TRAINER'S EYE #165 - "String Shot Requiem" ft. PokeCello - As The Pokeball Turns

Episode Transcript
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PokeCello (00:00):
My name is PokeCello and this is my Pokemon story.

David Hernandez (00:42):
Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns, where every
voice, every journey and everymemory brings us closer to the
world of Pokemon.
I'm David Hernandez and I'mjoined by a musician who doesn't
just remix our favorite Pokemonthemes.
They bring them to life on acello, PokeCello, welcome to As
the Pokemon Turns.

PokeCello (00:59):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.

Absolutely.
And Pokecello.
Like I told you before, thepodcast, I always admire the
arts.
I always love people who playmusic.
I never was able to pick up aninstrument and your combination
of being able to put Pokemon anda cello to be able to like fuse
it together was just what drawme to what you have on the
podcast.
And I wanna start with thisquestion.
What was the very first piece ofPokemon music you remember

(01:23):
falling in love with the onethat never left your head?

PokeCello (01:26):
Oh, easy Z is battle theme from Omega, Ruby Alpha.
Stop fire.
Easy question.
That was the first one that Ilistened to.
like, hang on, could I play thison my instrument?
I had never really thoughtabout, Pokemon music or even
video game music, to be honest,as, kind of a discreet genre.
but I remember being in schooland listening to Zia's theme on

(01:50):
like a 10 hour loop when I wascramming, trying to write a
paper at the last minute.
That was my like, strategy, wasto listen to that really intense
theme.
but then of course once youlisten to something over and
over, it kind of attaches itselfto you.
So that was the first thing thatmaybe opened my eyes a little
bit to the artistry that wouldpossible.

(02:11):
In something like my channel.

you mentioned how you looped it for 10 hours,
you know, that's a dedicationfor one, the same song for 10
hours straight.
Was it just the inspiration,comfort?
Like what was it about that songspecifically that I guess maybe
kept you engaged that you thinkabout?

PokeCello (02:26):
I thought it had so much heart.
It really felt, I mean, it, ithas kind of an anime feeling
anyway.
it really connected me to thecharacter and I had, okay.
I only picked it to be honest.
I'll just be honest about

Sure, sure.

PokeCello (02:39):
read a life hack that was like, if you need to
concentrate on something, do itwhile listening to video game
music, because video game musicis designed to hold your
concentration but not distractyou.
So there's this interestingbalance between, listening to
something that would engage youand keep you energetic and

(03:00):
motivated and, and focused.
but unlike music that's supposedto draw your attention or keep
your attention, it was kind ofdesigned to remain in the
background.
and at the time I had justplayed Omega Ruby Alpha
Sapphire.
and so I thought I would justtry it when I was writing
papers.
It really worked.
It was great.
but that's sort of where Istarted with the idea to just

(03:21):
listen to it.
but it was very effective.
I got those papers done.

Well, let's talk about your history with
Pokemon.
Where did this whole interest inPokemon first start?

PokeCello (03:30):
well I can blame it on somebody else.
This is a great

Oh, let's go.
I love blaming with otherpeople.

PokeCello (03:34):
when I was a kid in elementary school, one of my
best friends was namedAlexander.
Shout out to Alexander.
Alexander's family did not allowhim to have a game Boy.
Their family was like verybookish and they didn't even
have a tv.
somehow I convinced my parentsto buy me a game.
Boy, I don't know how thathappened.
he was like, oh my gosh, youhave a game boy, you need to go

(03:57):
get the new Pokemon game.
That just came out.
And I think at that time, maybeI had been interested in the
cards'cause I had beencollecting just casually like I
was eight.
I didn't know what I was doing.
and I'm pretty sure I went toCircuit City.
I hope that doesn't age me, um,with my parents.
And we got the only Pokemon gamethey had in stock time, which

(04:19):
was Pokemon Crystal.
and then I think for like awhole school year, me and
Alexander would play PokemonCrystal on my game boy school.
'cause both of our parentsworked and we had to stay after
school until they could pick usup.
and we would just do lapsaround.
The playground at school playingCrystal.
And honestly, I don't think itstuck with me because after that

(04:40):
I stopped playing and I didn'tpick it back up until, grad
school.
So I had a big gap in betweenlike childhood Pokemon then
going to Target to buy somethinguseful and accidentally walking
past the electronics section andbeing like, oh yeah, I liked
Pokemon when I was a kid.
There's a new game, Pokemon X,what's that about?

(05:02):
and then it's, that was, thatwas the downhill for me since
Pokemon X and Y it has beenevery game on release, a hundred
percent in indexes, full startrainer cards, just absolute
obsession.
So childhood Me was a littlekind of all over the place.
And then, just randomly as a, asa full adult, I was like,

(05:22):
Collecting these little guys.
I don't know.
There's, there's something aboutit.

I love that.
Love it, love it.
Shout out to Alex and everybodyelse who gives, makes us do
wrong decisions.
It's great.
I wanted to ask a follow upquestion about that because you
mentioned how you were just, youand Alex were doing laps around
the playground, you know?
What do you remember about thosedays?
Like what made that friendshipand Pokemon moment, so I guess,
special?
'cause it sounds like it'ssomething that you really hold
dearly.
I.

PokeCello (05:49):
I have really, really strong memories.
I, I think it was just, wealways, you know, he and I, and
like our friend group, as itwas, you know, I'm not good
friend.
I was a popular child.
I played Pokemon on theplayground, so popularity, you
know.

Right.

PokeCello (06:04):
but our friend group was especially.
Like we would make up games andstories.
We wanted to like build a fortin the woods.
we made up this whole metanarrative about how we were one
gang and then the fifth graderswere a rival.
Like we had a

Ooh, I love this.
Yeah.

PokeCello (06:24):
'cause second, third, fourth grade, that's about the
age where you do that kind ofstuff.
and so I feel like that spiritwas really captured in a game
like Pokemon, where you areadventuring, you're going out
into the world, you'rediscovering new things.
there are battles and you kindof build a friendship.
You build a team, with yourfavorite little guys.
And I think it was just thatquality of.

(06:47):
Going out on a journey,collecting information,
collecting friends, collectingrelationships, standing off
against bad guys, right?
the excitement of final battles,the concept of an elite four.
I think it was just that senseof adventure that really spoke
to me as a, tiny little person.

