Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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`qb ,dP'

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?

I think it must have been 1983 when my Dad bought my
brother and I a ZX81 for christmas. We'd write silly
little games and stuff in basic to amuse ourselves, oh
how much has changed.

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

So it all started on the ZX81. Come 1986, we got a
C64, after seeing one at our cousin's house and
lusting after one. Got it for Christmas.

I met a few people, as you do, in Boots/John
Menzies/WH Smith and because of that got involved in
the pirate scene a little and I think it was then that
I managed to get hold of a 1541. By that time I had
been getting really interested in machine code from
reading the C64 manual, so I bought a copy of the C64
Programmers reference guide and some other book that
i'll have to find that were invaluable. I started
ripping apart demos and games and understanding how
people were doing cool stuff like sprites in the
top/bottom and side borders (which was cutting edge in
1986 I tell ya!). Before long I started writing demos
and very nearly finished a game. Nothing particular of
merit, but I was pretty chuffed to find one of my
rather basic (the others were much more interesting)
intros for fusion appearing online.

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

Well I gave up coding because i discovered women,
booze and music (in no particular order). Its all come
full circle now with my job, but at the time I started
getting really into writing mods for the amiga. I also
owned a rubbish little keyboard that had an 8 track
realtime sequencer built in. Still have a C90 tape
full of ideas from then.

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

In the early days it was Pro Tracker through and
through but after the amiga started dying off, I
switched to Cubase with a JV1080. These days I tinker
with that and Reason.

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

You know what? Since I don't have my old mods I can't
remember the name of it, but it was in the Dogs Cogs
demo for Nerve Axis and it started like the BBC News
24 "beep, beep" music. They ripped it off, surely? :)
hehe

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

All the dance music I tried to convert from my
PC/JV1080 to mod format. Too ambitious.

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

It envolves the watcher/player. It compliments and at
times emphasises whats going on, on screen. Very few
games do that really well these days. The music in
Beyond Good and Evil was fantasic as was the music in
Ecco the Dolphin (the Tim Follin one). Very few people
get it right nowadays. Square do a great job too in
this respect.

So long as the game producers don't just get lazy and
license tracks (EA! hmmp), I'll continue to enjoy it.

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

Not really, I'm too happy to compose :) I think back
and most of my most inspiring personal musical moments
are when I have split up with someone or are a bit
depressed. I might do another C64 remix sometime soon,
but right now, I'm content where I am.

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

Huh? I assume you mean the fact that computer
generated music is a past discipline? Well part of the
enjoyment from listening to music on a limited sound
device was that people would always push the envelope
in terms of what they could get out of the device.
Right now, even mobile phones and (probably) doorbells
have moved beyond that. It was a lovely era to live in
and experience back then, but now, its back to a level
playing field and at last its about the music through
and though.

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

Computer: Anything by Tim Follin (especially the
C64/SNES stuff) its a shame he's gone into
adversising, but wish his all the best. Real music
wise, well um, Amarok by Mike Oldfield, FC Kahuna,
Alpha Male off Royksopp's new album, anything by Van
Morrison, Sigur Ros, Supergrass, Muse (best live band
in the world), Radiohead, The Rakes, Arvo Part,
Herbaliser etc.. there are to many to mention.

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

Oh god no. Too much of a perfectionist to do that.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

See Q10!. Just got the Arctic Monkeys, they're fab.

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

It gave me a distraction at the time, now it gives me
a nice little bubble of nostalgia to wallow in :)

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

Nope, work too much to do anthing. Only time left is
on going down the pub, seeing Lucy (aww) and playing
lots and lots of games..

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

Lucy, I love you. x

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2007 by crown of cryptoburners
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