Interviews
Interview with Gene
Published in Domination #14
Performed by Jazzcat
In our line-up of interviews for this edition I present a legendary scener from the good old days of first release cracking and the boards! His name is Gene and he has been ATC, BROS, Deadline, Illusion and more.
Loved by some, hated by others, he has also contributed to some of the famous quality publications, such as SHOCK and MAMBA.
J)
Greetings Gene! Nice to see you still are scouting out the scene, where have you been?
G)
I joined the PC-scene and Razor 1911 in 1992. After some time I got caught for abusing AT&Ts. The police confiscated all my gear, but even though they also got several hundred CCs, they didn't have the necessary knowledge to bring the case to trial. All the other people in Norway who got caught were convicted and fined, but I was the only one who denied all charges. Hence I got my 386-sx16 back in 95 or so? Except for that, I've been working in several Norwegian media. Now I am working full time in one of Norway's biggest newspapers. Guess my career started when I began writing for Mamba and Sh0ck ?
J)
Shock was one of my favourite mags, I liked the selection of editors from various competing cracking groups, making the reading more neutral. Could you tell us a bit about your C64 history?
G)
I joined the scene around 85. So long ago, I'm not sure.. But I was getting elite while 1001, Danish Gold, Headbanger, TMC and FCS were still around. I worked in a computer shop and met Firkin who knew a little about cracking.
After some time we got in touch with the group Jazzcat. They gave us their originals the day after they'd cracked them and supplied us with addresses to the biggest crackers on the scene. After some time we started getting new originals ourselves, and started trading with several great groups.
I still remember getting a reply from Mr. Zeropage, DG and several other top elites. I was computer high for about a month! At that time we were called The Guardians Inc. We managed to get a game called Bedlam weeks before it was due for release. Then we started hitting the number one spot on several cool greeting lists, like Beastie Boys and ACE. Coco from ACE called me, and asked if we wanted to join them. We did, and then we were really rocking. When Coco slowed down, we joined BROS together with Bambam, Paco and some other guys. This must have been around 88.
American's had sent me several modems at that time, and I started modem trading on a nice 300 baud modem. Later they shipped several 1200s and Supra 2400s. Firkin and I quit the scene for a while. We came back like 6 months later, and joined Illusion.
I was the only one using a modem in the group, so I hooked us up with Exodus, which was the best group I ever traded with. To make a long story short - we made a coop with ATC, I joined Deadline, I joined Dominators, and finally came back where I belonged - Illusion.
J)
The times of Illusion must have been fun. Being active together with the likes of Derbyshire Ram, Sauron and NME to name a few. Was this your favourite time in the scene?
G)
The Illusion time was the best, of course. But the biggest kick was when I got elite over night. Just opening the mailbox, finding parcels from the top elites. That was a rush!
J)
The comeback of Legend was very promising, but ended prematurely in my opinion. Before this time you had not been in a scene group for a while, what made you decide to rejoin the group scene?
G)
Just for fun. I have no idea why they wanted me in the group. I didn't even have a C64. But whatever, I figured I could get into some cool wars ?
J)
What ever happened to Westbam, PWP, Uncle D (Dave), XXX and other members of LEGEND?
G)
Dunno. But their mothers are right here under my desk.
J)
Haha. Most old-school sceners from the cracking scene have been involved in a war one way or another. What were some of the bigger wars you witnessed or were involved in and what were they like?
G)
I was always at war with Legend. Dunno why. Guess they were as bigheaded as myself. But the coolest war ever was against Dominators.
I checked Booze's password on the Forum, and tried the same password at their HQ. And it worked. I was in one hell of a war with them at the time. And seeing all their messages like "Damn, Gene beats us. What shall we do?", "I need help he's wrecking me on 2nd to None" etc.., was a kick! Especially after I buffered all the messages. I simply wrote "You do agree that I wreck you?" They wrote no fucking way. And then I published all the posts... Not nice, but great fun! There were so many wars, I can't remember a tenth of them. In one of the shock issues, I was voted both most liked and most hated European.
J)
Okay, brainstorm time, write what comes to your mind first when I say:
GOLDFISH - Big ego, ugly. Nice mom though.
SPITFIRE - Never had a problem with him.
LAMER - 95 percent of the scene.
NO CARRIER - The terrible problems I had connecting to any board and doing punter transfers before Pudwerx fixed an AT-string.
TYREE - I barely remember the name.
GENESIS*PROJECT - Had some very cool members. But were never any good.
J)
What release impressed you most on C64?
G)
Hat Trick - simple but great fun!
J)
Magazines have influenced the scene for many years. How would you describe the ideal magazine for the C64 scene and what involvement have you had with them in the past?
