!Interview with Scorpik
by Bobic/BTTR
Interview with Adam "Scorpik" Skorupa

by Bobic - Taken with permission from "Back To The Roots" @ http://www.back2roots.org


Bobic: Why and when did you start to compose music on home computers? What was the idea behind?

Scorpik: Hah... so you want to hear this weird story? About 12 years ago I started my big passion to music. It was a very funny beginning, because being a musician wasn't exactly my personal decision. One day - just like usually at that time - I was playing some games and then some of my friends came and started to laugh at me.

They explained that I'm lame and that I know nothing about computers except for one thing - how to break joysticks.

They've shown me some programs which they called 'DEMO'. It was really awful stuff: ugly graphics, damn lame code and noisy music... but I was fascinated very much. I asked them if I could join their group but I wasn't sure what I could do there. Well... They told me that they had enough coders and graphicians inside the group, but they didn't have any musician in the team, yet....

So, in this situation they had to rip songs from other demos. "I will be a musician, then!!!" I told them, and they gave me my first program for making some music (it was Amiga's Noise Tracker). I spent much time on learning this crazy program and after 3 weeks I made my first song... he he - it was only 30 seconds long :)))

My group decided that I'm good enough to stay inside their team... and my career begun. My life has totally changed... Making music gives me much satisfaction and I found many friends in the "demo scene". I was surprised when ppl told me that they liked my style and they needed my songs for their own demos. So... it motivated me to work stronger and stronger on my skills to be better and more experienced in composing.


Bobic: Have you been inspired by any other musicians? Who are your favourites?

Scorpik: Yes... there were many great musicians who inspired me very much. Dunno how many ppl remember all those stars like Nuke/Lemon (aka Spaceman), Heatbeat/Cncd, Shorty/???, Jogeir Liljedahl, Lizardking. All of them are excellent musicians and thanks to their songs I've learned a lot what good music is!

Bobic: Could you describe a little bit, why it's so fascinating to write music for scene demos, please?

Scorpik: Well... I think that composing music is an art and art is always fascinating. You're making something really original and on the demo scene you are able to do that using really cheap hardware (just a computer and few music programs). Demos gives you a chance to show your work to a great auditorium... and they are also something like a "videoclip" for your music.

It's all what every musician can dream of! Show your work to the world! Thanks to that you will feel great, because making "music for a drawer" is the past! You will know how ppl like your music and you can also compare your actual possibilities to other scene musicians.

This subculture (demo scene) gives you a chance to meet many great ppl interested in creating art by using computers, learn a lot about how to do that, feel that you are making something different to the masses and finally it's really great fun! During meetings called demo parties, you can also try to rival with musicians from the whole world.

During music competitions you can check how good your music is in the listeners ears! So, the demo scene is also some kind of sport. You're trying to be better and better bcoz you have a MOTIVATION!
Bobic: Nowadays you're working for Metropolis Software House as a composer. A dream must have became reality for you. I'm sure this was a giant step in your musical career. How did you get this job? Have Metropolis known your excellent work already?

Scorpik: Yes... everybody dreams about making something what you like the best and simultaneously earn money, thanks to that. And I'm this lucky guy who got this chance. I've worked on music for few other games made by other polish companies in the past and thanks to that Metropolis has found me. They liked parts of my work, so I've got a job offer from them.

It was the first time when a company gave me the chance to compose the score for really big and nice looking games. You know - it's motivating you twice: The gameplay of their games looked interesting, the graphics looked cute, so I felt motivated to do my best to make the music as good as all other parts of the game. I also think that I've made big progress, thanks to them!



Bobic: At this time your biggest project was the musical score for "Gorky 17". Have the designers told you which style the music for this game should have or could you decide by yourself which style was best to catch the atmosphere of the game perfectly?

Scorpik: Not exactly.... They showed me screenshots from the game, many sketches and finally parts of the gameplay. After that I was asked to make some example song what, in my opinion, fits best for this game. It was great because my bosses liked and accepted the first song which I've written and proposed.

They gave me free hand for making the whole musical score. They haven't disturbed me much, while composing the rest of the music. After knowing that they trusted me, it was a pure pleasure to make the music for Gorky 17.



Bobic: The music in Gorky 17 reminds me a bit on the music from X-Files, which is great indeed, because the story of the game is similar to some parts of the series. Have you been inspired sometimes by the score from Mark Snow?

Scorpik: I didn't try to make the music similar to this one made by Mark Snow for X-Files. I love to watch horror and sci-fi movies and I saw many of them during my whole life :)

Thanks to that, I've known what kind of atmosphere the music should create and how to give the music a perfect horror-touch. My main target (except to create a mysterious atmosphere) was to make the player scared by the music also in situations, when nothing really happens on the screen.
I hope that I managed that :)



Bobic: What is your current project?

Scorpik: Our new project is called "Two Worlds" (visit http://www.metropolis.com.pl) and it's totally a different game compared to Gorky17. So it needs a different kind of music style, too. This time I'm trying to make the songs less horror-like, cos the game contains a much more mystical atmosphere.

Although the story is located in the future and takes the player to high-technology cities in the outer solar system, the presented architecture of the buildings is similar to the middle age. Religion and fashion of the races reminds to hinduizm.

In that case the game needs a very specific music score - some smart mix of indian native songs, dark orchestral songs of the middle age and industrial modern beats.

For this project I've invited opera singers, to include some nice vocals into the songs and I've learned how to bang Conga, how to play Didgerido (an instrument used by the australian aboriginals) and flute. I hope the players will like this experiment and that they'll think, the music is as good as from Gorky.

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Bobic: Apart from your activities for Metropolis, you've brought the "Aural Planet" project to life together with other scene musicians. Please tell us something about it.

Scorpik: Aural Planet was formed in 1997 by Jacek "Falcon" Dojwa, Konrad "KeyG" Gmurek and me. Since 1999 our team has grown to four people with the inclusion of Radoslaw "Raiden" Kochman.

We have been friends for long long time and finally we decided to establish a cohesive unit. It's great to make something what you like together with good old pals just for pleasure! At the moment we have produced two albums:
 - Lighflow - debut album, contains rather slow and atmospheric music. The tracks present an electronic soundscape with deep, emotion envoking space age sounds.

 - Part: Second - This album brings a different sound than what we presented in our debut CD to you. This time we decided to explore the exciting world of Goa/Trance - fast and dynamic rhythms, good for techno parties :)


Bobic: Do you have any plans for the next album? In which style will be the music and when will it be released?

Scorpik: I would like to answer that but I don't know the answer. Our main problem is, that after realeasing two albums, we still can't find any publisher for our music. Those two albums we've produced by ourselves. We have no money to make a new album already. So, whenever we make some new songs, we're uploading them to our website in mp3-format, free to download. We have many ideas what we could include ona new album, but the fact that we don't have a publisher really makes it hard to make ANY plans.

Bobic: Thanks for the interesting interview and all the best for your future projects.

Scorpik: Thank you!... the pleasure is mine!