Glover's Spotlight: [MD] Master Handz

We're back with another Glover's Spotlight! This time we're here with one of the Mind Destroyers right here on the east coast, [MD] Master Handz!!!

Glad to have you with us today! How is everything?

I’m doing great, life has been treating me real well recently thanks for asking.


That's great, now let's start with some basic questions, how did you get the name Master Handz?

Well I’ll definitely say it took me a while to figure out a name for myself. I started thinking about something unique; something that I felt would really fit me. I was at the point of giving up when one day I started playing my favorite video game Super Smash Bros. Brawl; I’ve been obsessed with the series since it came out. I was a close friend’s house, his name is also Matt aka [MD] Matty Smiles another Glove on my team. As we were playing the game it hit me suddenly. “Hmm, hold on…there’s a floating glove as a Boss…Master Hand! Perfect!” The Z was added to the end to make it more unique and plural.


I like it man, but do you prefer people call you Matt or do you enjoy getting called by your glover name?

Naturally I’m used to people calling me by my actual name, and most people do, but there are times where I would like to be called by my glover name. I feel that once people start getting used to the idea of Master Handz, I feel that I’m being more recognized and respected as a glover and it makes me feel good about myself. I don’t mind if my closer friends simply call me by my name it doesn’t affect me, but when I’m out there in the rave scene doing my thing, I definitely want to be known as Master Handz.


Good stuff. Let me ask, what influenced your decision to start gloving?

Gloving for me started out with my long time friend Jamie McKay, and another friend Elias. I consider Jamie like family; she has always been a huge influence in my life. She’s been part of the rave scene for about 5 years now, and she took me to my first rave, Glow: Orange on March 23rd of 2011. I got the idea of gloving from YouTube videos and in the beginning of the month because I had already bought and brought a common beginners set, a prewired RGB set with blacked out gloves that you can find online basically at any rave site. When I was there I immediately fell In love with the scene, and watching my two friends glove and other glovers doing work, I quickly picked up tricks and started to learn the basics. It was an amazing feeling. After that I kept wanting to improve, started learning about the gloving scene, the endless imagination that comes with it, I started to fool around with my fingers everywhere I went, in school, on the bus, with friends, etc. it became natural to me. It’s a passion and a work of art and I’m very happy that I started raving and gloving when I did.

I see you joined a team already too. What factors contributed to you joining Mind Destroyers and not some other team?

Well to be honest, New York in my opinion wasn’t really too big on gloving when I very first started, so Mind Destroyers was the first team I had heard about locally. Another close friend Steven aka [MD] Cloud, the captain of Mind Destroyers was the one who introduced and initiated me onto the team. He was originally from Cali and I believe he was in NY visiting family. I met him one day at Finyl Fantasy 2 where a friend was celebrating her birthday. Me and Matty got a lightshow from him and I was amazed. I wanted to be on that level, heck I NEEDED to be on that level. As fate would have it not to long after that we met him again. Matty kept in contact with him and with our luck Cloud had permanently moved to New York and wanted to expand his team here. We were some of the very first people to be initiated, and after that it was an amazing experience and I’ve been able to learn so much since then.


Tell us a bit about your team, Mind Destroyers. Do you guys practice together often and are there any other teams you guys are close with?

Unfortunately the members of MD are somewhat all spaced out, so it’s been hard to establish an MD meet up with all the members present since we’ve all got our own busy lives to consider after all. But thank God we have raves every weekend which makes it easier to meet the others and then we’re able to trade lightshows and catch up. I usually hang out with [MD] Cloud, [MD] Matty Smiles, [MD] Dazey, and [MD] Mirage on a regular basis so it’s nice see and chill with a good amount of the team. As for other teams, Me and other members of MD have had fun trading and hanging out with team OWL (Obsessed With Lights) isn’t that right Supernova? Haha.


Yeah dude, haha our teams have had some pretty stellar gloving sessions in the past! My next question is about your gloving style. Are there certain moves you prefer to use in your shows?

I’ve loved to learn a little bit about everything, from Liquid, Tutting, Digits, Tunnels/Whips, Finger Rolls etc. As I’ve progressed with my gloving, I’ve learned that it’s just more natural for me to do Liquid, Tunnels/Whips and Finger Rolls, just about anything that’s creates a circular or fluid motion. It requires less thinking, and I feel it more when it comes to the music I listen to, which is mostly House and Trance. I’ve been currently working on digit moves and improving on more mechanical tricks to find a balance with everything I know, but yea Liquid, Tunnels and Whips are my personal favorite moves to use.


Awesome, do you think that gloving has changed you at all? Would you say you're more flexible or dexterous than you were before you started?

Well, it’s definitely given me a passionate hobby to focus on when I’ve got nothing else better to do haha. But in all seriousness, I don’t think it’s made me more flexible per se, but it’s given me a whole different perspective on how to use my hands and fingers. My friends and I have come up with ideas on how to curve, bend, and place our fingers in ways we would have never of thought of if we didn’t start gloving. The fact that I can personalize my own glove set with the colors and lights of my choosing to put on my fingertips makes things that much better. It’s an art style like no other.


I've got one last question for you I'm sure we're all dying to know: who do you look up to? Are there any Glovers that you try to mimic?

When I first started, I looked up to the more famous YouTube stars. Pro glovers like [PM] Gummy, [E] Sharky, [PM] Skittles, (AYO?) Anti, and (AYO?) Boo. More and more I watch their videos and they never cease to amaze me. Then when I started to improve and looked up more videos, I discovered amazing glovers such as (AYO?) Stunna, [SS] Physic, (AYO?) Mimik, (AYO?) Bluz and so many others. I do have a local favorite of mine who I always aspire to be like and that is my team captain [MD] Cloud, who takes body gloving and liquid to a level that I admire so much.

Sweet, I'll definitely have to look up some of these glovers now. Master Handz, thank you so much for joining us today! I'll let you get back to whatever it was that you were doing.. probably gloving! XD