Inteview with Dr. Awesome (Bjørn A. Lynne)
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Diskmagazine interviews | Balance Bad Karma - Candyman - Casket - ... | a11/93 added 6/96 |
INTERVIEW WITH BJØRN A. LYNNE Interview with Bjørn A. Lynne Done by Wolfman / Balance If someone should not recognize the name, we might give you a good clue. Crusaders.... Not good enough? Dr. Awesome... UPS! Well, we managed to get an interview with him, and right now - You're reading it. (BLC = Wolfman / Balance) (BJøRN = Bjørn "Dr. Awesome" Lynne) BLC: So Bjørn, most oldtimers in the scene should remember you, but please introduce yourself shortly to the ones who just got here. BJØRN: Well, I have been in the Amiga scene for an EXTREMELY long time, and I have been actively making music ever since I got my first Amiga in 1987. Back then, we were trying to find new ways of getting the most out of Soundtracker v1.2 and so on..! I know very few, if any at all, who have actually been involved with the Amiga scene for as long as I. For many years, I was the main driving force in The Crusaders, main editor of the first ever Amiga scene chart, The Crusaders EuroChart, and so on. Later on, I started to get more interested in making music with synthesizers and professional equipment, so I started to move into that area. In the summer 1991, I released a cassette with synth- music, simply called Bjørn Lynne Demo Tape. In the autumn 1992, I released a CD called "Hobbits & Spaceships" together with my friend and fellow "Crusader", Fleshbrain. All the time, I also continued to make music on Protracker, for games, demos and magazines. And right now, I am just in the process of releasing a new cassette, which is a soundtrack that I have made; "Brave New Virtual World". All of these tapes and CD's, etc. are for sale, and nearly everyone who buys them are Amiga-freaks who know my work in the Amiga-scene from all the Crusaders demos, music disks, and so on. BLC: You've been away from the scene a while, or at least you have kept yourself out of the spotlight, so may I ask you: How old are you by now? BJØRN: 27. You might say that I grew up in the Amiga scene, I guess, I've been here since I was about 19. BLC: Aha, and what are you doing these days? BJØRN: Well, to make a living, I have a quite boring job, but when I get home, I spend as much time as possible with music. I use the Amiga for everything, and I try to squeeze the best possible sound and music out of it. The Amiga can really kick ass if you hook it up to a bunch of synthesizers, etc. BLC: I really hate to drill in your personal life to much, but as far as we (and the rest of the scene) have been informed, you're married. Tell us how you feel about that. (Weird question?) BJØRN: You know, it's funny you should ask, William. It is true that I got married a while ago, but now that you mention it, I have to admit that my wife and I aren't getting along too well, since we got married. It's like something really changed, and right now I don't know if I want to be married for much longer! You know, there are times, more and more often, that I miss having just myself to think about, and being able to spend, say, the WHOLE WEEKEND just composing on ProTracker!!! BLC: Does your wife know anything of your activities in the scene, and if yes, what does she think? BJØRN: She knows most of it, but as I expected, it doesn't seem like she quite understands it. She doesn't have any special relationship with computers, and when I show her a great demo, she just says "Yes, and so what..?". When I try to explain to her that there's a whole different world around the computer, the groups, the demos, the charts, the long- distance friends, she says "yes" and "how nice", but I can see in her face that she doesn't understand anything of what it's about. That's just the way it is. The Amiga scene can't really be explained to anyone who hasn't been a part of it. BLC: If you ever have kids (We can hope, right?), will you ever tell them about that weird subculture dad was a part of? BJØRN: I don't want to have any kids for a long time yet, but if and when I do some day, of course I'll tell him/her everything about the good old Amiga scene! BLC: Additionaly, what would you say if a son of yours discovered the scene and joined in? BJØRN: I'd check which group he wanted to join, and find out if they were cool enough! :-) Just kidding. BLC: How close are you in your own opinion, related to the scene these days? (Are you for example still a Crusader?) BJØRN: I am not officially member of the Crusaders these days, but I am still close friends with many of the Crusaders, and in a way, I still consider myself a member. In my heart I