it Gong sound I would’ve been amazing yeah well I’m just asking what you expected I just I just thought it would be hilarious and you know what I laughed real hard about it so it clearly worked I didn’t see it happen you saw it hi I saw it happen and they knew that it knew that a it wasn’t planned yeah I knew that from the look I did it but what was the look described it the look was well she actually said it she was like that actually hurt yes she said that actually yeah I found it all very entertaining I do want to say thank you yeah I just thought I thought you know just add a little bit of some strangeness to it but I was just like oh they gonna talk about this afterwards what was your what was your response to that actually hurt did you I said I’m so sorry I didn’t think it actually would did with my phone so yeah but uh no I just thought it was like the perfect joke she was talking so fast sometimes so I was just like you know what what you thought it would like bloop bloop and did you decompress that later you know as soon as it was over I was like I’m so sorry if that really hurt and she was it I mean it was fine but I was just like it was it was for the joke was one of those it was one of those free-for-all events anyway oh yeah happy hour so it’s just like kind of crazy so that’s that’s one of the reasons I was like game to like yeah I’m gonna try it out for the first time hosting let’s do it this time in like she just read it all and I basically just got to chime in whenever oh yeah well I I enjoyed the comic relief thanks for one good in watching back through videos across your career in preparation for our conversation one of the things that struck me was the whole you know how some creators will put an annotation at the beginning of a video that will pop up and be like be sure to watch in HD which I think was a big thing when you could first have that option we all had the option of educating our audience to click on that little whatever it was at the time now it’s like a little gear on the YouTube player where you can then change it to HD and now it’s you know if you shot this thing in 4k or 5k you can choose 4 or 5 K to watch the thing if you’re if your internet can handle it yeah who is watching youtube videos in 4k that’s the people who shot it and uploaded yeah I think I’m like where’s the 4k button on my cell phone that’s the quick cuz I’m watching a lot of YouTube on my phone and I’ve like kind of made a rule with myself that I’m never gonna go over 720 no really there’s no point no no yes no kid is ever being like oh man let this thing buffer cuz I gotta watch it in 5k but especially on phone but the thing that occurred to me was when I think about your content I actually think about that like the training as an audience member to switch to HD actually is engaged when watching your content because I want to you always make sure you make artistic choices with everything you do even if I’m I mean I never thought I would watch anyone’s what I would call a vlog okay yeah and have a desire to bump that up to HD and to make sure I wasn’t missing anything but I I think that sums up how I now see you and I think well I see you in HD that is well I’m glad you do when I watch you I want to watch the I’m watching the choices that you’re making and it’s it’s it’s very funny it’s very fascinating it’s very engaging but I don’t want it that to be compromised you know it’s kind of like when I go to a movie theater I want to go to the ArcLight here in town because they is the let is the least likely to have a compromised experience I’ll pay a little bit more for that and I think that’s a testimony to who you are and what one of the things I’d like to explore in this conversation is that you make those type of choices that I want to click on the HD but it’s fascinating because a lot of times it’s it’s you could just describe it as a vlog yeah I I’ve I’ve often called it vlogging plus is where I know that it’s just a vlog but I I I really try to stylize it I really try to make it I just try to take it to an artistic level of where if if the audio was turned off and music was just playing you’d still want to be able you’d still want to watch it you’d still think like this is visually pleasing I like the way this looks like even though I’m not exactly sure what he’s talking about do you have a better is it easier for you to describe your work and summarize what you do or or to describe who you are like I’m a youtuber or I’m a fill-in-the-blank I always just try to I’m just an artist I’m just a digital artist just try to get away with whatever I can but comedian I mean what what what do you throw in there yeah I mean it kind of depends on the situation I mean yeah I do tell jokes a lot of times and then sometimes I do like the most avant-garde like what is this yeah so it’s kind of just that’s why I’ve always just gone with artists because I feel like comedians are artists and so where is almost Pablo Picasso so it’s just kind of like this like catch-all phrase that I can use is just like well you tubers a catch-all phrase to it no you’re right but not all of my artwork is on YouTube so that’s kind of where it kind of it for me it I want to I want to make sure that they understand that’s not my only home like I am on soundcloud I’m you know I’m doing things in the real world physical world and I’m selling prints so I I you’re selling prints the artist I’m selling prints the artist all the vinyls go to missions on it but yeah so it just it ended up just kind of being this just the one word that kind of fit well you know it’s I would say in addition to wanting to click on the HD button on your content I would describe it as thoughtful and you have a certain amount of conviction there’s a commitment to something that goes beyond I am just here to play this game I’m here to play this YouTube game so I I want to get at where that comes from you know this is an ear biscuit we’re going into your ear hole yeah you guys into the brain going inside my brain right now and and so I you know I’m assuming that as is often the case I want to I want to find out about like what was life like before this whole thing happened that led to this thoughtfulness that you exhibit you exhibited from the beginning in your in your content so we know you’re from Ohio but that’s about it that’s that’s what we know yeah what else so you want me to start from the beginning were you born in Ohio I was born in Daytona Florida Oh Daytona Florida you can drive on the beach there and I was born and I basically was like I was there for like a week or two and then my mom came back and lived with my grandma and we lived there for a long time so you were like two weeks old oh yeah I was like a just a little tiny just a turd of a baby they just moved me to Ohio so was this like a split situation like a parent split situation I think it was from what I understand I don’t know a whole lot about this I never met my real dad I still haven’t and I think it was just kind of she had the baby and which me she had me baby Mitchell the baby Mitchell and I think she just realized like oh this isn’t where I want him to grow up this is not the environment so from what I’ve heard I know very little I didn’t even find out that who I thought was my real dad wasn’t my real dad until I was like a teenager and really yeah because I thought that when we when we when she moved back to Ohio she met a man and they ended up getting married and I just always assumed that was my real bad until I started middle school and they asked for my they asked for like some paperwork and I noticed the name was different and I was like hold up wait a second and that and and so like literally I just remember what do you mean