You know, you said second, third, fourth, and
I was still doing this sinceeighth and ninth grade, so I
really, my stage kind of went alittle bit longer.
I always imagine myself savingthe day coming and like nobody
else can beat the bad guy, butmean it was always a rival
school I made up in my head.
But I definitely relate to thatidea to where you just made up
these kind of differentscenarios and different way
friend roles.
But for me I was always feltlike I was a star.

(07:26):
So I don't know.

PokeCello (07:29):
brother.

But I wanted to do a follow up question.
'cause you said you came backwith Pokemon X and Y and you
know, after revisiting allPokemon, like how did you
revisit, like what led to youcoming back to the franchise?

PokeCello (07:40):
I mean, it was truly an accident.
I very much just went intoTarget.
I think I was there to buy dishtowels.
Like I was not intending ondoing anything that day.

Now this is how you know it's a legit story.
'cause who else goes for Targetfor the dish house?
You always go for the furnitureor the little cute gadgets you
see in the front or the in the,like, you know, the little thing
for the couch, the pillows.
Like, this is a logistical.
I'm sorry.
Continue.

PokeCello (08:05):
yes.
would I make up this detail?

Yeah.
Yeah.

PokeCello (08:09):
I was, pretty sure I was just there to be a
productive member of society.
And then, I saw that there waslike a new type of Game Boy, and
I've always called my consolesgame Boys,

Mm-hmm.

PokeCello (08:20):
an old person.
Like there was a Game BoyAdvance, but then everything
since the Game Boy has also beena Game boy.

It's like everything's a peek at you.
Yeah.

PokeCello (08:26):
exactly.
Everything is a P at you.
Everything's a game boy.
and I think, I was just curiousbecause I remembered liking it
as a kid.
and I was like, wait, Pokemon isstill going.
Like, how does that work?
I thought that like.
There were only certain, there'slike a limited number of
Pokemon, right?
So they must have added more.
And I was just kind of lookingat the, the box art and being
like, only one way to find out.
Right?

(08:46):
and I had just, think that thiswas my first year of, grad
school actually, where I hadlike a really intense schedule
and I was really busy and Ineeded something fun to do.
And it just kind of felt like,okay, let's try this.
See what, see what, see what,what happens.
And I didn't recognize a singlePokemon, between if it wasn't a

(09:07):
gen one or two, no idea.
No idea.
I

Sure.
Yeah.

PokeCello (09:11):
Gen two Pokemon that you don't even get, like, I
didn't know Silver Cave was inPokemon Crystal.
I didn't

Really.

PokeCello (09:17):
girl.
I did not know that you couldbattle red and no, I, it was a
disaster as a child.
idea.
Absolutely no idea.
but thankfully as an adult withbetter, you know, reading
comprehension, I really, youjust got right back into it and
felt just getting right backinto the swing of things.
It was very fun.

It must have been kind of fun though to come
back and you see all the newPokemon, and I think that's also
a mega evolution.
So you kinda saw

PokeCello (09:42):
Yes,

Canto, and I think it was just canto at the
time, be able to be made intomega Pokemon.
You got to kind of pick the starand everything, so it was a very
good generation for you to comeback, especially being gone for
the franchise for so long.

PokeCello (09:54):
was.
And it was.
So I think X and y wasespecially fun because like,
that was the first gimmickgeneration.
I, I think there was not like I

Yeah.

PokeCello (10:04):
four or five didn't really have like a new mechanic
or anything.
so it was actually reallyexciting for me'cause it was not
just route, gym route, gymroute, battle.
Whatever.
I had a lot of fun.
Probably too much fun because,that's where all my, money has
gone in the past 10 years.

Damn poke.
My X and Y restarted the habit.

PokeCello (10:26):
Yes.
Oh my God.
And then, oh, but I also gotinto the TCG, but

Oh, do tell.
Let's start.
Yeah.
Uh, that's even more of a moneypit.

PokeCello (10:34):
Well, so I found, gosh, how long ago is this now?
I found my childhood collectionand I

Oh,

PokeCello (10:42):
Yeah, I know.
I was real

she's rich.

PokeCello (10:44):
girl, I found, um, sorry, I call it, I'm sorry, I,

Hey.
No, no.
Don't apologize.
This is great.

PokeCello (10:51):
mode.
Um, no, I found my, collectionof like beset, fossil.
It was not a real collection.
I did not have anything where Ididn't have a Charizard, so, you
know, but I was like, oh yeah, Ihad so much fun.
you know, ev every weekend Iwould go to the bookstore and
they had a little thing, alittle thing next to the
counter.
I'd be like, mom, please,please, I want one.

(11:14):
and maybe if I like got goodgrades, they would get me one.
I don't

Mm-hmm.

PokeCello (11:18):
and then I was like, oh, well of course they've still
continued and I found cards inTarget and I think this is so,
oh, brother.
Since the beginning of X and Yin the TCG I've been collecting
master sets very casually, verycasually.
Not like intense.
but I have a ton of, bindersfull of, the TCGI really, really

(11:39):
like collecting the TCG.
It's one of my favorites.
I don't like it right now.

Hmm.

PokeCello (11:43):
Scalpers.

Unfortunately.
Yeah.

PokeCello (11:45):
right.
But, I think it just, all ofPokemon in general just really
appeals to.
Whatever neuro type I happen tohave.
I really like collecting things.
I like organizing things.
I love to sort things,

Mm-hmm.

PokeCello (11:58):
sorter, love to sort things.
so I feel like it just reallyspeaks to whatever quality that
is of mine.
I just really like to, tocollect and organize and sort.
Pokemon is really good for that.

When it came to you finding the jungle and
fossil set, was there, kindalike something that brought back
memories, like cards that youfound?
Like was there anythingspecifically that kind of stuck
out?

PokeCello (12:16):
Well, so this is interesting because when I found
those cards, I remembered everysingle one and I had a feeling
like, I don't necessarily have amemory of this, but I had a
feeling like I probably sat onmy bed and like stared at each
of these cards and like wentthrough them one by one.
memorized the art and the words.

(12:37):
I don't think I ever reallyplayed the game.
this really solidified when Istarted looking at other cards
that I didn't have from myoriginal childhood collection
that I recognized.
I was like, oh my gosh, I musthave had those.
So I recognized all this oldsuga Maori art, suddenly I was
flooded with like, oh, Irecognize the, this art, I
recognize this text.

