Geoff and I decided we should interview someone in Vegas during Formula D, so we asked the Voice of Formula DRIFT himself, Mr. Jarod DeAnda. We tracked him down before qualifying started to see if he was down, and he seemed more excited about it than we were!
We met up at a barcade on Fremont Street downtown called Insert Coin(s). This is one of the raddest bars I have ever been to. The bar takes up the whole middle of the space and has TV’s hanging from the ceiling all the way around. If you buy a drink (and there’s room to sit down), you get to play Xbox for free. They have all kinds of games too, so there’s always something you like. One wall even has club-style private VIP booths where you can pay $25 and play Xbox or PS3 all night. The other wall is crowded with 80s arcade machines. This place seriously has it all.
Jarod is a big fan of beer, so I let him buy me one. He chose the Stone IPA. Stone because he lived in San Diego for a long time, and IPA because he likes his beer hoppy, and man is this one hoppy. Did I mention it comes in pint bottles? Rad.
Jarod wanted to show us this old arcade game called Tapper, where you’re a bar tender and have to serve beers to customers before they get tired of waiting. You also have to collect tips and empty mugs. Believe me, it gets pretty intense as you go up through the levels. He said he used to play a kids version with root beer back in the day, and he had no idea there was an adult version with real beer. By the way, Jarod had the top score. Good times! Anyway, it was time for the interview so we headed out to the street where it was quieter.
.:Bohan
Homeless guy: How are you doing this morning?
Jarod: Good, man.
Homeless guy: I ain’t gonna give you money, but uh, can I ask one more question?
Jarod: What’s that?
Homeless guy: Why’s he using a telephoto lens in such a small space?*points at Drew*
Geoff: Umm, that’s not a telephoto lens, man.
Homeless guy: Well, they’ve changed the cameras since…I did it.
Geoff: …They have.
Homeless guy: Well, hey, you know what? I used to program COBOL and FORTRAN and everything else. But they’ve changed the computers though.
Geoff: Probably so.
Homeless guy: But the main thing is, you guys have a good night.
Geoff: You do the same man, take care.
Jarod: God bless, man.
Jarod: We’re LIVE! Fuck it, we’ll do it live. I prefer awkward questions
Geoff: Who the hell are ya, and what are you about?
Jarod: I’m Jarod DeAnda, I’m 32 years old, married, father of one, 6-foot-4, 2….50?, half Mexican, and white! Fact!
Geoff: Half Mexican? Really? Is that where DeAnda comes from?
Jarod: …yea.
Drew: Like DeAnza, right?
Jarod: I grew up down the street from DeAnza College. I was born in Sunnyvale, California, and grew up in Cupertino. Then moved to San Diego. I’m still a Bay Area kid, I root for the Giants first, then the Padres, then the D-Backs.
Geoff: Haha, the D-Bags.
Drew: OOOOOOH!
Jarod: OOOOOOH!
Will Clark, dude, Will “The Thrill” Clark and Matt Williams on third base.
Geoff: Where did “OH DOCTOR!” come from?
Jarod: I grew up going to Padres games, and there was a famous announcer named Jerry Coleman, and he actually used to say “Oh doctor! You can hang a star on that one!!!” and if it was a really dope play, he’d literally put a star on a stick and swing it out of the skybox, and every time he did it you’d win a free burger or a taco or something. It was something I thought was really cool, so I’m carrying it on.
Geoff: Who influenced your announcing the most?
Jarod: As far as inspiration for announcing, I wouldn’t say really anyone in particular. Sort of a culmination of friends of mine. Sal Masakela from the X-games. No true inspirations, singularly, but it’s a culmination of action sports, classic stick & ball sports, football and baseball. We’re all action sports kids, so it’s cool to throw in an old school football or baseball reference sometimes just to see who gets it.
Geoff: I heard you like beer a lot.
Jarod: I like beer a lot.
Geoff: Tell me about it.
Jarod: Beer to me is lowbrow meets highbrow…meets Lowenbrau. Haha. Beer is awesome because you can always have a good time with it. Beer for me came from “always a good time.” Especially now, traveling as much as I do, there’s always good beer around wherever I go, local stuff etc. So, I have a Calfiornia beer tattoo. You’ve seen it right? That’s actually on the cap of Moylan’s Brewing Company which is in Novato, which is near your hood!