the name was different like my last name was different and is the first time you had thought about that yeah I’d been like oh that’s strange what that that never really registered with me and my dad so your dick yeah your dad’s last name was not Davis yeah it was Evans so is uh Evans was on that form and I was just like why would they why would they ever put Evans that doesn’t make any sense and so I was we were in line at a bank and I just randomly had like the Epiphany moment I looked up I was like he’s not my real dad is he and she was just like we need to go home don’t we you know yeah yeah so it was just like this weird moment where I was just like holy gosh she make her deposit or did you leave the line immediately uh she made her deposit and then we went home I mean it was just such a it was such a weird bombshell it kind of I think it it should have shook me a lot more than it did if anything no it was just kind of like okay I mean I get it but it doesn’t I mean I still feel the exact same after I just figured it all out but at the time did we was your mom still with the boyfriend that you had thought was the husband and yes yes but we I had never weren’t adopted by him no no I was never really and and you know it to this day I never still really clicked with anyone my mom has been married to or date or anything I’ve always just kind of been like if anything I’ve always just kind of just been like the real the real parent in my life has always been my grandparents and you know my Winnie didn’t Leon shout out grandparents they’re the best they got good names too because you ended up living with them I guess is that from one of the first I’ve lived with my great I’ve lived with my grandparents like on and off I mean I might move with them again they’re the best they’re like the coolest old people I’ve ever come in contact with to the point where I’m like throwing them in videos and stuff because they’re so funny to me was the first video that you put your granddad and the one where you were kind of talking about I’m sorry I haven’t made videos like in the first few months oh your earliest videos you can see your granddad in there and it’s like I’ve got all this footage I don’t know how to make videos you’ve got this great footage of my granddad yeah and then you cut to it yeah and that and that was all totally staged – I was just like I did not have any extra footage I was just like I’m just I just had this idea where I was like what if I made a video about how I can’t make a video which I mean is like my real problem all the time but I like kind of playing with that idea and so he would always just barge in my room and and he just got like this really intense like he would always sit in front of my computer and like tap on the thing and be like messing up your videos metree you better watch out and I’m just like get out of here and so he would just kind of we became it was like this weird older brother situation if I was the older brother and yeah in this video you were trying to get him to say live lava live rock yes and he just couldn’t get it out of his mouth it was just like rocks rocks that’s great thank you and then he walks away but then he comes back in and picks up your chair yeah I thought he was gonna beat you like pro-wrestler Stein no and see and that’s like the brother stuff is is he just picked it up and then you just put it right back down but I as soon as he picked it up I just went with it and I was just like oh man I’m about to just start screaming because it’s gonna be hilarious yeah yeah he’s just a he’s wild he’s so cool though did he have an accent I mean see ok everyone thinks he has an accent he had a stroke he had a stroke and he was like the most boring grandfather I ever had and then he had a stroke and everybody kind of got I don’t want to say afraid of him but everyone kind of got like a little distant like his his like closer family and then I had all these issues with my family so I ended up living with them and so I became this like older brother kind of guy who was like constantly chatting with him and really being interested in this like new person that was in our lives like we were living there with kind of a stranger he was different he was different his voice changed he the accident kind of started happening he started singing a lot like a lot of things kind of changed I mean when he first came to he didn’t remember anything except for the Kentucky Wildcats lineup from the 80s so he was just like and I while everyone else was like this is so awful I I was like this is really interesting uh-huh and like I’ve had multiple conversations with him about how he had to learn how to read again as an adult and and I got to talk to him about what it was like living those few months not knowing words and that was really that that was special to me because he was just so raw and real and he still is with me when I asked no question there’s no filter he will he will tell me the truth and and I just he became one of my best friends he just yeah so what precipitated you moving in with your grandparents specifically and was that before the stroke it was it was after so like I didn’t like fully live there when he when it happened but it was soon after is my mom was dating a guy who we did not get along and it kind of just became like a him or me and I just packed up my stuff and went and how are you but it wasn’t it was that an ultimatum from your mom or that was like your perspective on it it was an ultimatum it was like it was me and him kind of just looking at her and in it just is like I could tell that she wasn’t moving or budging at the time and I decided to get out and just be happier and you were a teenager yeah yes and this is before I started YouTube this is uh this is yeah I was a teenager in any other any brothers and sisters I have a younger sister who I still chat with all the time she still lives with my mom and and and incense I’ve I’ve you know made peace with her and we’re cool now and but you didn’t get along with her either no I didn’t get along with her after well after that whole like him or me and then all of a sudden I ended up leaving it was kind of like apparently Oh men you’d what happened so I I was just like give me I literally like took like a year or two and was just like very quiet I didn’t talk to anyone on the side of the family I just kind of lived in in my own bubble world and my grandparents house hanging out with Leon and hanging out finita hmm because I guess at that age it felt like I mean my mom has chosen him over me yeah being a rejection from your mom basically well yeah and then not knowing my dad it just kind of felt like well sheesh I don’t think I have parents right now and but the thing is though is I never looked at it like as this is awful is I kind of thought like there a lot of self-discovery happened you know I was taking care of myself you know and and it was really interesting to all of a sudden be in charge of me and and my grandparents are just kind of you know grandparents are they just they just want the best for you but they’re also your grandparents so they’re like double nice and so you know if I wanted a computer in my room all of a sudden it was like that was doable like yeah of course you can have the computer in your room and it’s like okay now when you found out you know at the bank about the about your dad not being here your real dad did that give you a sense of okay well I got to figure this out now when you went home what was the conversation like and then have you ever said I’m going to figure this I’m gonna go make contact um at the time it was kind of just like I just want to know the truth and that’s it so that’s what I did and then for a long