LuisCastanon.com

Tim Frommeyer aka Squeezy

July 2007

Q:

Greetings, I may rarely update my site but I’m actually consistent about a new interview every month atleast! This month we feature an old friend and collegue, Tim Frommeyer better known as SQEEZY. So just for the sake of getting this interview going, I’m sure you get asked this alot… what is sqeezy? why is it mispelled? who the fuck calls themselves sqeezy…

A:

Seemed like a good idea at the time, eh? Sqeezy actually flows straight back to my childhood.. It must have been before the millenium actually,in a pritty boring english lesson, I started drawing on my eraser followed by me cutting it into pieces right away.. That’s how the idea of the everdying rubber started. My fat english teacher made us repeat some vocabulary and he got my attention with that dumb catchphrase “Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy”. I started drawing comics and it got me further into art again.. suckily my attention span was the one of a hyperactive beheaded duck as I drew the logo, which there for missed an U. I grew attached to it (mainly because there was no way to erase the mistake..) and I kept it as my internet synonym once I started turning into a geek.. Thats the story.

Q:

Hah, I love that you took the time to mention that your english teacher was old and fat im sure he will come to appreciate it. Anyway, we both go way back in newgrounds/flash scene history, how long have you actually been doing Flash for?

A:

Must’ve been 2002 when I first hijacked Flash 5. The main reasons must’ve been those slick Stickfights that still today cause 80% of all younglings to believe they can show off talent through that. Atleast it got me a hobby.. though I got desperate over the programm and only opened it again in Feb ‘03. Till then I still produced cartoons with MSPaint, which was an awful thing to do.. wish I still had those though. Anyways.. I got addicted at some point. I remember my first minigames that got brutally blammed on NG.. but I guess it was my will to show off and longing for fame that kept me going.

Q:

Ah speaking of blamming, one of the most interesting things about you (to me anyway) is the fact that you sort of grew as an artist the hard way, your early work was quite forgettable and people really let you have it…most would be flash authors would have quit shortly thereafter.. yet here we are, many years later and you’re making award-winning movies like LSD and your Pico Day submission. Are you a naturally dedicated/patient person or is there some other reason you stuck with Flash so long, especially with the amount of adversity you faced in your early years?

A:

It was an awful time for me back then. I’ve been disrespected for my art and I actually made some sad attempts to steal others work to get any praise out of “my” stuff.. Yet I kept going after all. Back then Flash didn’t seem like such a bother yet, and it was highly entertaining making stuff move, and having the possibility to make my silly visions happen. And I started working harder, I just had the urge to prove some people wrong and it somehow payed off though I believe I’m still nowhere near where I should be after all that time.. I grew to be a lazy unmotivated slacker.

Q:

Youre probably being a little too harsh on yourself, I think you’ve come a long way. While I’m on that frame of mind, heres something I’ve always wanted to ask you… one of the unique qualities of your work is that its quite ‘random’ (for lack of a better term). How do you go about getting into that ‘zone’? are there any illegal substances involved that you could recommend so that I too can make a TimFrommeyeresque movie? lol, seriously though is there any sort of ritual or process you go through when planning out your animations?

A:

Drugs sadly never gave me the motivation to get my ass going to animate anything at all… I must actually warn of weed. On a constant daily basis over a couple of years it just isn’t doing any good to your motivation nor brain in general.. Back then I always found it hilarious to be accused to be a pothead due to my work, seeing I created everything with a clear head. Random music videos have always been my key to motivation, I could animate whatever popped into my head without having to feel bad for a lack of sense. I just love syncing movements to sound, and it payed off as the greatest practice I could’ve had. This way I could experiment with flash, colours, drawing and fluid animation and it did make me improve at a fast rate.

Q:

Bah you totally turned that question into a public service announcement. Nonetheless, While on the subject of random, would you personally even consider your work to be random? I was thinking about this the other day and I thought that maybe to you its not random at all but something thats symbolic or relevant to you the artist? Maybe what we see as being absurd and utterly random to you is a carefully constructed canvas of organized chaos? Or maybe I’m losing my mind and thinking too deeply into it.