(12:58):
and recently I went back and gotsome of the, not the expense of
cards, but like, you know, thecomments and uncommons, um,
started filling in my, my baseset and my jungle and fossil and
some of those cards.
I was like, oh, I definitely hadone of these.
I know I did because I recognizeit so strongly.

Now as we continue, like since, you know,
came back from Pokemon X and Y,we'll dive into more in your
latter, games in mid.
But I want to ask, what's yourfavorite Pokemon?

PokeCello (13:23):
Oh man.
I knew that this was gonna be aquestion.
okay.
My favorite Pokemon is VolCorona.

Ooh.

PokeCello (13:29):
know why.
Don't ask me any follow upquestions.
I have no idea.
something that, like I didn'tplay black and white.
I

Yeah.

PokeCello (13:37):
TY two.
I don't even know.
Was Una in and y?
It might have been.
I'm not sure.
I don't even know, I don't havea good story.
I don't have like a key memory,but something about that fire
butterfly just, gets me.
I don't know.
I don't have a good story.
It's

Well, do you have a trading card of it?

PokeCello (13:58):
Oh, absolutely.
I think I have, well, except forlike whatever the newest ones
are, but I

Of course, yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Scalpers.

PokeCello (14:05):
yeah, exactly.
I would love, I was so happywhen Volcorona got two paradoxes
and Scarlet Violet and like, Iwould love a life-size slither
wing flush,

yes.

PokeCello (14:17):
tall.
I would put it like next to mywindow.
that people would think I washome and then maybe have like a
shadowy effect.
So people are like, what isthat?
Okay.

you talked about how they had both runner
had two paradox, forms come out.
Scarlet Violet.
Did you have a particularfavorite between those two, or
did you just like them bothequally?

PokeCello (14:37):
I like slither wing.

Mm.

PokeCello (14:39):
iron moth too because it's kind of cooler, but Slither
wing is just a little guy.

I always felt like Scarlet got the better
paradox.
Pokemon?

PokeCello (14:50):
They definitely had I feel like a going with future as
a broad concept can like limityou a little bit more than.
Ancient as a concept.
I don't know.
I don't have very, um, you'lllearn this about me.
I do not have very manysophisticated opinions Pokemon.
I'm

No, this is great so far.
Yeah, you're under matingyourself.

PokeCello (15:12):
Um, it's my favorite and I just like it.

A, that's all that matters, man.
Sometimes you just look at itand like, that's my Pokemon and
that's all it needs to be.
It doesn't always have to have adeep story sometimes.

PokeCello (15:23):
that's true.
That's true.
That's fair.

Yep.
Now last thing I wanna talkabout is course Pokemon Scarlet
Vibe.
That's the most recent games.
And, you know, you started morerecent with X and y.
What are your thoughts onplaying that game and,
experiencing compared to yourold school games?
Like what did you like aboutPokemon Scarlet and Violet?

PokeCello (15:38):
I mean, I'll be honest, the like I tried to
explain the story to my motherrecently and

Ooh.

PokeCello (15:47):
like I.
all over the place, because thestory was so complex.
There was so many things goingon.
but I was really drawn to theTeam Star and like classic,
backstory here.
Like I was bullied in school.
I had that experience.
but it was really fascinating tosee how that story unfolded,
that Team Star wasn't the badguys.

(16:08):
it just started out as a kidswho were being bullied.
And I loved the leaders.
I loved how different they allwere.
and they, each one of'emhonestly kind of reminded me of
a person I would've known inhigh school.
it was kind of nice to just seesomething that really resonated
with like reality for me.
and the conclusion of thatstoryline really got me when

(16:29):
Clavell was, oh my gosh.
I don't remember exactly what hesaid, but like, he apologized.
He was like, the school waswrong.
not help the kids who are beingbullied.
We wanna bring you back.
We want you to teach our, teachour students about your star
barrage system.
Like as someone who's bullied inschool, that blew my mind.
And I thought like, okay, cheesetime, if there are kids watching

(16:52):
this or watching this, playingthis, who are being bullied,
that might be that might bepowerful to them to know It's
not their fault to know that theadults around them do have some
responsibility to step in, thatthey deserve to be safe.
and I was so engrossed, soengrossed in the story.
so my, my main experience wasjust like, I need the lore.

(17:14):
Give me the lore.
I need the story.
I need to advance the plot asfast as possible.
'cause I just, I have no ideawhat's gonna happen.
I had no idea how they weregonna get the three story paths
together.
I thought the whole area zerosequence was I never thought in
my child's video game.
That you would be fighting arobot with an AI replication of

(17:36):
the professor who's been deadfor 10.
Like I, I, I see, I, I soundlike I'm all over the place
trying to explain it, but I, Iloved, loved, loved the story.
Really Got me,

I think you brought up such a very powerful
highlight that maybe peopleoverlook is clavell is actually
apologizing.
Because if you've been bulliedgrowing up, or maybe if you had
maybe been a victim of some kindof, you know, vicious attack or
something like that, how manytimes did you wish that somebody
had stepped in and just gave youthat kind of comfort?
And I think that maybe you kindof resonated with the idea of

(18:09):
clavell provided comfort and hadwished maybe you had received
that when you were growing upbeing bullied.
Is that fair to say?

PokeCello (18:14):
Oh, I mean, absolutely.
I feel like too many times youfeel like the people around you
don't care.
Maybe they don't notice.
but it was so nice to just belike, yeah, actually.
when people, when people aremaking fun of me in high school.
So silly to think about now, butlike,

Yeah.

PokeCello (18:35):
actually it would've been great if someone had
stepped in.
It would've been great.
Even, you know, if I had toldthe teacher and the teacher was
like, wow, that sucks.
Like, just that level ofconnection being like, this was
wrong, this shouldn't behappening.
really gave me a little bit of aalmost resolution to that whole
side of my story.
I was like, yeah, actually thatwas kind of, horrible and that

(18:57):
shouldn't have happened.
And it's not my fault.
I mean,

Hmm.
Yeah.

PokeCello (19:01):
awkward.
You know, I played the, it was abig cello.
Uh, I was very artsy, we'll sayartsy is a nice word of saying
in high school.
So I won't say it wasn't

Yeah.