time I mean this is before you know I was the biggest thing I was doing online at the time was maybe live journal you know so it wasn’t like I was like let me go hop on Facebook I mean so honestly I didn’t really care because I was just like well if he hasn’t hung out or even tried to reach out since then then why would I waste my time yeah cuz the thing I was thinking was sometimes when one relation you know if you’ve got if you the relationship with your mother was suffering there might you might be like well I’m gonna go find my dad yeah but the fact that he hadn’t tried to even make contact I was just like you know I don’t think he’s gonna want to see me either so it was just kind of and like I said I have my grandparents and they’ve just been fantastic so I was just like I mean I didn’t even really ask I just remember I called my grandma and I was just like I think I’m gonna live with you guys again and she was like I’ll come pick you up later today she got it she got it she knew like she knew what was going on and and I was just like thanks and to this day I still think it was one of the best decisions I ever made I’m out like I living with them put a different perspective especially with Leon it was just this friendship that I I really really appreciated I mean he really would I could just I could ask him these questions and I could really dive into this this mind and I and I know that he appreciates it and I know that he also I mean we’re like best friends we’re each other’s favorite dude like we just think we just you’re just so cool I mean I love hanging out with him anytime I get a chance I every Monday I always go have dinner with them mhm so it doesn’t sound like you were teetering on depression as a masseur teen 14 year old kid or no I don’t think so I mean I think I was definitely like having like moments you know I’d world every kid has moments you know where you’re just like this sucks yeah but I don’t think I ever really let it affect me too much if anything I just kind of I just kind of felt like what am I missing every once in a while just like what am I missing like a great example is like a couple weeks ago I was at my girlfriend’s house and we were all having a barbecue and I and I just looked at her and I was just like you know I don’t know how to use a grill I have no idea how to use a grill and she’s like didn’t anyone ever teach you and I was like no I was like the only dude in my life is Leon and there’s no way he’s getting in front of a girl right now I was like and and I was just like like that like like moments like that was like dang it I missed that that’s you know shaving like my grandma taught me how to shave you know and and just like those small little things but again I I think it definitely helped mold who I am today and so I don’t really I’m not like like bummed about it if anything I’m like that’s what makes me me is I have these like weird little things that happened well I think that’s I mean you go through something like that and it’s it’s telling it’s kind of it not only it forms who you are and then it it but it reveals who you are you know if if there’s a if you’re an optimistic person or there seems you seem to exude a lot of positivity and and the things you do even the choices you make it’s it seems like this could have been an opportunity to discover that about yourself yeah and like it like I was saying there was a lot of self-discovery especially with when I moved and all of a sudden it was like okay if it’s if it’s if it’s just gonna be me what are we gonna do what’s gonna happen so and so just to just to close the dad part of it what Rhett was asking so where does that stand now did you ever did you ever change your mind – I reach out or figure out who he was actually this past year I I got on Facebook and I did some like some deep searching and I’m pretty sure what led to it what led to it is this I had this one moment with my girlfriend right now and I just like I just randomly started crying we were sitting on the couch or something and I was just like me and I want to know what his face looks like I just want to know what his face looks like right now at this moment for no reason other than just curiosity I was just like I want to know what his face looks like and and is there a book where I could see is face there is there was and I am I found what did she say she said like go for it she she started searching because she was like I know that there’s no way you can do it and I and I knew exactly what she meant is if I were to do it in hypothetically he were to see my youtube or something then it could potentially it was it would really mess with me if he wanted to talk to me just because of that mm-hmm that would really just not work so we started using her account we found it and I printed off there’s some screen grabs and because you knew his name yes and I’m your mom and I I do his name yeah so I just printed off like three and then I went over to my mom’s house and showed her three and she was just like it was like a line up and she pointed and she’s like that’s definitely him and I was just like okay thanks and then I closed it and that’s it just wanted to know what he looked like yeah it was just like a random like breakdown moment where I was just like I want to know what and I think it just hadn’t had a lot to do with the fact that it was I was like I’m aging now I’m getting older and I was just like half of me is this stranger and half of me is worried what if something’s really wrong with him I want to be able to have that option if I go to the doctor and they’re like mmm does heart disease run in your family you know like I want to be able to be like no but I know who to ask if something does happen but I you know I’m I’m good I mean really at the end of it I’m just like but what did you see in the photo whenever your mom said that’s him what did you see it’s kind of like I I just saw a stranger that I have a weird piece of yarn tied to that’s like tied to my finger wait his that we never even know is there that’s what it kind of felt like it was just kind of like it’s like when when you see someone fall and you help them pick up all their things and then that you walk away and you’re like I’m never gonna see them again but that was that was a nice moment it was mmm I felt the same in my gut with that except it was just kind of like yeah we have a weird connect but neither of us will ever really know about it or think about it again if right now in my life he was like I want to meet you I’d be like too late mmm yeah you you missed your opportunity man I’m an adult now and I don’t need another person that’s I mean a stranger you know what I mean I mean I’m 25 years old I you missed your opportunity yeah so what were you during that same time from from a from a personal perspective you said you were doing some stuff on online mm-hmm but I gotta assume you were an artistic kid well what were you doing with your free time and how are you expressing yourself well when it came to artistically online I had a I had another channel before live level live I had another channel where I was just I was like speed drawling and speed painting like you know whether you like that music in the background I had a whole channel where I was just doing that like from the get-go of YouTube so it wasn’t it was early yeah I was doing it and and to the point where more people watched it than I knew and then I deleted it cuz it freaked me out because I was like oh that’s terrifying an audience was terrifying at the time it was and then and then I kind of like let it sit in and a few months later I was like okay I think I get this I’m gonna try it again and you were 16 well I was a little older I was 17 