Interview
Handle: Black Shadow
How did you come up with your alias ?
Just from thin air when I went home from a WCC gathering with Strider, and we decided to leave WCC and form FairLight instead.
City / Country:
Malmoe / Sweden
Born year:
1970
What was your first computer, and when did you get it?
My first computer was a TRS-80 (Trash-80) which was imported from the states. It was my father who brought it home ofcourse. This was back in 1977 i think. After that I've had: a ZX81,Vic 20, Commodore 64/128, Amiga and now I'm on the PC.
How did you get into the scene and what groups have you been a member of ?
I started out very early on the C64 scene as with a solo carieer. My first group was CLCC which was the first letters of my name then Cracking Company after it.. :) .. Then I started a group called Saturn Crackers United or something similar but it mainly consisted of me alone.. A bit later on I joined WASP (We Against Software Protection) and changed my name to Sir Galahad. At this time there was a few groups around in sweden. Like SCC,TRIAD and WCC. Some of the WASP members later on joined up with WCC (along with some non-WASP members). After som years of glory with WCC, WCC split up into Relax and FairLight. FairLight was founded by me and Strider (who used to be No.1 of WCC). Our first "outside" member was Gollum (who used to be solo as LFK if I'm not misstaken). And I've been in FairLight since then.
What was the proudest moment in your career ?
Proudest moment.. Hmm.. There was a old game on the C64 which i think was called Flying Shark or Tiger or something similar that I ripped from tape. This game was with several levels and it loaded like 100+ files from tape to each level. I managed to level pack these 100+ files and got the whole game with intro down to 1 disk side and only 7 files. This was one of the very first level packed games out there, and I was VERY proud of that release. I'm also very proud of my first Amiga and PC releases ofcourse, since it was the first new releases by me on a new computer. I especially liked my version of Bubble Bobble on the Amiga which had a buildt in trainer in the FairLight intro which was extremely unusual at that time. Trainers overall were very unusual at that time.
For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered ?
For releasing lots of high quality cracks on the C64 (mainly) and the Amiga. We've always had this policy with Fairlight that quality is better than quantity, but we managed to release quite some heaps of games on the C64 which were quality aswell.. :)
What would you like to be remembered for ?
For beeing one of the oldest "hackers" in the scene. I'm not very active anymore, but at my peak with the 64 there were not many that could match us.
What made you stop the scene activity ? (and do you remember when?)
I really never quit the scene completely. But at the same time as I switched from Amiga to PC it became much less. I've released some stuff on the PC but it never became the same. And these days if I hack something it's mostly for my own use.
Thinking back on the good old days, is there anything you regret?
Regret? Well.. Nothing that I really regret, but there was a C64 game called the Vikings which I got from "inside" the scene (which was unusual at that time) and released like 3 months before it was supposed to hit the stores. A short time after that I got a call from Soeren G. (Sodan) and he was quite mad at me since it was his game. I had no idea at that moment that he was the one who made that game. If I would have known I would prob not have released it, since there is some kinde of honor between hackers.
What was your favorite
GAME(S)
Old C64 games like: Mule, Archon, Sword of Fargol, Temple of Apshai etc. Mule is ofcourse the all time best ever.. :)
DEMO(S)
Well.. Demos were not very usual on the c64 when I was active there, but on the Amiga there was tons of neat demos. I especially remember one from some finish guy named Slayer.. I think it was Mental Hangover or something similar.. Was truly amazing at the moment.. I think he was the first one that used Textured Mapping on polygons on the Amiga. I also did like Unreal by Future Crew on the PC which also was some kind of breakthru.
PROGRAMMER(S) (OR PROGRAMMING TEAM(S))
On the good old C64 it must have been 1001 crew. They were always setting higher standards for all of us. These guys were truly amazing.
CRACKER(S) (OR CRACKING GROUP(S))
The first legend that comes to mind is Mr.Z/Triad who always made the best cracks back in the good old days. Later on our on Gollum were a real kick ass cracker aswell.
OVERALL GROUPS :
Hmm.. Tricky question.. Perhaps 1001 Crew since they ment so much for the advancement of the C64 scene. But I think most of us "oldtimers" deserv some credits. Like Triad,SCC,Danish Gold,Hotline,TLC and many more..
COMPOSER(S)
Chris Huelsbeck is the number one for me. But ofcourse Hubbard, Galaway, Crawford and the rest of the c64 gang deserves lots of credits aswell.
BEST COMPOSED TRACK(S)
I especially remember the first time I heard the R-Type music on the Amiga on a copy party in Denmark. I was truly amazed by this music and at first I believed it all to be a long sample, but it was real played music. At this time I really got cought buy Chris's music.
BEST GRAPHICS
I never got the hang of any names on those guys really...
EVENT(S) (E.G. COPYPARTY)
The copyparty in denmark back in.. 87? All the big groups were there.. 1001 crew, Danish Gold and tons of others. We went there by train with Triad,SCC and Relax I think. It was a rather small copyparty, only about 200 people or so maximum. But it was the best of them all. And I think all who were at that party will remember the burgers they had just 2 blocks away from the place where we were staying. They had so much stuff on em that you had hamburger dressing dripping of you arms. But it was great! :)
MEMORY(S)
I especially enjoyed the time that I more or less lived at Striders place and we had like 4 computers (C64s) there and kept hacking all day and night. We slept in turns and cracked anything we could get our hands on. I even got "my own room" in their house.. hehehe.. And I must also mention all those cool gatherings in London at ECES (but I think it had another name back then). Lots of cool guys meeting up, playing around trying to steal releases from different companies and lateron going out getting drunk on the evening. A terrific time.. :)
DRINK ?
Dark Rum and Cola. (Appleton Estate if I may chose. It's aged 12 years and tastes like heaven)
What are you doing nowadays ?
I work as a programmer mainly. But I also do stuff like web pages. I and the "boss" over the computer department on the company I work on so I get to do almost anything that has to do with computers. But before this I've been mostly with sales and service. Mostly working in different computer stores.
What are you doing on your spare time?
Well.. I play games on my PC (Doom,WarcraftII,Command and Conquer and more). I also Mud quite alot on a mud called MUME which I enjoy pretty much. And we shall not forget all the time I spend on partying ofcourse.
Is there anything you'd like to say to the public (read: admires)
FairLight - Quality,Pride,Tradition
What is the meaning of life?
Sex, Drugs, Computers and Rock'n Roll..