Interviews
Interview with Marc
Published in Vandalism News #27
Performed by Bizarre
This is my first interview I do for vandalism news, the dude who is actually being interviewed here, is known as leader and organiser of one of the most known and most famous groups in Germany and also all over the world. It is MARC / AFL . He is a bit older than 21 years old, currently not able to lead the group as much as he would like, because he is attending a kind of master school at the moment. This takes a lot of time of course and is more important than scene work.
B)
Marc, please add some facts about yourself that I missed out, but you think to be interesting for the public.
M)
My real name and handle is marc and I am 24 years old. My birthday is the 16th of January (presents are welcome! hehe). at the moment I have not so much time for my computer activities because I am doing my master exams (till the end of July! argh!) and the other reason is that I live together with my girl friend Silvia in the house of my parents (since some weeks) and so I have better things to do. hehe
B)
Please tell everything about the activities of AFL through out the years... from the very beginning to the latest days... also mention ,why you died in the early 90's but decided to make a comeback in autumn of 1993.
M)
Alpha flight is still the oldest group ever. Born in 1985 (if I remember me right) and always active on different computer systems like the Amiga, PC, consoles etc. in the beginning we had a lot of good coders and released a lot of good demos, tools and of course cracks. Later on we concentrated us mainly on cracking with a good success. We had lot of fun on the Venlo parties, private parties, but in 1991 Max, Sys and me (the leaders to this time) thought it is better to leave the scene. Christian and Martin did a lot of cracks and we said okay let's wait and see what will happen, but in June Alpha Flight was officially dead. Max, Sys and me are very good friends and visited a lot of parties and discos and touched no computer for more than 1.5 years. But then Sys and I bought an Amiga and we started a little bit on this machine with some old friends from the 64'er scene. Max followed us some weeks later. But the Amiga scene sucks, no friendship and so on. So one day I think it was in January of 1993 we had a little meeting at Sys' place, we saw some 64'er wares from RSI (Psychobilly and co) and thought 'oh no this lamer is now elite?' in the past we sold our original backups to him (Hysteric!). First we called the boards to see the reaction from the other groups and some attacked us but Max, Sys and me were not sure if we should start the comeback or not! Sys thought it is better on the Amiga and went back to this machine. And we started to crack games again in the past we only cracked full price games, but due to the fact that the scene had changed we also had to change so we started to get new sources of originals. We had a lot of first releases and during a short period of 4 months we already were under the top three of all cracker and first release charts again. But since more and more American fixing groups stopped their activities and started to fix the games by our selves. Still nowadays when the most of the hack and phreak scene is dead we still call out and are running two of the major boards in the states and one of the best boards in Europe.
B)
Is it true that the complete name of AFL is Alpha flight 1970, because the founder was born in that very year, and was it you, or if not, who was it, and what with him?
M)
It is right that the full name is Alpha flight 1970 and the founder was born in this year, but it was not me. Since so much has happened through all my computer years I have forgotten a lot of names... puah I think I am getting old.
B)
Have you ever been in other groups than AFL? If yes, why, what groups and what has made join AFL? How have you started your scene-career?
M)
I started my scene career back in 1986 with a local friend, the name of the group was dynamic software cracking and we had not so much success. Later on master (ex member of Madonna Cracking Group) and I built 'ix' and then 'suspect' but again with no success. In 1988 I asked Sphinx if they need an original supplier but they refused, so I called an old friend of mine and he was to this time on the Amiga in AFL. I asked him if he knows a group for me and he said: 'hmm I will ask our leaders if they want to rebuild the 64'er section' and that was it. Some hours later I got a call from one of the leaders and all was cleared up. Since this time I am doing the organisation of AFL. But now Styx, Calypso and Ream are helping me out.
B)
You surely aren't known as a group jumper, have you ever thought of leaving alpha flight since you have come back in 1993?