will always be a Crusader. BLC: What do you think of your time in the scene now that you look back? BJØRN: I've had SO much fun in the scene, that I wouldn't have wanted to be without it. Of course, there were times when things got a little too much, like when we were doing the EuroCharts, we never had time for anything else, no girls, no nothing, and this caused me to "burn out" for a while. I had to get in touch with girls and do some "normal" things again. But I never regretted being in the scene, and if I could turn back the time to 1987 and have a second chance to live these last few years, yes, I would have joined the Amiga scene again! I don't think I could have got as many laughs and as many great friends anywhere else. And also one other important thing: It was the scene who developed my music. Without the scene, I wouldn't have been where I am today in my music. It is the Amiga scene who has formed my whole musical life and carreer. BLC: What kind of equipment have you got for your composing? I mean, synths, computer(S) etc. BJØRN: Well, this changes from time to time, but at the moment I am working with an Amiga 1200 with 40MHz/4MB Microbotics M1230XA card, a Roland S-550 pro sampler, an Ensoniq SQ-R+, a Kawai K1-r II, and a Roland Juno-2. There's also an Art ProVerb effects unit and a Boss BX-8 mixer (which I have to upgrade very soon). I use most of my spare money to buy computer- and music-equipment. Why? Well, it's what I want to spend my life on! BLC: I have heard about you composing music for an opera/musical, please tell about it. BJØRN: It's not an opera, and it's not a musical, but it's a theatre-play. But it's not a boring, grey, old theatre-play with boring old farts discussing up and down for two hours. It's an action-filled, futuristic, multi-media show, with live actors, video interaction, virtual reality gear, and lots of cool stuff. (Sex too!) It is titled "Brave New Virtual World". Actually, the premiere is tomorrow (20th of October 93), and I'm really excited about hearing my music in the context of the whole play. I also mentioned to you in your earlier question that I am just releasing a new cassette for sale in the scene, and well, that cassette contains the soundtrack for this theatre-play. BLC: What other more or less exciting projects have you been involved with when it comes to music? BJØRN: I have been involved with many projects during the last few years, but at the moment, I have just finished the music for Team-17's game "Qwak", and this theatre-play. I am also composing new music now, which I am going to release on a CD in a few months. Then, of course, there was the "Space Wars" movie, which was a short movie that was made up entirely of Amiga-animations - I'm sure most of your readers have heard about it - I made the soundtrack for that film too. BLC: Are you making a living from composing music? BJØRN: I am making money on my music, but not enough to be able to pay all my bills. If I lived at home with my mom, I guess I could, but since I have my own apartment, a big bank-loan, and many expensive bills to pay, I also have to keep going to a boring day-time job, to make extra money. BLC: I hope you don't mind me asking this, but just how much do you make from your composing? BJØRN: When you are making music for a limited market, like the Amiga scene, which is a VERY limited market indeed, then there isn't really that much money to make. The only thing I have made any real serious money on, is this theatre-play, "Brave New Virtual World". On the 2 tapes (now 3) and 1 CD that I have released, I have just made a little bit. I make music and aim it directly at the Amiga scene, because I love making music and because I could never live without it. It's not because of the money. Also, I make music for games now and then, but this is also very poorly paid. It was quite nice money when I just lived with my mom and used all the money on pizza and disks, but in the "real world", the kind of money that you make on game-music is really not much. BLC: Any figures? BJØRN: Ok, I'm getting about 8000 GBP for the theatre-play soundtrack job. On the "Hobbits & Spaceships" CD, I suppose maybe I've earned about 3000 GBP. I haven't kept a budget, so I don't know the exact numbers. On this tape that I am releasing now, if it sells well, perhaps I'll make 500 GBP. (1 GBP = approx. 