Interviews
Interview with Slaygon
Published in Vandalism News #31
Performed by Jazzcat
J)
Welcome to the magazine, as normal with interviews, introduce yourself to the audience..
S)
I am Slaygon. I've been a member of Censor (formerly Censor Design) almost since the beginning. I joined them a couple of months after they were formed. I live in Sweden. I am also the creator of http://www.c64.org/ and maintainer of c64.org in general.
J)
I have not heard any new C64 music from you in quite a while, will you be performing again or do you focus on other platforms now?
S)
Actually, I kind of lost interest in making music a while back when I was coding my editor (CensorEd). I wrote it in Turbo Assembler, and we all know the limitations of that editor. I simply ran out of lines to write more code. My main passion was to improve my editor and experiment with it. That's where all my tunes comes from. Simply experiments testing new features in my editor. For a while, I tried to hack together an assemblator for Linux and cross compile for the c64 and then transfer the resulting code to the c64. Didn't really have the time to spend on that project, so I simply moved on doing other things.
J)
Anything the public have not seen of the CensorEd yet? and how many tunes have you made in it?
S)
Lots. Not many people have seen CensorEd. I never got around to release it (the plan was to release version 1.7, but the development of that version stopped when I ran out of lines to write more code in Turbo Assembler). I have done a few more unreleased tunes in CensorEd (i.e. unreleased= not in HVSC). Before I wrote my own editor/player, I wrote quite a lot of music in Groovy Music (by Karl XII). Just a few of them has gone public.
J)
What projects have you been involved with in Censor/Censor Design and which is your personal favourite?
S)
Mostly utilities and stuff. I've written a couple of demo parts, but I never got around to actually spend the time it would take to make a good part. Other projects would be the Notemaker me and Unifier did. It actually featured a very good editor. The funnies thing I've ever produced must be the demo we did at Light's party at Bålstad, which we called 'Bålstadsläppet'. It featured two parts. The intro contained a couple of K's scroll text from Karl XII, where he talked about the injustice for poets. It wasn't a very funny demo to look at, but it was very funny coding it.
J)
What’s the other Censor members up to these days?
S)
I am working, together with Geggin, as a programmer, designing games running over Internet. Bob and CRT works as programmers as well. Bob was a member of the team that developed 'Codename Eagle' that was released a while back and CRT won some kind of award for best 3'rd party product for NT recently. Danko is working in his music store and producing music (how unexpected ;). Codex is working as some kind of CAD guru nowadays. Unfortunately, I don't have too much contact with the rest of Censor.
J)
Nice to see you are still working with some of the same crew! Your time before Censor Design, when did you first enter the scene and what groups have you been in?
S)
Before Censor, I was in Triad like most of Censor’s members. I released one demo for them. That was in... um... 89 I think. Before that, I was only in one group. It was called Eltronic from the beginning, but we changed the name to Shining after a while. Don't ask me why. ;)
J)
Always the same handle? Does it have a personal meaning?
S)
Always the same handle, yes. No special meaning other than it's mine. ;)
J)
Check the completed version of Bouncy Balls by BOB, Creeper and co?
S)
You mean, have I seen the game ?
J) Yes. :)
S) Not the complete game. I played the preview yesterday. :)
J)
Can you tell the readers more about c64.org, some of the homepages that are on it, and what has will be in store for the future?
S)
c64.org is my contribution to the c64 scene. The original plan was to find a way to gather as many sceners as possible under the same domain name to make it easier to remember their mail addresses. I would say that it's been a success. I now host around 550 email redirects. Future plans for c64.org include a community like thing (I hate communities myself, but since that's a so well worked in name, I prefer to call it that so everybody knows what I am talking about), in which you will be able to communicate directly with the other users at c64.org via newsgroup type of things, add news for display at the main page for www.c64.org etc. I haven't decided exactly what features there will be, but I guess that's something I will discover when I start using it myself.
J)
Who is your favourite musicians on C64 and why?
S)
I like Danko for his originality, Jeroen Tel for his technically perfected songs, Bjerregaard for no particular reason, and of course Rob Hubbard for the geniuosly composed melodies. There are a bunch of other composers I like a lot as well. One of those is Link from Vibrants. I simply love his songs.
J)
Danko was recently involved in the Back In Time CD project by HighTech Publishing, checked the new one or the prequel yet? and if so, what is your general opinion on them.
S)
Unfortunately I have not heard the Back In Time CD.
J)
Order it some time, sure is nice to see what can be done with the original old sids on C64. Ever did anything in the cracking scene before? during the time of Censor Design perhaps?