PokeCello (19:10):
fault.
I was bullied, but, you know, abully.

I mean for me, I'm not gonna, uh, maybe I'll
include this.
For me, I was bullied growing up'cause I was fat.
Um, I wasn't athletic and youknow, I was in the Pokemon
longer than I should have been.
So those reasons were enough forpeople to kind of bully me or
pick on me.
And it sucks at the time.
'cause you know, that's kind ofwhy I was always, imagining
saving the world.
'cause I wanted to go back andgain retribution or get that

(19:34):
kind of closure from my bulliesgrowing up.
And that's what I alwaysimagined in my head, growing.
That's why maybe it stuck withme longer.
But you know, you just alwayswant that kind of closure.
And sometimes that's the hardestpart.
Whenever you are bullied or ifyou're ever a victim, sometimes
you're never gonna get thatclosure.
You're never gonna get somebodyto apologize or somebody to say,
I'm sorry this kind of happened.
Sometimes you have to kind offind your own door and it's one

(19:56):
of the hardest challenges.

PokeCello (19:58):
absolutely.
I think that my favorite partabout the Pokemon community in
general, there's so many peoplein the Pokemon community who
this kind of history, where justfor whatever reason, something
in their life wasn't quiteright, and it's so nice.
To just have that be normal.
Like, it's not weird that I wasbullied, like it's just like, oh

(20:20):
yeah, that's a thing thathappens.
It's not weird to be, you know,excluded because of, your
gender,

Mm-hmm.

PokeCello (20:27):
Or, a disability, a chronic illness.
Like that's not a weird thing inthis community.
It's just like, oh, everyone'sgot something like that.
And it really makes me feel likeI can relax here.
I don't have to have all ofthis, um, you know, facade the
professional.
hello I am here and professionaland legitimate.

(20:48):
Um, I don't have to do thatbecause yeah, I can be a little
bit messy.
I just really like Pokemon andall these other people who I
don't really have much in commonwith.
They also really like Pokemon.
and it's just kind of a niceplace to be where this stuff
happens to people.
It's real.
but what brings us together is.
The out, the what?
1025 little guys

And counting.

PokeCello (21:10):
and counting.

I want to switch gears to your music side
now.
And before we dive into, youknow, your YouTube channel and
how you made in Pokemon, or howyou started doing Pokemon music
remixes, you know, when youstarted playing the cello, how
did you first find thatinstrument and what was I guess
the steps of your earlyintroduction to music?

PokeCello (22:05):
Wow.
Um, I mean, I have like the, theconventional story, which is my
parents forced me to do it.
They were like, you have to playan instrument.

Hey, this is great.
I think that will relate toeverybody who's an instrument
person.

PokeCello (22:17):
I, I can't believe that that worked.
I look back at that and I'mlike.
Oh, I see what you did.
Oh, that's not nice at all.
Like, but to be, to be fair, I,hi parents.
I love you.
To be fair to my parents.

Hi mom.

PokeCello (22:31):
yeah, exactly.
I really lived in music as alittle kid.
you know, my dad would put on,he's a big classical music fan.
and he would put on symphonieswith, enormous speakers I would
just go nuts.
Like I really, I would dance, Iwould move.
if it was really high energy, Iwould like roll around on the

(22:53):
ground.
Like I as a really, reallylittle person, really, really
little.
there was just something upbeing enveloped in music.
so playing an instrument made alot of sense.
And, I started on the violincause I was like, oh, violin is
so pretty.
and then I got to my lessons andthey made me stand up the whole
time.
And I was like, no, I don'twanna do that.

I wanna sit down.

PokeCello (23:16):
yeah, exactly.
And lucky for me, there's aninstrument exactly like the
violin, but you get to sit down.
and my parents were like, sure,go nuts.
And then I learned any, anypeople listening to this who
think it's easier because youget to sit down, you don't get
to sit down, you have to sitdown very specifically.
You have to have good posture.
It was such a racket.
It was such a bait switch.

(23:36):
I thought this was gonna beeasy.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I ended up on cello.
and I just never wanted to putit down.
I didn't think I wanted to begood at it, really.
I didn't think I wanted to makeit my career as a, as a kid.
but it just became this part ofme.
It was really just like, oh,this is my other half.
Right.
People say that about theirromantic partners, but for me it

(23:57):
was like, oh, I'm not really acomplete person unless I have my
instrument.
no idea how that happened.
I mean, maybe it goes back tolike the neuro type thing where
it was just something that forwhatever reason really appealed
to me.
cause I'll be honest, prettysure that the only reason I'm a
musician is because, I learnedthat in music school you have to
practice and practicing andbeing locked alone in a small

(24:19):
room for hours and nobody isallowed to bother you.
Like, hello,

everybody's introverted dream right there.

PokeCello (24:26):
Exactly.
Dream come true.
And like it's all repetitiveaction.
It's all just like doing thesame things over and over and
over.
And for me, I was like, oh, signme up, this is perfect.
Um, so like there is thatelement that like, yeah, oh,
music is beautiful.
I was lost in it.
But also like, yeah, I justreally like the idea of,

(24:47):
shedding passages in music andpracticing and a big practice
nerd, so.
Did I mention I was bullied inschool?

But you came out ahead though.
You came out very good in yourlife, I think.

PokeCello (25:01):
I think I tried.

Now I do love the image that you gave me to
where like I was rolling aroundthe ground.
I feel like a mosh pit would beyour scene.
Was that kind of the case atall?
Like did, were you like,

PokeCello (25:11):
Oh, let's, well,

oh,

PokeCello (25:14):
the seventh grade when I discovered heavy metal.
I discovered having, I mean,that was, it was all over for
me.
there was no turning back from amusic career once my friend,
gave me a burned copy of systemof a down, on the, on the bus.
And I never heard it before.
No one in my life had everlistened to that kind of music.
it was like, oh my God, where,where has this been my whole

(25:34):
life?
This just felt like me.
And if you.
Turn up the volume and put onyour headphones.
metal can be so soothing.
It can, it can just completelyisolate you from whatever else
is going on.
and I was like, okay, I gottaknow more.
I gotta know more.
I gotta know more.
and I went back to, to myseventh grade class and another
one of my friends was like, Hey,you play the cello right?

