INTERVIEW WITH

DASCON OF ESSENCE

			       by Orion / Miracle

ORION - Hi Dascon! Could you tell our readers about your computer life?
	I mean since you bought your first computer...

DASCON - Er, okay, I'll try to do so... My first contact with computers
	 was my brother's old Sinclair ZX-81 which I got my hands on many, many
	 years ago, it was in 1983 I guess... Well, the Sinclair broke down one
	 day and it seemed that my computer career would have to end before it
	 really started... But then, in the year 1988, I heard of a new
	 computer which enabled the users to create stunning graphics and
	 musics on it... Now guess what my x-mas present was that year...
	 A new Amiga 500... Wow! Well, as everybody did the first few months
	 I just played games on it, then there was a phase in which I wasn't
	 interested in the computer anymore, but one day I got this Amiga-Fever
	 back... Well, time went by and one day I got a letter from a guy
	 called Thomas Jansen... You have to know that I was the creator of a
	 german Public Domain library at that time and that I was always
	 interested to get new programs for it... Thomas read a review of the
	 library in a german computer magazine and then sent me some of his
	 latest freeware programs... In the help-files of the programs he
	 wrote that he was a coder in a demo-group called Hardline and that
	 they were interested in new members, especially musicians... As I
	 already had made some experiences with Noise and ProTracker I called
	 him a few weeks later and asked him if I could join this group called
	 Hardline and, as I was allowed to, I did join them... That's how I got
	 into this whole scene thing, I'm now part of it since November 1991...

	 Well,as probably most of you already know Hardline died in late 1992...
	 I joined Delicious Designs together with my old friends from Hardline:
	 Touchstone, Slicer and Powerswap...

	 We had a really nice time in Delicious (Hi USM,you are doing a really
	 good job as the organizer !!) had (and still have) very talented
	 members, but due to some internal reasons (which does not mean that we
	 had any trouble with the other members !!) the whole german division,
	 which consisted of Touchstone, Slicer, Groo+Rufferto, Powerswap and
	 Dascon, left and formed a new group together with ex-Speedhawk/Rebels
	 called...
				--- ESSENCE ---

	 Pheeew, that's it for this question... Pretty long answer, eh ?!

ORION - Why are you in the scene?

DASCON - Why not ?!? But, more serious again, sometimes I have to ask this
	 question to myself... I think the most important reason for me why I
	 am in scene are the friends I got in it... I mean, where else can you
	 get so many friends from all over the world and have such a great time
	 with them ??? It's just great !! Then there are the productions...
	 I enjoy both, watching new, stunning productions from other groups and
	 getting positive reactions from our contacts about our own
	 productions. It's a kind of satisfaction when other freaks say:
	 Hey, nice work you did on this one...

	 But it all has to be funny after all: I enjoy each minute in front of
	 my Amiga, otherwise I would find more than 1000 things to spend this
	 part of my spare-time with, believe me...

ORION - Did you ever think about quitting the scene? Why?

DASCON - Yes, I did more than one time !! The reasons differ from time to time.
	 There was a phase in my life, about half a year ago, where I had
	 really big problems in school... I thought that it would be impossible
	 to manage both things, school and scene, and was close to quit it, but
	 thanks god I did not and after a few weeks all problems had been gone
	 away again...

	 Another reason which made me think about quitting the scene was
	 lover's grief... Two or three weeks ago I was really down day after
	 day because a girl I really love told me something that turned me
	 down... I thought about quitting the scene, because I had lost my
	 interests in computers, sat down all day long and thought about the
	 girl... I was really close to call our organizer Slicer to tell him
	 that I'll quit scene and already thought about how to sell my
	 equipment the best way, but, thanks god (once again), I did not do so
	 and just again my problems got solved some time later...

	 So here's my advise to all guys that think about quitting the scene:
	 Don't do it if your reason to do so is lover's grief or school
	 problems, if you really try to get these problems solved you will make
	 it for sure, so don't act to hasty...

ORION - How long will you stay in the scene?

