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“I really love being a part of an artist’s vision and brand. I love seeing how excited they are after a show because they looked back and saw something awesome.”
– Thomy Hoefer
We are back again, and the incredible people with truly one-of-a-kind experiences and careers are only getting started. Here’s a one-on-one with Thomy Hoefer, head of Gestalt Theory visuals and V Squared Labs Roster VJ for Marshmello, on how took his interests that grew into a passion and his incredible work ethic to build an unstoppable career that has taken off immaculately.
Before we get to know your job and what you love to do in this industry, tell us a little about you and your life – whatever it may be that makes you you, and what you want to tell us.
“I’m an Arizona native. I grew up hanging out at malls, comic book shops, arcades, and skateboarding. I eventually worked at the same mall arcade and comic book shop I hung out at – before I ended up becoming a machinist where I designed and manufactured custom brackets to hold navigation systems for Hertz. When things slowed down at work, I started running events and DJing. I was a machinist full-time for eleven years while also running Sticky Fingers with William Reed and Foul Play after that. The machinist job slowed down pretty drastically last year and I was able to devote all my time to Gestalt Theory, which I wanted to do years ago but I couldn’t abandon the company due to the fact I was the only guy who knew how to design the brackets.”
For those who are unaware, tell us a little about what you do at Gestalt Theory.
“At Gestalt Theory, we create visuals for a few different artists (Marshmello, Jauz, Ghastly, etc.) but our primary function is VJing. We have been getting more and more inquiries for content as of late which is awesome. Gestalt Theory’s role is providing a dynamic, creative, and sound responsive video experience to the music being played. We also give the promoters the ability to confidently spend the money for large LED wall structures for local festivals and have them used in a way that can be compared to larger festivals like EDC or Ultra. You can have all the LED walls in the world, but if you don’t have anyone who cares enough to make them be real part of the show then you just wasted 100k on Production.”
For people who have never worked with anything like with what you do, could you explain how you create such an experience visually, and what that’s like?
“I use a software called Resolume Arena. I load clips from my collection3 and use effects and creativity to make the show the way it is.”
Why Visuals? What made you fall into this and how did you get your start?
“I was DJing and promoting local parties since 2008 and I wanted to implement a visual aspect to the events. Lighting is really expensive to get into when it comes to purchasing them, so I just bought a projector from a pawn shop and started ripping videos from YouTube and playing them on a loop using a standard video player. I discovered the VJ software that I now use (Resolume) when I saw 2Tonedisco [Old partner Aaron Olmstead] mixing short clips with it. I feel in love with software and started collecting more videos and clips. I learned the software, built DJ booths to project on, and bought a large stretchable projection screen.
I was still heavily into DJing and running parties, but I still found time to VJ during the event (Sticky Fingers @ Bar Smith). I was also doing visuals at Solstice Saturdays as well, but it wasn’t my primary focus. Then EDC 2013 happened… I decided last minute to drive out and see the event. This is when I saw the visuals for Porter Robinson that were ran by Ghostdad. Seeing visuals on that scale and done in that way sealed it for me; I wanted to do that for a living.
I came back to Arizona and started putting all my efforts into VJing at Sticky Fingers. As fate would have it, I ended up hiring J. Paul [Jared Paul Jackson] to DJ. He dug my visuals and invited me to do visuals at UK Thursdays where I quickly became a resident VJ. Relentless Beats discovered me here and I started doing virtually all of their events along with my team (Aaron Olmstead, Jena Michael, Mark Ellery, and Connor Coffman). After Jared got scooped up by Keys N Krates, they gave me a shot to do visuals for them at EDC 2015. It was there when I met some of the members of V Squared Labs who were running the stage. They were impressed by my work and asked me to run a stage at Hard Summer, Life Is Beautiful, and Hard Day of the Dead. After Hard Day of the Dead, Marshmello’s team asked me to tour with them and now I am a part of their team – which involves doing visuals for Jauz from time to time. I still am on the V Squared Labs Roster and they have me run festival stages when I’m available.”
Because visuals nowadays is such a crucial dynamic to an artist’s performance, do you often have the artist initially work with you to get an idea of what their vision is or is that always left entirely up to you and your own creative process?
“It’s really a case-by-case basis. Ghastly had a lot of great ideas for content creation. When we are just doing a show where we are provided a pack of visuals, we try to match them with content in our archives to compliment the look and style of their visuals.”
What is your favorite part of working on your visuals, your current favorite piece of work you’ve done, or favorite set of visuals entirely you’ve done for an artist, etc.?
“I really love being a part of an artist’s vision and brand. I love seeing how excited they are after a show because they looked back and saw something awesome. My favorite piece of work I did would be the Marshmello Hotline Bling visual. It was a super simple visual, but it was always a hit and would flood Instagram after every show.”
If you had to pick, or if you already have one, what has been your favorite show or festival that you were the VJ for?
“For the events that I was the House VJ for, I would say that locally Decadence 2016 was, and out-of-state would probably be SMF 2016 [Sunset Music Festival]. They both had amazing stage designs.”
This industry has no lack of fierce competition… What was most important to you when you working your way up and proving your skills with your career?
“Attention to deal, always learning more about your craft, and being a team player… The Front of House booth has sound, lighting, lasers, and VJs all working for the same goal, so it’s important to work together and make it as stress free of a situation as possible.”
What are your goals for the future? Any specific place you would like to make it or artists you would like to add to your roster?
“I want to travel the world doing this and make it so my team can do the same. I plan on continuing to learn animation, video editing, and filming stuff – all while adding more people to my team. Ultimately, I want us to be a go-to source for talented VJs and content creation.
What would be your biggest piece of advice to anyone who loves what you do, and wants to be able to create experiences in the way that you have?
“Learn Photoshop, After Effects, and Cinema 4D or some sort of 3D graphics software… Then learn to VJ. Content creation is what will make you stand out above the rest.”
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