Jacob Interviews…Sideswipe’s Matt Mullins

By: Jacob Elyachar

For the past couple of years, Matt Mullins has been at the top of his game.    He created the Sideswipe Performance Team, an Xtreme Martial Arts group that have made appearances on 30 Seconds to Fame and participated on two seasons of America’s Got Talent.   Since those appearances on the NBC hit show, Sideswipe has skyrocketed to fame as group members teamed up with pop icon Britney Spears forher 2009 Circus World Tour and appeared in different forms of media including the Disney XD show: Kickin’ It and the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

I had the privilege to correspond with the Sideswipe founder.  We talked about the history of the group, their time on America’s Got Talent and his advice to aspiring martial artists who want to try out for Sideswipe.

Jacob Elyachar: How did Sideswipe form?

Matt Mullins: I was a forms competitor throughout my whole martial arts career.  Forms are a series of moves, which simulate a fight.  As I was finishing competition, acrobatics and synchronized choreography started to become popular.  Soon after, I moved out to Los Angeles, saw an audition for competition show called 30 Seconds to Fame, called up a few friends and we competed and won $25,000 on the show, and with that victory, Sideswipe was born.

JE: Sideswipe appeared on two different seasons of America’s Got Talent.  What was your experience like on the show?

MM:  Both years on AGT were very unique because the show was still trying to figure out what it was going to be.  It was very stressful not to know what was going to happen from week to week, but the creators did not know what was going to happen from week to week.  Overall, we got a very cool opportunity to share our sport on the biggest stage possible.  We truly took martial arts from a sport to entertainment.

JE: Who are some of your favorite performers that appeared on the show?

MM: I loved Team iLuminate and Fighting Gravity.  Both groups were very cool and had unique performances.   Another performer I liked was Terry Fator.  He is a great guy who is ridiculously talented.

JE: After the group appeared on America’s Got Talent, Sideswipe evolved into a business empire that has grown into film, T.V. and live shows.  Was it a difficult transition?

MM: Action is so engrained into our media; there are tons of opportunities in every platform.  We choreograph, do stunts, motion capture for video games, and a few of us have stared in film, T.V., and Broadway.

JE: You were a part of the short-lived superhero show Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight.  What was one of the challenges you had while working on the show?

MM:  The only difficult part of shooting Kamen Rider was that the show was shooting the same time as AGT.  I was lucky enough to have schedules work out so I could do them both.

JE: Sideswipe was once again on the world stage when you teamed up with Britney Spears for her Circus World Tour in 2009.  Could you share the experience of going out on tour and working with Britney?

MM:  Working on the Britney tour was huge.  Every city in the world we went to had 18,000-30,000 seat venues sold out and going crazy.  Britney was on her game and was an unbelievable performer every night!

JE: What would your advice be to any aspiring martial artist who wants to join your group?

MM: Never give up and never limit yourself.  Talent is common but disciplined talent is rare and that is who Sideswipe truly is.

To learn more about Sideswipe, visit the group’s Website: http://sideswipepro.com/