Direct Elimination Podcast

The Fencer Who Wrote Our Theme Song: Colin Campbell | Direct Elimination Ep. 33

• Direct Elimination Podcast • Season 2 • Episode 16

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0:00 | 1:21:21

Colin Campbell wrote the Direct Elimination theme song on sticky notes during construction breaks — and he's a Notre Dame fencing champion.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Colin wrote, performed, and produced the Direct Elimination theme song — including the bossa nova chord progression, fencing-inspired lyrics, and his stacked harmony technique
• The concrete parallels between competitive fencing and the arts: adaptability, attack planning, committing fully, and performing under pressure
• Colin's journey from age-10 fencer in Washington D.C. through a Senior World Cup appearance, to being on Notre Dame NCAA and ACC championship winning teams, and into Juilliard and professional performance
• How his short film 'The Sharp Way Out,' shot at a former Staten Island correctional facility, and his theatrical adaptations are building toward a serious acting and filmmaking career

Colin Campbell is a multi-instrumentalist, actor, and filmmaker currently studying at Juilliard. He's also a decorated competitive fencer who won ACC and NCAA championships with Notre Dame — and the person behind the theme song you've been hearing at the top of every episode.

Here's our question for you: What's a skill from your sport that showed up somewhere completely unexpected in your creative or professional life? Drop it in the comments.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:36 - Welcoming Colin Campbell
00:03:11 - The Story Behind the Direct Elimination Theme Song
00:04:15 - Colin's Musical Origins
00:09:21 - Fencing Roots: Starting at Age 10 in Washington D.C.
00:19:36 - Going All-In on the Arts at Notre Dame
00:21:25 - Early Filmmaking with Teammates
00:27:46 - Colin's Competitive Fencing Career
00:30:55 - Coaching at Sheridan Fencing Academy
00:34:04 - How Fencing Parallels Music, Acting, and Artistic Discipline
00:47:37 - Flow State, Authenticity, and Performing Under Pressure
00:53:26 - The Sharp Way Out
01:03:55 - Upcoming Projects and Continuing to Weave Fencing Into Art
01:06:47 - One Light Answers
01:14:07 - Closing Reflections and Live Performance of the Theme Song

💬 BEST QUOTES
"I will always know from fencing the ability to just adapt to things being thrown at you and taking accountability for your mistake in just a split second."
"Fencing taught me how to understand the way that I moved, my body and my vessel and focusing on carrying through my plan.. and having an attack plan."
"When you're an adult all the fun may seem like it's behind you. No it's not. You can find it, and you can create it with people that are your pals."
"I wrote these lyrics down because I wanted to implement fencing, and I knew that I could do that because I know the sport"

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SPEAKER_06

World class mode and razor edge conversation locked in on the path of pure determination one, two, three.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that was buttery. What a great way to start. That's fun. I like that. So let's cut right to the chase.

SPEAKER_02

Right to it.

SPEAKER_01

Colin Campbell, welcome to Direct Elimination. Thank you for having me. Woo! Excited to be here. Yeah. So for those of you who don't know, Colin Campbell is a former fencer in the Weapon of Sabre. He attended the University of Notre Dame with Steven and I, was on the team for four years, and participated in two national championship victories. Or let me rephrase that. Was a member of the team for two national NCA was a member of the team for two NCA championship victories for Notre Dame, as well as at least one ACC victory.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I think what? Sophomore and junior year.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, two two ACC victories. And then um ACC sandwich here.

SPEAKER_02

What happened on uh senior year? No, COVID. We didn't have one. We didn't go. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We didn't go because Josh Zhang had COVID. Or no, Josh Zhang was a contact trace.

SPEAKER_02

A bunch of people had COVID.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, everyone got contact trace. No one actually had COVID for ACCs. Yeah, right. So but recently. I remember that day. Yeah, me too. I was kind of bummed out.

SPEAKER_02

I was pretty bummed out.

SPEAKER_01

I wanted to go. Since college, Colin has been very heavily pursuing the arts. And we want to talk to him for a variety of reasons. And he's very closely tied to direct elimination.

SPEAKER_02

Some of you who listen astute of you will recognize Colin's name already from the illustrious direct elimination theme song. And I guess you want to just talk about that for a minute? Yeah. That was Colin.

SPEAKER_01

Let's start there. Colin Campbell's actually been a part of every direct elimination episode for the last, I believe, six or five episodes. And for the foreseeable future, in every description, you will see theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell, also produced, et cetera, et cetera. You know, we just there's a word limit. So, but all the above, Colin has contributed to this project and to our lives and is continuing to support the sport of fencing via multiple avenues that are non-standard for fencers or former fencers. And we just wanted to highlight that and his passion for the sport as well as just being a good friend of ours. So let's talk about that first. How did you do it? How did you create such a banger?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I have sticky notes in my office, and they're not the full-size ones. They're like the little tiny thumbnail type little ones that you can maybe write like a social security number on, right? And do you write your social security number on it?

SPEAKER_02

No, no. If you were to write your social security number on it, what were the last four digits?

SPEAKER_03

It's in very unrecognizable cursive.

SPEAKER_02

Got it. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But what numbers are in unrecognizable cursive?

SPEAKER_03

I remember they're blue, and I have a little uh makeshift office in my construction uh team's kind of stage setup. And I bring my guitar. Uh, I've also stolen uh your keyboard that was once mine that I gave to you temporarily and then took back.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know if you stole it. I think it was fully consensual passing back and forth of a keyboard. Yeah I probably wasn't using enough, and it was better off in your hands. Colin is a fantastic piano player. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_03

Well, it's where I started with music. So I I mean, I've been a rhythmically, you know, kind of influenced guy from the moment that I was small, right? I was banging on the desk in class, and uh melody was always a strong suit of mine. And I remember making up a song in like kindergarten, and I did like a little like parlor trick where I would take my left hand and I go above my right hand, and I called it waterfall, right? And I would just kind of like just impress the you know the teachers, right? And the piano is something that I loved doing, uh, but like any other young kid, discipline is uh tricky when you have a lot of different activities and hobbies to choose for the rest of your life. So I was not good at practicing, and being that I don't know, I think it was around 2020 that I found that in college I was missing out on my jo my missed joy of music, which I had stopped in high school to pursue fencing at Notre Dame. And I would go into the chapel in my dorm at Notre Dame. Every dorm had a chapel, right? And there was a grand piano. And because I was such a night owl, I would practice at like 2 or 3 a.m. And uh sometimes I would, you know, find other remote little practice locations on campus, but for the most part, it was when I was sh I should have been studying for an exam or writing a uh last minute paper, and I was just I was trying to regain my familiarity with the piano. And in the last several years, I think it was my senior year, and this is when we started jamming out, Ari. Uh Ari is also a pretty fantastic uh musician, and we we uh would get together at one's apartment and just make a bunch of debatable uh you know upbeat things.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was it was fun. And let me clarify, I'm not a fantastic musician. Colin's being very kind, probably because we're having him on the podcast. Uh I'm a very mediocre musician. I love to play music, I love making music. I you know I'm not a good musician.

SPEAKER_03

I one way or the other, I'll put it this way. It's all in the groove.