DASCON - I think as long as it will exist... Look, I'm now 17 years old and
	 I'm still highly motivated to stay creative on the Amiga... There are
	 loads of friends I have in this scene which think in the same way as
	 I do (at least I hope so), so there is no reason for me to think about
	 leaving the scene at a certain date in the future...
	 Just look how time passes by: we just entered 1993 two months ago and
	 groups already plan their releases for the summer and winter... In my
	 opinion the scene still has got a future, as long as all groups go on
	 with their productions and stay motivated to do something to keep
	 this whole scene thing alive... So, back to the question, I think
	 that I'll stay in scene for a very, very long time... (Haha, I guess
	 some guys out there are pretty disappointed now...

ORION - Why did Hardline died?

DASCON - Well,there were several reasons why Hardline died... Our
	 reputation was, at least in Germany, not the best one. Other groups
	 called us Hardlame or Hardleim ("leim" is the german word for "glue")
	 and that really pissed us off... Okay, in the beginning you can laugh
	 about it, but if you find on almost all german parties and meetings
	 some lamers that act like this you get pretty pissed off one day...

	 We thought that we won't loose this image, even if our productions
	 would have been smashing good these suckers would not have noticed
	 it, they would just go on telling bullshit about us... So we decided
	 to join another group where we could try a new start and thus
	 Hardline died... However, I and most of the old members from Hardline
	 nowadays think that it was somehow a very "special" group and I don't
	 want to miss the time I had in there as I got to know some of my best
	 friends in scene there, just consider the fact that Touchstone,
	 Slicer, Powerswap and me have till we were in Hardline always joined
	 the same groups together as a team... Even join-offers from wellknown
	 groups haven't had any chance against our friendship...

ORION - Tell us everything about your new group: Essence.
	(members, plans, coming productions, etc.)

DASCON - Well, Essence is a rather new group... It was formed by the german
	 division of Delicious Designs and Elric... Till now we have released
	 one dentro called -Dreaming- (hey, guess you all have seen this one?!
	 If not try to get your hands on it or you'll miss something) and a
	 meeting-intro... Besides that our graphicians Groo+Rufferto got 3rd
	 in the gfx-Competition at Aars last x-mas, ain't that something ???

	 Essence memberlist:  Touchstone     (Code)       Powerswap  (Swap)
			      Chromag	(Music)      Elric      (Swap)
			      Slicer	 (HQ,Swap)    Dascon    (Music)
			      Groo+Rufferto  (GFX)

	 Lately one of my very best friends in scene joined our forces, Chromag
	 (ex-Dual Crew), a musician... The only thing we still need is a second
	 coder, then we are complete because we want to keep the group as small
	 as possible... (like this it's much easier to keep up the great
	 friendship in our group and the organisation is easier to handle, too)

	 I won't give to many secrets away about our coming productions, but
	 one thing is for sure... They will be ass-kicking great !!! As Elric
	 now has his new Empty Tankard Packmenu finished he will start
	 creating packs very soon... Powerswap and Slicer will get a menu in
	 near future, too...

	 That's it for now, I won't tell you more about our plans, just wait
	 and see, you all will be surprised in a really positive way...

ORION - How are the relations in your group? Is your friendship only due
	to the Amiga?

DASCON - essence is a real friendship group !! We are all very good friends to
	 each other and our friendship is not only due to Amiga... One week ago
	 we had a meeting at Slicer's place, all members (except Groo and
	 Rufferto who unfortunately weren't able to come) were present and we
	 had a really great time together !!

	 We know eachother quite well, this means that we know many things
	 about the other guys, for example about their private lives. When we
	 call eachother we don't talk too much about scene at all, we talk
	 about our private-lives, things that happened to us and much more...
	 We care about eachothers problems and try to help them as good as
	 possible... Yes, we are really great friends !!

ORION - Is there any scene-freak living near your place?

