Interview with @LanceyPoohTV!

Name: Lance Welch
Hometown: Kentwood, Louisiana
Age: 24


What was your life like growing up?

My dad was a farmer and he also drove a school bus his entire life. I'm gonna be honest, when I say we grew up poor, we didn't have much of anything when I grew up. Anything that I had was pretty much hand-me-down, but it's not because of lack of trying.

Who is the most inspirational person in your life?

My biggest idol has always been my dad. He worked every day, his whole life, and he still does to this day because, well, there is no retirement in what he does. Never missed a day of work. Drove a school bus for 40 years and never missed a day of work until he got cancer. And, uh, luckily he beat the cancer... the cancer is gone for now. Hopefully that doesn't come back. But still drives that school bus and for 40 years never missed a day. And I have to say... frankly those are big shoes to fill because some days you just don't feel like doing stuff, and I don't know how he did it. He had to do it. And frankly what you have to do, gets things done a lot of the time. Hes a huge, huge role model.

What first got you started in gaming?

What got me started in computers was my first, hand-me-down Nintendo, and I played Mario. I played Duck Hunt, but, well, the gun broke and we didn't have enough money to get a new one so I looked at it... and wished I could play it. Because it was a gun, it was cool. I played outside a lot, I had a great imagination. I think that's why, you know, I enjoy video games so much is that I can express how I view things. Mario was kind of that game... it's what he had and there was nothing else to play because we couldn't afford anything else, so I just played a lot of Mario. And let me just be honest, the amount of Mario that I played, and how good I was at it... doesn't match up. And it just kept going. I kept getting into games, and I kept liking games.

What got you started playing Minecraft?

I played tons of games, I mean, I play a LOT of games. Minecraft was just that game that let me do whatever I wanted. Any games that allow me to do whatever is in my mind, is a game that I like. So I looked at Minecraft and thought, "Hey. There is no such thing as a sandbox game next to Minecraft because it is whatever I make it." And I love anything that I can make my way.

What  would you like to see added to Minecraft?

What would I add to Minecraft? That's something that isn't even hard for me to think of because the community is constantly modding it.  For vanilla itself, I'd like to see a lot more of the mods that people have created, incorporated. And it could be anything, like the increase of mobs, or the amounts of ores. I think the enchants are, silly, at times. I'd like to see stuff make sense. Why I need a Bane of Arthropods V sword to kill a spider that I only need a diamond sword to kill, I don't know. So I have to waste 30 levels to enchant a sword that does the same thing as it would if I didn't have the enchant on it. Why not just replace that with Bane of Bacon sword. You use it on Pigmen. Pigmen do a lot of damage. Why don't you give me a sword that boosts damage against Pigmen?

What made you start streaming?

That's a good question. I don't really know why I decided to start streaming. Literally, I was like, "One day... let's see what happens." And then I started streaming, and the next day I said, "That was fun... let's do it again!" And then I said, "Okay, let's just make a schedule. Let's tell people that we'll do this every single day. And I did it. Because I was a contract construction worker, and I was up until two days ago when I made a call to stop. I am now a full time streamer. I want to pursue something I love to do. It's just been a really amazing start, and it seems like something that has a lot of potential. Twitch.tv has been amazing. They partnered me, they moved me up to the second stage of partnering and I have the subscribe button on my channel. And that's when I decided to give this thing a shot, put it all on the line, and essentially try to live the dream. Twitch is something that I see is going to grow, and still continue to grow, and it's something that I want to be a part of and say, "Hey, I was there when it was still new."

What do you do in your spare time, outside of Minecraft?

I like to socialize, I'm a very social person. And I think that's a good thing when I stream. I really like to socialize with people. Another thing I really like to do is be outside a lot. Sometimes I sleep outside. I just take a sleeping bag. I like to travel, but I can't a lot because money is tight for everybody. But I really like to do just about everything. I just go with the flow a lot.

People want to know about your cat. Just in general. 

I don't like it. Go watch The Exorcism. The best part of my day is whenever I go to the bathroom, and the reason being, is that I can fill the tub up with a little bit of water, and as soon as I open the door the cat is in there and jumping in the tub. So I learned how to get the cat good. It's mean, I know, but it needs to learn to stop doing that.

Why do you wear bandannas and how many do you own? This question was in almost every email that I got.

I get this question a lot, and it's like.. I don't know. I used to wear them a lot and it just kinda carried over. Some people wear ball caps, and I just wear bandannas. I own... uhhhh... 20 or so? It's like a collection.

The last question we have, is what do you see yourself doing in the future?

My future is so unclear, it's not even funny. Where this whole stream thing takes me is beyond my knowledge. I have no idea where it's gonna go. I'd love to see it go far. I'd love the community to keep supporting me. They have made me who I am.

Is there anything else you'd like to say?

To the community in general, thanks so much for backing me and supporting me, and helping me in any way possible. And for the future. I want the community and my friends that have been supporting me to just know that I'll never turn my back on them as some people might or have. I feel like there's a bad rep going around for some streamers, not any in particular, but some streamers that gained success, or even YouTubers. I think it changed them. I'm going to stay grounded and stay true to the person I am. I just want to assure people that it's never going to be me that changed and forgot them. They're the reason I am where I am.

View his stream here! http://www.twitch.tv/lanceypooh
Follow his twitter here! www.twitter.com/LanceyPoohTV