G)
I used to work for both Sh0ck and Mamba. Mags are great fun. But you forgot Illegal. If you want to learn your C64 history, dig up some issues of Illegal! I must mention that most mags suck though.
J)
What are some of your favourite scene memories over the past 10 years?
G)
Have mentioned the wars already. The conferences with crazy Americans calling me in the middle of the night, hooking me up with people we could wreck, now that was damn fun. And the friends I made... I have mentioned them all in "In Media Res", go look there. And when I got into The Forum. It was a private BBS with only 16 users. I was the first European who was invited to join the board - they even had a vote if they should let on a European. A year later every nerd and his mom got on.
J)
That is like IRC #c-64 these days, but still good to have the memories. What are your hobbies outside the scene and how would you describe the average day of your life?
G)
Soccer, beer and work. Yup, when you're a reporter, works actually fun. You get to rag on people all the time ? And there is no average day.
J)
What are your all-time favourites -
DEMO GROUP: 1001 Crew + USA-Team
PROGRAMMER: Honey/1001 Crew
MUSICIAN: Hubbard
GRAPHICIAN: Gotcha
GAME: Hat Trick
CRACKING GROUP: ILS, ESI, Ikari
CRACKER: Pudwerx, Sauron, Mr. Z, Janitor, Nik
IMPORTING GROUP: Exodus, ATC, Conquest (Instinct!)
BBS: The Forum
NTSC FIXER: Stormbringer
MUSIC GROUP: Me, singing in the shower
MOVIE: Jazzcat and his two mothers ?
J)
What is your view on the internet and how it has changed the way computer sceners and people communicate and produce?
G)
Well, I use the net every day at work. Mail, finding sources and stories.... The net is a revolution.
J)
How would you describe the differences between scene personalities in the DEMO scene and CRACKING scene?
G)
Back in the good old days, the people who ran a demo group did it because they couldn't get fast originals. We laughed at them. Now I really dunno. Ah well, yeah, you still suck ?
J)
Only your mother? What does the future hold for you and the scene?
G)
Not much. Dropping by the 64 channel on IRC from time to time.
J)
You should try connect to Spankerz Heaven now and then too!? Okay, now here is some room to say hello to any friends or acquaintances...
G)
Hello bitches. I miss some of you. Read the greeting list in In Media Res.
J)
Well thanks for your time and I hope you've enjoyed this interview. Any last comments to the audience?
G)
I'm still a fucking pain in the ass. Whatever.
Gene - The One You Worship
Published in Domination #14
Performed by Jazzcat
In our line-up of interviews for this edition I present a legendary scener from the good old days of first release cracking and the boards! His name is Gene and he has been ATC, BROS, Deadline, Illusion and more.
Loved by some, hated by others, he has also contributed to some of the famous quality publications, such as SHOCK and MAMBA.
J)
Greetings Gene! Nice to see you still are scouting out the scene, where have you been?
G)
I joined the PC-scene and Razor 1911 in 1992. After some time I got caught for abusing AT&Ts. The police confiscated all my gear, but even though they also got several hundred CCs, they didn't have the necessary knowledge to bring the case to trial. All the other people in Norway who got caught were convicted and fined, but I was the only one who denied all charges. Hence I got my 386-sx16 back in 95 or so? Except for that, I've been working in several Norwegian media. Now I am working full time in one of Norway's biggest newspapers. Guess my career started when I began writing for Mamba and Sh0ck ?
J)
Shock was one of my favourite mags, I liked the selection of editors from various competing cracking groups, making the reading more neutral. Could you tell us a bit about your C64 history?
G)
I joined the scene around 85. So long ago, I'm not sure.. But I was getting elite while 1001, Danish Gold, Headbanger, TMC and FCS were still around. I worked in a computer shop and met Firkin who knew a little about cracking.
After some time we got in touch with the group Jazzcat. They gave us their originals the day after they'd cracked them and supplied us with addresses to the biggest crackers on the scene. After some time we started getting new originals ourselves, and started trading with several great groups.
I still remember getting a reply from Mr. Zeropage, DG and several other top elites. I was computer high for about a month! At that time we were called The Guardians Inc. We managed to get a game called Bedlam weeks before it was due for release. Then we started hitting the number one spot on several cool greeting lists, like Beastie Boys and ACE. Coco from ACE called me, and asked if we wanted to join them. We did, and then we were really rocking. When Coco slowed down, we joined BROS together with Bambam, Paco and some other guys. This must have been around 88.
American's had sent me several modems at that time, and I started modem trading on a nice 300 baud modem. Later they shipped several 1200s and Supra 2400s. Firkin and I quit the scene for a while. We came back like 6 months later, and joined Illusion.
I was the only one using a modem in the group, so I hooked us up with Exodus, which was the best group I ever traded with. To make a long story short - we made a coop with ATC, I joined Deadline, I joined Dominators, and finally came back where I belonged - Illusion.
