TW #54 — Interview with Saxy (XX)
Kal Zakath (jtown; Inferno and traxweekly) interviews saxy, a saxophonist two months into tracking and a member of XX, "the scene's only all-female musicgroup", after her first tune Symphony in her Mind. His preface admits that interviews — "our original focus back in the 'faces in the crowd' days" — had been neglected for reviews. The IRC log was lightly edited.
Key claims#
- Courtney Risch, 18, English/political-science student at Western Maryland College; member of XX with Skie, Ms. Saigon and Pandorra — "a music group for now, but we hope to find a female coder someday". The idea was Ms. Saigon's and Skie's. "There are only four North American girls active, as far as we know"; a group of girls entered a demo at The Gathering 1996.
- Got in through Ms. Saigon, who lives in her college suite, showed her demos and gave her fasttracker-2; first demo seen in September 1995, tracking from February 1996, "full swing" once she was on IRC.
- Likes orchestral composers best; also necros, Siren and basehead.
- The tracker vs paper: "you get to hear it, and the tracker does the bar lines and measures for you"; unlike the piano "you can hear the way everything sounds together". Hardest part: "getting ideas and finding good samples". Strengths: arpeggios and orchestral writing; weaknesses: synthesizer sounds and percussion. Her synth attempts "always sound like cheesy rip-offs", so orchestral is her niche — Kal Zakath: "That's why Skaven is #1 in the Imphobia charts."
- Her first song was an idea from 1993 she had failed to write on paper and kept in her head.
- Being a girl on #trax: "very readily received into the 'family'"; "I've got just as much legit reason for being there as anyone else".
- NAID 1996: she will enter the music compo with a piece dreamed the night before and tapped out on the piano — a vocal piece, vocals omitted for the compo but to be released with lyrics later. The 1995 NAID played all entries; 1996 introduces a 5–7 person preselection jury choosing 20 songs, and (per Mr. Khan, not yet definite) a vote only partly public, the rest jury ratings. Saxy: unfair — "more room for the panel's prejudices". Also working on a Music Contest 4 entry.
- Nick from ten years of baritone and alto saxophone.
Practical takeaways#
- For a player of a single-line instrument, the tracker's value is hearing all the parts at once and free bar lines.
- The 1996 party-compo machinery: jury preselection to 20, mixed jury/public vote (see compos).
Notable quotes#
- "The tracker does the bar lines and measures for you." — Saxy.
Relevance#
A newcomer's first two months, the composition of XX, a rare mention of vocals in modules, and the clearest description in the archive of NAID 96's preselection and voting rules — plus an editorial note on how "Faces In The Crowd" had drifted toward reviews by April 1996.
Pages touched#
saxy, kal-zakath, fasttracker-2, compos, tracking-workflow, traxweekly, necros, basehead, skaven.