SPEAKER_01

It's all in the groove. I have the groove and I love to create. But I just want to be really clear. You are actually a fantastic pianist. Pianist, excuse me. But we we did describe this exact word with M Bihold. Yeah. It should be pianist. So we're actually going to reclaim pianist. Pianist is for something else. Well, one way or the other, he's a great pianist.

SPEAKER_03

I I did not play piano on this theme song. It was the guitar that I wrote the theme song on. And uh I don't know. I love a lot of different forms of jazz. I played a lot of jazz and we played uh in groups, so there are different musicians, drummers, uh upright bassists, singers, uh saxophonists, and we get together once a month with my jazz teacher who would scold me for never practicing, but I'd still get together and want to jam with everybody and we uh you know rotated instruments, and that's kind of how I don't know, I just became obsessed with different kinds of sounds. And I liked the whole ensemble of everything they put together. So in college, I you know saw my roommate and had a a Gretsch electric a Gretsch electric guitar and I kind of indirectly decided that I wanted to become really good at the guitar and learn how to make that instrument like my own. Because I as an athlete I love to move around and I kind of like to let the groove take over and dance a little bit. And it's kind of hard to do that at a piano that's a thousand pounds. Uh yeah, there there's some logistical issues with that, yeah. But I don't know. Uh mu music moves me and I wanted to have a bit more of a portable instrument. So that was a big reason why I picked it up. And right after college, I kind of just fell into practicing uh a lot. And as a rhythm kind of guy, I picked my styles and wanted to use my fingers more so than a pick. But I love funk, I I'm a I'm a soul and RB guy. My family is they're super into the arts. So my sisters are dancers, so a lot of classical music around. And this particular tune is kind of an abossa uh style. And I mean, I I think really recently I really love the gypsy kings. I'm sure I'm not uh alone in that. There's uh a lot of really amazing songs that they came out with. They're awesome, dude. And this is a it's a very simple chord progression of just two songs and like a little pull-off for the Korah, the Koras, right? And uh I wrote these lyrics down because I wanted to impl implement fencing, and I knew that I could do that because I know the sport. Starting it when I was I think I started when I was 10. In Washington, DC, I went to the summer camps uh at DCFC.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like that's a common fencing age. Yeah. 10's like a good one, right? Ten's a good one to start at. You've had time to do some other stuff, but you you haven't like fully developed, so you're you can really develop as a fencer.

SPEAKER_02

I already I know what I'm doing for my kids, man. Yeah, starting with God willing. No, I'm not the they they start in either they start in gymnastics, then wrestling, right? Then badminton and then fencing. No, no, no. Gymnastics, then wrestling or ballet. Yeah, they can choose. Yeah and then fencing. Okay, but what age fencing? What age fencing? Once they've had at least just whenever they get back from Dagestan? Whenever they get back from Dagestan. Okay, so whenever they become proficient at the other two. Okay, got it.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I wanted to start earlier, but I was actually told by I think Janush uh uh Slominsky uh that I had to start when I was 10 for Saber. I don't know why. Because 10's the right age. No, because 10's the right age. Psychopaths start at six, you know, it's the it's the coach the dad coaches. Right? Um dad coaches. Uh but I knew how to implement fencing into the tune, and I mean you guys came up with the title, all I had to do was sing it. So the fact of the matter is I came up with I just I was like, uh you know two guys are talking and they're bringing this sport, which I think it's really accurate to call it a physical chess, and having momentary, you know, judgments of having an attack plan or you know, setting things up so that you can deceive your opponent, right? As such an individual sport with two people on the strip. And I love the psychology of it. And it was just uh kind of a story that fell out of me, and uh it's a part of the tournament, direct elimination. To to uh eliminate going to 15, going to 45 team. I I love the team format. I got to do it a couple times, and not not as much as you guys have uh gotten to enjoy it, but we just fence longer than you.

SPEAKER_01

That's the only reason why. Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_03

Uh but uh yeah, it kind of just it was it was it came together pretty fast. And I wrote the bass part and then I came up with the drums uh and the tempo of it, and then I brought the guitar part uh that I used at the office and uh I just laid some higher stacking harmonies over it so that it could really just uh levitate the whole idea of this like funky bossa nova uh and what it could be. And it's I don't know, it's not necessarily comparable to a lot of uh funk songs. I I think it's just it's it's and it's two minutes. It could be strung on a little bit more, but it's a theme, right? So uh I think it it's nice and concise, and I I I I worked to to make my voice fit it because it's uh I have a baritannor voice and the high notes are a little tricky to hit sometimes. That's why I mean right now is the arts are my main focus. Uh I enjoy going to practice piano, practice guitar, and practice singing over at Juilliard at at night and the evening time is you know when the adult classes happen. And people from all over the world of different ages. Uh I've taken acting classes there as well. Uh, and uh it's been a really great resource to me to be able to play the grand piano and and just get feedback on how I'm uh performing because I do as a side gig uh play uh the guitar, play the piano, sing uh even the ukulele for a couple things. But it's it's a lot of fun to choose how I write the tunes with whatever instrument I have in front of me, or if it's just a little thing in my head. Uh this one was particularly fun. I I really like the song. So I'm glad you guys like it too.

SPEAKER_02

I I loved it. I'll I'll give my little experience with the song, right? Because I think there was a group chat with us, and you texted the lyrics, and I was like doing something like I was doing laundry or something, and I saw the lyrics, and I saw I forget which line it was with just no context, and I was like, I think it was a syncopation.

SPEAKER_03

Syncopation.

SPEAKER_02

I was like, all right, I don't know where the hell this guy's going with this, and let's great, thank you, Colin, for like making the steam song. Let's see what happens. And then I played it for the first time, and I was like, Goosebumps, you know, the uh the goosebumps you get when you listen to a song. And immediately I was like, whoa, like holy crap, Colin made a really sick song, and then like the lyrics came in, and I was like, I was following along every line, and I was like, sync patient is a great word, that was a perfect, perfect choice. I loved every line, I loved the whole song, and even still listening to it, right? When we when we listen to the episodes back, check for edits and stuff. Like, I love the song, man, and I can't thank you enough for for creating this thing out of thin air. Like it was it's stuck in my head right now. I'm gonna sing it.

SPEAKER_05

I the the first join in the direct elimination.

SPEAKER_02

The first like uh the first couple days after we heard it for the first time before it was like the final cut, before we could even put it in the I played it at a party. You played it at a party, it was in my head for like a week.

SPEAKER_00

That's why you played it at your spot.

SPEAKER_01

I think I played it at either Dasha's birthday or my engagement party.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. Is it your birthday party?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know, but I played it at a party. It was really funny.

SPEAKER_02

It might have been your birthday party.

SPEAKER_03

It was the birthday party because uh I don't think uh the it was at night, right? And the engagement party was during the day.

SPEAKER_01

Wait, it couldn't have been Dasha's birthday party because we didn't have a Dasha's party.

SPEAKER_00

That was last year. That was last year?