18 by the time I like really got into live level if I had just started high school and yeah and I decided to do that and what specifically because even some of those earliest videos are deleted now yeah I mean it was the black and white videos yeah my black and white of my whole black and white stuff I mean I just I just made them just cuz I there’s just pure passion I just liked making them but you I mean what you were watching other youtubers like I mean I imagine you would see Smosh you’re like okay that well am I gonna do that or kinda if anything I was watching like Waverly films and me me Molly and ResNet I don’t more of a New York yeah axe hominid accidentally just robbed type thing I was just watching it was like vlogging from me me Molly where she did like a she was doing all these videos that were I thought were really interesting and in Fresno it was just so quick and I I just thought like I want to do that that seems fun and at the side simultaneously I’m like having the worst time with anxiety and and it’s just kind of a build-up so I was just like oh this is cool I’m now I can’t at least use it and kind of put things out there without having to go out there by that point you had a couple of years at least or a high school careers worth of YouTube under your belt where you had developed a fanbase right well no no because not at first I mean it took it took a minute for anyone to start watching my my YouTube stuff but I like I remember loading it on my phone and like showing some what some of the kids in my class like something I just made and they’re like what are you doing here what what is this like um because I went to one of those school like um I went to a career school during high school my last two years and I went for commercial arts okay so I was going for commercial arts but I was spending all my free time making videos so I was like kind of using that aesthetic of like logos I mean that’s that’s where why I always say logo like it came because I was so used to making logos like during the day I was like that I was like that’s my life but then this is my fun and then you know it kind of realized like oh no these are mixing it’s kind of mm-hmm colliding together and I can I can make these videos look just as nice as these logos but it was vlog based stream-of-consciousness comedy that you didn’t found in an edit yeah yeah I would just at the first few videos I ever posted were most of I mean it was just my eye sight I turned it on and I would just kind of record myself for like 40 minutes talking about things that I saw on the Internet out of context and then I would and then I cut there was a day where I cut one up and I was like let’s leave let’s delete all the actual talk and let’s leave in all the weird parts the middle parts the parts that you normally would have delete in that experiment yeah in an artistic experiment and I crushed it all together and I titled the video Kanye West and that’s when I got like a response to or people were like this is so weird and funny and I don’t know what he’s talking about or anything and I was just like okay so you guys want like the other stuff the stuff that’s not necessarily makes sense and that’s what makes it funny is this like random okay and so and let’s be honest you also had a certain look that at the time was was it was the best – it was a giant moustache describe the look metal I mean it was just you know just like a young guy with long hair it was just like a swoopy yeah I was like a long emo scene kind of looking guy wearing v-necks all the time okay so you begin to get traction and did you have a sense at the time of the demographic that you were getting traction with because because that’s what I feel like they’re you’re kind of teetering you’ve always kind of been teetering between this but especially in the beginning between like teen vlog star and artist right yeah and so that initial an initial traction where did you think it was coming from I think that’s well I would love to say that that is the forever struggle with live level it for me is just like I just feel like no one will ever take it seriously as an art as something art were you thinking that at the time yes as well right I mean I’ve always kind of thought that I mean I’ve always loved telling jokes and I love making people laugh and that’s great but I’ve always you know wanted it to be a piece of art live lava live I mean the name I still hold very dear cuz it’s that’s and I still won’t tell anyone what it means because it’s it was my my big art epiphany of when I came up with it and I and that’s it was that was everything I do technically are related is live lava live and you keep that to yourself and yes you’re going to take that to your grave no no I actually made a promise that if and it’s like I said of course if I’m ever on your biscuits what it means ya know I’ve always said to viewers that if you know I get a million subscribers I’ll sit down unedited and upload a video telling you exactly what it means oh and I I don’t think that’ll ever happen but you know what I I had I you know I got asked about it so much that I was like okay I gotta figure out a way to like equalize like make it so that I can just throw a bone out there without actually saying it so that’s that was the deal that I made years ago well we’re gonna tell you a story from our perspective that I think will you will find entertaining but will also get kind of is a picture of that that moment at time seven eight nine we were there yes and first ever Wow was that no YouTube live had happened in oh yeah I watched it from home but this was the second time we had ever been to first quote gathering would ever been to my second like YouTube in real life thing after YouTube July 8 2009 I mean sorry August yeah 7 7 7 8 now July 8 2009 that was the date May 7 8 9 yeah in Manhattan and we were all gonna meet in central organized by like just a handful of fans who weren’t they didn’t have huge subscriber news on YouTube really just there’s a just group of people I mean I remember I met with them in the hotel lobby and I was just like I don’t know what I’m doing here I’ve never been in anything like this and they were like nobody knew what we were doing right you know what nobody and when we we showed up to the like the first gathering that was in Central Park and link and I were just like this is so cool people are coming out to us and saying a few people a few people you know a handful of people we’ve seen your videos and we’re like oh there’s there’s fans let me know us in real life there’s people who showed up here to meet people like us not just us but people like us and they recognized us and then there because the typical mythical beast which they weren’t called that at a time was not the type we had a following but it was not the type of following that would show up at a seven eight nine it wasn’t a a core youtuber following we were it was kind of like a we had a fringe different thing but this is our first exposure to that the YouTube culture fan culture yeah yeah no same with me and we’re just walking so we’re just walking around at the park no organization what it’s just like standing around and then people kind of just people a couple of people will come up to us a couple and then some a person would show up that was a more popular youtuber at the time and people were kind of scurry over there I thought if shaycarl showed up and in a kind of a crowd kind of gathered and then all of a sudden there’s like a stirring a stirring that a lot and then a line had to be formed yeah and it was like oh it’s an unprecedented amount of organization at such a chaotic thing like a line wrapping around the whole park basically like everything and