Photo Cr. Camryn Bierria
MomoCon brings talents from across the board in entertainment and each year the interview room is the hub of getting to know more about what goes on behind the scenes of fan favorite shows, music, and more.
Each of the following interviews were conducted press conference style with multiple media outlets with different focuses in pop culture. KpopWise had the amazing opportunity to sit in on a few where interviewees participated in popular media that tends to crossover between music, anime, and voice acting.
DMC
A legend that needs no introduction, Darryl McDaniels, popularly known as DMC [of RunDMC] has had a deep connection to comics his whole life. It's what inspired him to tell his stories through hip hop and rock, and now it's come full circle as he creates his own comics. With a connection and history with music that runs as deep as DMC's, our team was able to learn more about what the industry entails and how to move forward as technology advances and changes the landscape of music and pop culture.
With the rise of AI and anti-intellectualism, there is a real need to tell diverse and strong stories from real people for real people. What do you hope that your stories and music say and continue to say to the world?
DMC: I got this song that says, "Even when there's nothing, there is something to use. Even when there's nothing, there is something you can always do." So my story is this: Technology is cool but it's in a system. Hip Hop didn't create anything, hip-hop RE-created everything. Cause we utilized what was there. We had no money and no resources. So when you're in that state, you think that your existence is over but then you start thinking 'What is around? All of this stuff is around me for what?' In this age of AI and technology, we gotta recreate the authentic artist. If all of us shut up right now, AI is done. We gotta go back to the point where, how do we relate to each other. We really wouldn't need AI if we just chatted more ourselves. The AI can't tell your story better than you.
DMC goes on to clarify that technology is cool and advances in tech can be a tool for creating art, like a DJ booth not being anything without a DJ. DMC says his focus and connection to the arts has always been through communication, conversation, and participation with one another.
GAMEBOY JONES
Gameboy Jones got his start in music when his friends realized he had the ability to freestyle and pushed him to try rapping. He would take whatever song he covered and make a wide array of geeky references. Eventually after making a sound and style for himself GameboyJones now makes songs almost exclusively about anime.
What is your favorite part of your creative process?
GAMEBOY JONES: Having it done. That's the push and pull of being an artist sometimes. You push through it and you can actually make your vision come out. Like that is what it comes down to. Sometimes I get through the process and the process doesn't always make me all happy but I get to the end and I'm like 'Yeah I did it!' And I made what I had inside my brain. Even sometimes it changes [from where it started], there's times where if I am working with a producer and I sing a chorus to a click track and I know how I want it to sound but then I don't feel it the same way and it will morph and change from there.
REED SHANNON
A powerhouse of talent who has effortlessly transitioned from Broadway stages to the big screen, Reed Shannon is a multi-faceted talent to watch. He reprised his role as Ekko on the second season of Netflix's award-winning show, Arcane.
[Question asked by a fellow outlet] Looking across the the different mediums you've worked on, whether it be music, performing as a voice actor, or on the stage; Have you found the skills you've learned across these cross-apply in different ways to influence how you approach new mediums?
REED: Absolutely. When I moved to Los Angeles, a lot of people told me that I had to pick one. But some of the greatest entertainers that we've seen in history, do everything. So I've never subscribed to this idea that if I want to be on TV and in movies, I've got to be an actor and I can't sing anymore. Or if I want to be a singer, I can't be an actor because 'How can you make songs and audition at the same time.' It just never made sense to me. Right now, I am kind of on a history run of not taking no for an answer in whatever I do like coming to conventions and performing my original music. It definitely is taking longer-- like if I were to stop doing music, I might be further in my acting career or vice versa. I'm not here to be famous, I just love it. This is my passion and I've been blessed with the ability to do it on a large scale. I'm really just here to bring joy to people's lives in any way I can with the gifts I've been given. // They all play a role together because entertainment is entertainment, and I think that anybody who has the ability to entertain in many different ways, should. That's real art and plays into the greatness of Arcane. People always tell me I am a great voice actor [to them] but Arcane's not necessarily a VA [only] show. The storytelling of the show is the essence of the art that we make in that medium. It takes an array of talents to make it. Entertainment is an across the board thing.
He later shares a sentiment with the room--"It's a real blessing in my life that Arcane has touched people how it has. // I'm just turning my passions into my work."
MICK WINGERT
Also known as Professor Heimerdinger in Arcane, Mick Wingert is one of many voice actors that connect the animated League of Legends universe to its fans across fandoms. Mick's other credits of bringing Asian media to life through his voice, are his roles as Cain Madhouse in Crunchyroll's first English dubbed anime, To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts and Funimation's dub of the film, One Piece Stamped.
How does it feel to know that people are growing up with you as one of their focal points, of learning about voice acting through you?
MICK: I mean, it's a trip. I came to this career to be a voice actor. The generation of actors who came to the Hollywood landscape to do animation before me and several of my peers, they came as actors. They came with headshots and resumes and clips and reels of them doing things on camera and they kind of fell into this. They realized they had a propensity for this kind of acting work, but they came to Hollywood to do whatever they could get their hands on. I'm very much the same, except that by the time I was considering getting in the industry, those people had gone before and shown my generation that [voice acting] could be a career on its own. So I'm part of that first wave of people who came into the business specifically to do animation. It's a trip to think that I'm in the same position that I saw someone like Pat Fraley or Rob Paulsen or a Tress MacNielle, those folks who had fallen into this work and made a brilliant career doing it, they were who I grew up listening to and now I can actually do this for a living. It's exactly "with great power comes great responsibility" so I take it seriously and I am very honored to be a part of people's childhood.
DAMIEN HAAS
Damien is a voice actor known for his roles as Laois in "Delicious in Dungeon," Shez in "Fire Emblem: Three Hopes," and Kyoka Kudou in "My Happy Marriage," and many other anime and video games.
What is a song that fits one of the characters you've played?
DAMIEN: I do the ADHD song thing where I will pick one song, I will listen to it for one week until I've squeezed all the dopamine out of it and I'll forget about it for a long time. The one that comes to mind, when I was going to record Van Arkride in the 'Trail Series,' there's a song by Waterparks called 'Numb' But I would listen to it in the car on the way to recording and the vibe fits Van very very well and I feel like he would listen to that in his truck.
Photo Cr. Camryn Bierria
Thank you to all of our fellow press panelists for their amazing questions.
MomoCon brings together many people from many walks of life and forms of media. We are grateful for this fun glimpse into music's influence in pop culture. Get your MomoCon 2026 tickets here and don't miss our full convention recap here!