M)
Yes one time, it was last year. The Amiga group 'hoodlum' asked us if we want to build the sixty four section for them. It was a very good offer in my and most of the members opinion, but we denied because one member was not interested to build up a new group (we have a very good friendship in the group!).
B)
One of the people who is very known for big efforts for your group, SKINHEAD, has been sort sacked from the main staff this year, is that because of his attempts to damage the group, by i.e. claiming Chotaire would have been kicked, or do you think that IGNORANCE surely one of your most valuable members simply has more skills than him. As Skinhead is in the army at the moment, this conflict seems to be not existent, as he couldn't do anything anyway, but what do you think is gonna happen when Jochen will have finished the army?
M)
Jochen finally managed it to stop his army service and now he must make his civil service. But Jochen lost the most of his interests for the computer because of time problems etc. And I see no problem with two good crackers here in Germany, if I have a first release I will give it to the cracker that I can reach first.
B)
During the years, AFL has almost been involved in any kind of scandal every month. What do you think is the reason for that? Are you simply not careful enough about what happens, or don't you care about things like that?
M)
That's right I think one reason is that we are the oldest group in the scene and that we say what we think. Many people don't like that. Another reason could be the very good friendship in the group. If someone got attacked the others stand behind their group mate. And maybe we are not careful enough, but we don't care what others think about us.
B)
Let's talk about some of the recent happenings, for instance your war with Dytec last year, as far as everybody knows, your group has been proven recracking Dytec's version of Lemmings, what is your statement about that?
M)
First don't forget that we had the official pal first release of Lemmings, TRC+SCS got it inside, but we beat them. And Skinhead is known for his good mail versions, so why he should recrack it from Dytec? And not to forget that they attacked us with out a single proof. This a another example that the scene is getting lamer and lamer. If you had attacked a group in the former days without a proof they other groups had not believe it, but today there is no friendship and the others believe all that what one group say (write) about another group. But I can repeat it again we don't care what others think about us.
B)
Is it true that the dude who used the handle "Pha q", who for example translated "Magic of Endoria" for you is no one else than RRR/Oxyron who lives almost next door to you?
M)
In fact "Pha q" was no one else than Dr. Death/ex-Paramount, who was in former days known as Breaker, too before he got caught by the cops. By the way, it was Dr. Death who taught RRR how to draw in 1988/89.
B)
AFL is also known for being "hosts" of famous boards in the states, just recently, Holiday Inn Cambodia went back online, how could you convince Pol Pot to become AFL HQ, as back in the years that board has always been an independent one?
M)
To this time we had no board in the states and I called HIC and asked Dave (Pol Pot) if he needs a group that will help him to support his board. He answered that Alpha Flight is a very good group and that he would join us but first I should ask Radar. Radar-modded the C*Base version from HIC, was the co-sysop and a good friend of Dave. I know Radar from the past and he agreed so from this time Holiday Inn Cambodia was the Alpha Flight WHQ after 3 years of independence.
B)
Which boards do you like most?
M)
I like Dream Park, Wares Aquarium, Holiday Inn Cambodia, The Evil Island and the Escapade because of the good action on the boards.
B)
What is your opinion about our Vandalism HQ DEADZONE? Don't you agree that is has become one of the very best ones since we have started taking care of it?
M)
Yes I must agree that Dead Zone is now a very good board since Onslaught support it, but don't forget that the scene has today only some elite boards left, so please keep up that good work.
B)
How long do YOU need to get a line on "that" pbx? or don't you bother using it at all?
M)
Finally the pbx is dead, after 1000 people use it. But I bet 100 DM that you don't know the story of this pbx, so I will tell to you: It was Max of Alpha Flight who hacked this pbx months ago and only 4 AFL member used it. 3 months was it our little secret but then max made a very big fault, he gave this pbx to a very good friend of us. And some weeks later this friend gave the pbx to another friend and so on. After only 2 weeks the line was only busy and the pbx died after the whole 64'er, Amiga and PC scene used it.