DASCON - Weeeell... My old mate Jugger of Panic lives in the same town as me
	 and so does Sniper of Panic, too... Foxx of Panic, their HQ, lives in
	 a suburb of Siegen, my glory hometown... Some kilometers away live
	 Lynxx and Foxx of Silents, two of the guys that worked on this
	 Static Chaos Trackmo... Hm... I don't remember any other guys here.
	 Oh, yes, before I forget it, there's a group called Zodiac which has
	 some members here, too, but I don't know any of them personally...

ORION - Have you ever been busted?

DASCON - Eeeeeehhhh ??? Meeeeee ?!?! Hehe... Yer ! But you can't really say
	 that I got busted... I was 13 years old and as all guys did I played
	 games all day long... At that time I got in trouble with a friend of
	 mine and one day the police was standing in front of our house. Aargh!
	 Well, they found a disk-box of games, but as I was only 13 years old
	 at that time I didn't get any trouble at all... And, believe me, I
	 have not even one disk of pirated stuff in my diskbox and have never
	 had any problems with the cops since then !!

ORION - Tell us a bit about the German scene.

DASCON - Hm, there are not very much high quality productions coming from
	 Germany, there are very few really good groups and really lots of lame
	 ones... The most known group from Germany is without any doubt Sanity.
	 They have some of the most talented graphicians and musicians in their
	 team... There are some really good coders and graphicians in Germany,
	 but in my opinion it lacks really good musicians, at least in my
	 opinion... Okay, there are guys like Jester and Virgill, but in my
	 opinion countries like Norway, Finland or Sweden have loads of more
	 great musicians than we have... Anyway, I think the quality of the
	 German scene increases, the productions get better...

ORION - Things you don't like in the whole Amiga Scene?
DASCON - There are too much arrogant assholes that think they are the best
	 just because they are in wellknown groups... Then there are the guys
	 that are in extremely lame groups but nevertheless think that they
	 rule the scene... Besides that, there's by far too much business in
	 scene nowadays... Well, then there are the suckers spreading false
	 rumours about groups, trying to destroy their reputation... Lamers !!

ORION - Do you think it's worth being in trouble or in war with another
	group? Why?

DASCON - No,I'm sick of any wars !! Just look about all these wars in the
	 world... People die for something that isn't worth any human's life,
	 how can we in scene think about such little wars with other groups
	 then... Peace brothers, we are all Amiga freaks and we are all humans,
	 so why is there any need to get in trouble with eachother ???

	 After all this is a hobby and we should try to enjoy our time in scene
	 as good as possible and if you ask me I don't really know if wars with
	 other groups are something to be enjoyed, eh ?!

	 My advise to all of you who are angry because a more or less lame
	 person told bullshit about them: just ignore them, because your
	 agressions against them would cause further agressions by them and so
	 on, where should this end ???

ORION - Did you ever go to any party?

DASCON - Noot !! Till now I haven't visited a party, but therefore I went
	 to several nice meetings... Hmmm... But this year I'll visit a nice
	 party for sure, there's just this damned money-problem... As I need
	 loads of money for my driving-license I have to save money wherever
	 I can...  But time will show...

ORION - Your hardware?

DASCON - AMIGA 2000 (1 MB Chipmem), 2nd drive 3.5", Philips CM 8833 Color
	 Monitor, Perfect Sound Digitizer, HiFi-Tower... PC 386-DX, 4 MB Mem,
	 105 MB Harddisk, 40 Mc/s, 2 diskdrives (3.5" and 5.25")...

ORION - Do you compose all your tunes in the same style?

DASCON - Hm... In general I'd like to say that I compose all tunes for my own
	 pleasure... I create music I like to create and don't care too much
	 to do something totally innovative or different, just to please all
	 this Amiga-Freaks out there... Of course I'm always kind of happy when
	 I hear that some people like my work, but Dascon will always create
	 tunes Dascon likes to create, not what the rest of the scene wants to
	 hear... If they like my tunes I'm satisfied, if they don't... I won't
	 stop anyway !!

	 The style of the tunes depends on the mood in which I am... At the
	 moment I like creating this "ordinary" disco-style tunes very much,
	 but maybe, in a few weeks, I'll start doing something else, love-songs
	 or what the hell, I don't know by the time I write this...