Never cracked a game in my life. It seemed so boring to do that. I was more in to creating stuff on my own.
J)
Back to composing, how many tunes do you think you have completed and which one did you spend the longest time working on?
S)
I've completed about 50 tunes. Most of them started as experiments to try out new features of my editor. Others, which were made in other editors, I never really got around to finish. I guess 'Calm' was the tune that took the longest to complete. It's kind of emotional for me. I wrote it when I was missing a person a lot. The tune that took most effort to finish was 'Swing it'. I wrote it for an intro I was supposed to do for our demo at the Censor party here in Gothenburg '90. I found other, more urgent things to do instead. *grin*
J)
What did you think of the "Album of the Year" collection organized by myself some time ago?
S)
I think it's a wonderful idea. Unfortunately I have neither heard anything from it, nor seen any list over what tunes it includes.
J)
Well I am "DCCing" it to you now. Enjoy it! What is your ideas on demo design and style or with the presentation of any project?
S)
My primary goal has always been to make a good first impression. It doesn't necessarily mean the best code, graphics or music. It's about the full picture.
J)
Ever have any disagreements with any sceners or C64 related people or groups?
S)
Not personally, but the groups I've been involved in has. I try, once again, to be creative and create something instead of wrecking stuff.
J)
How has the internet changed your computer activities?
S)
In all ways possible.
J)
Feel free to say hello to anyone you know out there in C64 Land...
S)
I would like to say hi to a guy that long ago quit the c64 scene. Codex, if you ever stumble across this, you should know that you were the primary reason for me to even start coding. Boy, did we have fun. Danko, love you man. Bob, we -really- should see each other more often. CRT, you've been my inspiration more often than you know. Karl XII, 'Spectrafotometerdisk'... Var faen fick du det ifran? Geggin, oh well. We can do this IRL. Just thought I'd say you have my deepest respect.
J)
Any final words for the readers?
S)
Actually, yes. When I quit the scene some time '91, I thought the 64 was dead. Boy, was I wrong? I am very happy that I have been able to contribute to the scene by providing c64.org. I am also very happy about the fact that people are still doing stuff on their 64's.
J)
Thanks for your time and keep up the excellent work on c64.org!
S)
Thank you yourself. As I said earlier, there will be lots more for people to do at c64.org in the future. Make sure to check in from time to time and see what's new. -- /Slaygon
Published in Vandalism News #31
Performed by Jazzcat
J)
Welcome to the magazine, as normal with interviews, introduce yourself to the audience..
S)
I am Slaygon. I've been a member of Censor (formerly Censor Design) almost since the beginning. I joined them a couple of months after they were formed. I live in Sweden. I am also the creator of http://www.c64.org/ and maintainer of c64.org in general.
J)
I have not heard any new C64 music from you in quite a while, will you be performing again or do you focus on other platforms now?
S)
Actually, I kind of lost interest in making music a while back when I was coding my editor (CensorEd). I wrote it in Turbo Assembler, and we all know the limitations of that editor. I simply ran out of lines to write more code. My main passion was to improve my editor and experiment with it. That's where all my tunes comes from. Simply experiments testing new features in my editor. For a while, I tried to hack together an assemblator for Linux and cross compile for the c64 and then transfer the resulting code to the c64. Didn't really have the time to spend on that project, so I simply moved on doing other things.
J)
Anything the public have not seen of the CensorEd yet? and how many tunes have you made in it?
S)
Lots. Not many people have seen CensorEd. I never got around to release it (the plan was to release version 1.7, but the development of that version stopped when I ran out of lines to write more code in Turbo Assembler). I have done a few more unreleased tunes in CensorEd (i.e. unreleased= not in HVSC). Before I wrote my own editor/player, I wrote quite a lot of music in Groovy Music (by Karl XII). Just a few of them has gone public.
J)
What projects have you been involved with in Censor/Censor Design and which is your personal favourite?
S)
Mostly utilities and stuff. I've written a couple of demo parts, but I never got around to actually spend the time it would take to make a good part. Other projects would be the Notemaker me and Unifier did. It actually featured a very good editor. The funnies thing I've ever produced must be the demo we did at Light's party at Bålstad, which we called 'Bålstadsläppet'. It featured two parts. The intro contained a couple of K's scroll text from Karl XII, where he talked about the injustice for poets. It wasn't a very funny demo to look at, but it was very funny coding it.
J)
What’s the other Censor members up to these days?