SPEAKER_01

Well, anyway, so the reclamination wasn't a thing. Yeah, the reclamation didn't exist. Anyways, it's still stuck in my head. It's it's so touching to think that this song came about because of this show. And it's this weird self-f that I didn't anticipate to enjoy so much. But I don't even think about us or this experience when I hear it. I just think of it as a standalone song that I like. Right. And we just happen to get to share it every single time without any type of copyright infringement, which is awesome. Well, I'll tell you what, I it's we have a contract with Colin for the record. We there is a signed, legal, legally binding document that allows us to use this song. So I want that to be clear, YouTube.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, they're going about it all in the right way. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm I'm a student of music production right now, and I mixed everything, I did all of the stuff, right? So I played all the parts, sang it, and there's a lot that is great about that, but when it comes to engineering and having each part sit in the mix correctly, and there's still moments that I'm not necessarily, you know, you know, your own your own worst critic. And I know you guys dig the tune, but I I know that there's things that can make it a little bit more alive, uh, just as a song, right? And as a vessel of trying to make the music come alive as it should. So uh I'm gonna give you an even more like it. You're you're gonna be, you know, pinging off the floor with uh the updates that I've got for this. I can't wait.

SPEAKER_02

And for our audiophile listeners, I hope you guys can appreciate and enjoy the difference and notice the difference.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. With with this episode, there will already be a better one. Go back to the the original few episodes where we aired this song versus the Colin Campbell episode that you're gonna hear it. And for for the record, we're gonna play this song in full at the end of this episode. Yeah. Just just because we love it. And it's Colin's episode.

SPEAKER_03

It was my pleasure to make it. I'm uh I remember you guys starting this podcast, and I thought that there was, you know, moments of uh you know camaraderie between you guys that it was like you know, there's so much more media you can put in and and boost the you know the vibe of uh you know, because you guys are you guys are comics and you're funny, and I I knew that it wasn't gonna be a vibe of a song that was was uh poppy. It had to be have it had it have a little uh funky odd end.

SPEAKER_01

Almost like grit, but not in a not in like a grungy sense, but just you know, like No, I know what you're saying. You come in, you got a good bass line, but it isn't poppy, it's catchy though. I have a natural wrap. Yeah, yeah, that's what it is. That's the grit from the song.

SPEAKER_03

No, I knew that I needed to have it in there because that was uh the way that made me feel.

SPEAKER_01

So, how does this relate to fencing?

SPEAKER_03

Well, hang on.

SPEAKER_01

I I got this. All right, Steven, reel us in.

SPEAKER_02

So, Colin, you you've going through your story a bit about both, you know, you touched on the fencing, speaking about your relationship with the arts, right? You you spoke a bit about how, you know, when you were a kid, you you enjoyed the rhythm of all of it all and and you enjoyed the performance of it all, but you didn't enjoy practice, right? And then all of a sudden, when you're in college and you're rediscovering this like love for music and love, I mean, pursuing art, and you said you you started a practice on your own volition. Like you went out and you you sought practice at hours where like should have been doing footwork, but like people, you know, people uh this is like the stuff in like the Rocky movies, right? You're you're out there at 3 a.m. practicing. So when did that shift occur, right? What was your all-in moment on music or on art?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I changed my major sophomore year. I went into Notre Dame thinking that I would be in the Mendoza College business. Shout out to Mendoza College business. Yeah, shout out Mendoza and Business. I enjoyed it. I went to business school. I I took a lot of the classes, and uh it was really a kind of a realization that my creative uh capacity was not really being itched as much. Uh and that has no you know, no to no fault of uh you know building the knowledge to you know to be an entrepreneur and and and create business, because there are so many creative things that you can do in business. But I just knew that my ideas were really focused in on uh language, movies, uh photography, and uh and music kind of as a almost as a necessity um when I was making uh little shorts in film. I I I chose uh film as my major and philosophy as a minor, and I just kind of reinserted myself into the arts and letters college. And I got involved with other students and made little short projects, and one of them was during COVID, and uh a lot of times. Was that the pancake thief? Pancake thief, yeah. I made I made an I made a short Steven. I made a short with teammates. It sounds so familiar.

SPEAKER_01

Uh there are foilists, and we you use them in your most recent short as well. Same same cast members. Or one of them, yeah. Which one I guess Matt was in the Matt was in the pancake thief, yeah.

unknown

Wait.

SPEAKER_03

But fencing the apartment. Fencing made its way into my early like you know attempts at film. And I think it's I grew up loving old pirate movies. Like, I'm not talking pirates of the Caribbean when we were little, I'm talking Errol Flynn and Captain Blood and the Mark of Zorro with Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone. I don't know if you've heard these names before.

SPEAKER_01

Colin, you're 85.

SPEAKER_03

I may be. They called me old man Campbell back in college. That's true.

SPEAKER_01

We did call you that. And the only other person to consistently bring up Errol Flynn when it comes to fencing is my late grandmother. She, I don't think she ever watched. A fencing bat of mine, maybe she did swinning on her video, but she would just she and her her sister would say, um uh just funny. She's like, you fence like Errol Flynn. And I was like, I'm 12. I don't know who that is. It's 2009.

SPEAKER_00

I and that's motivating you to I've watched Errol Flynn since then. Yeah. Well, I'm I'm really trying to remember the plot of the pancake thief. Don't worry about it. This is a future problem, Stephen. Do you still have access to that file? I do. It's I think it's deep in a face group Facebook group chat.

SPEAKER_01

All right, Steven. If you're really motivated, bug him about it.

SPEAKER_03

I will. I will. It was bald to make. We it was about early training, like going to lift, right? We had to wake up at you know the crack of dawn as a team to go to conditioning. And as you know, roommates were teammates, some of the uh uh wake-up times were a little altered. And I think I had Matt uh Matt Tahassic make the pancakes and or no, Thomas made the pancakes. Shout out Thomas Murray. Yeah, Thomas Murray, and then he was going to shower, and then Matt stole the pancakes that were made on the kitchen counter and ran to lift while Thomas was in the shower. And that made Thomas very angry. So he sees Matt he sees Matt over at our training center eating the pancakes, and Matt smiles and he's like, Yeah. I stole your pancakes. And they duel it, they duel it out, and I don't know. It was just a like a kind of a chaotic idea, and it's very me. Like I eat a shit ton of pancakes, and you may or may not have stolen some pancakes in the past. You know what? I make my own. Okay. Yeah, I'm stolen other foods. I'm really good at making pancakes. I've spent my 10,000 hours on pancakes.

SPEAKER_01

I believe that, but you've definitely foraged for food before. Oh, sure. Yeah. I mean, I I have without a doubt. I'm uh I'm like a bear.

SPEAKER_00

I'll I'll go through anyone's cabinet and pantry. So they'd be at campsites, they'd be hitting pots and pans trying to get rid of you. That's how you get to the phone.

SPEAKER_01

They're trying to get rid of me in way more places than campsites.