at that point I had no idea that anything like that was about to happen I had no idea I I I tried to get out of going to seven eight nine cuz I was so like anxiety ridden I was like yeah now to know that that anxiety was such an issue and I like like seven eight nine in the hotel was my grandma just like just she I was like I’m not going alone I can’t go alone and I went with her and then I had Kevin meet me from district lines and we walked down there and all of a sudden it was just like a flood of people and I was like what is going on yeah you were the guy at the end of the line that you didn’t know whatever form it was bizarre it was bizarre I mean and that’s when I met you guys you guys like squeezed in and I really got in the line I just remember being like first off I met you that was the first time I ever met you guys in real life and I just thought you’re so tall you both are so dr. Giants your tree people and then I remember just instantly having of the flip cam and just like basically basically I pressured you into making supernote again I was like it was the coolest thing ever you guys got to do it again and I just remember I was just like wouldn’t shut up about Superman as soon as you guys walked away I was like yeah because then it was 2008 the first Super note the that’s how we that’s the first exposure we had to you was this really popular person on the Internet made a super note and we heard about immediate because everybody’s talking about it it was it was you and it was it was for the shaped hard rebellion I yes yep yeah the most high-profile super note that wasn’t a captain and we so we were extremely flattered and that’s why we were glad to stand in your line and finally super cool I was just like this is what this is what I wanted to see on YouTube I was like this is like that weird you’re you you guys were using it and I was like they get it that everyone gets like you were one of those people that I was like they’re using it in such a smart way and in a way to interact and I just thought that it was almost like it was a big art installation project it was so cool to me and the fact that you were gonna like combine all of them together and then make one long note I was just like that is so cool to be a part of something like that but the seven eight-nine experience was so I opening for us it sounds like it was four you know it it’s to this day is still the reason it’s when I say I started I changed from I I considered myself becoming a youtuber that day because I realized like the community that day that’s the day that I realized like there was a lot more because like before then I had never subscribed to anyone I’d I’d only like casually watched I didn’t get that there was like this momentum growing like a people I didn’t get that I I just kind of thought like oh everyone else is just doing the same thing we’re all just doing her own thing and I don’t know and so what changed at that point when you went back home I subscribed to everyone that I met there and then all of a sudden I was like whoa the websites completely different now it’s it’s it’s not just an uploader and me watching things but it’s like it was a lot more of like a stream and chatting with people and and then getting to see more just like the viral things like I was staying in contact all the time and you can thank quatre if ik Shawna Nana Lou and Mika kitty because they they like basically cornered me after I got there and they were like you need to get involved in the community everybody you’re here but why are you here and I was like what do you mean and they were like you you don’t ever talk to anyone what are you doing here you you either you need to start subscribing and chat with all of us or get out of here and I just remember I was kind of like shocked but at the same time I was like okay cool this is cool this is like my intro I was like initiated into it or something and yeah they they made me a youtuber instead of just like this guy using the platform and you guys did the vlog vet o’clock vertica that’s the whole reason vlog vetting existed is because they like open my eyes to so much that we just the whole weekend we’re joking like we need to start a channel together you guys don’t you guys can help me start getting used to communicating on here and so it was a new channel called that then you had certain days of the week that you were assigned to upload yes and it was really I mean it was never that serious it was never anything that we were all like this is it it was just kind of like a cool way for us to keep in contact forcefully you know it was kind of just like and why not do it on YouTube but that’s we all know how to use it before that it was kind of the whole Kyle who presumably was your best friend I guess forever is you know and in the way that right now we started making videos together it seemed like that the plan was you and Kyle we’re gonna make videos together you know he moved away there was there was this parallel story with him mm-hmm that then at certain points he would kind of dip into the channel yeah but then life would kind of take the creative endeavor apart or something ya know we used to joke that you guys were the adult versions of us actually like we were like that’ll be us right and yeah man um yeah it was it was a I this kind of okay so Kyle really started to get serious getting into it after I got really I started college and I was still doing videos and what year was this was this after seven eight nine or I graduated in oh wait so it was it was a year and then and then some I think either way I was about to start I was about to start college and we had a giant windstorm and all the power went out and I realized that I kind of was paralyzed not paralyzed really but I was like I was very afraid to get out of my bed and we we found out it was because I couldn’t do my routines I couldn’t do the things and that’s when everyone kind of realized like oh no this is this is not just like casual oh he’s so OCD it was like no he was very I to the point where I was like I would just I wouldn’t step out of my room I was like trapped and then even when the power came back on I just I think it was out for two weeks I just I ended up having to pull myself out of school because I realized I needed to go see doctors and and focus on that before I tried to continue a career in anything and so I did that when you said pull yourself out of school you mean College yes okay I pulled myself out of college to do that and but at the same time I was caught I’m still doing YouTube because at the same time it was just like but this is still a cool way to connect I can it’s like I’m still out there without having to go out there so that’s what I was doing and then when I started to get better when I started getting the medicines and starting feeling better I said to myself I’m not going back to school I’m gonna make YouTube my life so how bad did it get I mean was the wind storm the low point or did it get it was the oil it was the eye-opener it was just the eye-opener that what I was doing was not was not I couldn’t just get away with it anymore like it so you were hiding it from others and yourself a little bit from myself pretty much from others you know like like one of the a big moment that I always I’m always like that was I should have I should have taken that as a bigger moment is I remember I was trying to make my bed and I kept making my bed over and over over again and I kept I kept throwing away my pillows until I and I could only have one of things and it was getting my life was getting not minimal but just like okay what’s what do you mean you had to throw away all your pillows and I was like they all didn’t look right they