ORION - Have you ever composed something with a completely different style?

DASCON - Hehe, what do you expect me to write here... The only thing which
	 seems to be different from all my other tunes was my module called
	 The Right One, which was released in our Hardline is Dead Intro...
	 Many guys told me that they found this weird sfx playing a kind of
	 lead-voice really innovative... But that's the only tune which is
	 really "different" from the mass of nowadays tunes...

	 In my opinion there are two ways to get more known by the scene:

	 - by creating "different" tunes
	 - by creating "ordinary" tunes, but in really high quality...

	 What I want to say by this, is: it is simple to create a low-budget
	 disco-tune, but when you work really hard on it and create a stunning
	 disco-tune, everybody will recognize it and you will get as known as
	 by creating tunes in a different style. Quality counts, nothing else!

ORION - Do you compose chiptunes?

DASCON - Yer, I do... But I'm not this active in creating chiptunes, just from
	 time to time, when I don't know what to do and when I'm sick of
	 creating "normal" , longer tunes, I do one of them. I love listening
	 to chiptunes, it's quite simple to create chippies that sound nice,
	 but it's damned hard to create chippies that sound fantastic !! If you
	 are able to create great long tunes it doesn't mean that you can
	 create great chiptunes. It's an art for itself as we Germans say...

ORION - How many tunes have you composed until now?

DASCON - What ??? Oh, oh, how can I answer this question... I think it's
	 impossible to tell you the exact number of tunes I composed... You
	 have to know that I started creating music on Amiga about 2 years ago
	 and in two years you create a real lot of modules... No, sorry,
	 I can't answer this one... A real lot of tunes, indeed...

ORION - Where do you get your inspiration? Or if you don't when do you
	compose your tunes?

DASCON - I get my inspiration when I sit down in front of my Amiga, playing
	 around a bit in ProTracker... Sometimes I just try out a new bassline
	 and, when it sounds nice, I add some chords, drums and finally a
	 leadvoice... Well, I get other inspiration from "real" music I listen
	 to and, of course, from my feelings... Sometimes, when I'm really sad,
	 I got a melody in my mind which I then can translate into ProTracker.

	 I compose tunes whenever I have time to do so... I'm not this kind of
	 freak that sits down in front of his screen all day long and always
	 uses ProTracker, I read diskmags, watch demos and all this other crap,
	 too... So, when I load ProTracker, I know how to use my spare-time and
	 in general I already have some inspiration to do something...

ORION - Do you think you got talent to compose or you think that everybody who
	really wants to be a musician can do some good music?
DASCON - Many people think that you can load a Tracker, get some great samples
	 from your contacts, let your fingers move and after half an hour you
	 have created a great tune... That's of course bullshit! It takes loads
	 of time until you will be able to create really nice tunes, I guess
	 all musicians that are in any chart are composing music for at least
	 two years now. The reason for this is, that you have to know how to
	 work with the Tracker, how to create impressive drumtracks, how to
	 handle major and minor chords, how effects can help you to create a
	 nice melody... This can't be done in 5 minutes, you have to learn by
	 composing tunes, learning by doing, you know...

	 So I would suggest everybody who wants to create music that he simply
	 should do so, but that he shouldn't be too disappointed of his first
	 steps in this direction, you need a lot of patience... Well, a bit of
	 talent wouldn't be too worse at all I guess...

ORION - Have you ever released a music disk? Will you?

DASCON - Uaaaaaah !! Yes, I have... It was called -Black Energy- and released
	 under the Hardline label... The music on it sucks although code and
	 graphics were pretty nice... I don't know how this musicdisk managed
	 to get so high in the Eurocharts, but it's nice to see it there
	 anyway... Pheeew, the music on this one is really a shame, so I'll
	 promise all of you out there that the day will come when another
	 musicdisk of me will come out, with much better tunes... But this will
	 still take a while as I'm quite busy right now, so don't expect
	 anything before this autumn or winter...

ORION - Do you think to be a professional?

