Interview
Handle: Gallstone/Finnish Gold
How did you come up with your alias ?
Heh, this is a funny one...At first I tried to make up a good handle and thought real hard what would be an aproperiate one. Then after some hours of desperate thinking I gave up and opened my dictionary... I pointed some words from the book eyes peeled and then I just chose from couple of my favourites. I decided to choose GALLSTONE becouse it sounded weird enough and on the other hand I was really hard person to handle if someone made me agry (just like a Gallstone inside a human body)...Now; you can try to analyze this as a Psygologist if you want to...:)
City / Country:
Finland
Born year:
1972
What was your first computer, and when did you get it?
It was a C64. I'm afraid that I can't quite remember the exact year I got it. It was however at the time when the first ones arrived to Finland. Maybe 1982 or 1983.
How did you get into the scene and what groups have you been a member of ?
Me and my friend decided to form a group when we thought it would be nice to do something else than play too. I think it was as late as 1985 or slt. That friend of mine was interested in doing music and I myself was more interested in graphics. Neither of us knew how to code, so the first attemps were really lame rippings of other peoples code. That friend of mine evolved as a musician a great deal in a little time and choose his handle after his interest: he became to be known as a Rock. Rock and I formed FIG, Finnish Gold, very soon after our decision to form a group. We needed a coder though and asked a friend of us (FCS) to join us. FCS had formerly coded demos independantly and his merites were quite well known in the public as he made the first Side-Border scroller in the world (some still think 1001-crew made the first one, but you can find yourself that FCS made it earlier if you can find both of the demos and compare their release dates). Now we had all the elements to became a well- working group. FCS was a helluwa coder, ROCK was a good musician who got better and better all the time and I made some graphics, spread our productions as a swapper and invented mostly all ideas to our demos. I did have a wide imagination at the times and when a good idea came to my mind I told it straight to FCS. Mostly it happened that he first said that it was impossible to do, but after thinking a while he did it anyway :) Spemu joined us as a swapper too and I think this was the original configuration of FIG that was stable from the start to the beginning. We took some other members later too (ZYX, Timo Rossi, was maybe the most well known of them as he made a well known assembler to the Amiga later, and was a fantastic coder) MIY ,who was a great friend of all of us, joined us too. There were some others, but they were kicked later and some of them formed Amiga group ACCESSION later when we decided to continue on c64 and keep our name. So FIG was the one and only group that I was really a member of.
What was the proudest moment in your career ?
I can't really specify this. The winning of the Byterapers demo- competition in 1989 or slt was a nice one (Contest-demo). It was also quite a memorable moment when postman one day ringed our doorbell and gave me a big bag with 75 letters inside and told me that I was getting more post than the other people whole in the same apartment-building.....
For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered ?
I was the one who wrote mostly our scrolltexts, so I think that must be the reason. I had also a BIG amount of friends all over the world who swapped with me. I also made some graphics to our demos too and wish someone would remember them too, but I don't think anyone does even though from time to time someone ripped my fonts etc. I was quite nosy writing those scrolltexts and some of them I'm ashamed now years back, but hey. I was young and wrestless then :)
What would you like to be remembered for ?
^read above^
What made you stop the scene activity ? (and do you remember when?)
It was a sum of many things. Some went to the army, some started serious studying etc. We found it better to stop doing demos than releasing one demo/year. I don't remember the exact year.
Thinking back on the good old days, is there anything you regret?
Some scrolltexts, but thats all.
What was your favorite
GAME(S)
Racing Destruction set, MR Do's castle (yeah...really), Heart of africa, Maniac mansion (to name a few)
DEMO(S)
All Horizon, Xakk and Sphinx demos (and of course all of ours :))
PROGRAMMER(S) (OR PROGRAMMING TEAM(S))
Best coders of the above teams
CRACKER(S) (OR CRACKING GROUP(S))
Triad, Ikari, Hotline
OVERALL GROUPS :
Can't name the best of the best.
COMPOSER(S)
Jeroen tell, Johannes Bjerregard, Rob Hubbard, ROCK...
BEST COMPOSED TRACK(S)
Hawkeye, Cybernoid2, Think Twice 2:s maintune
BEST GRAPHICS
Sorry can't name the best of them. Judges had some nice graphics.
EVENT(S) (E.G. COPYPARTY)
Byterapers copyparties + Our own party (1:st or 2:nd in Finland)
MEMORY(S)
All memories from that time are unforgettable :)
DRINK ?
Vodka (almost any)
What are you doing nowadays ?
Studying. Hopefully I'll become Engineer of telecommunications in the near future :)
What are you doing on your spare time?
I have not much spare time but when I do I read a lot, booze sometimes and do a different things with my PC (Not anything notable)
Is there anything you'd like to say to the public (read: admires)
Keep the scene alive on all platforms (C64, Amiga, PC). Todays scene is too material. People do not make demos anymore becouse it is fun, but becouse they only want money. It would be nice to see demos released all the time; not only when there is a parties. Let the friendships rule as in those old times!
What is the meaning of life?
42....errr....Trading.....Internet....errr....I don't really know :)