Geoff: Awesome!
Jarod: Anyway, Beer is always a good time. Bars are a time of celebration, or of turmoil. You just want to surround yourself with a traditional good time. Beer is basic, four ingredients: water, hops, yeast, wheat, and little special ingredients here and there. I am a homebrewer, I really enjoy brewing at home, I’ve been doing it for 10 years.
Geoff: I had a Mr. Beer years ago, and tried it a few times…it always came out shit.
Jarod: Well, you can’t rush a good beer. They say, “If it’s not good… give it another month.”
Geoff: So how about tattoos?
Jarod: I’m stoked on tattoos because every one has a meaning. I didn’t have my first one until I was 25 years old or so, but now I get one every year on my birthday. Recently, the big one is my Pupusa Posse tattoo. Let’s acknowledge that one right now. It’s currently five members, and we all get pupusas at every round of XDC because it’s one food we can agree upon. Chris Forsberg, Matt Petty, Tim Johnsrud, Michelle Forsberg, and myself are the current members. The tattoo is a smiling pupusa, thumbs up, with cabbage hair, and a salsa ribbon. But he’s kinda bummed because there’s a bite out of his head and cheese is coming out. It’s the one food we can agree upon because Mich is veggie, so no meat; Petty is no cheese, he’s allergic; Tim is no beans, but Chris and I are down for whatever. It’s fun to find pupusa spots wherever we’re going.
Geoff: I’ve never had a pupusa! I’m going to have to find some.
Jarod: It’s a traditional El Salvadorian treat, a quesadilla on steroids, and it’s the jam. Fact.
Geoff: God I love food…
Jarod: The BEST part of traveling is food.
Drew: That’s a perfect segue into the next question! Bikes and Exercise!
Jarod: Haha, via the face-of-book?
Geoff: Yup, we see that you’re out exercising all the time, so…how is that going for you?
Jarod: Well, the last questions have been about beer and food, so in essence I’m combating my lifestyle. I like to take in a lot of that goodness and splendor of the world, and like Benjamin Franklin said, “God loves us because he created beer.” So, I got into roadbiking, and it’s AWESOME. I love it, it’s super rad, and a cultural deal and whatever, but what’s even radder is that there’s so many of what Tyler McQuarrie calls “Spandex Weenies”. Tyler’s a spandex weenie, Ryan Sage, all these drift-heads are into cycling.
Geoff: Awesome.
Jarod: That guy just puked, which is awesome. [Jarod points down the street]
Geoff: That guy is barely a guy.
Jarod: AWESOME! [Jarod sees Drew getting photos of the guy puking]
Drew: What was that term you used for the stuff you see here on the street? “Parade of the weird stuff” or something?
Jarod: “The Parade of Delusion.”
Geoff: So why a 10-speed?
Jarod: I got a roadbike because you can pedal out of your driveway and be awesome, and then I do long bike road trips too, so gears help. Wow, those bums are about to “F” right here on the corner of 6th and Fremont. Anyway, I digress. It’s carbon fiber, it looks sexy… Boom. It has all the attributes of what we’re into. You want it to look cool, you want it to function awesome, function equals fashion and then… the fashion equals the function. I’m building a fixie, but I’m going to flip the hub so it freewheels and put brakes on it.
Geoff: Arizona.
Jarod: I moved to Arizona after San Diego because…”Let’s sweat it out.” Everyone’s like, “Arizona? Why?” and they just don’t know! Arizona’s cool. Desert living is like…you just don’t know until you know. Until you guys come over to my house, and LB is welcome at my house any time, I’ll make you sweet double-mojitos, poolside, slate floors, granite countertops, awesome, I have the same video games as in that bar in my office, and I have skateboards on the wall. My house is awesome, come out to Arizona. It’s Desert Living, and super unique.
Geoff: Cody Parkhouse wants to know why you “say such fucking stupid shit?”
Jarod: I say stupid stuff because I’m human, and it’s awesome. One, I have to be G-rated. I’m a father, a scholar, and I want to say stupid shit because drifting is stupid and awesome at the same time. It’s because Cody can’t think of anything cooler.
Geoff: How’d you get your start?
