So this interview was done in the lobby of the hotel that KamiKaze Con was in. Congoers were going in and out in the background as I talk to Chris. Still one thing that I told myself before going into this interview is to not call him Greg and I did! My 'assistant' for the interview told me that I called him that three times. I don't believe I did that. Still Chris was cool and didn't mind and because of that we got a great interview.
Some things to know about before you read the interview. Before the autograph session, we had to fill up his water mug with ice and the ice machine that we found wasn't big enough. So I took out my folder and we just funnel the ice in. Then during the first autograph session which I was with him, Chris mention that he is going to be in three new animes that he can't talk about. Some of them may be long running while another one is a huge part. I am hoping one of them is Hetalia Axis Powers since he mention doing some European voices but not sure. He was very hush hush on it but said we will find out soon. So look forward to it and buy whatever he is in!
Still to the interview!
Mikey-san: With Greg Ayres
Chris Ayres: Chris Ayres. I'm the older ugler one.
MS: The older- I don't know about that.
CA: *Laughter*
MS: Voice of Johnny
CA: Johnny in One Piece
MS: I know you are really busy so you don't get to watch much of One Piece.
CA: I don't get to watch a lot. I've watch some of it as we been going.
MS: As you been going. As the episodes you been a part of?
CA: As episodes I've been a part of. Yeah.
MS: Ok. What was your first start of One Piece?
CA: My first of One Piece? I knew about the show, I knew the controversy surrounding the series because of the 4Kids dub. There was a huge controversy because of things that happen with that dub. I knew it was a fun series and people that I knew really liked it. So I was very excited to get the call. I didn't know who I was doing. I didn't know what I would be doing. As an actor I like to work. So it was exciting. And then it turned out to be such a fun character. So it was nice.
MS: And I know your character is going to come up again in the next DVD set.
CA: Yes. Yes.
MS: In a few months. When did you record for the Arlong arc?
CA: It depends. I am not sure if the stuff is already recorded is going to be new stuff or not. I am not sure what the breakdown of the layout is for the DVDs. If they want me back. *In Johnny's voice* "Hey! I more then happy to come back!" *Laughter*
MS: Oh, Good. your character is going to be here.
CA: No. They just say, "Hey, we got a booking for you for One Piece." or "We got a booking for such-and-such show." or you know and I just drive up to Dallas to do it.
MS: Ah, okay. How's the experience back there?
CA: I really enjoy working on it. That show (One Piece) we work with a couple different directors. I started with Mike Mcfarland who the Line Producer for the show also, and then got handed off to another director that he trusted. I have had a great time working on it. Mike really loves the show and the other directors that have worked on it really enjoy it. It makes the difference to work with somebody who really enjoys the project that they are assign to.
MS: Yeah, a lot of people that have worked on One Piece love the show. They love working on it.
CA: Everybody that I know that have worked on the show really enjoy it. It's fun. Because of the nature of the show, its a lot of fun to do.
MS: You have been in a lots of shows, how is One Piece different from other that you been apart of?
CA: It's weird, a lot of the stuff that I done for Funimation *pause* not everything but a lot of it has been dramatic work and I have not gotten to really. There been a coupe of shows obviously I have been on Sgt. Frog and things like that, but I don't get to stretch my comedy chops nearly as much as often as I get to in Houston. So it is nice to do something that is wacky and fun and kind of silly.
MS: So I am guessing your favorite characters are those wacky fun ones?
CA: I enjoy doing the dramatic stuff and certainly a different skill set from doing comedy. I enjoy doing both but I have not gotten nearly the opportunity up in Dallas to do some of the wacky crazy stuff that I have done in Houston. So it was nice to go in and be able to flex those muscles again.
MS: Ok, I was trying to get to this earlier What are your favorite characters to play as?
CA: Beg to pardon?
MS: What are your favorite characters to play as?
CA: I get cast a lot of as villains and villains are a lot of fun. Whatever they are comedic villains or a dramatic villain. Usually because there is a lot there to sink your teeth into as an actor. There is a lot to play with, there is a lot of level. I don't mind playing heroes. I am working on a new show where I get to play as one of the heroes and I am a good guy. It is very odd because I spend so much time
playing villains and I think that comes with having a lower voice.