DASCON - Nooooot !! I see myself as an average musician who has just begun
	 creating the kind of music he likes to create, nothing more, nothing
	 less... Ask me that question again in a year or so, hehehe...

ORION - Tell us your opinions about some of these musicians:
	Audiomonster, Jester, Jesper Kyd, Nuke, Heatbeat, 4-Mat, Delorean,
	Mantronix & Tip, NHP & BKH, Mel'O'Dee, Static, Moby, Bruno, SLL,
	Lizard King, or anyone else.

DASCON - Nuke: He is my real fave musician on Amiga !! Nuke is able to create
	 totally different styles, disco-tunes, jazz-tunes, love-songs and and
	 and... I really like everything he does, both Legalise It's were great
	 (Acid Jazz II rules...) and I just hope that Martin will stay in scene
	 for a long, long time...
	 Tip & Mantronix: They are (again) among my fave musicians, too. There
	 was a time where almost all musicians said that their music sucks,
	 that they were just trying to use as many effects in their tunes as
	 possible, that they create cheap disco-shit... Unfortunately I thought
	 about them in the same way some time ago, but nowadays I found out how
	 sick this opinion was: Yes, they do disco tunes and maybe that these
	 tunes are more or less easy to create, but don't forget that Martin
	 Wall and Robert Ling (Tip & Mantronix) were and are the two guys that
	 created the very best tunes of these kinds we heard, yet, and when
	 they started to create these tunes they were as innovative as
	 musicians nowadays are when they create (for example) reggae-tunes...

	 Audiomonster: He's a really good musician, but I never understood how
	 he managed to get this high in the charts... He has a great, very
	 personal style and I like his tunes pretty much, especially
	 "Florence", "Hello Maniacs Of Noise" and "Street Gang"...

	 Moby: One of the most innovative musicians if you ask me... If you
	 ever saw Moby you know what music he likes to listen to, and if you
	 ever heard one of Moby's tunes you know that he likes to adapt the
	 music he likes to Amiga, too... (What a confusing sentence) His music
	 is really great, "Pelforth Blues" and "Knulla Kuk" rule surpreme...
	 Lizardking: Great musician, too... One of the newcomers 1992, he does
	 create these "ordinary" disco-stuff, but they don't sound "ordinary"
	 in any way, but fuckin' cool...

	 Heatbeat: Great leads, fantastic tunes... Do I have to say more ? We
	 all know that this guy is one of the best musicians around... He's
	 one of these musicians that are able to create tunes in really
	 different styles...

ORION - Which one is the hardest? Coding, drawing, composing, swapping or
	sysopping...

DASCON - Composing of course! Or what did you expect me to write...

ORION - Have you ever tried to code, to be a graphician or anything else?

DASCON - I tried to code and released some public domain tools about two years
	 ago, but I can't code anything anymore except checking if the left
	 mouse-button is pressed... Don't believe it ??? btst #6,$bfe001...
	 Yeah, Dascon beats all limits again,hehe... :-)


	 I also tried to paint a little bit, but I noticed that I can't
	 draw anything at all, so I stopped it immediately...

ORION - How many contacts do you have? How many of them aren't musicians?

DASCON - At the moment I have very few contacts, about 10 or so... Well,
	 somehow the number of contacts decreased in the last months, but I'll
	 start music swapping and some normal swapping again, so if you
	 musicians (and normal swappers) out there are interested to get in
	 contact with me write to my address which will be found at the end of
	 this interview... Most of my contacts are musicians, only very few are
	 swappers...

ORION - What is your favourite music in real life?

DASCON - I listen to quite a lot of music, but my very faves are Metallica
	 (lonely at the top!), Pantera, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. , Jarre, Genesis,
	 Sick Of It All, U2, Danzig, Dead Kennedys, Jimmi Hendrix and more...

ORION - Tell us about your life (especially nightlife and chicks).