(25:57):
Did you know that there's aheavy metal band where they only
play cello?
And I was like, um, no, but canyou, can, can you show me?
Um, that band is apocalyptica,lots of metal heads.
No.
Apocalyptica Apocalyptica,became famous by doing Metallica
covers on four cellos.
and once those two lines kind ofcrossed for me, right?

(26:18):
So I like playing the cello.
I like everything that kind ofcomes along with it.
Technically, when I realized Icould play heavy metal on the
cello.
done, I don't wanna do anythingelse.
in my non-PokeCello life, in my,in my somewhat more professional
real name life, that isprimarily what I do.
I primarily play, heavy metalrock, symphonic metal, type

(26:39):
stuff on the electric cello.
So of, a lot of paths kind ofcrossed for me and I'm very
glad.
I don't think I want, wouldwanna be anywhere else to be
honest.

into your angsty side of getting bullied
and now you're just gettingthose feelings outta you.

PokeCello (26:54):
yes.
And like, it was so, it was sucha relief.
I mean, I remember going intohigh school being like, no, it
is too early for this.
I am not interested in anythinganyone else has to say.
And I would put in my headphonesand then, then it was fine.
It was so much easier to dealwith because I mean, that's such
a common music thing.

(27:15):
Every, I think lots of peoplehave that experience.

So you are basically doing remixes of
classic Pokemon game musics.
And I wanna touch on the firstone that you did, which is back
in August of 2022, you did thePokemon Center theme of gold and
silver.
You know, when you firstuploaded it, why did you choose
that song to start off?

PokeCello (27:33):
at the very beginning, know,'cause a
full-time freelance musician.
and part of that is you'realways looking for work.
you know, you're never reallysettled into one thing for that
long.
I had kind of had this, thisvague interest in maybe doing
some kind of Pokemon music oncello.
and then I found a transcriptionof the entire Pokemon Red and

(27:54):
Loose soundtrack, by MarkBennis.
Shout out to Mark.
this was a really, reallyincredible piece of work.
I'm in awe of what he was ableto do, but basically he
transcribed the three, chip tunetracks.
For every piece of thesoundtrack from Pokemon Red plus
the percussion, uh, track.

(28:14):
when I saw that, when I lookedat that, this idea popped into
my head that would it sound likeif a cello played all of those
parts?
And I started with a PokemonCenter because it was easy.
That's just to be being honest.
I picked the easiest one.
but that was kind of like, okay,well maybe I'll try this, I'll

(28:37):
try doing this and see if, seeif it works for me.
but I really just liked thisidea.
Okay.
Early game stuff.
It's written for the, the GameBoys chip tune.
I'm sure there's a, a more namefor it.
I could play each of those lineson the cello, I could lay them
over each other and see what itsounds like.
It was really just a matter ofexploration.

(28:58):
But, the gold and silver PokemonCenter theme was just so like,
ah, it's relaxing.
Mm-hmm.
the, it's the quintessentialPokemon song.

Did you remember like what it felt like
to hit upload?
'cause that was your first, Iguess, official video.
I know you had the teaser.
Were you confident of like whatwould happen or were you kind of
nervous or did, were you justkind of numb to it, like you
were just getting a try and seewhat happens?

PokeCello (29:46):
no, no confidence whatsoever.
so I think this was like kind ofa, rocky time in my career and
my thinking was I saw so manyreally successful.
video game music, remixerchannels,

Mm-hmm.

PokeCello (30:02):
like, well, I can't like do that.
Like, I'm not that good at, youknow, whatever Glitch does
right?
Like her, her tracks are so, soin depth, they're so well
crafted.
And I was like, I can never dothat, but I play the cello so I
could try this.
I can see if there's anyinterest in it.
and my, goal starting out was Iwas just gonna work through the

(30:24):
Pokemon Red soundtrack.
I was just going to kind of gothrough each one.
and when I was uploading it wasreally quite, um, I do not like
it.
I still do not like it.
I still do not like hitting theupload button, to be honest.
Really don't like it.
but it was really just, let'ssee, let's see what happens.

(30:45):
yeah, I wasn't, I wasn't superconcerned about anything else.
So,

you said how you know you were in a rocky
starter career, it almost soundslike that song kind of
resonated, something you neededto feel at the time, because we
said it's relaxing.
The Pokemon said is where you gofor healing your personal life.
You know, it's rocky.
But then you turn to this, itseems like that's a song that
you identified at the time thatyou needed.

PokeCello (31:04):
Well, I mean the, my PokeCello origin story, is
really quite simple.
at the end of 2021, the very fewlast few weeks, few days of
2021, I was diagnosed withcancer.
and 22, 20 22, the whole yearwas like dealing with that.
Right?
but what was interesting, andthe reason that I can, laugh

(31:29):
about and talk about it now, isthat Pokemon Legends Arceus came
out.
Days before I had surgery.
And so every part of that wholeordeal, the surgery, the
treatment, the doctor'sappointments, the, imaging, all
of it, all of it supported byplaying through this new game.

(31:51):
And I really felt awful.
I couldn't, I couldn't work.
I lost my job.
I was trying to do, personal,original compositions and those
just were not coming, like, justwasn't working.
But, I came home from surgery,in my switch, and I was playing
Legends Arceus when I was tiredand I felt sick.
I was playing Legends Arceus.
When I was stressed out, I wasplaying Legends Arceus.

(32:14):
And it just really became.
I mean, this was like the bestfew months of my life.
It was so fun.
Like, it's so weird to talkabout like a cancer situation
like that, but it was reallyquite special.
I feel really, really lucky thatI got to have this gift of
cancer is awful.
It's like, don't, it's bad.

(32:34):
However, it didn't really matterto me.
It didn't really resonate or, orhit me hard as a horrible thing
that was happening because like,I gotta go to the doctor.
Yeah, go get, gotta get someshots.
I gotta sit in the imagingmachine, whatever.
when I get home, I'm going rightback to his sui.

(32:55):
so after the cancer thing kindof resolved and I'm fine, it was
fine.
It was not that bad.
But like once that resolved andI was ready to kind of get back
into it, I felt I had a realdebt to pay.
I had gotten into this franchisein a new way.
Like it really, really was asupportive, it was integral to

(33:16):
this whole experience.
And I had to be honest, didn'treally know much about, Pokemon
YouTube.
I didn't know much about Pokemoncontent creation.
I discovered content creators,that I didn't know about before.
And I mean, shout out to, tothem because like, gosh, when I
was, when I couldn't sleep, Iwould put on, what was it?