Jarod: Ryan and Jim were like “Let’s do this.” I met Ryan and Jim when I was growing up street racing. I knew them for years and when they started Formula DRIFT, they were like, “Let’s give this a try”. So I grew up street racing, worked at a toy company, worked at a shoe company, worked for Gumball 3000, all these different companies, and it just worked out that way. Drifting was my next move. I was always the kid who read aloud in class.
Geoff: Oh you were THAT kid!
Jarod: Yep! Come on, ask some awkward questions!
Drew: Why did DA [Drift Alliance] get two of the top five qualifying spots here in Vegas? Does it have anything to do with Tony Angelo being a judge?
Jarod: I don’t think so. Well, maybe it does! Tony Angelo being a judge equals good stuff, because the other judges are more compliant. Andy Yen has been around the block a couple of times, he grew up drifting corollas and other traditional drift cars. Tony comes from the more-impact style, which is actually more of a take down version of the Japanese version. Put the car in the right places, by impact. I would say Chris Forsberg embodies the most aggressive impact-full smooth style, but doesn’t have the horsepower of some of the other cars.
So, people think there’s a conspiracy that Drift Alliance is going to win, but you can’t tell me that JR didn’t have the baddest, nastiest, sickest car last year. Did he not have the best style? Fact. DA being in the top four or five of the qualifying doesn’t matter because Matt Powers put it down and put it THERE, Ryan Kado up in the mix. Forsberg has the nastiest style, fact. He’s my favorite driver to watch because his front wheels set, and GO. Commit. Fact. Ryan Tuerck, long wheelbase compared to what he’s used to in the past, from a 240 to a Solstice and now to a Camaro, ill.
Vaughn and the ASD cars have more traction and more grip, and also the most horsepower. DA cars and DA guys have sick setups. Is it conspiracy? No.
They have ill setups because they’ve been in it since Year One, this is eight years later. People up in arms about Tony and DA need to remember there are two other judges who have no affiliation whatsoever. Is Tony co-founder of DA? Yeah, but he doesn’t look down on any other awesome drivers.
Geoff: What do you do in the off season?
Jarod: I want the hard pressing FOX News questions!!! I’m a dad.
Geoff: How old is your kid, talk about your kid!
Jarod: He’s 5. No! it’s boring!
Geoff: No way, your kid’s cool! Talk about your kid’s sticker wall!
Jarod: Everyone already knows my whole life! The real answer is, that guy is an idiot and just fell on his face [Jarod points down the street]. Whoa, that guy is puke-walking.
Drew: What do you really think about the Obama administration and the job they’re doing?
Jarod: I think Obama’s on point, dude. There’s people beyond Obama who really control the government. I’m a fan of Obama, I voted for him. Deal with it.
I’m a happy father, dude. I love my kid. When I’m not announcing, I love hanging out with my son. I’m super blessed. The best thing about the drift community is that I hope at some point in time they say “look, that’s a good dude.” We’re all cut from the same cloth. Action sports kids who like motorsports. Kids, if you’re 50 or if you’re 20, we’re all action sports kids. It’s unique to anything I’ve ever seen, and I’ve hung out with people from all different sects. I’ve got a 5 year old kid, and I’m married, and blah blah blah. I met my wife at SEMA! Fact.
Geoff: What do you think about the haters?
Jarod: Dude, bleep the haters.
Geoff: You can say it dude, we show boobs on Life Blasters.
Jarod: Dude, yeah. If anybody says shit about me, they haven’t met me. I would love to give them the opportunity to, because I don’t think I’m anybody special by any means. I feel blessed, and I want to travel the world and talk about drifting, and be an ambassador of awesome. I wanna blast life! If it’s Norway, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Singapore, Malaysia, Seattle, Atlanta, anywhere I haven’t been, let’s do that. Let’s hang out and have a beer. Beer, gear, life, family, let’s do that. I’m one of you, if you hate on me, you don’t know me. Fact.
Geoff: One last question, if you could ask Jarod anything, what would it be?
Jarod: I would ask me, “Why do you filter yourself?” I filter myself because I know that there are more people who are going to hate what I have to say. That’s it. I can’t give totally blatant answers because I know there’s a consciousness and I don’t want my son hearing it, or my wife hearing it.
I just want to be honest, but at the same time sincere.
LB
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