Interview with Trasher

1fIShWAVe & Trasher

Interview with Trasher of Artwork-Bomb-Sanity

 
arranged by #fIShWAVe

 
Who can come up with ten years of scening? Who is after such a long time still active or even leading a chart? #Trasher! does! The member of $Artwork!, $Bomb! and 
$Sanity! is one of the most experienced sceners and it was a pleasure for us to interview him to find out about his three groups and his point of view on several interesting topics. Nobody should miss this great interview... so start reading!

CN.!: Welcome #Trasher!, you are the first guest today. What would you like to order? A small snack or maybe something to drink?

TR!: Snack, drink?! Hmmm, do you perhaps have a pretty girl for me?

CN.!: Pretty girl? Here in the scene? Well, please tell us a bit about yourself to give the people an impression of what a person hides behind the handle #Trasher
!.

TR!: Okay my friends, let's start the show. I was born in the year of 1996, ooops - or was it 1970 in a town called Ulm/Germany. On a map you will find this small city, with perhaps 100.000 inhabitans, between Stuttgart and Germanys beer-city Munich. "Prosit!!!
!You think right, my schooltime is over since many years. I am working in a smaller office to earn some money. Well, life is hard and without money you are nothing in this cold world today. Sometimes it is very hard to make your job allright, and because of this it's not always very easy to find the right motivation to write all the letters for your contacts. Anyway, I think I had found the right way through all the years of swapping. Perhaps today it is the right time to say many thanx to all the persons who had swapped with me in the last 10 years. And of course also a big thanx to all the guys who voted for me in the latest different issues of charts.

CN.!: Would you like to add some words about your scene career so far. When did you enter the scene, which groups had the luck to have a "Trasher! among the members and so on. It is your turn now.

TR!: My scene career started in "1985!, and since this time the computer was my hobby number one. No way, of course I have/had other hobbies like girls etc, too, but the scene was always a world for itself. Perhaps you can try to describe this feeling with these words - "it's like a drug!!
!My first own group was $Hardline! which I formed together with #Powerswap!, for some guys better known under the pseudo #P$! of (Ex)-$Essence!. Before this time I was really a little lamer and played day by day shitty games. Ohhh boy...
!However, $Hardline! was born. We started like every other group today, too. We were bloody newcomer, and it was very hard to get accepted by other present teams at this time. Yes, I would say it was harder than in our days now, because there were much more groups in the scene. We got more and more guys and some of them were very talented. For example #Dascon! of (Ex)-$Essence! or #Touchstone! of $Essence!. My job in these beginning days was - "graphican!! But my level wasn't very high. When I saw #Cougar!'s pictures (Hi Chistian!), I decided to stop with my average work and started to swap a little bit. So I became more and more a format of a swapper (oh yes, I can use X-Copy!).
!After some years I was a fulltime swapper, but suddenly $Hardline !splitted up. Yes, it was time to join another group. I got a offer from $Panic!, also a very powerful group many years ago (Hi Jugger!), which I joined. The best guys of $Hardline! formed in these days a new group called $Essence!.
!As I got an offer from different $Sanity! members to join up in their team, I said yes. Well, what should I say more. After this I joined $Bomb! and $Artwork!, too. And here I am now...

CN.!: You are without doubt a scener who can tell the audience a lot of things, making it even more difficult for us to choose out the first subject. Well, let us start with your scenejob - the swapping.
!Most sceners start to swap at the beginning of their careers, but after a while decide to give up the copying of disk and writing of letters in favour of coding, composing or anything else which seems to be more rewarding in this scene. Do you think that swapping has a future in the world of boards and internet?

TR!: Of course swapping has a future. Swapping by mail is in my eyes a much better way to get the "real! scene feeling. Okay, swapping by modem is in our days more popular. It's fast etc., but now to say mail swapping is out... No, that is wrong I think. Many swappers are going the right way at the moment - they use both swap-systems. But you need a lot of time for this. I can't manage this and so this is one reason for me, to be still a 100% mail swapper. Yes, time is money... how long can you call for 1$? But have a look on a other important point. Many persons can't afford to pay each month high phonebills. So they must use stamps to spread their stuff. Well, life is hard and expensive!

CN.!: You are a swapper and a quite successful one. A swappers dream is maybe to join several good groups, to enter the charts and to stay in contact with the best sceners around - you have this all. So what can be the motivation to let you go on and on. Are it really the friendly contacts, that come and go, or what is it actually what makes swapping still interesting after that many years?

