Interview with C.A.T/ESSENCE

         by Diesel/Razor 1911 



PR:      Okay,     boys!     Introduce
yourselves!

CAT:  We consist of GROO and RUFFERTO,
we  are  both  18 years old and we are
living  in  a  stupid  german  village
called METTMANN!

PR:   Well,  please  give  me  a short
summary of your Amiga-careers so far.

CAT:   Rufferto  entered  the scene at
the  beginning  of  92  when he joined
ADDONIC.   Then Groo  crossed his road
and we started the  cooperation around
spring  '92.    We  decided  to join a
group  together  and we chose DIGITAL,
because  they  had  just  released THE
PUNISHER, which amazed us quite  alot.
Later  in  the  summer we were  pissed
off with the bad organization  and the
lack of friendship and so we  joined a
raising british team called DELICIOUS.
It  was  quite funny with those guys ,
but lateron, when we also  got   other
german  members  from   Hardline,  the
Germans of DLS built up  the  ultimate
group:  E S S E N C E !


PR:    Why  did  you  change  name  to
C.A.T(Covert Action Team)?


CAT:  Well, after our trackmo we found
that  there had to be a real TEAM name
for    us     and     further   ,  the 
GROO & RUFFERTO thing sounded really a 
bit silly, so we  started an  internal 
voting action between Groo &  Ruff and 
the    result   was   this   new name!

PR:   I've tried to work together as a
team with  other   graphicians  ,  but
it     just   didn't work out.  How do
you  manage ?   Are  all pictures made
by the both of you?

CAT:   We  started to cooperate rather
early,  when  none  of  us had already
developed a certain  style, so both of 
us almost found the same style as time 
went by. Of  course, not  all graphics 
are pure cooperation , sometimes there 
are even absolute solo acts,but all in 
all we to do as  much  as  possible in 
team work.

PR:   How  much time do you spend with
your  Amiga a day?  8, 16 or 24 hours?

CAT:   Euh,  a  really  hard question.
There  are  times  when  the  computer
remains switched  off for  some  days, 
but   then  again ,  there   are  also 
'hardcore' (?) painting sessions  when 
we   almost   work  all   the   day  .

PR:    So,   do   you  have  time  for
girlfriends  or are they frightened by
the white box called Amiga?

CAT:   Well,  IF  there  should be any
girls  around  us smelly guys there is
not a problem with the computing hobby
They are introduced into the sense  of
the scene and they have to accept  it!


PR:   You,  Rufferto, wrote an article
recently   where   you    said    that
the A1200 won't get a  scene   on  its
own.  How can   you  say   that   when
most   groups   already are working on
AGA - demos ?   And  why  not ,   when
the  graphicians get  a  much   better
tool to work with?

CAT:    Yes,  especially  here  at THE
PARTY  3  I  have to admit, that there
are really  a lot  of    AGA machines!  
Well, it seems that the AGA tendencies 
can't be stopped, but still  I  do not 
have a very   positive   attitude   to   
this machine, especially when it comes 
to graphics! Firstable I am  much  too 
LAZY to handle millions of coulours in 
order to find the right  palette and I 
think you have the  chance  to do good 
pictures which are  just  based on the 
new  graphics  modes , but most people 
won't recognize, that these   pictures  
are  just   good  because  of the  new  
hardware   and  not   because  of some  
brilliant  technique,  as  it is now .

PR:   I  know that you've been accused
for scanning your pictures a number of  
times,  but why and by who?   Do   you 
ever use scanners?

CAT:   Well we do not want to list the
people  again along with 'fuckings' or
something   like  that.   Some of them
already  admitted,  that they had been
wrong, after they saw A.S.S . . .   of 
course we never use scanners ,  but  I 
think if two VERY unknown  guys from a 
VERY unknown group win the  3rd  prize 
in a XMAS competition,  you   tend  to 
say, that they have  either cheated or 
scanned. But  as   it   turned   out , 
Essence is NOT a lame  group   at  all  
and  I think our graphics cannot    be  
called  'lame'   as  well! Anyway ,  I 
think we managed  to  push  our  image  
away..  sometimes it really hurt!  :-(

PR:    Do   you   always  copy  'real'
pictures,  or  do  any  of you draw on
paper   too ?   Airbrush  ,   acrylic?

CAT:   Both  of us are quite unskilled
when it comes to drawings on paper, so
we  never  did  any  pictures  without
model,  but  in our opinion the people
who claim  to   do  pictures   without 
model, also get  very much inspiration 
from 'real' pictures.

PR:   A guy called Facet has got quite
much   publicity   recently  .  Do you
think  he's  worth it ,  or  are  guys
like  Hof ,  Cougar  and  Mack better?
What  do  you  think  of  Fairfax  and
the  rest  of  the  so called 'elite'?
Any   favourites  /  hate  - objects ?

CAT:   In our opinion Facet is not the
best at all, but we think it is rather
childish  to  comment on him  like Hof
did  in RAW 5.  He claimed, that Facet
is so goddamn arrogant.    Of   course 
Facet  is ,   but  Hof  is  much  more 
arrogant in my opinion.    Anyway    I   
am  always astonished by Hof pictures!  
He is one of the very   best  as  well  
as  these other frenchmen  Walt or Ra.  
Then Cougar is a guy we  admire   very 
much.  He does not do  very  much, but  
IF  he   does  the  result  is  always 
stunning.  His  pictures  can  all  be 
counted   to   the     best  on Amiga!
Fairfax...    in   our   opinion   the
pictures  are  boring.   Not bad!  But
boring, because  he    always     does  
mountains with some  static    figures  
in  front.  We do not like that!  Then  
everything    is   mega  big and  mega  
interlaced  and  so on, but   nowadays
pictures  should  be based on  stylish
design and good ideas.

PR:   What do you think about the fuss
about WOTW/Essence that has  dominated 
the mags lately? Raw #6 had 3 articles  
and  Upstream #7 had one.
Are  the  complains fair or is he just 
an innocent victim?


CAT:   All  the  fuss  is nothing more
than  ridiculous!   I  have  written a
reaction article as well,because I was 
really pissed reading the    articles,
recognizing that   absolutely  all the 
aspects are nothing   more  than dirty 
bullshit and lies!
I could print  the whole article here,
but  you  will  see.   You  will  also
experience WOTW's    latest   music  , 
so keep   tuned  and  shut your smelly 
mouthes!

PR:   What  is  happening  in  Essence
right  now ?   Is  'ASS 2' on its way,
or even better, a slideshow?

CAT:   Oops,  you  got us!  There is a
slideshow  on  its  way, by D-Sign and
C.A.T! Then   there  are  some  decent  
demo projects  which won't be revealed 
yet.

PR:  I happen to know that most of the
members  of  Essence have foreign real
names.    What   do   you  think about
the  Party  III-organizers who decided
to forbid all fascist-signs?
    
CAT :    Yes ,  we  could be seen as a
multinational group with WOTW (Greek),
D-Sign  (Italian) and Roman  (Polish).
It is  essential   to   forbid  racist
actions at parties!

PR:  Yuck, I don't have more questions
now..     .     Just   say   something
uninteresting or greet someone..

CAT:   Greetings  to all party maniacs
here    in    Herning.     Especially:
Rackler,  Diesel ,   Colorbird,  Ilona  
Christen,Andi Melchert,Eleffi Rotauge,
Touchstone  'Tunte',   Massimo, Roman,
Michi blah blah!