DASCON - Haha, my nightlife... Well, at the moment my life is quite boring
	 as school got much harder now... Learning, learning, learning... Ain't
	 that boring ? Hm, but on saturdays I don't give a fuck for it !!!
	 There are quite much private parties here and we hang around with
	 friends from time to time, too... But the best party around will come
	 up in late April... 1000 litres of beer will be available... I guess
	 that won't be a party but a survival training...

	 Now to the subject you all have been waiting for... Dascon's sexual
	 life... Yes, there is a girl in my life, yes, I love her, but not in
	 the way all guys love their girlies... She's my best friend, I can
	 talk about everything with her, yes, I think I really love her and
	 that I can't live without her... So, you see that there's no real love
	 affair in my life based on sexuality...

ORION - What are the futuristic plans of Bernd Hoffmann (not Dascon!) ?

DASCON - Well... I want to get married one day, want to earn a lot of money,
	 build a house, get father a few times... Hehe, okay, that's a bit too
	 futuristic I guess...

	 In the near future my plans are too get my driving-license, to get my
	 A-levels (two years to go...) with quite good marks, after that I'm
	 going to learn a job and then I'll study at a university...

	 That's it about my plans for the more or less near future...
	 (pretty much, hmmmm ?!?!)

ORION - Tell us 4 things/persons you love the most!

DASCON - 1. a certain girl... (no names mentioned here...)
	 2. my parents...
	 3. my brother and my sister...
	 4. my dick...

ORION - Tell us 6 things/persons you hate the most!

DASCON - I love all of you !! Peace !! I think it's stupid to hate other
	 people because agressions cause other agressions and so on... No, I
	 don't really know any person that I really hate, sorry... (Do I have
	 to be sorry for the fact that I don't hate somebody ??? Hope not !!)

ORION - Did something really funny happened to you?

DASCON - Yes,I got an errection last week-end when I watched Beverly Hills
	 90210 and saw Brenda in a quite sexy outfit...

	 But, serious again, a funny thing happened to the whole Essence team
	 at our meeting... A swapper who wants to remain unknown, (to protect
	 his family and children...) sat down in front of the Amiga at 4:30 am
	 in the morning, when all other members were trying to get some sleep,
	 loaded DPaint and started painting Essence-logos. Oh man, we couldn't
	 stop laughing as it was soooo funny, just imagine that: you are
	 fucking tired and then this guy sits down in front of this computer
	 and starts painting ugly logos at 4:30 in the morning... Shit man !!

		     ---- ESSENCE - Damned weird... ------

ORION - Well, my fn' questions are over. Now, if you want to greet anyone,
	give some messages, or anything...

DASCON - Okay, first of all I want to thank you, Orion, for this interview and
	 I hope that I did not bore you too much with my answers, dear readers.

	 Now over to some messages to some of my contacts...

	 LIZARD/ANDROMEDA   - Hi there, Magnar... Looking forward to new
			      tunes from you...

	 LEGEND/PARALYSIS   - Howdy Jarno, looking forward to new modules
			      from you, too, especially these delicious
			      chippies...

	 TRASHER/PANIC      - Haaaaallo Oli ! Hehe, der Opa von PANIC,
			      bald wird's dann ja wohl Zeit fuer
			      Doppelherz, hmmmm ?! Stay as you are !!

	 ORION/THE MOVEMENT - Keep up this great work on Eternal !!

	 JUGGER/PANIC       - Na, Du kleiner Lila-Launebaer... Tjaja, kaum
			      noch Scenegespraeche in der Schule, das
			      Leben ist schon hart... Aber man wird
			      sich sicherlich noch auf der einen oder
			      anderen Party oder auf dem Weg zu Debus
			      treffen, hehehe...

	 Greets to all my other contacts, too, and of course to the whole
	 Essence-Team...

	 If you want to contact me for module swap, some normal swap or
	 if you need a tune for your productions then feel free to
	 write to:
				 Bernd Hoffmann
				 Biedenkopfer Str.34
				 W-5900 Siegen
				 Germany

ORION - Thanx a lot, Dascon!

DASCON - Oh, I really enjoyed this one very much... Bye folks and now
	 choose another article of this delicious Eternal issue... Peace !!