!Interview With Curt Cool
By Sane/Ex-Scoopex
Interview With CurtCool

"I who is a keen Amiga fan have thought about buying a pc - as a supplement to my Amiga of course." - Curt Cool

Sane:
Hello Curt Cool. We are very pleased you could find some time in your busy schedule to answer some of our spicy questions! Could you please start by introducing yourself properly and tell our readers all there is to know about your scene and real life!

Curt Cool:
I'm Curt Cool/Depth, my real name is Frank, I'm from Denmark, where I am presently studying Danish language and literature - in fact I am in the middle of my exams right now, so in a while I will know if I am still studying at university. I have been on the scene since The Party 2 in 1992, and was one of the forming members of Depth back in 1993. I am the organizer of Depth, editor of The Eurochart together with Cytron, musician and swapper. Now, I could bore you with a lot of crap about my family, my girlfriend, the pets I don't have, how dirty, dusty and messy my apartment is, but I won't.

Sane:
Why did you pick the handle "Curt Cool"?

Curt Cool:
Remember the bloody space! It's Curt Cool, you know. Well, I stole it from a friend (well, now ex.-friend, I suppose, haven't seen him in 7 years or so), who used it as his name in Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge back in my gamelamer days back in 1991-92.

Sane:
Do you consider the scene a way of life, a waste of time, an addiction, or .... ? 

Curt Cool:
All of those... It's a way of being creative and having your productions seen and heard by a lot, or at least some people. That, I suppose, is the reason to be on the scene. Sometimes it's a waste of time, but on the other hand, in a way, all hobbies are. The scene is my hobby, being creative in general is my hobby. Also, the scene gives us an idea of how all kinds of medias will mix in the future to make a more sophisticated experience - well, just a thought of mine... I am considering writing a serious essay about it (without even mentioning the scene...)

Sane:
The IRC is getting more popular with every month that passes. Some Sceners seem to be in love with the irc and others say it will destroy the Scene eventually because being on the irc is a waste of valuable time. Do you judge the irc (and especially #amigascne) a good thing or a waste of valuable time?

Curt Cool:
It's a good place to be occasionally to get some news and gossip, but I must admit that I haven't got time at the moment - usually it is a waste of it...

Sane:
You must obviously work very hard to finish an issue of your charts, when your group decided to take over The Official Eurocharts, was that what you expected?

Curt Cool:
We took over The Eurochart back in 1996, knowing what had to be done. We are not surprised by the amount of work, and sometimes we even feel, that we don't put enough work into making it. Still, we are about make our 13th issue (issue #41), which will probably be out when you are reading this. The hard thing about making a diskmag is not the first issue, or the second issue - it's doing the same thing month after month after month, year after year. Personally I do not see myself doing The Eurochart in two years time, but still, I intend to leave the active part of the diskmag scene with grace, unlike other diskmag editors, who seems to just get stuck somewhere in an issue, the release of the mag just suddenly stopping. This means that it will actually be announced in The Eurochart when we decide which issue to be the last one from Depth - this will hopefully also allow us to pass on The Eurochart to yet another group, in order to ensure a steady release of The Eurochart in the future. The fact that I will be leaving The Eurochart won't mean that I am leaving the scene - I will continue composing and module collecting for sure.

Sane:
Do you think your chart results are represent the actual scenestandards and do you think T.O.E. is really the OFFICIAL chart?

Curt Cool:
I do think that the chart results represent what todays sceners like, yes. But of course the low amount of voters makes the charts a bit more inaccurate, especially in the lower rankings, where it is enough for someone who'd like to see a particular production in the charts to ask his friends to vote on it - but that's not our fault, that's the fault of the small scene really... Official??? It's part of the name, tradition really - and of course it actually is official - everyone with an Amiga can read it, and we don't lie about the charts - yes, it is official - but please, no more childish discussions about which chart is actually the most official - I don't bother.

Sane:
Why is the word "Euro" in the name of your charts?

