| Propaganda: |
Hi there, Mantronix! Let me start with a very original question: How old are you? |
| Mantronix: |
I'll soon turn 21, i.e. I'm 20. |
| Propaganda: |
A big boy! What are you doing all long, then? |
| Mantronix: |
I'm studying electrotechnics at University, but I'll start a course in economics after the summer. |
| Propaganda: |
And how is your music career turning out? |
| Mantronix: |
If you mean my career on Amiga, you can say that it's over. I haven't made any music for a long time now, and I don't care anymore. But in 'real' life, I am about to found a production company that will produce small commercial jingles, but also bigger things like CD-roms and so on. It will be run by me and a buddy. |
| Propaganda: |
Phenomena was the most popular group for a long, long time. But what has happened? Does it still exist? Rumours say that you have a good-bye musicdisk finished, but is that true? Or have we seen the last breath by Phenomena? |
| Mantronix: |
The production you're talking about DOES exist, believe it or not. The music is ready, the code is ready, but the graphics isn't. |
| Propaganda: |
That sounds interesting! Tell me more! |
| Mantronix: |
Well, the music has been ready for a very long time by now; we actually finished it back in July 93. It keeps a very varied standard, but since it fills almost 5 disks, you should at least be able to find SOMETHING interesting. Some songs need a lot of memory, and are built up on quite heavy samples - other songs don't use any memory at all, and should rather be compared with the size of the Crystal Symphonies songs. |
| Propaganda: |
Who is coding and drawing, then? |
| Mantronix: |
Mace and Color. Mace has, as I already stated, made 95% of the code already, but since he's doing the military service right now, the project is laid on ice for a while.. Color had actually drawn quite a lot of graphics, but since it didn't fit the code at all, he had to draw it over again...Too bad! But it WILL be released. Hopefully. |
| Propaganda: |
I really look forward for that one.. But what about the rest of Phenomena? Are they dead? |
| Mantronix: |
Dead and dead.. They are still active, but not doing demos. Twins have made a great musicprogram called Musicline. It is extremely good, let me tell you! |
| Propaganda: |
But you are not active? |
| Mantronix: |
No, it's too much for me... But if I get an offer, I'd be glad to release a song or two for a change. But as I said, the songs that will be featured in our musicdisk won't fit in demos. They are either very long or very short. |
| Propaganda: |
What was the main reason to quit? |
| Mantronix: |
Well... I don't feel as if I've quit the scene. But when you're no.1 for a long time, you just don't find the right inspiration to carry on. It isn't funny anymore. You got to leave place for new dudes. |
| Propaganda: |
Do you still have your Amiga? Aren't you planning to buy a PC? |
| Mantronix: |
Yes, I still have my dear Amiga, but we'll have PC's in the music company I told you about before. We already have one, but we'll buy another one. |
| Propaganda: |
Are you never tempted to make a comeback? Is there anything special that makes you miss it? |
| Mantronix: |
I'll actually go to parties to sell the cassette 'Mindlitter', that I've made together with Lizardking. And since I've quite a lot of buddies left.. I don't know.. But there is a chance that I'll release a demosong or two. But as I stated, I need offers! |
| Propaganda: |
Which were the worst and best things with the scene? |
| Mantronix: |
The worst thing was undeniable all the bullshit in diskmags and so on. There have always been, and there will always be such shit. I know that you're supposed not to bother, but I really did.
The best thing with the scene was of course the friends that you made. You weren't alone - you made friends all over Europe. It was really fun!! |
| Propaganda: |
Have you seen any demos recently? What do you think? |
| Mantronix: |
No, actually I haven't. I saw 9 Fingers, but I'm tired of demos and don't get impressed in the way I did before. I don't understand why you should work your ass off with an Amiga demo, when there are other computers and equipment that can make the same effect, only hundred times better? But I'd lie, if I said that it's boring, because it's one of the funniest things that exist. It's extremely fun! |
| Propaganda: |
Did you ever earn money in the scene? Games? |
| Mantronix: |
Well, a little. I won some music competitions, but that didn't give me anything worth mentioning. Hopefully, we'll start making CD-rom games at the company, and make money that way. Maybe the 'Mindlitter' cassette will give me money, too. Sonic Projects didn't give me much though, it was very weird.