10 Kroner). BLC: There are lots of musicians in the scene these days, talented ones too. How would you advice these to do if they are to create themselfes a proffesional carreer like yours? BJØRN: You are absolutely right that there are lots of really talented musicians in the scene today. My advice to them is to start gradually moving over to professional equipment - combine this with their Protracker work - and move more and more over to creating fully professional music. You can't expect it to sound fully professional at once. First you need to gradually upgrade your equipment, bit by bit, and the same goes with your skills and experience. Then, two things can happen. One is that you can get really LUCKY, and get a big break somewhere - get a chance that just seems to fall out of the sky. The other possibility is that you won't be lucky, but then you just have to keep working and working and working, pushing yourself one millimeter upwards all the time, constantly contacting different people, etc. Then, eventually things WILL start to happen. BLC: I've often wondered how people having almost left the scene, feel. Do you think you'll miss the scene when it's totally gone? BJØRN: I don't really miss the scene, because I haven't totally left it. I still have many many friends in the scene. I think, perhaps, if I had just sold all my equipment and started doing something completely different, then I would have missed it. I am still in contact with the scene almost every day. BLC: Have you ever considered a real scene come-back, after having ended? BJØRN: No, not joining a group and starting up "full-time" again. That would mean that I would have to stop making music with synthesizers etc., and that's out of the question. But as I said, I have never really ENDED my scene-relation, because I'm still here! Only, not on 8 hours a day - more like maybe 1 or 2 hours a day. BLC: Now, I'd like you to tell a little story of your scene life. Bad experiences, good experiences, whatever. BJØRN: The best thing about the scene is that it is a hobby which has an incredible depth. It is quite simply not possible to understand, for anyone who hasn't been there. It's a whole different world. And then of course - in which other hobby can you get great friends all over the world?? BLC: Since you run a mag for musicians, I'd recon you still here a lot of music from scene-members, what do you think of todays style of music on the scene? BJØRN: I really like a lot of the music in the scene, but it is obvious that technically, we have now reached the limit of what you can do with just the Amiga. Afterall, no matter how you twist and turn it, it still only has 8-bit sound, and it can never sound "real" hifi. I think, since we made the last Crusaders music-disks more than 2 years ago, things haven't got much further, technically. No major upgrades to the music programs, and nothing really mindblowing new in the music. If you want to make music which sounds better than what you hear in the Amiga scene today, there's no point in trying to squeeze more out of the Amiga. You will have to buy synthesizers and/or professional samplers. BLC: Let's change the subject totally, are you interested in soccer? BJØRN: Not hysterically, but yes I am. BLC: How do you feel about Norway having qualified for the World Championship then? BJØRN: I'm really happy about it - of course! You know, that sounded like one of those questions you are likely to hear on the sports-program on TV. The TV-people are coming up to a guy who have just won the Olympic Gold or something, and they ask: "How does it feel?" :-) BLC: Like TV-people? Perhaps I should get a job a DR! Anyway, I seem to have run out of ideas for your interview, I'll let you give some hellos to people if you want to: BJØRN: Ok. Hi to Gonzo/Flash Prod (my oldest still active friend in the scene), to ALL the Crusaders of course, Bobby (Dark Elf), Andy (Nightshade), Volker (Jester), Tobias, Dave, and everyone still pushing the Amiga to it's limits. (Especially the musicians, of course!). BLC: And the most klicheed line of all times, the thing which you see in every interview: "Any last words?" BJØRN: Yes! To everyone who have liked Dr.Awesome/Crusaders' music from music disks, games, etc., you *really* should hear what it sounds like from professional synthesizers etc.! Remember that all the music that I make, I make it especially for the Amiga scene, and that's the only place I attempt to sell it! So if you want to hear either of my tapes or either of my CD's, get in touch! Instead of listening to old modules from 1991 on your module-player, you could have my CD or my tape in your stereo, and really "space out"! Oh, and the CDs/tapes are NOT especially expensive - they are cheaper than other CD's and tapes. Absolute last word: Don't miss my new CD, "Montage", released in early 1994!! Meanwhile, keep working that ProTracker or OctaMED or whatever you're using! EDITORS NOTE: You can read a review of Bjørn's new tape in the musicians corner. - Wolfman