A:

Well I just have to admit that nothing I’ve ever done had a real purpose or meaning.. I just like making it seem so. I do put thoughts into what I do, depending on what I’m planning to do… Other than that, I just love to play with the viewers mind and emotions, adding subliminal messages and just trying to achieve the highest level of madness. Though of course I have advanced and my standards rose as well, so I’m paying attention to alot of little details that the viewer may not even notice, but this is the last bit of fun I can still have when creating a movie.

Q:

You do a crafty job of ducking in and out of the flash radar, you are currently not visibly active. Any reason for that? Are you on a flash break? Have you grown out of it or are you working on large long term projects that you havent told anyone about?

A:

I’m going through horrible ups and downs lately, but I guess I always did.. It’s really hard for me to find my motivation to do anything anymore.. I sadly kinda grew up to believe nothing we do has a purpose in any way.. damn you internet.. and so I’m struggling hard to find something that could give me some motivation atleast. I always had the urge to give up art and animation, because I just have the feeling it still isn’t my thing to do.. I’d rather produce music but unfortunately I wasn’t raised nor supported on that track… but anyways for some reason something always gets me back to art… and I’d even say something would be missing if I’d drop it completely.

Q:

Well thats unfortunate, I cant say I cant relate though, I’m on a bit of a Flash midlife crisis myself. This is a cliche question but it may go somewhere… what inspires your work? Any books/movies/music you particularly listen to that have played key roles in what you come up with?

A:

I wish I had anything that inspires me. Lately nothing can. Back then it was other Flash artists, and collaborating with them that could bring me the biggest joy and motivation. And music ofcourse. Looking at the blank flash canvas while listening to a song I wanted to animate brought up everything I needed. Ideas kept spawning outta my ears and there was no holding back for me to show off what I could pull off. But meh.. lately I lost all joy in life haha. Though I must believe it’s yet another phase.. and I’m confident I’ll revive my childish fantasy somehow. Besides that, money would be my biggest motivation lately, as sad as that sounds, it’s the feeling of actually earning something with my work, something real rather than the fanboys and props that used to motivate me enough, that keeps me up all those nights meeting the deadline with anticipation.

Q:

Boo, you’ve gone emo on me. Time to perk up this interview… LSD - DMT, my favorite movie done by you. Your abstract style was being used in a really sophisticated dark manner, how difficult (or easy?) was it to depart from the usual ‘fun’ and crazy abstract pieces you are usually known for?

A:

I have no idea.. I just did it..even though I payed alot of attention on how I’d pull it all off. The track I created for the movie was already pretty unsettling and I made it my goal to visualize it in a nice dark, freaky and psychedelic way. You can kinda see that my art-style remained childish throughout the movie, but I tried creating a quite insecure atmosphere alltheway through.
It really was my goal to make the viewer feel sick and paranoid, giving them an out-of-reality feel.

Q:

It was quite masterful, the sound was abrasive and hard on the ears and it totally works in my opinion. Genius. Ok, last question and then you are free forever, Artificial High, is that smorgasbord-of-siezure-inducing Flash ever coming back for another episode?

A:

The biggest problem for me there, is that -element- who created the ‘concept’ (pffft) with me demands to remain a member of the crew, which I’d have no problem with if he had given any effort the last years to improve in any way. I don’t think it would be a problem to create anything the likes and just give it a new name in order to get my dreamcrew together, which would be good ol TommyLM, Munglai (who seems to have left the scene though) and you sexy beast ofcourse ;D But to be honest, no I don’t see a sequel happening, though I’m saddend by it as well… but maybe I’ll come up with a stunning collaboration concept one day that’ll revive all the joy I once had with animating. Thanks for your interest, this actually did motivate me to get back into the scene.

Well aint this interview one big lump of sad. Imma go cut myself. Thanks Tim.