CozyTalk #3: Johnnie Guilbert Interview (ex-My Digital Escape) 

Thanks for having me on I appreciate it. Hope you all enjoyed this talk

I almost feel bad for Johnnie just because he’s been such a good and genuine person throughout the whole chaos that he went through. This interview was so insightful, and definitely worth the watch! :DD

So many years later and Johnnie is still able to tell his truth without ripping Bryan apart. He is sincerely full of so much good

the four dislikes are bryan’s four failed collab channels

Bryan definitely had/has something for Johnnie but in a creepy way!!!

Omg I’m almost 29 and still stuck In my scene and MySpace and such music and probably will always be.

Wow 15 year old me is freaking out! I'm finally getting the inside scoop of what was happening with MDE and Bryan Stars, very cool!! I'm also glad you guys are validating all the awful stuff that happened too while keeping it pretty light hearted! Love the interview!🖤❤

as an early days Bryan stars interview fan, this has been so eye opening to what was going on behind the scenes! Even as a 12 year old I got weird af vibes so this makes so much sense!!! Thank you both for the content I am loving the 2010 era emo/alt scene deep dive:)) keep it up cozy

I hate that he can be labeled as this, but BryanStars is a part of alternative/scene internet history. Lol

You’re a fantastic interviewer, you seem like such a nice guy, so down to earth and easy to vibe with. Truly a cozy representative. I love this channel, got into to it through the Johnny Craig videos. It’s so interesting to delve into the history of this music scene, and all that it spawned! Great content!!

God I love the conversation you had towards the end about being made to feel weird for what u listen to because you’re older. I’m 22 and still have some slight alternative aesthetics. And I completely love and listen to a lot of the same bands like nsn and underoath like I do any other music I love. We should def normalize that shit!

Johnnie has a great personality and just seems like a cool person. I see him commenting under RU-vidrs' videos showing support all the time which is awesome

I love watching Johnnie on interviews. Johnnie's looking gorgeous as always.

This just makes me want to go back to my fully scene phase. I still listen to all the music and it’s still my aesthetic. I loved this interview :) you’re a great interviewer.

He seems like a sweet kid. He feels like a guy who would be friends with a younger brother or sister would be close friends with. So he'd be over your house all the time that our mom would call him their other son.

Bryan Stars is an Onion. I was not expecting that shade, haha.

Thanks for keeping us informed and entertained, Julian! Was pleasantly surprised to see a new video from you. Johnnie seems like a cool cat. Ive had a strange fascination with this whole Bryan Stars "saga". Cool to hear about it from an inside source.

I can’t wait for the Brian star interview

You’re a great interviewer asking deep questions, I wasn’t a huge fan of Johnny but I did watch early Bryanstars and I found this video super interesting 😌

I'm loving your content bro, I barely knew anything about Johnnie Guilbert before but he seems like a really cool dude, and it was super interesting hearing him talk about his experiences with Bryan. Please keep it up 🤘

I find it so crazy how Bryan basically used coming out as damaged control which is so disgusting and it’s sad how he basically used everyone for his own benefit and not to mention he would interview the same bands 24/7 especially BVB and looking back on it I find more gross how he would always make two teen boys kiss when they are straight basically having teens fetishizing gay relationships. He tried to come for Johnnie again saying that Johnnie is a loser who lives in his mom’s garage at 24 and that he’s a wannabe emo pop star etc but like bro you’re 30 years old with no life at all and your coming after all his friends.

Cozy its been great to see you improve, im so glad we have people like you keeping warped culture alive.

Excited to watch this! The whole BryanStars/MDE era kind of passed me by, though I did go to Warped in 2015 when they were on it. Johnnie is a chill guy and I always love to dig into some scene history. Loving the content!

Once yess u did one with Johnnie!! Y’all are my two favorite youtubers :)

Even though I kinda lived this era myself, as I wasn't native in english and not very much into where it was actually happening it feels like I missed a lot, so having this as kind of like a journalism space for this culture is amazing

Wow this is MAJOR! I’ve been subbed since abt 1.6k. Congrats on the growth!

You can tell how excited you are to be talking to johnnie I love it so much

Mr Cozy you are the definition of a "down to earth" person. the entire talk was awkward as it should have been, its a difficult topic and im sure most questions were answered. Thank you for picking up the glove and giving us all that content, a true blast from the past, what a decade emo culture had...

