Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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TLb. ,dMP' all rite, now you get the chance to read

TML.dMMP some facts about some of the major amiga

,nmm`XXMPX musicians. read about their history in

,#MP'~~XNXYNXTb. the scene and their plans in future.yes,

,d~' dNNP `YNTb. that's meant to be read while listening to

,~ ,NN' `YNb their modules. read 'em over and over and over..

dNP `Yb.

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Handle:

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Group:

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Date of birth:

1-How did your interest for computers start? Which year was that?

1983, when my dad bought a C-64 (I was 12 at the time), although I had
clearly been more remotely interested in computers before.

2-What machines did you previously have? What did you do with them?

C-64 and Amiga (Well, other family members owned both, but I used them...)
On C-64 it was mainly games, but during the end I started playing with
the assembler on Epyx fastload, mainly ripping routines and putting demos
together in the lamest way, but it was the closest I ever got to a "coder"
on any computer. My fondness for scrollwriting (In the scroll EMI's
"Beatvise" music disk I said once that it seemed I was the only Amiga
musician who loved writing scrolls) comes from my C-64 period though.

On Amiga it was mainly music, although I was one of the most active
organizers of Ivory, trying to keep contact with all the members throughout
Norway. I did no disk swapping, so I did some of the in-group organisation
stuff instead. Plus I still loved writing scrolls and did that a lot in
Ivory too.

3-For what specific reason did you end up making music rather than gfx, coding?

Rather obvious, really, as I have always been a "music guy". I started
playing piano at 5 and started composing songs not much later.

4-Which composing programs have you been using? Which one in particular?

Soundtracker, Noisetracker, Protracker

5-With which module did you feel you had reached your goal?

Dunno. I had several that I was satisfied with for various reasons.
"Jazzin" is probably my best module, but it is in a style that isn't
necessarily my favourite kind of music. "Scandinavian Star" is probably
my personal favourite for its nice melody, and I also have to say the
first module I ever made, "Eggs & Bacon" proved more outstanding than
most of them - particularly after som remixes to get rid of the ST-01
instruments.

6-Is there a tune you would like not to remember? For what reason?

Yes! There is!
On Ivory Megademo there was this part where my brother (Mute) draw this
lousy picture of a lot of US Army men. The picture was lousy, but the
other group members liked it, and kind of forced me to make a coverversion
of "In The Army Now". I like the song, but I was never even remotely
satisfied with the module, lots of ST-01 instruments and everything
sucked about it. It was also obvious to other people outside the group
it wasn't a very good module, so when another Norwegian group, IQ-, made
an antidemo against us (a really funny one, which was just tragic to Ivory),
they made their own version (with samples vocals and all) of "In The Army
Now"

7-In your opinion, what's the value of a music in a demo, game?

As a musician I find the music important, I guess coders look at the code
and graphic guys even at the graphics. In a game, the sound is actually an
important part of the entire playing experience, which also includes the
FX, of course. The great flipper games "Pinball Dreams" and its followers,
were all examples of games where the music and FX played an important part
in making them excellent games.

8-At present, are you still composing? For professional or leisure purposes?

I am composing, for now it's leisure, but I still hope it would be leisure.
I don't make mods though, did a couple of "comeback" ones when I
downloaded Fasttracker on PC 4-5 years ago, but now it is mainly MIDI and
sequencing.

9-What do you think of today's pieces of music such as mpeg,wave,midi,etc...?

Mpeg isn't a "piece of music", mp3 is just a way of copying music over the
Net, which is nice if you are speaking of old stuff that is more or less
impossible to buy on CD nowadays.
And wav is a lot older than mod anyway :)
As for general MIDI, no, thank you!

10-Could you tell us some of your all times favourite tunes?

Back when I was part of the scene myself, these were some of my faves:
Lovestory by Time Traveller
Blue Stars by Time Traveller & Blackstar
The Last Sun by Fred
Tranze Seven by Dr. Awesome
Rag by Walkman
BA1 by BitArts

I am a "melody guy" and often prefer mods with good melodies rather than
mods that are made in a technically advanced way.

I left the scene around 1990-91 though, and I have heard more recent stuff
that is better. Out of the current ones I have heard (thanks to nostalgia
sites on the Net), I guess Jogeir Liljedahl's "Face Another Day" would be
my fave. Purple Motion has also made some really great ones.

11-Are you planning to make an audio cd with some of your music remastered?

Hmmmm... I don't think I was huge enough that there would be an audience
for such a CD :)

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

As for recent ones, Travis, Coldplay, Super Furry Animals.
But I also love the likes of Genesis (old 70s stuff), XTC, Depeche Mode,
Crowded House and good old The Beatles.
Yes, again, I am a typical melody guy :)

13-What does/did the amiga/c64 scene give you?

A lot of fun, mainly. It was a nice time. Part of me wants to go back and
be part of today's scene, while another part of me realizes, at 30, I
wouldn't fit it anymore.

14-Are you still active in the scene these days?

No.

15-Anyone to greet? Anything left to say? Feel free...

Greetings to everybody who used to be in Ivory, Humanoids or Scope with
me. Mail me if, for some reason, you get to read this. My mail is there
up in the header of the interview. :)

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2001 by crown of cryptoburners
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