Curt Cool:
The word "Euro" is in our charts only because of tradition.

Sane:
You mentioned earlier you will (most likely) quit doing The Eurochart within a short while. Will you quit the entire scene aswell or will you concentrate on other things?

Curt Cool:
As I wrote earlier, no, I will stay as a musician, swapper and organizer of Depth - I will stay on the scene as long as I have motivation to work on productions, and as long as there are people who wants me to do music for them. Perhaps I'll even write an article or two for someone from time to time, but only if I can find some original subject to write about - I hate reading articles about the same subjects all the time (like eg. Darkhawks articles about doublemembers (zzzZZzz)...) Hopefully I will even be able to make Depth make some more productions (I'd better start talking some more to Kollaps and Cytron (our present active coders here in DK)...

Sane:
When you quit doing The Eurochart will Depth give the rights to some other group, like Crusaders and Static Bytes did before, for 100% sure? (In your answer you gave earlier, you sounded a bit insecure)

Curt Cool:
Once again, as I wrote earlier, yes - if somebody WANTS it that is!

Sane:
Which group (Crusaders, Static Bytes or Depth) brought (in your opinion) the best issues of T.O.E.?

Curt Cool:
That's a very hard question for me to answer - I joined the scene in 1992, about the time when Static Bytes started making it, and though I have seen all of the issues by Crusaders, I have never studied them thoroughly. The specific Eurochart eras have their good and bad sides: In the old issues, the amount of voters was much higher, and so the charts was more interesting and comprehensive, and they had Ken stories etc. etc. But there was no articles, only a chart, no pictures and statistics, and the gallery section only arrived late. In the Static Bytes era, this slowly changed, there was a magpart, gallery part, and from #25-#27, the eurostat. In the Depth era, well, the stat has become even more comprehensive, though we've had some occasional bugs because of lazy editors, the diskmag section have become a bit better - but the amount of voters has gone bad... :( I don't know which group did the best job - it's not comparable...

Sane:
Many people (Fishwave f.e.) say the Scene without The Official Eurochart is a Scene close to her death. What do you think about that and do you consider The Official Eurochart also that important?

Curt Cool:
The scene has existed without The Official Eurochart from 1994-1996 when Static Bytes were not making it. So I think it's jumping to conclusions that the scene can't exist without T.O.E. But I believe that the scene needs charts, to indicate who is the best, and to motivate others to become better. I hope that when we stop making the Eurochart, we will be able to pass it on to someone else. Still, the internet has changed a lot of things in the manner of chart and diskmag-making, like it has changed communication in general. I believe that online charts will be the future.

Sane:
The amigascene seems to be dying. Although she doesn't die as fast as many expected, the scene is getting smaller and smaller. can you notice that, when compiling an issue of T.O.E.?

Curt Cool:
Of course. Another one of the main reasons for thinking about quitting is of course the stagnating support - lack of support in general. I would advice future chart makers to make their chart on www, perhaps supported by an intro, when some new results make it to the www. An automatic chart system, involving a specific votekey for each voter in order to avoid cheating could also be a way of doing it. (but I don't think we have the resources who would bother doing it...).

Sane:
Do you think the scene is dying? When do you estimate it will be totally dead, if ever?

Curt Cool:
The scene isn't totally dead till the last potential scener (Amiga owner) has left. Still, there's no doubt that the Amiga scene is dying, as is the Amiga itself - I mean, even I who is a keen Amiga fan have thought about buying a pc - as a supplement to my Amy of course, but still, I wouldn't have thought of that, say, two years ago. As for the scene as a whole, well, I don't actually know. I know that quite a few pc demos are released, but as far as I can tell, most aren't all that good, and I think that the pc scene is getting smaller as well - at least regarding demos - though it seems that there are lots and lots of musicians, and even more gamelamers, mp3lamers and pornlamers around on the pc scene...

Sane:
Many people say the Scene has of course become a lot smaller but also a lot more professional and thus better. What is your opinion about that when it comes to the magazine scene? and the Scene in general?