SPEAKER_03

Let me tell you. That's how they get rid of bears in the you know, campsites. You have to make a shit ton of noise. But uh doesn't scare me. Because uh we had to put soundtracks to our films. I was, you know, stuck with a bunch of the recommendations of the professors saying, oh, you know, there's copyright free music that you can get from all these sites, and it's you know, they've there's endless things that you can put in there. And I was like, yeah, but these sound kind of generic and kind of weird, uh, and they don't have a lot of attachment to my art that I've made. So just born out of necessity, I was like, well, I can come up with something to set the mood. And some of the films that we made were silent. So the m music guided the thought process of the actor. And that was really cool to me because I could like get inside the actor's head and just I mean, whether it was done after the fact and post-production, or if I had an idea of how, you know, if it was something that was sneaky or something that was uh, you know, uh an act of bravery or whatever. I mean, I really enjoyed just matching music to film. And it's kind of a w a practice that I've gotten into uh more seriously in these last couple years, uh trying to hone in on being a filmmaker, an actor, and musician. And I don't know, it's not necessarily that those things compete, but I think in a lot of ways they all kind of mesh to make me me. And sword fighting came into that. That's I mean, I wanted to be uh a swashbuckling guy in the movies, right? And I loved I loved action movies. I mean, the way that the music that was paired with, you know, like Rocky, you mentioned, right? When I saw Rocky IV and he was working out, do you remember when he was in Russia? Oh, yeah, dude. And he had he had nothing but like cinder blocks and and logs. Yep. Well, I felt after that was done, I think Survivor. He outran the KGB. I felt like I could run through a wall after that. Yep. After watching that movie. I loved the matching of, I mean, Hans Zimmer, John Williams. I grew up loving Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, and just as a guy with an imagination, as a lot of fencers are. Let's let's kind of put that in the same bucket. It's a bit of an unorthodox choice of a of physical activity in a sport, and it's battle, right? So that excited me. I was competitive growing up, and I played a lot of sports. Uh, but fencing was the one that won me over. And I don't know, rhythm. Man, that fencing is rhythm, right? And my style as a saberist, it all related to, I don't know, I think my fundamentals, as as clean as they were, I would always kind of stab myself in the foot with being a little bit too flashy and trying to make the touch look a little cooler than it needed to be, rather than just getting the point to get the point. And I thus did not compete in college and try to up my game. We were recruiting internationally from Notre Dame, and the youngsters like who were seven inches taller than me and and way more explosive, just you know, they were like, Okay, we're taking over for good reason.

SPEAKER_01

The uh you were not bad before then, though. You Colin, so where we have totally downplayed Colin's competitive career up until this point in the episode. So Colin got to the point where he was actually able to even travel to senior World Cup at least one time. It was it was one time, which is more than most fencers get to ever do, right? Sure. So there was there was a period of time where you were performing quite well at the national level.

SPEAKER_03

And it was it was a bit younger, so it was my junior year that I uh hit a stride, and it timed out well because I probably would have not attended Notre Dame if I had this moment. Uh and I I I think went to a junior World Cup as well. But the senior uh team uh with Daryl, with Jeff and Will Speer, and Kamarski was another younger guy who was along with me. And Pete Souters and some of the other like top saberists were really great to talk to. And I remember getting to fence uh some Olympians, and that was such a memorable thing because I was like this little kind of spry, uh I mean, just kind of skinny dude. Uh, but I was fast. So I upset a couple people in pools, and I'd lost 15-14 uh to a Polish guy before getting to a Romanian. And I mean, one way or the other, the World Cup experience is something that I was a bit jealous of. I had teammates who got to do them regularly, and I wanted to be a world traveler and do that, and that's something that's so cool about this sport, is that it's so global. And the minds that you get to interact with, you know, whether they're just visiting from, you know, another country to New York or you're going to Hungary, you can make friends from all over the world. So I don't know, it teaches you a lot about what the sport is beyond just getting on the strip together and fencing, but meeting pretty awesome people. So I don't know. I loved Notre Dame for that reason. It was so culturally diverse. We met a lot of different people.

SPEAKER_01

The team was culturally diverse. The university is like 90% Irish Catholic American kids. True. But our fencing team, and it remains the Notre Dame fencing team, remains to be the most diverse team on campus just across every you know, aspect of that word. And there are plenty of international people, people of color, uh, different religions, like all this stuff. And it's it's really funny because it's a pretty homogeneous university. So I I do love that about the Notre Dame fencing team.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Uh good call out. Well, I still keep in touch with a lot of them. As I mean, a lot of them moved to New York. So it's we've got a good group. We do. We have a great crew. And now in my relationship to still fencing, I've been a coach and Sheridan. Tell us about it. Sheridan Fencing Academy is Upper East Side? Run by Jason Sheridan on the Upper East Side. They've got they've they've got three locations. They've got one in Queens, and they've got one in Westchester. And they've got actually a new club in Westchester that they've recently developed. And they're a saber-only club, similar to the club that I trained at when I was uh in DC. And uh my coach, Darush Gilman, was really good friends with Jason Sheridan. And when you know, whenever it was too chaotic for you know, coach to try to be eight diff different strips at once trying to coach, Jason would come over and help out. And uh one of my uh old Capital teammates, uh South Santani, is a coach there, as well as a professor at St. John's. So he's you know, still it's great to see offenses that you were like little with, you know, stay with the sport. Um but it was really fun to give back to a whole new set of young minds of people that are like picking what they want to do for a sport, if they are athletic and trying to sell them like, well, this is your style, or maybe it's not. I enjoyed giving lessons and teaching at the club rather than going to a bunch of schools. Uh it was a time for me to like tune up the kids for college, some of the high school kids, uh give private lessons to some of the younger kids, and then uh teach um some adult classes too. But one way or the other uh I still love the sport and I love to interact and be around the people who do it, but my time constraints kind of limit my ability to keep coaching right now. So that's just the way that is. And uh it's something I'm adulthood, man. I I miss it. I I do miss uh being involved in it was a it's great exercise, right? But my competing days I remember very nicely at Notre Dame and right before, and now it's it's fun to think about about it more in you know, how does my athletic career relate to what I do uh with music, with acting? So right now, I mean somebody sent you these questions beforehand. Almost, yeah. But right now I'm I'm uh I'm acting and uh doing music classes, and those are at night after my day job, and takes up basically all my work week, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Sounds like uh sounds like fencing and work, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So how did what did you learn from your time fencing that you're now applying to your new pursuits and and career and the arts? Like you already drew some parallels with fencing being rhythm and your attachment to rhythm and melodies. And I'm just wondering if you can draw any more concrete or abstract even parallels between the two experiences, because one of the things we constantly talk about is the push and pull between this athletic experience and whatever else you do in your life, right? Arts, business, math, science, whatever it is, but just how how how is what you learned in your time committing yourself to this the sport impacting what you do now.

SPEAKER_03

Having an attack plan setting up what you're about to do in a you know, a setting of uncertainty. Fencing all three weapons are really, really fast, right? Thank you. Different thanks with with different things.

SPEAKER_01

I want all right-of-way fencers to hear that he said all three weapons. You you have to be super quick for every single one, but including which which one? Including Epe?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Well, I mean, how how are you gonna slow-mo, you know, try to stab the guy? No, you gotta you gotta try to skewer him.

SPEAKER_01

I've never felt so sane right now, Steven. Hey come on. Really needed this. You're invited back to every episode. Thanks for that.

SPEAKER_02

There's been uh there's been a surge of epit hate on the internet lately. It uh really I don't get it. It's really it's good. It's good good memes. Hate to say it. They're quality.

SPEAKER_03

I did like a Bible reading back at my first cons because we would have uh handball company. It was we only had Sabre and Epe at this club, DCFC, where I first started. And we would have these like totally brutal, sometimes you know, people would like you know, elbow each other.

SPEAKER_01

You ever elbow Isaac Shilansky?

SPEAKER_03

Oh, sure. Uh did he's a good athlete, also business idea.