B)
Imagine all AFL members but you decided to quit the scene all of sudden. Please tell us what members of other groups you 'd like to make join the group so that the flight would never stop? think about crackers, coders, fixers, musicians, gfxers, boards, swappers, organizers, orrie suppliers, etc .
M)
Crackers: Jack Alien and Bacchus
Coders: TTS and Fuben (still the best)
Fixers: Peacemaker and Suicide
Musician: Syndrom
Graphician: RRR
Boards: Dream Park and Wares Aquarium
Swappers: Intruder, Spermbird, H-bloxx
Original Supplier: Deff and Nightshade
Organiser: Deff
B)
Why is the disk mag "Relax" not being released under AFL? Is that because if it was released under your label, you wouldn't be able to include AFL members, etc, in the mail charts?
M)
The Relax magazine was independent from the very beginning in 1989 because we in AFL were never interested in running a magazine under our label. This policy did not changed since 1989 until now, so why should we release it under AFL now?
B)
Relax has been released ages ago for a couple of issues, why have you stopped doing it, and what caused that major delay of the first come back issue? As far as I remember it was planned to be released in November of 1993, but it took a whole year to complete.
M)
We stopped releasing the Relax after Tom (Thomas) the other main editor quitted the scene in 1990, if I remember me right. And we got the idea to release the Relax again in early 1993, but because of our lame coders it took some months until we finished the first comeback issue. That was the main reason.
B)
What is your honest opinion about our disk mag VANDALISM NEWS and what could improve the text quality in your opinion?
M)
I my opinion the Vandalism News is a very good magazine, all in all you have nothing to improve. Keep up the good work dudes.
B)
What were your favourite mags "back in the days", and what magazines do you enjoy most these days… Please also tell us if there are any so called "mail magazines" that attract you?
M)
My favourite magazines from the past are Mamba, Magic News (Spitifre and I had a lot of fun!) and Corruption. And today my favourites are Propaganda, Domination and of course the Vandalism News. I quitted all my swap activities since I started my master exam so I can't say so much about the mail magazines, but I don't like them so much because of the old and mostly wrong information about the most groups.
B)
Well, we're about to reach the end of this interview... Please say what you think about the scene's future, do you plan to stay here forever? or may we see you in another scene, such as SNES, PC, Playstation, etc? Furthermore tell us about the future plans of both your so called real life and also your group.
M)
I think the 64'er scene will be dead in the next 2 or 3 years, the most companies stopped to sell things for this cool machine, but maybe ESCOM can try to keep the 64'er alive if they sell a lot of computers to the Eastern countries. Let's wait and see... I am not sure if I will stay till the end of this scene. After my exam I will start working in the firm of my farther again and then I have a lot of work to do, so I don't know if I have enough time for my computer activities. If yes maybe I will concentrate me a little bit on the Amiga, PC and the consoles like Playstation. And about the future of Alpha Flight I can only say that I don't know how long we will stay together. I hope till the end of the scene...
B)
Thanx a lot, Marc, at last you have a chance to send some "Fuck You's" to some people, and you may also send greets to some friends.. please do it now, and goodbye !
M)
Wow finally we reached the end of this interview. I will send some greets to (in no order!): Max (alter pimmel), RRR (yo irc freak), Sys, Ignorance (the crack good!), Styx (yo schnitzel), Ream, Calypso (greet your girlfriend), Arne, Skinhead (lazy bastard), Xenox, Chotaire, Zapotek, Shuze (yoho old pal), Blaze, Cryonic, Skid Row, Pol Pot (the IRC god), Ancient mariner (greets to Teresa), Mercenary, Rich, Swan song, Spider, Deff, Intruder, Jack alien, Suicide, Freestyle, Radar, Jim Novak, Splatterhead, Jazzcat, Vengeance, 2NY, Bizarre, Spectator, Vortex, Peacemaker, Curlin, Alchemist, Scatman, Jazzy D, Druid and to the forgotten ones. Okay Jose thanks for the good questions, see you on the boards.