TR!: Hey, what a stupid question. Do you really think I'm swapping, because I want to be the no.1 in the charts. For sure there are persons in the scene who think in this way. But that's of course the total wrong way for a real scene person. Well, okay it's nice to see your name in a chart, but only if you see it the first time there. After this, you lose the interest very fast. But I only can speak for myself. There are many persons who are only living to become famous in the scene. In my eyes you must have fun. Make all the things you think it's cool or funny, and when you become famous with this work, you'll be a winner. I swap now 10 years, but it's anyway still nice to get some letters/sendings. You must find the right way between your hobby and your real life. Don't be only a swap-machine (for example). I for my own like to swap, because it's nice to stay in contact with many guys in other countries. I also get  new productions etc by this way. Okay, perhaps I'm no more so "hot" for swapping like some years ago. But this is for me the normal way of life. If you become older, you've to do many others things like girls etc. Many persons left the scene because of these reasons. But I'm one of the hardliner's. My girlfriend accepts what I do and so I don't know when I will quit the scene, perhaps tomorrow!?

CN.!: You are currently in three groups, and all of them belong (or belang) to the top of the scene. Don't you think that it is unfair to be in three good groups at the same time? You make it kind of impossible for other active and very promising swappers to get into the good groups, don't you think so?

TR!: I don't think that I make it impossible for newcomers to join other groups. Be sure that $Sanity! and $Bomb! don't need new or other swappers. It's more or less a friendship connection in these groups. At the moment both groups are very inactive, so why should a newcomer join there? I know the members and also ex-members, and if we want - we can call us (for example) $Sanity! members in 100 years or more. Are there laws against such connections or what?
!If we have a look on the three teams, I must say that $Artwork! is the most productive team. I can't say what the future will bring us, but I try to say that $Artwork! will be soon one of the leading forces here in Germany, and perhaps one of the whole world. Reasons for my big mouth are the members. They are all very talented and have a high motivation these days. So I hope the best for the next months - we will see.
!You can see now, I'm no job-killer. $Artwork! is at the moment my one and only real group no.1, and yes - i'm the swapper there.

CN.!: What do you think is the most important if a swapper wants to join an "elite" group? How has the young swapper to act if he wants to become someday "famous"?

TR!: Okay, I try to say the truth. For a newcomer it's impossible to join a so called "elite" group. This kind of groups mostly exists of well known persons who are in the scene for a long time. So normally they only want new members if they're also active for a longer time. That's life... The only way here is that you know a member of this group and he can say some nice words concerning you. You can also call this ""connections!".
!However, for persons who are longer in the scene, it's in my eyes much easier. The best way I think is, to join a new born group with "talented" members. If all is going all right for the group, they will reach perhaps the top of the mop with some cool productions and suddenly you're an "elite" person.An other way is, and this is the normal thing I think, you get a good image in the scene through a longer time. So perhaps some important scene persons, for you, see/saw your work and take you into their teams. Nothing is impossible, for me for example this was the reality in $Sanity!, $Bomb! and $Artwork!. Okay, it's not possible for everybody. You need time for this, or you simply have luck and good connections. I cannot give you a 100% formula for the fastest way to become famous at all, sorry! I try to say it in years. If you really want to get a name in the scene, you need approx. 1 to 2 years of hard work, a little bit luck and a good group with nice releases. That's important, without this you'll be a looser for your whole scene career.

CN.!: You have seen many swappers coming and going. Who do you think has been one of the most underrated swappers, who was the most overrated swapper and who is nowdays underrated or overrated. Please tell us your oppinion about the world of stamps and X-Copy.

TR!: At first I must say something very important, perhaps nobody knows it, but I'm the leading X-copy user of the world! Yes, it's true! I can use it without starting my monitor. Oh i'm so cooooool!!
!I don't want to say anything about overrated swappers. It's a fact, that everybody sees this problem with other eyes. So why should I waste my time with talking about such kind of questions ?!? But it's true. There are many high motivated and active persons in the scene, and nobody knows their names...

CN.!: We give you now the names of three number one swappers and please comment on them from the point of view of a swapper, please. #Speedy!

TR!: He's one of my oldest contacts now and I'm proud to swap with him. Yes, since he's also active on boards he lost a little bit of his power, but this problem has everybody who swaps on both swap-systems.
#Mr.King

TR!: Also one of my oldest contacts under the sun. We're still in contact after so many years and so I can call him an "elite" swapper. Not the speed of an answer is important. To stay for a longer time together in contact, talking about problems etc, that's what I call scene!
#Norby

TR!: Ooops, I don't know if he still likes me. For many months no answer from him anymore. Perhaps the post killed our letters my friend?! I don't know. Hope to get soon an answer from him. Since he started also on modem, he's no more so fast like in the first days. However, #Norby! is a person who makes his way on the top. He was very active and now he's one of the best in the charts. A good example for "how can I get fastly famous". 