SPEAKER_02

Forget taser fencing, battle handball.

SPEAKER_01

I'm in.

SPEAKER_02

All right. It's a great sport to like talk with to do with fencing.

SPEAKER_03

Anyways, all three weapons are very fast, and I picking saber, right, has to do with the way your preparation begins and whether or not you have a plan and you want to take parry and you have the context of what the bout was like, last five touches, or if it's zero zero and you start fresh and you don't know what you know the canvas is like, you know, I will always know from fencing that your ability to just adapt to things being thrown at you and and taking accountability for your mistake in just a split second. So I love how fast all things change, right? And with the arts, you know, my my discipline to work at my kind of um fine motor skills and and try to engage a sense of focus, like okay, I'm going to either to work on these songs or these scales, and I'm gonna get all the I'm gonna get all the way through them no matter what happens, right? Whereas on the fencing strip, I would always think, okay, don't fall short. If I fall short, I might have a temperature tantrum and break my saber and break my saber over my knee. But pushing someone all the way to the end of the strip, right? Or knowing that with this cr with this kind of opponent, maybe choose a different preparation, right? Those things just interchange from about to bout to bout. And with music, there's no one way to write a song, there's no rules, right? And fencing, there's a lot of right-of-way rules. Some, you know, in an epic, no. But there is this language, and I don't know, uh fencing taught me how to understand the way that I moved, and just kind of understanding the my body and my vessel and focusing on carrying through my plan and having an attack plan. So that is actually hugely relevant. And the way that I am learning how to act and learning how to play music is uh committing a hundred percent. I mean, my c my coach would say, holding back, you know, like he would just and coaches all sometimes all they're able to do is just try to get a message across and yell at you. But sometimes it's you know, well you're not able to move that fencer from across the room, but you can remind him of what your uh intention is and oh wait, yeah, let's do that. And with with uh with acting and music, letting myself go and doing what I have but not being loose loose loose loosey goose about it, but trying to just sharpen my focus. I think that those two things really kind of tie together with the with the uh with fencing, with music, and all that I'm doing now. So I'm gonna take that lesson with me until the end of time. Thanks. It's good.

SPEAKER_02

I like it. There's a lot of good parallels, a lot of things that I didn't expect. Like I like the like you touched a little bit on like the improvisational aspect of it, right? Being able to and I didn't think about, you know, I have very limited jazz musical experience. Um and the improvisation aspect of it was something that always like fascinated me, right? Right. But I didn't realize like it's you're doing something similar. It's just like fencing, it's just it's all just fencing, man. It's all just fencing.

SPEAKER_01

But it's true. I mean, there's and it's something that Ben Atkins brought up in an earlier episode, one of the earliest episodes. Just one of the things that fencing teaches people, if you get to pursue it long enough and you're able to really either do it with intention or take away lessons from your experience, it teaches you how to jump out of a plane with no parachute on and figure it out. And you create a plan in the moment, then you execute on that plan, then you adjust your plan. Because you start the bout with sometimes zero knowledge of your opponent, but you still have to start the bout. You still have to go and attack and get hit or attack and hit, and then the the conversation has to start regardless. So I'll whether or not you did homework on yeah, sometimes you know your opponent very well, right? Steven and I fend each other all the time. He knows all my tricks. I know he knows all my tricks. Um but sometimes, you know, Steven or I, or you, well, you know, you have to fend someone you've never seen before in your life. And there's still an entire conversation that has to happen. And that's life. That's that's the way that you approach your your business or your music or any transaction or anything that has to happen for the first time, the second time, the third time. And your sport experience, specifically through fencing, teaches you to iterate quickly, to learn from the losses, to be able to make those analyses in the split second moment that you talked about. I love your analysis, dude.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks.

SPEAKER_01

It's great.

SPEAKER_03

I I will endlessly just work on this kind of effortless, you know. I I want my expression to be effortless through being me, right? And if you'd have that blank slate with someone that you've never seen before, what are you gonna do? Be you, right? Don't change the way because you know you're you may be uncertain or nervous, but do what makes you good at why you picked the thing, and then you can see what's going on, right? But a huge obstacle going from just gigging and trying to get my comfortability in playing uh two, three hour music sets is trying to hold a song and do it justice all the way through. And that focus is that's intense. It's it's it's really, really intense. And I I learned that through messing up a lot and changing songs, uh not to not to my wish, but just out of the chaos of not really being able to hang in there. And you reflect on that after the after the performance.

SPEAKER_01

It's like a counter parry battle and you tense up and you lose it. Right. You have to stay relaxed and just finish the action.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, trust trust your muscle memory. So through the repetitions, and there's a lot of machine-like moves that fencers are doing. I mean, your hips are kind of adjusted in a strange well be way because of like a vincival. Yeah. Yeah. Now it's just lefty. The uh the music, it'd be you're you're you have to go to a a a beat, right? Your rhythm. And holding that the whole time is so important. And it's what makes the human brain realize, oh, this is a groove. Otherwise, and you're just kind of uh, you know, playing how you know if if you're a little too uh nonchalant about it, you can totally botch a great song that people would love if you just had the rhythm. And it's very I mean, uh humans are not machines. You they're you're able to make mistakes, and and uh I I had my fencing style saber-wise, as I was wickedly fast, and I would I would use a lot of blade work, and when they shortened the on guard line for that momentary time, I would start to fly and flunge a lot. And that was that was a lot of fun, and then they put it back, and then I had to adjust. But you know, the sport adapts and you adapt with it, and it's gonna be in my mind as an athlete. The way that I live is just to kind of excrete this, uh, you know, oh, I'm I'm developing my body, I'm developing my mind, and how can I make this effortless? It's and it's a lifelong pursuit. I'm never gonna really have the answer, right? But it's part of the fun to challenge yourself, and that's why it's it's hard to get bored when you unlock a little bit of an ability to improvise or to create something that's yours. It's uh it's a hell of a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01

That's true. You got anything for us, David?

SPEAKER_02

I love it, man. I I really do love it. I think you've got a really nice perspective on creating things, right? I think all of this stems back to your ability to be creative and execute on a vision, right? Even if you don't have that vision, it's this effortless execution in a direction, right? Or responding to things. Like I think you've you've learned so many lessons through your art, through your fencing, which hell is art, right? And I think you've done an excellent job of of sharing that with us in the audience.

SPEAKER_03

I'm glad, thank you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I've I've had a lot of fun just like hearing the the theory of it all, really. Like it's it's it's it's tickling the brain, man. It tickles the brain.

SPEAKER_03

Well, it it's uh a maneuver in my life that uh continuously excites me because you've got your savant musicians that start when they're really tiny and they go to the competitions and they, you know, they got this. Wickedly can move through things. I am not a uh classically trained pianist in the way that I can read music. I hear it. Right. And I'm good at transferring my knowledge of a song that I that I love and being able to play the licks that give it its foundation and memory. And I can trust that because my my whether it's my whether it's my fingers or with my voice or just the sound of it, right? It gives me a lot of life. And if I I always convince myself that people are gonna appreciate it if they see that I'm having fun.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Right?

SPEAKER_02

There's definitely some truth to that, right? Like people respond to what you're giving them.

SPEAKER_01

Look at Elisa Liu, the Olympic champion and in uh ice skating.

