Brand Spotlight: VJ Franz K Has Been Living in the Retro-Future for Decades

VJ Franz K has spent decades working where music, live video and creative technology meet. When Franz finally had a few minutes to answer my questions, the simplest summary of all of it came in one line: “I've always liked visual and sound equally, so prefer both together.”

Updated October 22, 2026 with Franz's own answers.

Where the Name VJ Franz K Comes From

“VJ” has meant a few things. In the 80s and early 90s it was the title for MTV's hosts. By the late 90s and 2000s it had become the title for video projection artists, the people performing live visuals, and that is the sense Franz means.

He first released original music as just Franz K. Keeping the music and the video work under two different names got too confusing, and when his YouTube channel really began to grow in the 2010s under VJ Franz K, he put everything under that one umbrella.

As for “Franz”: he is named after classical composers his dad liked. He does appreciate the writing of Franz Kafka, too.

I Knew Franz Before the Minty Merch

I remember first meeting Franz through That 80’s Bar in Montclair, back when I was active as DJ Wonder Sean in the same Southern California nightlife orbit. Franz remembers it the same way: I came in with two or three friends to sing. “Good times!” he says. He wishes they would bring karaoke back there.

That venue is in Montclair, at 10555 Mills Avenue. It is worth being specific because Franz's current Sunday karaoke night is at a different, similarly named venue: The 80s Bar in Placentia.

By December 2017, I was emailing Franz about using Minty Tees for his designs. The opening message was not cold outreach; I literally wrote, “Since I know you…” and offered him the fulfillment setup I was building for creators.

His response immediately turned the conversation toward a character with much more history than Minty itself: Monkey Zaro.

Monkey Zaro Was Born in 1998

Monkey Zaro first appeared on the cover of Franz's synthesizer music album in 1998. As Franz puts it, that was the monkey's “birthday.” So when he told me in December 2017 that Monkey Zaro had a 20th birthday coming up and he wanted to make something special for it, the character already had two decades of history behind him.

By late 2018, the project had moved from “maybe we should make something” to actual product planning. Franz was talking about Black Friday, joking about “Cyber Monk day,” sharing artwork, discussing garment colors and sizes, and eventually ordering a small physical run for himself, family, and friends.

Monkey Zaro belongs to VJ Franz K, and the Monkey Zaro! Collection on Minty Tees is his official merchandise: the same character, back across tees, tanks, and hoodies.

Live Video, Audio/Visual Improvising and Creative Tech

Franz's public creative history reaches much farther back than the Minty archive.

A 2006 Maker Faire program described VJ Franz K as part of a “new breed of Audio/Visual improvisers,” using laptops, a camera, and live video-mixing hardware as part of the performance.

In 2011, he appeared as part of the Levi’s Film Workshop around MOCA’s Art in the Streets. PBS SoCal described his work as mixing video journalism, music, computer graphics, and projection, while a contemporary event listing promoted an A/V session with VJ Franz K.

The same curiosity runs his YouTube channel, VJ FRANZ K - Creative Tech, which he started in 2006 and which now holds more than 2,200 videos of electronic music and video reviews, demos, and performances. His music is on Bandcamp and SoundCloud.

I asked what he was trying to do in those early live-video performances that was different from a conventional DJ set. “Great question!” he said, and promised to come back to it. When he does, it goes here.

On Sunday Nights, He's Mr. Roboto

When Franz hosts karaoke, he does it as a different character: Mr. Roboto. He has used that name for the past several years and promotes it separately from VJ Franz K, partly because the two reach different audiences.

There is a reason for the separation. Some “serious musicians” dislike karaoke in general, and Franz says he used to be one of them, until he discovered really good places like Ground Control. He started to like karaoke a lot, and then he was hired to fill a vacancy. He has noticed that some promoters still hesitate to mention karaoke at all.

The name does a job, too. Having a name like Mr. Roboto “prepares them” for a host who is eccentric and not the typical karaoke host. Like Mr. Data, he can imitate any voice or accent, and his control of the sound is very precise. His rule: “BE the sound. There is ONLY the sound.”

He does not need a fancy title for it. “I usually say ‘I am a KJ,’” he told me, and he skips putting KJ in front of the name because that is too many extra letters. Mr. Roboto is enough.

Look for the trademark oversized yellow-lens glasses. Between singers he plays synthwave, and at the “page breaks” of the list he will often put on 80s cartoons or other retro material. Someday he would love to have 80s arcade games in the room as well.

Sundays at The 80s Bar in Placentia

Mr. Roboto's home night is Sunday karaoke at The 80s Bar in Placentia. He had worked at the bar's other locations, so they offered him the Sunday gig. “It's truly the nicest club I've seen used for this purpose,” he says, and he really wants the night to succeed.

He caters to people who REALLY like karaoke, because he is meticulous about the sound. And he is sure about one thing: more people would like it, if they knew about it and tried it.

Karaoke runs every Sunday from 7 PM to 1 AM with no cover. The venue's own listing currently has $5 Modelo and $4 tacos all night, with a full bar and kitchen. The next big one is the Halloween Episode on Sunday, November 1, 2026.

See Mr. Roboto's Sunday Karaoke at The 80s Bar, then bring the friends who love to sing.

More of the Story Is Coming

Franz is a detail-oriented person, and he has promised more: the story of his early VJ performances, and anything else about his history, creative work, Monkey Zaro, or the people around his shows that belongs here. I will add it as it comes in.

Explore VJ Franz K in the Minty Brand Ecosystem, meet Mr. Roboto, or browse the official Monkey Zaro! Collection.