CN.!: So, let's come to one of the scene's most talked about topics - the frayed end of $Sanity!. Could you please tell us who really is still in $Sanity! and who might again do anything for the scene. What's up with #Cougar!, #Havok!, #Ra! and the others?

TR!: I told it in some sentences before. $Sanity! isn't an active group anymore. Members who are still in this friendship connection are #Cougar!, #Moby!, #Mr.Pet!, #Chtulhu!, #Ra! and me. Nothing more to say, that's it. Think what you want... legends can never die!

CN.!: As you still seem to be kind of interested in $Sanity!, do you might try to pump new life into the group? Or are you just a $Sanity! member because of its image and you do not care about the group at all?

TR!: And again, and again... Always the same questions. Why the hell everybody wants to know something about $Sanity!? I thought that everybody knows that $Sanity! is dead, so why talking about it? But to give you an answer... Yes, perhaps someday the time will come and a new $Sanity! will be born. And it will be the darkest day of the scene. $Sanity! will kill your charts and beat you with the coolest demos ever made under the sun. Your death is near my friends! Kill yourself, so this will be the one and only way to escape from the dominion of the new dark force of your future. Be warned my friends.... the gods themselves are still alive. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....

CN.!: What do you think about $Sanity!, this big chapter of your scenelife, afterwards. Was $Sanity! really such an outstanding group like most sceners expect? Do you think that it is nowadays possible for a group to reach such a status in the scene like $Sanity! had - or should we say still has?

TR!: Of course it is today possible to reach such a status. But it's not so easy. You can reach such a situation only, if it is able for your group to release very good productions during many years. Yes, everybody has bad words for example #Chaos! etc, but you can say about him whatever you want, he was a good coder! So you can see, you need also very good members for an outstanding status. And $Sanity! had this guys. I know, many guys were talking hard words about this team, but was it not sometimes only grudge I ask you?
!On the other hand I must say, that $Sanity! wasn't the "only" good team in the last years. There were much more. Some examples for this are $Andromeda!, $Kefrens!, $Anarchy! or $Phenomena!... there were so many!

CN.!: Ok, before we leave our small $Sanity! part we would like to ask you one last question: Would you appreciate it if somebody would rebuild $Sanity! some day when the old $Sanity! members aren't anylonger in the scene? Would you care about it at all?

TR!: "Nobody! gets the permission to rebuild $Sanity! again. This is a "law!, which each $Sanity! and ex-$Sanity! member gives the scene with this question here!!!
!In the last months many many guys asked me the same question. But why the hell I must ask you now, some unknown dudes want to rebuild $Sanity! again? I think everybody knows the answer, so forget it! To reach the quality-level of $Sanity! productions, you need really talented persons. And so I ask you again... Is it for newcomers "mostly" able to manage this? I don't think so... Don't blame the name $Sanity! with bad productions. And if your demos are really as good as you think, your groupname gets automatically a legend touch - be sure! So why do you need wellknown names of old group-legends to release your own cool productions? Should I say more??

CN.!: Luckily you aren't just a member of $Sanity! but also one of $Artwork! and $Bomb!. Do you maybe have some news for the audience concerning new productions coming from $Artwork! or $Bomb!?

TR!: Hmmm, at first very bad news for you all. $Bomb Software! "left! the Amiga scene some months ago, for the "PC-scene!. Okay, perhaps some guys know this fact since some time, but now it's "official!. Bad but true... So don't wait anylonger for a new "Bomb!-production. Snif!
$Artwork! will release very soon a musicdisc, a bigger demo and of course more issues of the "Generation! mag. Don't forget to support it my friends!

CN.!: After the great success with ""Fears!" #Gengis! may have become a lot offers from game companies, so could it be that the $Bomb! Software team will lose its coder?

TR!: No, the team won't lose its coder. The scene loses this coder, because now he codes games on PC. #Gengis! and the whole "Fears-team! were very disappointed with the Fears-sales. So this was one reason more to leave the Amiga. They want to earn money with their hard work, and you can only manage this on the PC. There are sooo many gamers there, so you can earn money on PC with nearly every shit game. Sorry for these hard words.

CN.!: Last but not least let's talk about $Artwork!. Do you think that this group really has the potential to become one of the big ones? Is $Artwork! "the! German group currently? Can the team compete with the overpowering groups from e.g. Finland?