J)
The times of Illusion must have been fun. Being active together with the likes of Derbyshire Ram, Sauron and NME to name a few. Was this your favourite time in the scene?
G)
The Illusion time was the best, of course. But the biggest kick was when I got elite over night. Just opening the mailbox, finding parcels from the top elites. That was a rush!
J)
The comeback of Legend was very promising, but ended prematurely in my opinion. Before this time you had not been in a scene group for a while, what made you decide to rejoin the group scene?
G)
Just for fun. I have no idea why they wanted me in the group. I didn't even have a C64. But whatever, I figured I could get into some cool wars ?
J)
What ever happened to Westbam, PWP, Uncle D (Dave), XXX and other members of LEGEND?
G)
Dunno. But their mothers are right here under my desk.
J)
Haha. Most old-school sceners from the cracking scene have been involved in a war one way or another. What were some of the bigger wars you witnessed or were involved in and what were they like?
G)
I was always at war with Legend. Dunno why. Guess they were as bigheaded as myself. But the coolest war ever was against Dominators.
I checked Booze's password on the Forum, and tried the same password at their HQ. And it worked. I was in one hell of a war with them at the time. And seeing all their messages like "Damn, Gene beats us. What shall we do?", "I need help he's wrecking me on 2nd to None" etc.., was a kick! Especially after I buffered all the messages. I simply wrote "You do agree that I wreck you?" They wrote no fucking way. And then I published all the posts... Not nice, but great fun! There were so many wars, I can't remember a tenth of them. In one of the shock issues, I was voted both most liked and most hated European.
J)
Okay, brainstorm time, write what comes to your mind first when I say:
GOLDFISH - Big ego, ugly. Nice mom though.
SPITFIRE - Never had a problem with him.
LAMER - 95 percent of the scene.
NO CARRIER - The terrible problems I had connecting to any board and doing punter transfers before Pudwerx fixed an AT-string.
TYREE - I barely remember the name.
GENESIS*PROJECT - Had some very cool members. But were never any good.
J)
What release impressed you most on C64?
G)
Hat Trick - simple but great fun!
J)
Magazines have influenced the scene for many years. How would you describe the ideal magazine for the C64 scene and what involvement have you had with them in the past?
G)
I used to work for both Sh0ck and Mamba. Mags are great fun. But you forgot Illegal. If you want to learn your C64 history, dig up some issues of Illegal! I must mention that most mags suck though.
J)
What are some of your favourite scene memories over the past 10 years?
G)
Have mentioned the wars already. The conferences with crazy Americans calling me in the middle of the night, hooking me up with people we could wreck, now that was damn fun. And the friends I made... I have mentioned them all in "In Media Res", go look there. And when I got into The Forum. It was a private BBS with only 16 users. I was the first European who was invited to join the board - they even had a vote if they should let on a European. A year later every nerd and his mom got on.
J)
That is like IRC #c-64 these days, but still good to have the memories. What are your hobbies outside the scene and how would you describe the average day of your life?
G)
Soccer, beer and work. Yup, when you're a reporter, works actually fun. You get to rag on people all the time ? And there is no average day.
J)
What are your all-time favourites -
DEMO GROUP: 1001 Crew + USA-Team
PROGRAMMER: Honey/1001 Crew
MUSICIAN: Hubbard
GRAPHICIAN: Gotcha
GAME: Hat Trick
CRACKING GROUP: ILS, ESI, Ikari
CRACKER: Pudwerx, Sauron, Mr. Z, Janitor, Nik
IMPORTING GROUP: Exodus, ATC, Conquest (Instinct!)
BBS: The Forum
NTSC FIXER: Stormbringer
MUSIC GROUP: Me, singing in the shower
MOVIE: Jazzcat and his two mothers ?
J)
What is your view on the internet and how it has changed the way computer sceners and people communicate and produce?
G)
Well, I use the net every day at work. Mail, finding sources and stories.... The net is a revolution.
J)
How would you describe the differences between scene personalities in the DEMO scene and CRACKING scene?
G)
Back in the good old days, the people who ran a demo group did it because they couldn't get fast originals. We laughed at them. Now I really dunno. Ah well, yeah, you still suck ?
J)
Only your mother? What does the future hold for you and the scene?
G)
Not much. Dropping by the 64 channel on IRC from time to time.
J)
You should try connect to Spankerz Heaven now and then too!? Okay, now here is some room to say hello to any friends or acquaintances...
G)
Hello bitches. I miss some of you. Read the greeting list in In Media Res.
J)
Well thanks for your time and I hope you've enjoyed this interview. Any last comments to the audience?
G)
I'm still a fucking pain in the ass. Whatever.
Gene - The One You Worship