all didn’t look right and like you’re throwing the trash get rid of them because they they didn’t set right on my bed and I would go walk to the corner of the room and look at my bed again and go back and mess it up and fix it again and go back and mess it up and and I I was just like yeah but you know what I figured it out just one pillow on the bed and everything’s fine I know what I mean but then when the windstorm happened I couldn’t do I couldn’t like turn on my lights and I couldn’t go do my normal setup that I would do every day to start my day that’s when I was like and my grandparents saw that it was like why why can’t you just move why can’t you just continue your day without doing these things that’s when we all realized like oh okay he needs he needs to do a bit more than just this like it just became a real problem because it was just like I just realized I was I was trapped like I really was genuinely like very comfortable and fine being like I’m never gonna go outside again and and that’s okay and everyone’s like that’s not okay it might and in my mind I was just like why not why is that did you make any videos at that time yes see and that’s what I’m saying as I was making videos almost all the time during this period cuz I was inside I was in my room kind of trapped anyways so it was just like it was just like I was playing with the internet chatting with the internet staying social and could people from my perspective thinking about it I don’t think I could tell that about you I wouldn’t know I I there was no there was no transparency about that no no no not not not really not not till I finally moved out of my grandparents house and I made a video called farewell room where I kind of opened up about how the revenue that I’ve been making was paying for these like ridiculously expensive pills that I had to start taking and I was just I actually started crying in the video and I and I I just like you or the reason that I am leaving my room YouTube is the reason I’m leaving my room because it it worked out to where I could pay for it and yeah so YouTube really helped me sit at this table right now I mean it just it did even though they had no idea that’s what they were doing when they were watching my videos I mean I needed it yeah I needed it and was that I mean once you got proper medication and it sounds like consultation or counseling however you want to yeah it was like a strong fear process of just like having to go through things and and just like trying things and it not working right upsetting my stomach for like two weeks and like it it was some serious medicine to the point where they were like you can’t just take it you have to ease yourself into it and I was like what that’s terrifying so and so what was this specific diagnosis it would it was just it was like severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and it wasn’t they were like we’re not writing down that you have agoraphobia but it sure sounds like you have early symptoms what is that you’re leaving your room oh and it you know wasn’t anything germ based or anything it was just I just I literally was just like I’m not going out there anymore I don’t need to yeah and in my mind it for a long time it was totally fine like in my mind to just say that was not a crazy thing to say it was just like that’s it and I would drive people crazy like looking back I canceled on people so much there are so many things that I would just wouldn’t do cuz it was too far away that’s why seven eight nine the night for 789 I remember calling Kevin being like I’m not going to do it he’s like you’re going and I was like I’m not going and he was like if you’re not on that plane man when we land I’m gonna be so sad and I was just like I’m gonna go but I’m willing to stay for like an hour and then it ended up like it like I was saying it just kind of like opened my eyes and I was just like I am so glad I came to this well you go back to the reception that you were having on YouTube and what you did a no.9 has kind of become a staple for what a lot of guys are doing now there are people there are guys who are just good-looking guys you know how to connect with people as vloggers and that’s what they do that’s their career you definitely I don’t know how conscious it was I don’t know if just because that’s not you or was there a conscious decision to say I’m not gonna take that path even though there might be more revenue more subscribers etc I don’t know it was never a conscious decision it was just kind of his gut feeling it was just like well I know I know what my end game is my end game is to be an artist that’s always been my you know my real in-game in in and and at the same time I’ve always I’ve always wanted to keep pushing myself and see what I can get away with and so eventually it was just like I like vlogging but what else can I do you know and what else can I you know and then it started getting into to more of the editing side of the whole thing where I was like man I really like just editing the footage and seeing what I can how I can manipulate footage and then it started in the glitch work and then it started into just like the whole realm of also you know okay well if I am gonna make a video why not have Kyle and do a sketch like do something like mm-hmm real and and and edit it and make it look nice so yeah I mean I just kind of never I never it was never like this or that and I’m picked that it was just kind of like the flow of me I think it just like where I was heading in my mind and you tried a lot of different things and and so to bring back the the Kyle thread mm-hmm he came in and you said we’re gonna my channel is gonna feel different it’s going to be more sketch orient yes that was for a period of time yes and that was that was when I decided after the after I dropped out of college and was feeling a lot better I was like Kyle you’re we’re gonna get a place and he was in school too and I was like I’m gonna have you leave school I’m gonna have you leave school and I had a talk I had a conversation with his mom and I was like here’s the thing he’s my best friend he knows me I feel like we could do this just give me a year just give me a year of his time and and she was she was fine with it and he was cool with it and literally like two weeks later I bought an apartment and I was like let’s do this every Thursday and it became every Thursday we put out something and that year we did and we did it for we did it for a while we did it for a long time and then yeah that was that was it that was like the norm just okay man just as long as we get something up on Thursday let’s just brainstorm brainstorm Thursday brain strains from Thursday and where did that at the end of that year where did that leave the you as an artist and the tutee and your friendship because because you parted ways right well officially we did it we did it for like a good three years like we moved a few times together and then our last move his girlfriend moved with us who is a sweetheart she’s great and then and then right there at the end when YouTube started my YouTube started going down and things started getting tricky where is this like hey man I I have no money I have no money right now I’m sorry I can’t pay us and it got to the point where I was just like you can go this is my baby I’m staying with this and so I mean we’re still super good friends I still hang out with them all the time it was just like I I could see something happening and I was just like we had a lot of fun man get out of here you know and and just and he got a place with her and he went back to school and that’s what he’s doing right now and I’m thrilled for him I think it I think it was an awesome moment in our