SPEAKER_02

I saw a girl walking down the street the other day with the hairstyle.

SPEAKER_01

Like this girl, this this girl was just authentically herself, and not only that, she just had so much fun winning. Did you watch this video?

SPEAKER_03

No.

SPEAKER_01

That's my recommendation to you tonight. Watch Alyssa Liu's Olympic gold medal winning performance in ice skating, figure skating, actually, not just ice skating. And it was one of the most inspiring, beautiful, competitive showcases ever because she was just having so much fun. She fully self-actualized in that moment, and it led to uh gold. And I don't think that that mattered to her at all. I think the obviously it did. That's BS, but she was just having so much fun that I think going out there in that type of pressure cooker situation and just being able to have a blast and execute at a high level meant more to her than the gold. And I think the gold is just a byproduct of that. And it was so obvious that she was gonna win as it was happening. It was so it was almost inevitable.

SPEAKER_03

Well, that's I mean, just because she was having fun. In human culture, music, athletics, you can get in this flow state, and you just I mean, it takes a little bit of development through your childhood years to you know understand the sport and kind of understand your body and figure out what you're doing what it takes to get a little bit of success. And then when you do, it's like really you don't even have to smile and be obvious about it, but you can just kind of tell that they're in their element. And then, you know, it shows you know some a bit of a path. And it's it's a way to cope with your emotions, whether they're bad or good. Um, so I I think it's a bit of a hack that I've been able to kind of go through my day-to-day life as an adult now that I know what kind of song to play for a scenario that I know it can shift my mood. Does that ever occur to you guys whenever you pick songs, or is it just something that kind of hits you in the moment? Eh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

Music for I mean, I so I guess my question is, do you think that you're able to get into that flow state quicker by playing a certain type of song?

SPEAKER_03

It's such a tricky question to answer because I, for example, I go to a singing class once a week and I have to perform with uh an accompanist, and there's about eight students in the class, and everyone comes with a song, and I opt to accompany myself because I want to understand how I go about it, whether I pick it on the piano or on the guitar and just be able to juggle, you know, my own music. And sometimes I I've, you know, I sang Phantom of the Opera a couple weeks ago and I didn't dare mess with that piano arrangement. Right. I I just wanted to sing, right? But I don't a lot of times I don't know what I'm picking that day. And I have to, you know, think about it a little bit, but it I it just kind of comes to me. And whenever I come up with a set list for a performance, sometimes I have a you know a very ordered sheet that just shows me what's going up next. But you know, you you look at your audience and you you see that, you know, maybe someone's wearing cowboy boots and you you pull out a Willie Nelson song, or you know, you you you you read the room, right? And you you want to cater to what you like, but also to, you know, what the people that are listening to you like. And when I tr when I try to train my voice, I try to pick songs that invigorate me and I know that I can do it do a good job of it because I'm gonna enjoy it in that time. And that tends to go along with me more than trying to fight something that's really tr difficult to do. Um and sometimes my voice is in a different state from day to day. You know, you lose your voice sometimes, and you gotta pick a little bit of a of a deeper uh deeper range. But yeah, it's a it's it's a hard question to answer because a lot of it just comes out of a fleeting moment.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Uh jazz songs, I I grew up listening to show tunes with my sisters and my my parents, and the way that we watched movies, that has a huge impact on the way that we consume uh, you know, what books to read, what you know, TV shows to watch. And uh I think my parents really helped kind of set me in the right direction for picking music that made you think, right? And well not not that you have to think, but enriches you and having a a deep roster of different genres to be able to pick from so that you're not just uh you know hitting the radio all the time that tend to repeat songs, right? So I I as an as someone that writes songs, I don't know what kind of genre. I mean, I'm still developing my sound, right? Direct elimination is part of that process. I uh wrote a little Western tune to accompany uh I I had Big Iron, the Marty Robinson. Marty Robbins is an iconic country artist, kind of a gunslinger vibe. And switching, just out of the interest of uh keeping the short film uh copyright infringement free and you know not dealing with any of that uh complication, I just was interested in writing my own song. What short film? This is a short film called The Sharp Way Out. Tell us about it. And I did this in November of 2025. So, you know, how many months ago is that four or five months ago? And six. Yeah, half a year. Wow. Yeah, right. But as someone that is training to say that uh work in front of the camera in the film business, or just you know, be interested in acting, because I think it's been an interest of mine ever since I was small. I need evidence on camera of me acting. So I needed to create a reel. And I've been submitting auditions since I arrived in New York and found representation to help find things for me. But unless you get hired, you're you're not gonna be able to show anything unless you do it yourself. So I needed to create this day of acting for myself and came out of my own pocket. I hired a DP, Grips, Gaffers, lighting guy, and uh had some volunteer actors come. Uh one was my scene partner from my uh scene study class, and we did a uh scene from the play called The Pillow Man, which is uh a play that is in a totalitarian society. Two brothers are uh thrown in a jail cell uh because the mentally disabled little brother carried out the acts of me, uh the older brother who is a writer of children's stories, but the really uh awful graphic murder stories of a lot of times a a kid is killed. And this little brother of mine uh carried those out when I told them to him as a bedtime story. So we were about to be executed, and uh because of that scene and what that I we did the scene in class, but uh as an opportunity to create a uh evidence of my first acting chops, I decided to rent a prison. I can't just rent one cell, I have to get the whole building.

SPEAKER_01

And uh how much does that cost?