MS: Ok.
CA: *Changes to deeper voice* When your voice comes to down here they don't tend to cast you as heroes very often.
MS: Thats true.
CA: *Back in normal voice* It's fun. Its a nice thing like I said in the panel. Because of my size, I'm 5'4, and when you hear me I don't sounds as small as I am. So the voice acting allows me the opportunity to play characters that I could never do on stage or in film. That's the real joy. To be able to push your limits as an actor. Be that in comedy or in drama. I have to admit, I have always had a soft spot for villains. I love playing villains. That's usually the most fun.
MS: Who is your favorite villain that you played so far?
CA: Oh! Gosh...Umm...That be a toss up, Chouji Suitengu in Speed Grapher is like a shark. He is an absolute monster of a human being. Likewise Isaak Fernando von Kamper from Trinity Blood is so arrogant, so cocky. I got a villain coming up that I start doing that I can't talk about that I am very excited about. That I am very very excited about this. So you know, maybe the next time I see you I'll probability get to talk about that.
MS: I remember earlier that you are going to be in three different shows that you can't say anything about.
CA: I got three shows going on that I can't talk about. I am good guys in two of them and a bad guy in another.
MS: And you said one of them was a long running show.
CA: Yeah, one of them is look like a long running gig. We don't know yet. We'll see.
MS: So to all the readers out there, make sure to buy anything that Greg Ayres is going to be in.
CA: Yeah, the stuff that I am in and the stuff that my brother Greg is in, just keep checking it out.
MS: Ahh! Again I-
CA: It is all good my friend. Don't worry. Even my father confuses us some times. He'll call him Chris and he'll call me Greg.
MS: You guys are so different. He is crazy out there with his hair!
CA: Yeah, it's funny. As different as we are. He is one of my best friends. It is the differences in us I think that really make us compliments each other. There are really few people that I rather spend more time with then my brother. He and I, while we have different opinions on a lot of things obviously we have different styles, just because we look different and act different doesn't mean we are incredibility close. Like I said, he is one of my favorite people on the planet.
MS: I know how people mention this, but you are never in the (recording) booth at the same time.
CA: Never.
MS: Do you ever enjoy working with him when you have the chance?
CA: In the show that I have done with my brother, yes. I have always had a good time working with him, as a director. I have directed him in stuff. Certainly he had one of the leads in Nerima Daikon Brothers. He is in Mermaid Melody Pitchi Pitch. He has a principal role in Xenosaga. The supporting comic relief in Magikano and when I took over Wallflower, he was one of the five leads in that. I have also directed him on stage for years and it is nice to have somebody who you work a lot as a director because you got a shorthand. "Hey! I kind of need that thing like the whole thing..." (Greg:) "Yeah, got it." And he does it.
MS: Oh.
CA: And that not even so from being brothers. That is from working together as director and actor a lot. There is a lot of actors that I worked with that you kind of develop that shorthand with. Carly Moser (SP) is another, Brittney Karbowski, Hannah Alcorn, Josh Greely, Luci Christian, Jessica Boone. A lot of people like that, you develop, after you been working together enough-
MS: You know how they tick.
CA: You kind of as a director know how the actor thinks. As an actor, they know how you work as a director and you develop this shorthand. Both for theater and recording makes the process a little more streamline. It gives you a little bit more time to focus on the other things that you may not get a chance to with somebody you may not have that roper with.
MS: Ok, I see. Now here are some random questions.
CA: That's fine. I love random questions.
MS: How much wood does a wood chuck chuck if a wood shuck could chuck wood?
CA: Two pounds.
MS: Two pounds. What is your favorite color?
CA: Black, and/or purple and red. I have three that I really like.
MS: *Laughter* Ok, what is your least favorite color?
CA: Umm...Yellows don't look good on me. So probably...No. Yeah, yellows. Oh! Sorry oranges on me look really bad.
MS: Oh, so I guess you never seen me in orange then have you?
CA: Not too much. It not that I don't like the color. I just don't like it on me.