S)
I am working, together with Geggin, as a programmer, designing games running over Internet. Bob and CRT works as programmers as well. Bob was a member of the team that developed 'Codename Eagle' that was released a while back and CRT won some kind of award for best 3'rd party product for NT recently. Danko is working in his music store and producing music (how unexpected ;). Codex is working as some kind of CAD guru nowadays. Unfortunately, I don't have too much contact with the rest of Censor.
J)
Nice to see you are still working with some of the same crew! Your time before Censor Design, when did you first enter the scene and what groups have you been in?
S)
Before Censor, I was in Triad like most of Censor’s members. I released one demo for them. That was in... um... 89 I think. Before that, I was only in one group. It was called Eltronic from the beginning, but we changed the name to Shining after a while. Don't ask me why. ;)
J)
Always the same handle? Does it have a personal meaning?
S)
Always the same handle, yes. No special meaning other than it's mine. ;)
J)
Check the completed version of Bouncy Balls by BOB, Creeper and co?
S)
You mean, have I seen the game ?
J) Yes. :)
S) Not the complete game. I played the preview yesterday. :)
J)
Can you tell the readers more about c64.org, some of the homepages that are on it, and what has will be in store for the future?
S)
c64.org is my contribution to the c64 scene. The original plan was to find a way to gather as many sceners as possible under the same domain name to make it easier to remember their mail addresses. I would say that it's been a success. I now host around 550 email redirects. Future plans for c64.org include a community like thing (I hate communities myself, but since that's a so well worked in name, I prefer to call it that so everybody knows what I am talking about), in which you will be able to communicate directly with the other users at c64.org via newsgroup type of things, add news for display at the main page for www.c64.org etc. I haven't decided exactly what features there will be, but I guess that's something I will discover when I start using it myself.
J)
Who is your favourite musicians on C64 and why?
S)
I like Danko for his originality, Jeroen Tel for his technically perfected songs, Bjerregaard for no particular reason, and of course Rob Hubbard for the geniuosly composed melodies. There are a bunch of other composers I like a lot as well. One of those is Link from Vibrants. I simply love his songs.
J)
Danko was recently involved in the Back In Time CD project by HighTech Publishing, checked the new one or the prequel yet? and if so, what is your general opinion on them.
S)
Unfortunately I have not heard the Back In Time CD.
J)
Order it some time, sure is nice to see what can be done with the original old sids on C64. Ever did anything in the cracking scene before? during the time of Censor Design perhaps?
Never cracked a game in my life. It seemed so boring to do that. I was more in to creating stuff on my own.
J)
Back to composing, how many tunes do you think you have completed and which one did you spend the longest time working on?
S)
I've completed about 50 tunes. Most of them started as experiments to try out new features of my editor. Others, which were made in other editors, I never really got around to finish. I guess 'Calm' was the tune that took the longest to complete. It's kind of emotional for me. I wrote it when I was missing a person a lot. The tune that took most effort to finish was 'Swing it'. I wrote it for an intro I was supposed to do for our demo at the Censor party here in Gothenburg '90. I found other, more urgent things to do instead. *grin*
J)
What did you think of the "Album of the Year" collection organized by myself some time ago?
S)
I think it's a wonderful idea. Unfortunately I have neither heard anything from it, nor seen any list over what tunes it includes.
J)
Well I am "DCCing" it to you now. Enjoy it! What is your ideas on demo design and style or with the presentation of any project?
S)
My primary goal has always been to make a good first impression. It doesn't necessarily mean the best code, graphics or music. It's about the full picture.
J)
Ever have any disagreements with any sceners or C64 related people or groups?
S)
Not personally, but the groups I've been involved in has. I try, once again, to be creative and create something instead of wrecking stuff.
J)
How has the internet changed your computer activities?
S)
In all ways possible.
J)
Feel free to say hello to anyone you know out there in C64 Land...
S)
I would like to say hi to a guy that long ago quit the c64 scene. Codex, if you ever stumble across this, you should know that you were the primary reason for me to even start coding. Boy, did we have fun. Danko, love you man. Bob, we -really- should see each other more often. CRT, you've been my inspiration more often than you know. Karl XII, 'Spectrafotometerdisk'... Var faen fick du det ifran? Geggin, oh well. We can do this IRL. Just thought I'd say you have my deepest respect.
J)
Any final words for the readers?
S)
Actually, yes. When I quit the scene some time '91, I thought the 64 was dead. Boy, was I wrong? I am very happy that I have been able to contribute to the scene by providing c64.org. I am also very happy about the fact that people are still doing stuff on their 64's.
J)
Thanks for your time and keep up the excellent work on c64.org!
S)
Thank you yourself. As I said earlier, there will be lots more for people to do at c64.org in the future. Make sure to check in from time to time and see what's new. -- /Slaygon