Published in Vandalism News #27
Performed by Bizarre
This is my first interview I do for vandalism news, the dude who is actually being interviewed here, is known as leader and organiser of one of the most known and most famous groups in Germany and also all over the world. It is MARC / AFL . He is a bit older than 21 years old, currently not able to lead the group as much as he would like, because he is attending a kind of master school at the moment. This takes a lot of time of course and is more important than scene work.
B)
Marc, please add some facts about yourself that I missed out, but you think to be interesting for the public.
M)
My real name and handle is marc and I am 24 years old. My birthday is the 16th of January (presents are welcome! hehe). at the moment I have not so much time for my computer activities because I am doing my master exams (till the end of July! argh!) and the other reason is that I live together with my girl friend Silvia in the house of my parents (since some weeks) and so I have better things to do. hehe
B)
Please tell everything about the activities of AFL through out the years... from the very beginning to the latest days... also mention ,why you died in the early 90's but decided to make a comeback in autumn of 1993.
M)
Alpha flight is still the oldest group ever. Born in 1985 (if I remember me right) and always active on different computer systems like the Amiga, PC, consoles etc. in the beginning we had a lot of good coders and released a lot of good demos, tools and of course cracks. Later on we concentrated us mainly on cracking with a good success. We had lot of fun on the Venlo parties, private parties, but in 1991 Max, Sys and me (the leaders to this time) thought it is better to leave the scene. Christian and Martin did a lot of cracks and we said okay let's wait and see what will happen, but in June Alpha Flight was officially dead. Max, Sys and me are very good friends and visited a lot of parties and discos and touched no computer for more than 1.5 years. But then Sys and I bought an Amiga and we started a little bit on this machine with some old friends from the 64'er scene. Max followed us some weeks later. But the Amiga scene sucks, no friendship and so on. So one day I think it was in January of 1993 we had a little meeting at Sys' place, we saw some 64'er wares from RSI (Psychobilly and co) and thought 'oh no this lamer is now elite?' in the past we sold our original backups to him (Hysteric!). First we called the boards to see the reaction from the other groups and some attacked us but Max, Sys and me were not sure if we should start the comeback or not! Sys thought it is better on the Amiga and went back to this machine. And we started to crack games again in the past we only cracked full price games, but due to the fact that the scene had changed we also had to change so we started to get new sources of originals. We had a lot of first releases and during a short period of 4 months we already were under the top three of all cracker and first release charts again. But since more and more American fixing groups stopped their activities and started to fix the games by our selves. Still nowadays when the most of the hack and phreak scene is dead we still call out and are running two of the major boards in the states and one of the best boards in Europe.
B)
Is it true that the complete name of AFL is Alpha flight 1970, because the founder was born in that very year, and was it you, or if not, who was it, and what with him?
M)
It is right that the full name is Alpha flight 1970 and the founder was born in this year, but it was not me. Since so much has happened through all my computer years I have forgotten a lot of names... puah I think I am getting old.
B)
Have you ever been in other groups than AFL? If yes, why, what groups and what has made join AFL? How have you started your scene-career?
M)
I started my scene career back in 1986 with a local friend, the name of the group was dynamic software cracking and we had not so much success. Later on master (ex member of Madonna Cracking Group) and I built 'ix' and then 'suspect' but again with no success. In 1988 I asked Sphinx if they need an original supplier but they refused, so I called an old friend of mine and he was to this time on the Amiga in AFL. I asked him if he knows a group for me and he said: 'hmm I will ask our leaders if they want to rebuild the 64'er section' and that was it. Some hours later I got a call from one of the leaders and all was cleared up. Since this time I am doing the organisation of AFL. But now Styx, Calypso and Ream are helping me out.
B)
You surely aren't known as a group jumper, have you ever thought of leaving alpha flight since you have come back in 1993?