You shouldn't live in Sweden if you want to make money - Germany and England are the only places to be. I and Tip were supposed to do the music for Brian the Lion, that was released recently, but since we didn't live in England, we didn't get the job. Generally, I think that there's a lot of bullshit when it comes to gamemusic. Gameproducers don't seem to bother. |
| Propaganda: |
Do you still have contact with Tip? |
| Mantronix: |
Hell, yes! Of course we keep in touch! I visited him last week. But we don't make any music together, that's not the reason why we meet. We still have music as a common interest, but nowadays we only listen to it. |
| Propaganda: |
What is Uno doing today? Some rumours say that he's drawing games, others that he hasn't drawn anything for years? |
| Mantronix: |
If I'm not too wrong, Twins, Uno and Firefox are working together with games. I don't know how far the projects have come, if they're closed down or if they are ready to be released, but they have worked with them for quite a while, so I suppose something is happening. Somebody told me that they have an appartment in Stockholm, where they work together. But I'm not sure. I do know that both brothers Twins are doing the military service, though. |
| Propaganda: |
I heard something about Firefox and his 'real' music career. Do you know anything? |
| Mantronix: |
Firefox has come really far with his musics. He's really good, actually! If he's really lucky, he will work together with the producer of such names as Basic Element, Ronny&Ragge and so on. (These names are maybe not known outside Sweden, but they have topped the Swedish charts a number of times! /Diesel). |
| Propaganda: |
You have made a cassette together with Lizardking, called 'Mindlitter'. Are you pleased with the result? |
| Mantronix: |
No, I'm not. But I guess it will do, considering the equipment I used. It's computermusic, you know.. I usually don't compose such music nowadays. It's maybe important to know that Lizardking and I haven't composed together - the A side is made by him, the B side by me. |
| Propaganda: |
Do you and Lizardking have anything in common, musically speaking? |
| Mantronix: |
Well, I suppose we have the same view on things, and I guess we compose quite similar music - music not built up of cool samples, but rather of nice harmonies. |
| Propaganda: |
Do you think that you'll earn any money from the project? |
| Mantronix: |
Well, I really hope so. And as I said, I'll visit parties so that it will sell even more. |
| Propaganda: |
As you might know, Dr. Awesome has released two records. Have you heard any of them? What do you think of his music? |
| Mantronix: |
I haven't had the opportunity to listen to any of them. To be honest, I didn't even know that he had made a follow up. But generally about Dr. Awesome's music made on Amiga.. He composed an awfully lot of it, and 50% of it was really bad. Sometimes he succeded, but considering the amount of songs he made, that isn't especially strange. |
| Propaganda: |
Do you have any favourite Amiga musicians? |
| Mantronix: |
Charles Deneen and Walkman. I'm not updated with the latest Amiga music, but I think that these two are better than most of the current musicians. |
| Propaganda: |
By the way, as an ex.Razor 1911 member, what do you think about the fact that the group is reborn? |
| Mantronix: |
I think that's extremely good. |
| Propaganda: |
Nice to hear. Do you have any favourite 'real' music, then? |
| Mantronix: |
Everything except dancebands. I think you must be open for all kinds of music, because there is always something that's nice. From death metal to classical music. I recommend everybody really to listen to the music, before they state their opinion. Prejudice is far too common! |
| Propaganda: |
Last but not least, then. Which political party do you support? |
| Mantronix: |
Gee. I really don't know... Somewhere right, I suppose, but no party fits me. But if I was forced to vote, I guess I'd vote liberal. |
| Propaganda: |
Too bad that a smart person like you can be so stupid... Well, well, this interview is practically over. Is there somebody you want to say hello to? |
| Mantronix: |
Sure. Hello to Tip, Omega, Lizardking and Bobby. |
| Propaganda: |
Okay! Thanks for the interview! And good luck with your projects! |
| Mantronix: |
Thank you! |