Curt Cool:
I would rather prefer to start with the scene in general - after all, the diskmag scene is only a small part of the general demoscene. And before answering this question, I have to ask myself: What is professionalism? Because this term really covers a lot of aspects. In demomaking, it must be about working to a deadline, reaching a decent result. That makes it possible for quite few people to release a lot of stuff at parties which should be good. But on the other hand, some would say that a lot of demo-nic soul has been lost in the process. Some people are simply too quick with their releases, thus reusing routines, thus not showing much development in the demos themselves. In fact, the only group I can think off which has truely been professional is Nerve Axis - everything they have released since Pulse (and that's not a lot of releases) has been a long time in the making, but the results have been groundbreaking with both code, design and music, simply because they have let the development take the time it takes instead of just rushing something out. Still, I cannot really define what professionalism in demomaking is - perhaps I don't even agree on the idea that the scene should have become more professional. I don't think that the diskmag scene which I have more or less been involved in since 1993 when I first joined the scene, has become more professional - I remember that both Lord Helmet and Wolfman who were the main competitors at the time wanted to write professionally, and as some might know, Mount has actually taken the step and educated himself as a journalist. Still, I believe that the leading diskmags with long delays (Seenpoint & Insomnia) usually covers their stories in a very professional way - the same is the case in some of the articles in Generation, The Scene Press, Trashcan, Jurassic Pack and all the other diskmags - but that is far from all the articles. Still, as mentioned, I think the amount of professionalism is about the same as then - the diskmags are just a lot prettier (remember Upstreams code - UGH!).

Sane:
Do you think when big and famous groups (like Scoopex) take in keymembers (like Optima) from midgroups (like Depth) remain to stay ethical? Or do you think it's plain wrong?

Curt Cool:
That is not taking members. Taking or stealing members is a phenomenon which practically does not exist in todays scene. It is completely and utterly the decision of the person who is to join another group - if somebody joins another group, I presume it is because they want to join that particular group and the group wants them to join. It's a free world, sceners aren't on contract or anything - everyone can do as they like, and there's nothing unethical or plain wrong about that. Some might say that it's not loyal to the old group, but on the other hand, it's not loyal to keep a member from joining another group if that is what he wants to.

Sane:
Seenpoint wants to go online and seized to be an amiga production (Seenpoint will go peecee). What's your opinion about this matter? 

Curt Cool:
It's a bit sad, but on the other hand, the diskmag support on the Amiga scene today is simply not big enough for the amount of diskmags we have - I just hope your effort will be successful - because I have seen enough boring www-mags.

Sane:
You said you were thinking of quiting with producing the eurochart. A lot of our readers will be very upset by that blunt statement. For the record; how many more issue(s) will you make, do you think?

Curt Cool:
I can't say - we will go on for another year I think - anyway, it will be published in the Eurochart when I don't bother anymore - it's possible that Cytron will want to continue, but then somebody would have to do parts of my job - it's not as if I necessarily have to quit it all at the same time.

Sane:
Thanks a lot for the great, long and interesting answers!! Do you have any last remarks? 

Curt Cool:
BlubBlubBlub... Really, it's wrong I was born human. I should have been born a fish, breathing and eating toxic chemicals all day long. Yumyumyum... Dansktoppen lugter af økse. (Dansktoppen smells of Axe! - Yuck!). Watch out at the next party - I will bring a bomb because I want to die with my audience while my module is playing on the big speakers. ;) A little serious remark to certain people from the Polish scene: If you really want to compete, spend some proper time on your productions instead of just releasing half-finished, not overly stylish productions at a ridiculous rate - it's true that most of the talented guys come from Poland these days, so why not use this talent? I know it's very few people who has the patience to work like that, but after all, it's also quite few people who claims to have the best scene. Well, greets to everyone on the scene and everyone I know - gotta drink some beer with Gizmoduck/Depth now ...)