MS: Ok. Who do you like to thank or who inspired you to be where you are today?
CA: My parents, obviously, most of the acting teachers that I have had have definitely been an inspiration. Sydney Burger obviously has influence me as how I work as an actor. My parents just for their generosity and spirit and the compassion they instill into my brother and I. They are the kindest people that I have ever met. Obviously my brother, my family. I draw a lot of inspiration from my friends. I teach a lot, I do a lot of workshops in schools so I am constantly inspired by my students. They mean the world to me.
MS: Quick question, what do your parents think of you doing what you do today?
CA: Greg and I have been very lucky. I got friends who parents have never been supportive of any choice they made. I decided since I was five that I wanted to be an actor. And my parents have sided with me on that. They argue with relatives who have said "That ridiculous! He just playing around!" Greg and I have been lucky to have parents who are incredibility supportive of us of our choices in terms of our career and in terms of life. You can't really ask for more then two people that you know who are going to support you and love you no matter what you do. I wish more people have had influences like that in their life.
MS: Yeah, I hate to say but a lot of kids kind of get discourage when their parents say, "No no. That-"
CA: "You not doing this! You are doing this. Even when you hate it." My parents told me a long time ago, "Chase the dream that you love because it is much better to be happy then being rich." And trust me, going into preforming and theater, you are never going to be rich. A long ways before rich.
MS: That is very good to know.
CA: You do what you love. You do it because you love it. Not because of anything else that happens with that.
MS: It better to wish for happiness.
CA: I'm lucky, whatever I'll be doing anime or doing theater or what not, I am lucky to be able to be excited about going into work everyday. There is never a day where I am, "Aww man. I got to go to rehearsal.", "Aww man, I got to go to the studio.". No, I am always very excited and consider myself very blessed to be able to do what I do.
MS: Also, I kind of just found out, that you also teach at schools right?
CA: I'm a guest artist. I am not an official teacher with any one school. Schools bring me in to do workshops and classes and sometimes to director or chromatographic or fight director. Things like that.
MS: Do the students that you teach, or guest teach, do they know what you do?
CA: Some of them do. Some of them do. I have run into several at conventions which are always kind of fun to run into these students that know me from one element and then see me in another. "OH MY GOSH!"
MS: "Its you!"
CA: It's kind of fun because they know me on a whole different level. That in a lot of ways a lot of the attendees at conventions don't get to know me. Because when you are working in theater, you have to work very closely and you get to know people pretty well. A lot of students that has come out and come have said, "This is so weird because it is just you." That is what I keep saying, "It just me." Sometimes people will just freak out. I don't get it I am just a dude with a big cup.
MS: That's true. Yesterday we were trying to get that big cup filled up.
CA: That's right. I got to keep my cup filled up.
MS: Yep. What has been the most awkward moment you have been part of? I am sure there is a lot of them.
CA: In the studio? Actually not too many. I was doing a show called Gantz, which is another show I am well known for, and my character in the show has two different sex scenes. The first sex scene that he has, I really didn't know the actress and it was just our voices. However the second scene was with a girl that I have known,, the voice actress, is somebody that I known since she was like thirteen.
MS: *Laughter* Oh!
CA: So I remember her as this girl with the pigtails and the braces and the big thick glasses and I felt really umm...really...I felt really bad. It was just really awkward. I have known her since we were both children. It was like, you know.
MS: Yeah. I can understand that.
CA: Yeah. That was kind of awkward. Other then that, I am not really easily embarrassed. So a lot of situations for some actors that would be a little awkward, I am "Oh okay. This is what we're doing." Yeah. I don't have a lot of stories other then the one with Kelly and I.
MS: Ok, I am guessing this will be that last question. What would you like to say to all the One Piece fans out there?
CA: Oh my gosh. Keep watching the show! It is so much fun and you know it is really the fans that have really kept this show alive. So I can't thank them enough for keeping this show alive long enough for I to be a part of it.
MS: I know.
CA: Just keep enjoying the show. I always sign my autographs, "Love and laughter always." Because there is no greater thing you can wish on another human being. I encourage them to live their lives that way. Enjoy the show, have fun, love everybody. An all around feel good message.
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