M)
Yes one time, it was last year. The Amiga group 'hoodlum' asked us if we want to build the sixty four section for them. It was a very good offer in my and most of the members opinion, but we denied because one member was not interested to build up a new group (we have a very good friendship in the group!).
B)
One of the people who is very known for big efforts for your group, SKINHEAD, has been sort sacked from the main staff this year, is that because of his attempts to damage the group, by i.e. claiming Chotaire would have been kicked, or do you think that IGNORANCE surely one of your most valuable members simply has more skills than him. As Skinhead is in the army at the moment, this conflict seems to be not existent, as he couldn't do anything anyway, but what do you think is gonna happen when Jochen will have finished the army?
M)
Jochen finally managed it to stop his army service and now he must make his civil service. But Jochen lost the most of his interests for the computer because of time problems etc. And I see no problem with two good crackers here in Germany, if I have a first release I will give it to the cracker that I can reach first.
B)
During the years, AFL has almost been involved in any kind of scandal every month. What do you think is the reason for that? Are you simply not careful enough about what happens, or don't you care about things like that?
M)
That's right I think one reason is that we are the oldest group in the scene and that we say what we think. Many people don't like that. Another reason could be the very good friendship in the group. If someone got attacked the others stand behind their group mate. And maybe we are not careful enough, but we don't care what others think about us.
B)
Let's talk about some of the recent happenings, for instance your war with Dytec last year, as far as everybody knows, your group has been proven recracking Dytec's version of Lemmings, what is your statement about that?
M)
First don't forget that we had the official pal first release of Lemmings, TRC+SCS got it inside, but we beat them. And Skinhead is known for his good mail versions, so why he should recrack it from Dytec? And not to forget that they attacked us with out a single proof. This a another example that the scene is getting lamer and lamer. If you had attacked a group in the former days without a proof they other groups had not believe it, but today there is no friendship and the others believe all that what one group say (write) about another group. But I can repeat it again we don't care what others think about us.
B)
Is it true that the dude who used the handle "Pha q", who for example translated "Magic of Endoria" for you is no one else than RRR/Oxyron who lives almost next door to you?
M)
In fact "Pha q" was no one else than Dr. Death/ex-Paramount, who was in former days known as Breaker, too before he got caught by the cops. By the way, it was Dr. Death who taught RRR how to draw in 1988/89.
B)
AFL is also known for being "hosts" of famous boards in the states, just recently, Holiday Inn Cambodia went back online, how could you convince Pol Pot to become AFL HQ, as back in the years that board has always been an independent one?
M)
To this time we had no board in the states and I called HIC and asked Dave (Pol Pot) if he needs a group that will help him to support his board. He answered that Alpha Flight is a very good group and that he would join us but first I should ask Radar. Radar-modded the C*Base version from HIC, was the co-sysop and a good friend of Dave. I know Radar from the past and he agreed so from this time Holiday Inn Cambodia was the Alpha Flight WHQ after 3 years of independence.
B)
Which boards do you like most?
M)
I like Dream Park, Wares Aquarium, Holiday Inn Cambodia, The Evil Island and the Escapade because of the good action on the boards.
B)
What is your opinion about our Vandalism HQ DEADZONE? Don't you agree that is has become one of the very best ones since we have started taking care of it?
M)
Yes I must agree that Dead Zone is now a very good board since Onslaught support it, but don't forget that the scene has today only some elite boards left, so please keep up that good work.
B)
How long do YOU need to get a line on "that" pbx? or don't you bother using it at all?
M)
Finally the pbx is dead, after 1000 people use it. But I bet 100 DM that you don't know the story of this pbx, so I will tell to you: It was Max of Alpha Flight who hacked this pbx months ago and only 4 AFL member used it. 3 months was it our little secret but then max made a very big fault, he gave this pbx to a very good friend of us. And some weeks later this friend gave the pbx to another friend and so on. After only 2 weeks the line was only busy and the pbx died after the whole 64'er, Amiga and PC scene used it.