(33:36):
I would put on, I'd put on JohnStone's, professor Oak
Challenge, video playlist when Icouldn't sleep.
That was like my go-to.
And I, and it was just great.
I had all of this support from acommunity I didn't know from
Perfect strangers.
you know, no one's makingProfessor Oak Challenge videos
to help a complete strangerwho's going through cancer

(33:57):
treatment.
Like, that's not a situation.
but it still happened for me.
to Johnstone.
That's very cool.
but when that, you know, when Igot my, my Clean Bill of Health
and I was ready to celebratewhatever, I felt like I just had
to do something.
I had to do something thank thecommunity, to thank the
franchise to contribute.

(34:17):
and that's where PokeCello camefrom.
That was my way of, saying thankyou to this awesome community.

You know, when you were playing Legends Arceus
in such a vulnerable time, youknow, lost your job cancer oh
nine yards, I can't even imaginewhat you were going through or
what that would feel like.
Did you kind of see a connectionwith Legend Arceus, with your
own story, with discovery,resilience, and even isolation
at times?

PokeCello (34:38):
mean, I, there was a lot of that, but to me, the,
fundamental image of that wasjust Jubilee Village.
And the Juba Life Village music.
And your little house that youhave is the character in Juba
Life Village.
It's really small.
you've got your little bed rolland like, I would just imagine

(34:59):
myself in that little house, andI would imagine myself, like
with my Pokemon and like goingout and doing this grand
adventure, that was scary.
Like that was the first Pokemongame where Pokemon were scary.
Like they would attack you.
That

Yeah,

PokeCello (35:16):
Um,

they come at you.

PokeCello (35:18):
yeah, so it was scary.
There was danger.
Not, we won't even talk aboutValo, but there was a lot of
tension.
And so I really, really likedgetting to, oh, I'm just
imagining myself in my littlequarters.
And then if I have to go out andgo do stupid doctor's
appointments, well I could justcome back and, and go out to the

(35:39):
obsidian field once and havethis kind of like.
Release of that release of allof that tension.

Well, let's keep moving forward'cause I want
to move to your most popularone, which is how I found You,
which is the aerial Zero, andyou did a shallow slash
orchestra mix and it exploded.
It's still your popular videotoday.
did you anticipate it to getthat kind of response?
Or what was the moment when yousaw like, whoa, this is getting
so many attention compared to myother stuff?

PokeCello (36:05):
So when I kind of started, I was like, well, let's
see.
Let's see what happens with thechannel.
and when I started doing Scarletand Violet music, I was like,
oh, well maybe people will bemore interested in this'cause
it's from the new games.
and I was really excited when myfirst video hit a thousand
views.
I texted everyone, I was like,oh, it's happening, you know?
but one of the things that I hadread about, like becoming a

(36:26):
content creators specificallywas, can't wait.
To go viral.
Like you can't expect that tohappen.
You just have to be consistent.
You have to keep putting outyour content and you have to
kind of just roll with thepunches that not all gonna be
popular.
There are gonna be lots ofvideos that you put out and
nobody cares, nobody watches.

(36:46):
so at that point, you know, Ihadn't had a, a super successful
video.
None of my videos had passed10,000 views at that point.
And my mindset at the time waslike, it doesn't have to be
perfect.
It doesn't have to be amazing.
It just has to be real.
It has to have integrity, it hasto speak to something.
area Zero.

(37:06):
The theme is just unlikeanything we've ever heard in a
Pokemon game.
I was a little nervous aboutdoing it justice.
The first time I heard itplaying through the game, I was
like, oh, I'm never gonna beable to cover this.
Are you kidding?
Like, it

Mm.

PokeCello (37:19):
rich and complex.
but I had kind of shut off thelike, Emotional side of it.
I was like, you know what?
I'm going to, I'm making thesevideos, I'm putting'em out, and
I'm not waiting for thereaction.
I don't, I'm gonna kind of not,uh, incorporate that into my
experience of making content forthe channel because I can't
control it.
I, I am the mercy of thealgorithm.

(37:41):
so when Area Zero started takingoff, first I was like, oh, well
it's area zero, so of coursethat's what, of course that
makes sense.
but I was like, okay, don't careabout this.
You can't care about it.
It's, you can't use it as like,oh, I'm doing it.
Oh, I'm winning the next videois not gonna do that, and the
video after that probably isn'tgonna do it either.

(38:01):
So I had this mindset of everyvideo I put out, every track
that I make has to be worth ahundred thousand views.
single one

Hmm.

PokeCello (38:11):
to be worth that.

You like that?

PokeCello (38:13):
out a track.
If I don't think it's reallythere yet.
so when Area Zero startedgetting, you know, not just
thousands of views, but tens ofthousands of views, I was like,
okay, One, I'm glad I wasn'tattached to it, but two, like
I'm glad that I was just focusedon about putting out something
that someone would wanna listento and ideally to more than

(38:37):
once, listen to over and over.
I think that's like the, thereal thing about music content
creation is you wanna havelongevity.
but I try to keep it just verychill, very mellow.
try not to react to, um, YouTubeanalytics.
Um, I try to just kind of notcare about that.

(38:58):
I care about it.
I really, really care about it,but I try not to care about it.
Um,

I do too, but I try not to look either.

PokeCello (39:04):
Exactly right.
Like, oh no.
Oh, I'm so cool.
I'm so calm.
I don't care about anything.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

PokeCello (39:10):
reload, reload, reload.
Um, with Area Zero, I was, I wasglad it was that track because I
was quite happy with it.
every video before, well, I meanevery video, but every video
before, definitely every videosince I think, would I be okay
if a hundred thousand peoplelisten to this?
And if the answer is no, I don'tput it out.

You know, that's such for, I guess, not
refreshing, but it's so keenbecause I think a lot of people
just put stuff out for the sakeof putting stuff out to where
the quality goes down and theykind of lose that, I'll say soul
to the content.
cause I'm kind of the same wayin the sense to where for me, I
see a more sight on the editingto where if something doesn't
sound right.
I'm not gonna put it out.