SPEAKER_03

Uh let's see. To rent a 2K for I had uh well uh the reason uh that I got connected to this prison in the first place was uh I work in the construction uh crew that builds sets for Netflix, films, Amazon TV shows. Right now I'm working on an Apple project, and we build sets all over the city in New Jersey. Uh, this particular one I was in New Jersey, and there was one of the locations guys who knew the stage manager at Broadway Stages in Staten Island, and they have this correctional facility that ceased being a correctional facility in 2012 and was bought up by Broadway Stages to just make movies. Prison based. I think Orange is the New Black was there, Oceans 8, the w the the woman uh oceans, uh, and uh the Americans and a bunch of things uh in Staten Island have been done there, and I got a deal uh to be there for 12 hours, and I had my uh scene partner on board to do the scene from the pillow man, and we knocked that out, and it's a very dramatic scene where I'm really, really mad at him, uh, but like still he's my brother. I love him. Like it's this kind of you know, juggle of like, well, we're doomed, but you know, what's what's gonna happen? And then I wanted to make as much art as I could for the amount of time that I had the prison. So I had to kind of invent these scenarios and write scenes and shorts of my own to deck out the day. One of them was an adaptation that I wrote from a play called Copenhagen. Uh it's about Heisenberg and uh his work in the World War II area of uh the Manhattan Project and the nuclear uh, you know, creation and the bomb and all that good stuff. And we did a hallway walk down scene because it's an abandoned prison, right? So the the idea is that you're you're in this very uh remote top secret place, and I made it because Heisenberg was a younger guy, and his overseer sees me uh coming out of an office that I'm not necessarily supposed to be in, and I'm a little too curious. And so there's a little bit of a prickly, you know, uh clearance uh debate going on, and I was in a lab coat, and so those two scenes helped get me on the map with just dramatic acting chops. And these are plays, so I just fill I kind of made them into a uh film adaptation, and I really enjoyed doing it. But I actually had to reshoot the Copenhagen thing because my uh cameraman unfortunately had a malfunction with his memory chip and lost the footage. But from that day, we were able to save save the last uh part, which was this short film that I wrote and included our old teammates and friends, Thomas Murray, Bobby Wong, and Thomas's high school best friend Max, who has become a good friend of mine as well. And we all kind of uh put on some costumes to make it look as though we were going to be doing this prison escape. Uh we had a like a row of like five cells, and we were in I I got some orange jumpsuits, and Max, whose character is Officer Costa, receives a phone call, tells everybody, it's just us three, right? We're the last ones in this prison, and we're high profile, highly wanted assassins, right? And the higher-ups who call Max say, Hey, it's time to blow up the building and everything in it, but you're allowed to give them an opportunity for one person to escape. So Max sees swords in the corner of a room, which I had to figure out a way to like include uh the the battle aspect of this. And we he opens the cell doors, kind of like the Mission Impossible, you know, hack of the door swinging open, and we have to fight our way out, and I call it the sharp way out. So it's uh it's a it's kind of a chaotic way, you know, in in a lot of movies that you see with fencing, like The Princess Pride, for example, really beautiful scene of Enigo Montoya and uh the dread pirate Roberts or you know, whoever how he goes at that point of the movie. The choreography is something that is totally something I respect about action and sword play in movies because we didn't have time to choreograph squat. And so it's just very kind of, you know, you know, smash and dash, uh, not a lot of uh direction, and there's actually uh an interesting moment. Thomas pushes Bobby into a room and like kind of shoves him down, closed the door, but he he accidentally kept the top of the saber in the the doorway, and the doorway slices the top, which is the curl that keeps it from being useful. Yeah. Right? He cut off the tip of the sword, but not enough to make it obvious. And uh I fenced Thomas with a uh with a a sharp uh saber, not you know, sport legal saber. Uh we used sabers in in the sharp way out. Yeah, yeah. Um kind of the cavalry style. Had to. Had to. And uh yeah, it was a lot of fun to make. We actually used a part of the prison that was not part of the contract, but I I was supposed to have building 17, and they're all these hallways, and we were just exploring. It's a huge building. And we find the kitchen, and there's a bunch of stuff in the kitchen, and uh we start. I I I have fun like chucking it at Thomas, and uh there's there's a final showdown that's kind of uh a style of I I wanted to have this good and the bad and the ugly bit where we're all like looking at each other and sticking and having a standoff. And uh I threw in some elements uh to tie the whole time crunch and sense of urgency and stress with uh some burning wicks and you know an explosion. And I think the thing I think it came out pretty nicely, but it was it was really a you know top of the dome idea that I just wanted to do to round out my investment in making an acting real uh so that I could get on the map and and be more marketable to be hired, uh whether for print, commercial, this and that. And it's been a huge uh joy to my life to make uh movies and and scenes, and I'm gonna be constantly pursuing it. It's a lot of fun. Something I learned that I enjoy a lot.

SPEAKER_01

I'm passing it to you, man. I'm trying to be quieter on these episodes. This is this is the portion of direct elimination. This sequence of episodes is just like, are you let Steven talk more?

SPEAKER_02

Wow. Thanks, man.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I looked at you Steven's saying nothing.

SPEAKER_02

Steven, Steven's passing it to you. I thought we had this little alternative.

SPEAKER_01

I'll take it.

SPEAKER_02

So we have a fair little alternating thing.

SPEAKER_01

So last question. Um, are there any upcoming projects that you you're working on? And will you continue to tie fencing into your work?

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

To both?

SPEAKER_03

I think so. I I uh am currently implementing uh another one of my originals into a film that my roommate uh of what two years ago and I made together, where I was the primary actor, and I wrote a song that is in that as well. And I have an uh another actor friend that I'm writing something for us to kind of uh work together because we've self-taped a lot and we just have a dynamic. Uh but coming up with your own film ideas I've learned is so fun. And if you can get good at it, you don't have to have, you know, a big shot, uh, you know, expensive camera and all the gear. You could just if if you have the language and the skills, you can really pull you know some really cool stories off. And and I'm having uh a blast uh crafting it. It takes a while, right? Like, like I said, this this happened in November and I'm just kind of coming out with it now, but it took a lot of time because you know you you want you don't want to turn it out half baked, right? So I have a lot of respect for the time that you know it it takes an editor to to do what they do.

SPEAKER_01

And I'm I am kind of being a jack of all trades and doing it all myself to try to save a little money, but no, I mean look, you don't need to have nice equipment to score good touches.

SPEAKER_02

But if you want nice good if you want nice equipment, shop preorusa.com, link and bio. Get yourself some gloves, some masks. You can even get things to repair your blades with, make them the tips nice and buttery, and really give yourself the edge to compete well and get the edge. Yeah, well we're on. It you can get the edge over your competition. Listen, fencing is a game of milliseconds, it is a game of millimeters, and you can't afford to be slipping inches in this game. All right, so make sure your shoes are nice and grippy with edge advanced grip system. Use code all dash in for 10% off at checkout. Uh also shopprearusa.com. Again, you can you can get things to repair your blades, you can get brand new blades. If you're at the NAC this weekend, you can stop by the Prior USA booth and say hi to Arya.

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna have to cut that. The NAC already happened. Anyways, uh back to your point, you don't need to have nice equipment to score good touches. No, as you said, you just need to know how to fence. Um so let me out of the cage, huh? Yeah. And with that, we enter our final segment. It's called single light answers. One light answers, excuse me. As a cyberist, you know all about scoring one light touches. You need to be decisive, fast, you need to commit, and you just need to be there before your opponent. So, with that, we're gonna ask you some questions, and you just have to commit, be decisive, and have that fast reaction time. Steven, take us away. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02

Two favorite fencers all time Kate Smart and Aaron Zelottie.

SPEAKER_03

I like it.

SPEAKER_01

Favorite city you've ever been to for fencing.

SPEAKER_04

Madrid.

SPEAKER_01

I would say the same if I went to Madrid, probably.

SPEAKER_02

What was in your equipment bag that probably shouldn't have been?

SPEAKER_03

Probably a banana peel or two.

SPEAKER_01

That's hilarious and disgusting.

SPEAKER_03

Uh, cakes that he stole.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the penguin.

SPEAKER_03

Did you guys ever have those um those goo shots? Yeah. We would uh we would have you know, every month we'd have like a who got the most bouts, who fenced the most bouts? And I was a fencer that took a lot of vacation, so I didn't win a lot, but when I did win I you get a like a 50 pack of those chocolate goos. That's yummy. And I and I would tear it through those things, but even as a snack that I mean, because they're supposed to be a performance. They're so yummy. They're so good, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

They're just like it's a dessert. Yeah. Um who is the hardest bat you ever fancy?

SPEAKER_03

Probably might be a teammate on Alessandra Pontur.

SPEAKER_01

I like that take. I like it. He had the the really jumpy preparation.

SPEAKER_03

We all kind of did a capital.

SPEAKER_01

I think he jumped higher than you though. He did, yeah, he would he would he would take it to new heights, yeah. No point attended.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Dream acting role.

SPEAKER_03

I'd say something super character immersive and that has nothing to look like me. So maybe some peddling musician that, you know, gets thrown out and uh, you know, I'm homeless or something. I don't know. Like something something that has no relation to my life.