TR!: Yes, $Artwork! is at the moment for me "THE" German group and I'm very sure that this group will have a big future. The German scene situation is the same like in all other countries, too. There are only 1 or 2 really good teams left in every country and the reasons for this are of course very simple.
!Everybody saw it in the last 2 years. More and more of the best scene dudes left the Amiga, and there weren't enough newcomers all in all. The reasons for this are also very clear. The situation with $Commodore! was too bad over the last 2 years. It was impossible to buy an Amiga, and why should a person buy a system which is perhaps soon a dead system?? But okay, we're living again (Amiga), and I really hope that the new Amiga comes out soon with more power for the future. With this we'll get for sure more new guys in the scene, and that's what we need, don't we?!

CN.!: Three groups, that surely also means three different ways of organizing. Which group is or in the case of $Sanity! has been organized in the best way. Is it $Bomb!, $Artwork! or $Sanity!? Don't you think that the organizing is the key to success as well as to the death of a group?

TR!: I can't say what a good organizing is, because each group is a little bit different to the other. But I think that $Artwork! has the best organizing of this three groups. #Damion! (the HQ) calles me very often, and so I know always what's going on at the moment.

CN.!: More and more people are leaving the Amiga scene to join the PC platform. Will you one day also jump over? When do you think will you stop scening?

TR!: Some months ago I thought about this question, but I regret my decision very fast. The reason for this was my time and money problem. I can't be active on both systems at the same time and so I chose the Amiga. I'm on this machine for so many years, no, I can't stop. So if the Amiga will die somewhen, it is also the end of my scene life.

CN.!: After that much scene talk, let us ask you a bit about your life besides the scene. What is #Oliver Plink! doing when he is not copying disk under the name of #Trasher!?

TR!: I'm working in an office and earn some money. With the money I buy some stamps and disks etc. and that's it. Yeaahhhh, what a life!!

CN.!: As you are in the scene for nearby one decadent, there were surely many people in your daily life who asked you what you were doing in front of your computer. What have you told your parents, your friends and your girlfriend(s) during all the years?

TR!: Nothing. It's my hobby, and if you've a hobby nobody (I know) told something bad about this. I have also a lot of other hobbies, too, so don't think I'm sitting only each day in front of my Amiga. No problem I only can say here. My girlfriend accepts my hobby, need I more?!

CN.!: Would you say that the scene had a big influence on your life? If for example something in the scene went wrong was that also reflecting your mood outside the scene activties?

TR!: No. Scene is a world for its own and I don't go with my computer problems inside my private life. It's just a hobby, not the real life!

CN.!: The traditionnal #Seenpoint! interview question: If you would have to chose between an one night stand with a top model, one million dollars or the number one position in all swapper charts - what would you take?

TR!: Please send me the money, I can need it at the moment very well... thanx!

CN.!: Most fathers tell their children about their hobbies and how good they were in what they were doing. Do you think that you may also tell your children one day something about the scene?

TR!: A good question, but I don't know an answer to this. Perhaps I will never get children...

CN.!: Well, seems that we have reached the end. If you want to add something or to greet anyone then do it right now please.

TR!: Okay. At first thanx for this interview, and now some short greetings of course in no order to the following dudes...
!Gold Dragon, Clawz, Gengis, Made, Danny, Karpow, Cyborg, Sting, Nightmare, P$, Andy, Fade One, Zinko, Dave, Enchanced, Mike, Drac, MTC, Icebreaker, Action, Xentec, Virgill, QBA, Astro, Chaos, Mr.King, Chaos!, Microforce, Mr.Pet, Havok, Raven, Trash Head, Pride, TSAR1, Fashion, Napoleon, Virus, Zack, Pantera, Darren, Splatterhead, Ra, Moby, Chris, Iron, Oden, Model, Colorbird, John Peel, Crusader, Fiver, Ghandy, Norby, Alhazred, Eagle, Damian, Arcane, Devistator, Poke, Speedfreak, NTSC, Kestrel, Rave, Sky, Exon, Cook, Kernal, Iro, Decoy, Lord, McCoy, Mr.Keel, Hunter, Gangsta, Clever, Rayer, Adder, Mac, TSM, Adonis, Wah, Cougar, Tron, Zibi, Al Bundy, Swoop, Immortal, The Loop, JMS, Slurry, Norman, Speedy, Crown, Fishwave, Coolio, Snuffy, Rooster, Splash, Kelson, Vega, Jay, Kaosmaster, Noodle, Hysteric, Cyclone, C-Tank, Mr.Pixel, Pila, React, Klaf, GFX-Twins, Professor, Hardfire, Mars, Nike... etc. and all the others I've forgotten...

CN.!: We thank you for this interview. Good luck in your further life!