(39:50):
I'm going to, if I need to takesome extra time, I'll delay my
upload time.
'cause I wanna make sure theepisode comes out

PokeCello (39:55):
Yep.

the way I want to.
'cause maybe that's just theside of the work ethic or maybe
our content creation, whateveryou wanna call it.
But for me, I feel like I owethe people who listen to my
show, you know, a qualitycontent, a quality interview.
That's why whenever I go tointerview, I come prepared with
the answers that I need to askmost of the time.
Now, do I have my down moments?
Of course.
But my down moments I think isnot as noticeable to them as it

(40:17):
is to me.
And maybe that's kind of whatyou're talking to.

PokeCello (40:19):
Oh, it is not as noticeable whatsoever.
And that's a key part of myparticular tapestry of
perfectionism

Yeah.

PokeCello (40:29):
But like I absolutely, I wanna have
everything via the absolute toplevel.
At the same times I have to berealistic.
for example, no training inaudio engineering.
I have

Really.
I'm surprised.
Yeah.

PokeCello (40:43):
no, uh, it is all YouTube tutorials.
I met someone recently who is anaudio engineer, and I did a
video call with her and I waslike, can you explain what EQ
means?

Oh wow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

PokeCello (40:59):
Cell,

I,

PokeCello (40:59):
I, oh my God, so embarrassing.
And it's, it's evidenteventually if you listen to my
old stuff, you'll hear it.
Um,

yeah.

PokeCello (41:04):
I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew that if I
waited, PokeCello would nothappen.
It would not exist.
So at the same time, to haveevery, I really wanted
everything really quality,something that really speaks to
people.
At the same time, I wait until Ithink it's ready, I'll be dead.
No one will ever hear it.

You will be a dying artist.

PokeCello (41:26):
Yeah.
Really.
Like, you just, it won't, itwill never, ever come out.

Last question, just in regards to Area Zero.
And even some of your responseskind of showed how much care you
put into the song, because ifyou described it as a way of
blending ancient and futuresound, it shows kind of the real
intent, the real care youbrought to such a very Honestly
gonna be me memorable song.
I think it's actually, if notthe popular, at least not top
five popular Pokemon songs.
I would say that.
How did you kind of approachtrying to reinterpret that song

(42:27):
that was already emotionallylayered, like area Zero to add
kind of your own emotionalfingerprint, your own
interpretation to it?

PokeCello (42:34):
I knew I was gonna do kind of two repeats, right?
Two loops.
And I was like, okay.
So although the first one withlike orchestral instruments, so
a lot of brass, instruments thatare, not software instruments.
Oh my gosh.
I'm sure there's a word.
I'm a professional musician.
I don't know what the word is.

It's okay.
I'm a professional podcast and Iforget words, so it's okay.
I said shallow and shallow, likeI can't get shallow, whatever it
is.
So.

PokeCello (42:59):
Okay.
Okay.
Okay, good.
Excellent.
So, um, I was, I was looking atthe thing and I was like, okay,
so I'll do the first half withof straight ahead acoustic
orchestral sound, and then I'lldo the second time with,
software instruments and havemore synths, more electric
keyboard type sounds.
and then when I went and did therecording, so my process

(43:19):
basically is, I, I take thearrangement, usually there's
some transcription involved.
Very rarely for the new stuff.
There'll be a transcriptionsomeone's put online somewhere.
But usually I do the, thetranscription myself.
I do the arrangement, I try toget things kind of or less where
they need to be, and then Irecord over it.
And that of transition betweenworking on the arrangement and

(43:40):
recording is the worst.
That is the worst part of it.
because that's where the medal,that's road, that's where you
gotta, like, that's where yougotta, that's where you gotta
perform.
That's when you gotta show upand get it right.
and so with Area Zero, I reallywas attached to, after the vocal
section, there's a solo, it kindof sounds like it's on a r who,
but it's very vocal.

(44:01):
And that was the section that Iwas like, okay, I know I can do
that.
I know I can do a vocal sound.
I know I can bring out thelonging, the keening almost, I
can bring out the soaringquality of that line.
And once I got that.
was like, okay, this, this, thismight work out.
and I was very nervous becausethis is a track that had vocals

(44:23):
and very unusual for Pokemon.
I didn't really know if it wouldmake any sense on the cello,
'cause some, some music justdoesn't make sense on the cello.
but I really tried to, to honein on just one quality.
And once I felt like I got that,that's where the rest of it kind
of came out of.

Now I wanna transition to your original
composition.
It was when you made your firstoriginal Pokemon Battle theme in
February of 2025.
It's a huge risk making your ownmusic when you're so used to
tied to Pokemon.

PokeCello (44:55):
Yeah.

What made you kind of wanna step into that
creative side, even vulnerableand What made you wanna take
that leap?

PokeCello (45:01):
A while ago.
I mean, this is the, this isjust the honest answer

Sure.

PokeCello (45:05):
saw.
A video by Glitch who, and thevideo was called something like,
here's How I Wrote My OwnPokemon Battle Feed.
Something like that.
And to be honest, thought hadnever occurred to me.
I never considered trying towrite something in this very
iconic style.
And I watched her video and Iwas like, oh, hang on though.

(45:28):
I watched it and I was like, I'mgonna just put that on the back
burner because that I might beable to do that.
so shout out to Glitch.
Thank you.
Glitch.
And I realized that it wouldjust be fun.
would just be fun to take thebuilding blocks, the kind of,
essential pieces of a Pokemontheme, I could kind of identify

(45:50):
what those were.
I can kind of, kind of buildalmost modularly, because you
start with the, the chromatic.
Okay.
So we start with that.
And then there's kind of a hook.
Usually there's like a, a, aloop where you, you build up the
energy, and the melodies, theclassic, have specific harmonic
content.
there's specific chordprogressions that kind of come
up a lot.
And I was like, okay, I'll plugthose in.

(46:12):
and I'll just noodle around andsee what a melody comes out.
it was just kind of fun.
It was just like a funexperiment.
I never really thought aboutreleasing it necessarily.
I wasn't thinking like, oh, I'mgonna write this for Pokemon
Day.
Right.
but then once it got started Iwas like, hang on, maybe I
should release this for PokemonDay because I really liked it.