I am so hyped I am not the only one still listening to the emo and scene bands I grew up on. Best music!! I will be blasting those bands at 70

I was only into Johnnie, I had no idea about MDE and all of that drama. I stopped being deep into scene culture when I graduated high school back in 2017. Looking back, yeah that was weird as hell of Bryan. Glad to know that Johnnie is still doing well though

I love this channel so much. Julian is an absolute LEGEND.

This is such a good interview I love it! I'm a newer fan of Johnnies, I discovered him through his music last year, so it's always interesting to hear everything else he's been through in his career and life especially since I wasn't there for the My Digital Escape era myself. Such a fascinating time.

Wow I didn’t kno u had the connections like that! This episode is going to be good

Thank you guys for making it cool to be a scene kid at 21 👊🏻🤘 love both of you guys!

OMG I love Pete and Patrick from Fall Out Boy!!!!! lmao no but seriously this is awesome!! glad y'all did this

I never watched my digital escape but I was a big fan of Bryan stars. Never expected him to be a drinker haha. Another great interview man! Keep them coming

What a throw back deep dive! Best wishes to you both. It really is great to see johnnie get older and not become a piece of shit like so many that were before and around him, mad props.

God I loved that bit at the end!!!!! Ive always been asked why I dress the way I am and why my music is the way it is but like holy shit why is it even a big deal to this day? It makes me happy seeing more alternative kids and seeing it come up with newer generations!!!!!

This was brilliant dude. I watched the whole thing and I was surprised. This is very nostalgic and johnnie is a great dude

You 2 could do a podcast and I would watch every one of them

I’m an old, and when I was in college we were just getting Facebook links which I kinda played with just because all my peers were too but moreso did the Myspace stuff. Not only did it help keep me and my now husband in contact during his deployments (OIF 1-2 & OEF,) but I also liked the music aspect. It’s really interesting to see y’all speak on your childhood and getting into your scene and how social media impacted your formative years. It’s quite enlightening for this old crusty baby goth. 😹✨🖤✨

I was a little bit too old for the whole emo thing, but I was exposed to a bit of it from playing in punk bands. A lot of people in the emo scene would come to our shows. Anyway, I didn’t know there was ever an emo section of RU-vid until a few months ago. Learning about the history of all this in the year 2021 is oddly interesting.

Oh shit, I guess I’m going to drop everything I’m doing to watch this video.... :D

I would love if you did this with other ex MDE members (if they are down)

I've been subbed to jonny for as long as I can remember having a RU-vid. He is one of the sweetest guys. 💗

He had a tour in my country last year but it was cancelled because of covid

I’m 24 too and still listen to all time low most days 😅 actually seeing them live too very soon can’t wait!

This channel truly has the best relaxed, funnits and cozy vibes as well as actual good content, truly a diamond Keep up the good work 💖 Id also absolut love a podcast with the two of them, truly a nice balance

Wow this was genuinely really insightful to all that was happening quite awhile ago. I wasn't quite understanding of my knowledge on this topic, involving warped tour, seeing those bands on tour, and being apart of a RU-vid channel that was centered around Bryan being around what was literally teenagers. You also got to get some real behind the scenes information on not just My Digital Escape, Bryan Stars, but also the mental toll that it took on Johnnie and his friends. Speaking about Johnnie, I'm really glad to be able to hear his perspective and experiences of the scene emo days. It shows he really did experience the peak of emo when it was at it's most purest and that to me is really astonishing. Also with you as your passion, and understanding of the subject shows your true love and desire for the music you've been listening too and have enjoyed for so long. So, it's really fucking legendary to see badasses like you two to come out and talk about the love, care, and community that comes along side with these type of cultural events that affect many people. It becomes a lifestyle for a lot and that in of itself deserves to be talked about in my most honest opinion. Best part of this, you also talk about the nitty-gritty of this time period. Personally, that's the most important part of talking about this stuff. It's good to clear the air, to clear the stigma, and to push back what holds us back. Talk about it as it is, but continue on in hopes of moving forward. Keep up the amazing work man! I really watched through the whole thing from start to end. loving this scene talk dude stay cool man!

always wondered what happened to johnnie glad you made this episode with him, it's really insightful

so legendary, very good listen

seems like this is gonna be awkward, im gonna get baked and watch it

I see this dude in the comments of most the youtubers I watch its cool now that hes an adult he actually seems really chill I used to find him cringy but he seems very normal now

Is there a way to consume your content via IV drip? Asking for a friend.