friendship like it it’s this time period where I’m just like man we were infinite we were just like living this cool dream like I remember when I turned 21 he picked me up from the airport because I was shooting something in Los Angeles and he was just like dude we’re gonna stop and you’re gonna buy US beer yeah and you and we we took the beer back to our apartment and I was just like this is so cool like we are just making videos just all those things that teachers said that would send us the detention for we’re doing now on camera and making money and it’s our careers and we’re having so much fun and yeah it was just like this that was like the period that was the ethos that was like the the period of the sketches that’s where it was constantly sketches and that’s why sketches have kind of not died out on the level if I’ll still do them but mmm now it’s just back to just my mind being alone right now and and with my youtube channel like being so terrible with views it’s just like now is my time where I’m just like let’s do all those weird art things that you were afraid to do and when the audience was real hard when they were really like demanding rushing in and demanding yeah so so now I’m just kind of having like this like free-for-all where I’m just like I’m gonna upload it’s an hour video of gradients at what point what do you think led to you said things started to decline over the course of you know when it was sketch focused was that a factor at what point did the physical makeover happen which is aka you got a haircut yeah did that happen in that same time frame um actually it happened kind of in the middle of the sketch period and it was it actually didn’t play as big of a role as I thought I was actually really happy but everyone you know everybody makes me hissy fit when anything changes on the internet especially such glorious locks like mine so give it give us kind of that the backstory of the change because yeah I’m thinking a lot went into that and it meant a lot to you it did mean a lot to me I just wanted to I just wanted to like prove to myself that it wasn’t just a haircut like it was just I I meaning your success oh yeah like I’m I’m putting a lot of work into these things and if it’s really just how I combed my bangs that day then let’s cut the bangs off and see what happens so you describe it as a test yeah if I’m not if this is what it’s really all about then I’m not in right cuz I just didn’t seem like a I mean who wants to live their life buy a haircut I mean what if my hair were to fall out I have no choice for that so yeah it’s just like that’s ridiculous that’s ridiculous so yeah I just kind of started pushing my own limits and like I said went and then when Kyle and me you know when I was like you go do it I’m gonna keep doing live lava live because I mean at the core of everything it’s always been just me just mine inviting people in and out yeah it it’s just that it is what it is now today how did you balance seeing the channel views decline with a desire to create certain things I mean was it there’s a tension there do I regain what works best or do I do what I want to do is that was that at work I think I’m still struggling with that cuz every once in a while I die I think that’s that’s where I’m at right now that’s the big thing with me right now is I I is I I’m not sure what to do I really love live love a live I really do but from a financial standpoint it’s just not enough you know now it’s just kind of a hobby now and and it kind of breaks my heart when I see people being like why don’t you post anymore and I’m just like I’m working I’m trying to pay my rent but you’re you’re moving to LA I am got you’ve got a girlfriend it seems serious serious because you’re like putting her she’s on the channel yeah I know and that was a that was a big thing – yeah how did how did those things fit in to where you’re what you don’t what you don’t know you’re doing yeah well she was just kind of like an accident like I wasn’t I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend I was about to move to LA at the time and then I met her and I was like I have to stay and get to know you you’re fantastic where have you been hiding how did you meet her Megan Megan I met her on Facebook I met her through Facebook we had a bunch of mutual friends and it was like do you know Megan and I was like I don’t know Megan who is Megan click and I met her for coffee and we ended up talking for like 7 hours we had mutual friends yeah and you messaged her we have mutual friends according to face I just added her and then messenger Indiana was just like hey we have mutual friends did she know your she that was one thing that we did talk about when she was like you you just make videos online right and I was like I still do I still do and she’s like yeah yeah I remember back when I was in high school some kids were watching them where you wear v-necks and usher cologne and stuff and I was like yeah it’sit’s it’s different now but I still do that I actually just shot a something earlier that day and I told her about it and she was like so it’s cool that you still do it and I was like you should watch a few before we date again because you might not want to date me because I was like it’s definitely still happening like I didn’t want her to like not know that it was like my main deal but yeah she she’s totally cool with it going back two years you had in mind to move to LA yeah have the reasons changed are they the same is the how related to wanting to make a go at it again or redefining yourself on we all through YouTube is the move or is it just like there’s just more opportunities for what you’re passionate about as an artist I think it’s a little bit of both I think this time around I have like I’m Marty like I’m coming out here with work you know I’m really I want to come out here because it is out here there’s more hands out here that get it and I mean there are people like you right now out here and I I want to be closer to all that creativity because I think maybe it’ll it’ll one it will help me rekindle that love for live level live and that like motivation because when I’m in Ohio sometimes it’s easy to not do it when no one else does YouTube at all mmm through the years that the brand has changed and it’s still will and it’s still it’s still going to I mean for all I know when I move out here it might completely change again from shifting from art to something I might just film the ocean every day for a year and I’ve loaded to live level live it’s not so I just I always at the end of the day want to do live level live but you but it you don’t have a business strategy no to make it work or or a creative strategy that would make the business work ya know I’m I’m in know ya know I mean even at the end of the day I still we want to upload something there even if no one’s seeing it even if it’s not doing me any good I just I like live level live I I mean it is me mm-hmm what do you want to make like just one of the ideas is well I did just collide my my art channel mmm with live love live because I’m sure I’m trying to make live love live grow into to actually fit what it is called a channel it is a place where multiple things are happening playlists and taking advantage of the little types of series that I have like taste some jams where I just review music but then I also want there to be like this whole other section of it where it is just where my art lives my digital art you know in terms of those weird video ideas I have I want I just want it to be a hub a channel that’s just like this is you’re seeing inside my mind for a little bit and some of its funny and some of its not do you have I mean do you have any bigger ideas maybe