(46:34):
I had fun writing it.
The biggest risk.
Ah, I call it the eurovisionsection.
There's a part of it where Ihave no self-restraint.
I love cheesiness.
I love corniness.
I love sentimentality in music.
I just, I don't, I don't holdback.

Sure.

PokeCello (46:53):
the whole ethos of PokeCello.
I do not hold back.
There's no restraint happening

Ooh, I love that.
Yeah.

PokeCello (47:00):
bring everything to like the, the most intensity.
I really want to just takewhatever the, the quality of
that track is, and we're gonnajust turn it up to 11.

Hmm.

PokeCello (47:10):
no doing it halfway.
So I realized that I could dothis, series of transpositions
and circle of fit score changesand I kind of just set it in.
I just kind of put programs intomy.as a, almost like a joke
because it sounded so cheesy.
It was so ridiculous.
and I was like, okay, well I didone of these transpositions,
lemme do another one after that.

(47:31):
Let's see what that sounds like.
And then I was like, well, whatif I do another one after that?
what could that sound like?
and that ended up being myfavorite part of the song.
It was definitely the riskiestbecause it is very cheesy.
is absolutely something youwould hear in Eurovision.
but it also has just a lot of mypersonality in it.

(47:52):
Um, I was very nervous aboutreleasing it.
didn't want, get attached to it.
I really tried to, to, like Imentioned, I tried to kind of
stay detached from, the audiencereaction.
it was just a really kind offun, it started out as a fun
puzzle.
and then it turned intosomething really expressive.
And I'll be honest with you, Iam frankly shocked that it came

(48:15):
out half as well it did.

Right.

PokeCello (48:18):
could, it could have been a disaster.
but yeah, that, that was myexperience with it.
It was really fun.

I mean, it just sounds like maybe it's the
vulnerable side of your owncreation.
'cause now you, you know, it'snot, you don't have a blueprint
for this, you know, this isn'tbased off of Pokemon gets
inspired by it, but it's like,if people don't like it, it's
like almost like you take itpersonally in a way, you know,
you're try not to, but it's hardnot to as an artist.
Yeah.

PokeCello (49:08):
oh, it is.
Yes.
I read all of your comments.

Every single 4,000 of'em.
Well Pokecello.
Thank you for coming on as thepoke ball turns.
I wanna finish on this lastquestion'cause I think you have
a very powerful story you know,you've turned shallow into like
a vessel of storytelling,connection and healing.
You know, what do you hopepeople carry with them hearing
your music, whether it'slongtime fans or someone to step
into the Pokemon world for thefirst time?

PokeCello (49:33):
So one of the things that has always spoken to me in
every version of music that I'vedone, um, you know, so being a
freelance musician, I've done amillion things.
I was an orchestral musician.
I've done film scores, I've donemusic videos, I've done dance
tracks, I've written music, um,and now I'm doing video game
remixes.

(49:53):
But across all of it, I'vealways felt that music has this,
unparalled Capacity to not onlyhelp you understand yourself,
understand your own story,understand who you are, what
your life is about.
I've always felt very stronglyabout music that way, and it's
always kind of helped me notnecessarily achieve full

(50:16):
self-actualization, of course,but it's always helped me just
kind of settle in and say, okay,I am this kind of person.
I am living this kind of life.
is who I want to be.
music just really helps usunderstand It helps us
understand our own lives.
It helps us understand otherpeople, across everything.
So when I'm making tracks, Iwant just a little bit of that

(50:39):
for my audience.
I want my audience to listen tothis, whatever it is.
even if it, again, just like a,the tiniest little sliver of
helping them understandsomething, if it's.
A, a chill track.
It's coming home at the end of along day, at the end of a hard
day, finding a place to let itgo, right?
If it's an exciting track, ifit's a hype track.

(51:01):
Pokemon music is all aboutdetermination, in my pretentious
dramatic view.
Um, I want to give just a sliverof that to my audience.
I want them to hear this, andsome part of them can kind of
relax.
Some part of them can kind offeel centered, feel like there's
some kind of understandinghappening.
if I get half of half of half of1%, you know, I think I've done

(51:25):
my job.

It almost sounds like for you, Pokemon
kind of reclaimed your identitybecause you could have given up
when you lost your job.
You could have given up when youwere diagnosed with cancer, but
you didn't, and it sounds likePokemon thinking.
This music kind of reclaimed whoyou were in a way.

PokeCello (51:41):
Well, I mean, my whole career has been about
bouncing back,

Mm-hmm.

PokeCello (51:45):
that we could, we could talk about cancer.
We can also talk about thepandemic.
I was in a car crash.
I have a traumatic brain injury.
I'm disabled, I have chronicillness.
Like, there's so

Wow.
Yeah.

PokeCello (51:56):
am a wreck.
There's so much going on withme.
Do you have a podcast for peoplewho are Rex?
Um,

to as the pickleball turns were.

PokeCello (52:05):
so absolutely.
The, the feeling that Pokemonbrings it is so frivolous.
It is so silly.
It is so non-important.
But there is this feeling ofdetermination, a feeling of
dedication, a feeling of.
You lose battles.
Pokemon, faint.
have rivals.
There are sometimes there are,there are stakes, but it's a
video game, so who cares?
And I think for Pokemon, reallyis just a place for me to

(52:29):
reclaim that feeling ofdedication.

Will PokeCello.
Before you go, people wannacheck out your content.
If they want to connect withyou, where can they go?
By all means, please plug away.

PokeCello (52:37):
Absolutely.
You can find me on YouTube.
I am primarily there to respondto comments.
I actually do try to respond toevery single comment I get.
I love comments.
all of my music is also onSpotify, apple Music.
basically any streaming serviceyou can find me there.
and please just check outwhatever speaks to you.
I really encourage you tointeract and, I love when people

(52:58):
give me suggestions,recommendations, drop a comment,
like, and subscribe, all of thatgood stuff.

Thank you for listening to As The Pokeball
Turns, if this story resonatedwith you, share the podcast with
the fellow trainer and don'tforget to follow us.
For more voices, more journeys,and more memories.
I'm David Hernandez, andremember, your next Pokemon
adventure begins here.

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TRAINER'S EYE #165 - "String Shot Requiem" ft. PokeCello

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}TRAINER'S EYE #165 - "String Shot Requiem" ft. PokeCello