SPEAKER_01

I like that. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Um Aragorn.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's a good role. Is any fencing scene from a movie that you wish you could re-choreograph? Because it was re-choreograph because it was terrible? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god, so many.

SPEAKER_01

Well, what's the one that you wish that that you could have the biggest impact on? One that like just ruined the movie for you. You would have loved it, or the TV show, you would have loved it if it wasn't for that terrible fencing scene.

SPEAKER_03

Well, any of the new Star Wars. Yeah, that was where my mind went. Treacherous. Yeah. So, I mean, no that that's a huge general statement, and I I was a huge Star Wars fan growing up. I was worried about it. All of us. However, I think the action uh and no, it was dumb. It was like well, the deep the detail in in practicing that's the new ones.

SPEAKER_01

And then they would have one where they just have the tension. It's like but there was no fencing, there was no fighting. No, there was nothing.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, did you see Hayden Christensen and and uh training? Those were awesome. They practiced like hours and hours ago.

SPEAKER_01

Even the Iwan McGregor Darth Maul scene from Phantom Menace was awesome. Anyways, Steven, what you got?

SPEAKER_02

Uh, all right. You met Thomas, Tomas, Bobby, two on two handball. Actually, no. Add in Ari Simmons and Nick Itken. Three on three Olympic handball. Who are you taking in that team?

SPEAKER_03

Ari Simmons, Nick Itken, Thomas, Bobby. Bobby. Uh Matt. Matt. Okay. I'm taking Matt. I'm taking ari. Oh, wait, oh, oh. Oh, yeah. Oh, okay, okay. Uh don't be excuse. I'll take the the the the size and the length. So Nikita and Ari.

SPEAKER_02

I like the the logic.

SPEAKER_03

If the listen, if he's not kissing ass, well you are the you are the physically larger of all these people.

SPEAKER_01

I'm a pretty large dude. For a guy who's not huge, I'm a large dude. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's a weird, it's a weird place to be, you know. The best of both worlds. Physically speaking. Uh okay. My question to you is what's your favorite piece of pre-eur fencing equipment?

SPEAKER_03

I was just admiring the glove. It's a good answer. Great answer. I had some really crummy gloves as a youth fencer, the ones that would like knot up. You could like take them off. Yeah. And uh yeah, I I just remember like my I always was the least stinky of the siblings in my family because my sisters are ballet dancers, right? So I was I was always tried. Ballet ballet dancers are stinky. Oh my god. Have you ever been in a ballet studio before? No. It smells like feet that's like cocooned in sweat. Oof. Right? Yeah. So I mean, fencing, you have a lot of equipment on, and you're you're really poor and sweaty. But yeah, it it's a totally different beast of a smell, I'm telling you, right? All right, I believe. But I always was the proud, like, oh, you know, my my fencing gear has n doesn't hold a candle to how bad your ballet stuff stinks. But the glove for some reason smell it, I don't know, maybe it was like the fabric, but it just smelled funky. It was it was not as bad as my fencing pants, which is you know, in in the you know, not so not so uh wonderful regions of smell, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That's a good point.

SPEAKER_03

But it was my glove of the work.

SPEAKER_01

Because they do, because they touch the grip all the time. What does that have to do with that? I don't know, dude. It was uh off the top of my head. I'm not a scientist. Well, I'm just a podcaster who fences sometimes.

SPEAKER_03

That that glove, the leather's nice, it's buttery. As you said, Priere has that factor to it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we got some good ads about that glove. Anyways.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you for making the time to come on in. There was a lot, there was a lot to that had to go into this episode to make it happen. Um, and you know, we talked, we didn't really know where we were gonna go with this, but I think as you touched on with your experiences in art and your experiences in fencing, we went on the journey, right? We went in a direction, we improvised at a moment's notice, and I I loved hearing your parallels between sport and an art. I loved hearing about your mentality but behind the things you're doing. I love hearing that you're just sort of like taking your passions and running with them, man. Like that's such a cool way to live life. And I'm incredibly happy for you. I'm incredibly happy that we were able to have this time together as a crew. And thank you for coming on the show, Colin. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you for the best theme song in podcast existence, podcast history, the single greatest theme song, Colin Campbell. Uh, before Ari goes into his little spiel, if the people want to find you, check out your acting chops, check out your music chops, where can they find you?

SPEAKER_03

I exist on Instagram and TikTok. Uh I go by the handle Campbell tunes for music. And I have more uh evidence of my art on my personal Instagram, colin.b.campbell. And eventually YouTube, I'm trying to get into some film festivals with these shorts. It's an exciting time that I'm gonna be kind of spreading my wings a little bit more as my confidence builds. And like I said, thank you for uh allowing me to be implemented into your podcast. The the song was really fun to make and I am uh you know part of what it means to like just take that you guys created this podcast. I wanted to uh I wanted to see it uh do incredible, and you talked about it for all these time, all these years. And it's you're also both of you are are taking your passion and running with it and doing a service to this incredible sport, which I know that a lot of people uh in the world really want, and they're getting it because you guys are doing this. So thanks for including me.

SPEAKER_01

Sweet, bro. We're really excited. I mean, you're the first person we reached out to for a song, and you were also the first person to say yes, and so we didn't have to reach out to more people, it was awesome. Um, it was it was just it worked out perfectly, and coming here and getting a bit of your story was awesome. Thank you for joining. And in our description, the listeners or watchers, depending on the listeners or viewers, depending on how you're consuming this podcast, in our description, you'll be able to not only find where you can connect with Colin, but you can actually find the links to the short films that he was talking about. And it was really cool that you got to show us beforehand. We've already seen them, they're awesome, and you get to not only see, but also hear some of Colin's artistry outside of the direct elimination theme song. But it was just pretty great. And if you stick through past the final closing ads that we always do, we will be blasting the entire direct elimination theme song fully mastered for you all to enjoy. It's just such a such a pleasant thing to listen to, and hopefully at some point you'll be able to jam along on Spotify, YouTube, and you know, wherever else songs are streaming. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. Um, you know, thank you, man. It's good. It's a it's a joy to be your friend, and thanks for coming on and just sharing some of that with us and now the world.

SPEAKER_03

You hey, wouldn't miss it. This is such a this is state of the art professional. No no uh no notes. This is this is really I I'm uh really appreciative. This is uh a moment that I'm gonna remember and uh the way that you don't even have to, you can just rewatch it if you forget. No, you're right.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

The uh the coming, I mean New York City and living here, you guys being here, like it's it's it's really great. To anybody listening, when you're an adult and you're out of school and all the fun may seem like it's behind you. No, it's not. You can find it. You can find it. You can create it. You can create it, you can be you can create it with people that are your pals, and yeah, it's it's a joy to you know stink at it for a while and then see yourself get better through the grind. That's how it goes.

SPEAKER_01

Thanks for coming to Direct Elimination, dude. Can we get an Irish on three? Yeah. Irish on three. One, two, three.

SPEAKER_06

Irish Oh, what a sensation. I'm gliding through actions and soft syncopation. Oh, yeah, yeah, it's direct elimination. Well class on the nation. Movement focused, timing distance pressures, and stable foundations.

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Ari Simmons

Host
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Stephen Ewart

Host