B)
Imagine all AFL members but you decided to quit the scene all of sudden. Please tell us what members of other groups you 'd like to make join the group so that the flight would never stop? think about crackers, coders, fixers, musicians, gfxers, boards, swappers, organizers, orrie suppliers, etc .
M)
Crackers: Jack Alien and Bacchus
Coders: TTS and Fuben (still the best)
Fixers: Peacemaker and Suicide
Musician: Syndrom
Graphician: RRR
Boards: Dream Park and Wares Aquarium
Swappers: Intruder, Spermbird, H-bloxx
Original Supplier: Deff and Nightshade
Organiser: Deff
B)
Why is the disk mag "Relax" not being released under AFL? Is that because if it was released under your label, you wouldn't be able to include AFL members, etc, in the mail charts?
M)
The Relax magazine was independent from the very beginning in 1989 because we in AFL were never interested in running a magazine under our label. This policy did not changed since 1989 until now, so why should we release it under AFL now?
B)
Relax has been released ages ago for a couple of issues, why have you stopped doing it, and what caused that major delay of the first come back issue? As far as I remember it was planned to be released in November of 1993, but it took a whole year to complete.
M)
We stopped releasing the Relax after Tom (Thomas) the other main editor quitted the scene in 1990, if I remember me right. And we got the idea to release the Relax again in early 1993, but because of our lame coders it took some months until we finished the first comeback issue. That was the main reason.
B)
What is your honest opinion about our disk mag VANDALISM NEWS and what could improve the text quality in your opinion?
M)
I my opinion the Vandalism News is a very good magazine, all in all you have nothing to improve. Keep up the good work dudes.
B)
What were your favourite mags "back in the days", and what magazines do you enjoy most these days… Please also tell us if there are any so called "mail magazines" that attract you?
M)
My favourite magazines from the past are Mamba, Magic News (Spitifre and I had a lot of fun!) and Corruption. And today my favourites are Propaganda, Domination and of course the Vandalism News. I quitted all my swap activities since I started my master exam so I can't say so much about the mail magazines, but I don't like them so much because of the old and mostly wrong information about the most groups.
B)
Well, we're about to reach the end of this interview... Please say what you think about the scene's future, do you plan to stay here forever? or may we see you in another scene, such as SNES, PC, Playstation, etc? Furthermore tell us about the future plans of both your so called real life and also your group.
M)
I think the 64'er scene will be dead in the next 2 or 3 years, the most companies stopped to sell things for this cool machine, but maybe ESCOM can try to keep the 64'er alive if they sell a lot of computers to the Eastern countries. Let's wait and see... I am not sure if I will stay till the end of this scene. After my exam I will start working in the firm of my farther again and then I have a lot of work to do, so I don't know if I have enough time for my computer activities. If yes maybe I will concentrate me a little bit on the Amiga, PC and the consoles like Playstation. And about the future of Alpha Flight I can only say that I don't know how long we will stay together. I hope till the end of the scene...
B)
Thanx a lot, Marc, at last you have a chance to send some "Fuck You's" to some people, and you may also send greets to some friends.. please do it now, and goodbye !
M)
Wow finally we reached the end of this interview. I will send some greets to (in no order!): Max (alter pimmel), RRR (yo irc freak), Sys, Ignorance (the crack good!), Styx (yo schnitzel), Ream, Calypso (greet your girlfriend), Arne, Skinhead (lazy bastard), Xenox, Chotaire, Zapotek, Shuze (yoho old pal), Blaze, Cryonic, Skid Row, Pol Pot (the IRC god), Ancient mariner (greets to Teresa), Mercenary, Rich, Swan song, Spider, Deff, Intruder, Jack alien, Suicide, Freestyle, Radar, Jim Novak, Splatterhead, Jazzcat, Vengeance, 2NY, Bizarre, Spectator, Vortex, Peacemaker, Curlin, Alchemist, Scatman, Jazzy D, Druid and to the forgotten ones. Okay Jose thanks for the good questions, see you on the boards.