Cozy..... that was the greatest intro I've ever heard

"a lot of that was in the 'rawwwr XD' category" LMAO I love how everyone our age understands exactly what that means

This channel has a tendency to take me back, and this video is no exception. Love me some Johnnie!

How have I not seen this, great interviewer, fantastic questions, and it is so genuine throughout. Loved it. 😄

Such a good interview man. I hope to see you interview more people. You're such a happy dude

The 1 dislike is Bryan

You're so passionate and interested about these things, this was nice :]

Damn missed opportunity to have intro be “get cozy and get ready for pillow talk” haha

The one dislike on this video is Bryan Starts

19:35 I can’t stop laughing😂😂😭 cozy stop trying to cut him off😂😂😭

This is one of my favorite interviews ever

Bryan was such a creep praying on literal teenagers to make money off them. I always knew something was up even when I was a kid watching the videos

As someone who’s just a tad bit older than cozy, Bryan was probably the first youtuber I actively followed and anticipated his videos. But when he started the mde thing, that was when I done with him. He turned into this cringy wannabe goth kid who was older than I was. That was creepy & I stopped watching. At that point. This was a really good interview & holy shit am I happy johnnie turned out ok. He was literally surrounded by predators (that warped tour scene) & an almost groomer-esque figure in Bryan. I never really followed johnnie but I’m glad he’s doing good. It was super interesting to here about Bryan currently. Always wondered what happened to him great interview you two

Bro i haven’t been in this scene since like 2013, but this was super interesting to listen to.

We Def. Need a video about breath Carolina and their changes. Love your work keep it up.

Wow this video is just goals! Completely and utterly amazing ^_^ scene kids never die

I really want to see what you looked like as a former scene and emo kid back then!

Johnnie the emo king

Looking back now after thinking about it, I feel bad that him and some of the other MDE kid were exploited. Bryan picked him out, exploited him, and basically was the Lou pearlman of the emo/scene community.,

This is truly a crazy interview to listen to

Hey man good interview and good energy but just as a tip I feel like you could slow down a bit and nod instead of speaking when the guest is speaking

The MIDI drums are just

So much info i didnt know i needed

Interview Jake Bateman sometime. Great job.

Alex Evans was first wave along with Olí Sykes

these are great bro but when questioning try to keep them shorter cuz there was a few times I wanted Johnny to speak and you cut him off. aside from that great video

I’ve been waiting for this🖤

I usually look at scene people with suspicion, but not Johnnie. I actually like him.

honestly wtf was with the creepy predators on youtube era back the bryan colleen ballooned like so many ppl from different genera’s of youtube at the time were eventually recovered to be child predictors to varying dagrees it’s so well disheartens me to my core 😅

I can definitely say I waited in line for the Warped RU-vidrs for Johnnie! Bryan too of course, but being the little emo teenager I was I had a huge crush on Johnnie. I remember thinking it would be a cool/funny thing to bring a ring pop and pretend to propose to him, but then I second guessed myself because I figured he got stuff like that all the time since he was "obviously" the cute approachable one (aka also a teenager). Now I feel like I should have!

Awesome interview 😀

My boi doing big things😍😍

Cozy you rock man! Love your channel

Johnnie was definitely the eye candy for MDE

Good interview, I just feel like they talked about Bryanstars for way too long. It's a Johnnie Guilbert interview. I would have asked more questions involving his childhood and his music career, etc.

All the Bryan tea

Loving the cozy talk!

It’s super easy to step into a scene that was already going for 6 years before Johnnie found it. You’re welcome kid. 😂

He was Bryan stars right hand man and now he's bigger than bryan ever was

I really enjoy this interview

Great interview but bro, you had like 3 ads within the first question.

Bryan wanting to wrestle is some John Wayne gayce type of shit

Love that he is giving props to Ronnie... Anyway, great chat. And yes, it's so crazy to me that people act like rock/metal are so "out there" when so many of the lyrics of rap or pop are way more sexualized or vapid. And yes, good music does NOT have an expiration date.

1:37:47 I need more clarification of destery smith. What happen to him?

This was really interesting and entertaining. Just two really nice dudes

The Creatures were like the equivalent but in the gaming world!!!