that’s one video maybe that’s a series oh do I have it like right now yeah um not really I mean the biggest idea that I’ve I’ve had on the level of recently was merging the channels and kind of picking my favorite art videos and re uploading them to live level live but yeah I mean I don’t know I don’t I don’t have anything too crazy planned I know that when I get out here I’m definitely going to bring scheduling back just because I think that’ll help you know like an external commitment yes yes and I think I’m definitely going to start just putting my brainwaves back into that groove because for a long time it hasn’t been for a long time it’s just been stressing about money and stressing about getting like other projects so that I can keep my cat fed and you know so at the end of the day it’s just like there’s no there’s no time to do live love live today because I’ve just worked all day to make sure that I can pay rent so I’m really gonna try to time management a lot better when I move out here and just try to figure out how I can make it when it seems like your relationship with the fans of your channel and your fans it’s a two-way conversation and there there has to be some sort of faithfulness on your part to be like I’m I want to kind of tell you what I’m giving you or I want to give it to you in a way that you can there’s some sort of predictability do you do you sense that the conversation because you’ve tried so many things maybe some things haven’t been responded to that conversation is broken a little bit yeah it’s just I’m a lot of people still anticipate coming and seeing that fringed sixteen-year-old boy and and it’s just it’s not that you’re 25 I’m 25 I grew up and I grew up online and and I’m not a character and they’re not just gonna recast me with some new 16 year old boy that’s if that’s if there’s one thing that I wish everybody could get it’s that well where can we find the music cuz you mentioned that oh soundcloud.com slash might see he’ll like possibly see how might see he’ll mitchell MIT CH e ll MIT space c space h e ll might see hell is my name oh yeah it’s kind of like I wasn’t complicated yeah I wanted to have a name without having a name so and my one of my good friends at the time came up with that and I was just like that’s genius beautiful I and and I’ve always loved you know I’m a with religion and all that kind of stuff I’m just all about like space and and believing in ourselves and stuff and I just I like kind of poking at it a little bit and might CL is just like the perfect polka mm-hmm and then your prints can be purchased through district lines mr. Kline’s comm slash live love a live slash art and if we really want to get inside your brains we’ve got to continue watching what you’re going to be doing over the next few months that live lava live on YouTube yeah just me on the internet the ocean videos the ocean videos I possibly could happen but ya know I mean really it’s just anywhere I’m online I think of websites as canvases I like to see what I can get away with and use them in a different way I mean that’s what I do with Twitter I mean most of my tweets like what is he talking about but I just I that’s just how I like using the Internet I think it’s just one big beautiful canvas and I’m gonna keep spray-painting it well we that’s what we want and we want more of it and we want to see continued success as you use this canvas so and we would let you spray paint the the table but that’s no one has done that so we’re just gonna let you Sharpie it I just want some biscuits guys and there you have it our ear biscuit with Mitchell Davis the friendship is solidified the a byproduct of ear biscuit do you feel like more of a friend to Mitchell now let him know on Twitter oh you want me to let him know on Twitter are you talking to the peace talks to the people who are listening to me right now so I could just tell him his handle is M Mitchell Davis s it’s like Mitchell Davis flanked by the first letter and last letter of Mitchell and Davis hmm it’s you know that’s just how he rolls well I gotta say some consonants bookending with consonants in Mitchell Davis s we did him hashtag ear biscuits one of the things I would say if I was tweeting it in Mitchell Davis s is thanks for the candor thanks for the honesty thanks for pulling back the curtain you know in he was he was so honest with us and he’s been through a lot and he’s got so much of a history I love hearing the story and I’m excited about where he’s gonna go and he is also coming as he said to LA he’s making the big move out of Los Angeles but the problem is is that he says that he wants to be next to the beach well he said he I think this was conversation off the record this was afterward okay I get confused when we’re recording when we’re not right at some point you just have to stop recording but he did tell us hey I’m you know I’m from Ohio if I’m gonna move to LA I want to be near the beach I’ll totally understand totally understandable but we’re like well we’re in the valley I Drive a minivan I live on a cul-de-sac you do all those things you will never see me out well think you know you don’t know this until you move out here yeah just how big Los Angeles is and you think oh you live in LA I live in LA we’re gonna be hanging out everyday even if you want to hang out with somebody because Mitchell is the kind of guy that I want to hang out with definitely once you separate yourself with a geographical barrier like a hill a large my Hill we call it a hill but it’s large and it has like a couple of ways to get over that hill but they all involve sitting in traffic for long periods of time you might as well be on the other side of the country it’s I mean it’s apocalyptic you know here we are I mean at work we’re falling right into it we are we are talking about it yeah we’re not talking about how to get get places I mean we’re talking about the weather or we’re talking about directions then we’re being very LS not do that but yeah I mean whenever more YouTube friends are either here or moving here and I were you moving to I’ve never heard anybody say oh the valley no I mean because I mean with children maybe I’m very happy in in the valley yeah but I do feel I can hear the apologetic tone come across my lips whenever I’m like where I tell people I’m living well I I usually say it it’s not saying as if to say I’m in the now I’m in the valley you don’t want to be in the vest because you’re young and single and you and you know what I’m saying it’s it’s 110 degrees today and my air conditioning is broken right we are come to the valley apocalypse has hit my house and I’m you know I’m Wayne not even going home you gonna leave your family there as you play that I will say I’m gonna line them up in the yarn I’m gonna turn on the garden hose okay well that’s wasteful tooling we’re in a drought you can’t do that you can’t cool your family off I’ll aim it at their mouths okay as long as they drink every bit of now I will say to Mitchell you are welcome to come to any sort of get-togethers we have in the value will be hot it will be a little less cool it’ll it’ll actually be less cool and hotter which I guess is the same thing in two different ways it will be less cool temperature and just the vibe again you’re welcome you’re welcome to be a part of it and you’re welcome to hashtag ear biscuits let us know what you think of this whole endeavor you know we really we live and die by your your support and your listenership and your comments and your iTunes reviews SoundCloud comments so please do each one of those things in that order whenever you’re awake and whenever you’re listening to this we appreciate it everybody and we’ll speak at you next week [Music] [Music]