TW #17 — Interview with AmusiC (Popcorn)
Popcorn — signing as "TraxWeekly Editor" of "Hornet.TraxWeekly.MC3" — talks on IRC with amusic of Bass Productions in Athens, two months before AmusiC started the 20-minute-chip-compo. Half of the log is about the Athens earthquake AmusiC had just reported live on #trax; the rest is his short scene history and his Amiga-first taste. No real name is printed (the 20mc column gives Sotiris Varotsis: s-tw032-20-minute-chip-compo).
Key claims#
- AmusiC lives in Athens, Greece; started tracking one year earlier (mid-1994) and joined a local group, OCT — "nothing important, but we were united", and being in a group "gave me inspiration". He then subscribed to traxweekly, read a Bass Productions advert looking for members, sent music to Sirrus ("the guy who has the final word in Bass") and joined a month later; about ten tunes under the Bass name since. He also united "local and loyal Amiga users in Athens" under one group; he is in three groups and may co-operate with Enigma (whose base coder TML and Dark Avenger are Greek); five tunes are due in July 1995.
- Greece: a demo party "some months ago" and "a big one" planned for October 1995; "we are trying to grow our demo scene".
- Style: "not addicted to a style … it depends on my mood" — lately reggae and mellow mods; plays the piano; "I don't IRC much, I mostly compose or play the piano". Listens to whatever the radio offers, and to mods.
- Favourite composers, "mostly Amiga people": Jester/Sanity, Lizard/Spaceballs, Mr.Man/Andromeda, Dizzy/CNCD, and Jogeir Liljedahl (Guitar Slinger "his most famous one, but he has more" — Popcorn has 50 of his tunes); found on Aminet and in Amiga demos. Lately Zalt's tunes, and the one necros tune he has heard.
- Popcorn: in Canada, makes
.s3mfiles (one finished, another in progress), keeps a 15 MB log of #trax from which he quotes AmusiC's earthquake lines (a 6.2 Richter quake at 4 a.m., about 15 seconds); suggests AmusiC join kosmic, "I don't think they have anyone from Greece".
Practical takeaways#
- The Amiga canon as a 1995 PC tracker heard it: Jester, Lizard, Mr.Man, Dizzy, Jogeir Liljedahl — on Aminet.
- Groups recruited through TraxWeekly adverts; sending a few tunes to the group's head was the application.
Notable quotes#
- "modeming is surely a disease" — AmusiC.
- "I only watch TV when I'm IRCing" — AmusiC.
Relevance#
Background on the organiser of the 20 Minute Chip Compo shortly before he started it; Popcorn as TraxWeekly's editor in July 1995 (he also signs as MC3); a Greek and Amiga-rooted view of the scene for tracker-scene-history.
Pages touched#
amusic, 20-minute-chip-compo, traxweekly, hornet, kosmic, necros, tracker-scene-history.