Interview
Handle:
Janitor (Good way to start a carreer, pick a gramatically impossible handle. Cracked by Janitor? Great). In the very beginning I was known as P.W. but let's forget all about that.
How did you come up with your alias ?
Panic and Public Relations.
City / Country:
Sweden
Born year:
1969
What was your first computer, and when did you get it?
The 64, of course!
How did you get into the scene and what groups have you been a member of ?
Hmm. Over winter of 86/87 I producing a few mildly entertaining mini-demos... some music disks where I took as much credit for compressing the damn songs as I gave to the guy who wrote the music.
Eventually I was contacted by West Coast Crackers (Mr Pinge!)...
... which soon split into Fairlight and Relax ... Relax later sort of bonded with Triad and became, well, Triad TNG.
Except I was a lot more annoying than Mr. Z ever was.
What was the proudest moment in your career ?
I was in heaven when Pinge called me. I felt a solid sort of success when Ixion/Triad called me. I don't know about pride...
For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered ?
If anything, for a certain integrity when it came to quality.
What would you like to be remembered for ?
The same. Lucky, huh?
What made you stop the scene activity ? (and do you remember when?)
It was just time. I don't like getting stuck in things.
Thinking back on the good old days, is there anything you regret?
Yeah, being a twit. (You are a God, not a twit -Ed)
What was your favorite
GAME(S)
Hell... I played a LOT of games.. I think Last Ninja was very pretty. I love Infocom. Jumpman, MULE, Archon... Paradroid... uh. Exploding Fist... Etc, etc.
DEMO(S)
I was never too interested in demos. I guess my favourite would have to be some nameless intro from Sodan which featured "The Model" as title song.. I used to just play that while doing something else for the beautiful song. I was a little teenage synthie.
PROGRAMMER(S) (OR PROGRAMMING TEAM(S))
Mr. Z remains my hero.
CRACKER(S) (OR CRACKING GROUP(S))
Mr. Z remains my hero.
COMPOSER(S)
There can be only one: Hubbard. Well, Galway wasn't bad. :)
BEST COMPOSED TRACK(S)
Just about everything Hubbard did. I don't remember titles. Occasionally I will hear the 'original' of something he covered and realize I still prefer his version... What you pick up at that age gets sort of stuck I guess.
Again, to be fair, Galway made some stunning stuff.
EVENT(S) (E.G. COPYPARTY)
Twice in Denmark. The first time, Danish Gold summer 1987 I guess... Everything was very new. Second time, a year later, don't remember who arranged things. I do remember drinking large amounts of beer and getting driven into town by a very drunk Jeff Smart together with Ixion.
Favorite drink ?
Varies. Sometimes only single-malt whiskey interests me. Other times nothing beats a cold beer. But I think a really well-made marguerita goes down just about anytime. I had my best one at Chuck's Margueritaville in Connecticut (!), USA.
What are you doing nowadays ?
Working my ass off. Moving to the USA. Getting my courage up to sit down and spend a year or two of my life writing a computer game on my own that can rival the $2,000,000 CD productions they put out these days.
What are you doing on your spare time?
You're kidding. Spare time? Well, OK. I'm married (!) to a Goddess. I train a Vietnamese martial art (Binh Dinh) a couple of nights a week. I read a lot still. I spent most of the 1990-1993 on the net, co-running a Mud. In the US I even hope to have time for a social life although this may be advanced self-delusion.
Is there anything you'd like to say to the public (read: admires)
Yeah, don't sell yourself. And that includes selling yourself to scenes that are all about not selling yourself...
What is the meaning of life?
Not cool enough for this interview. :)
Most stable way to reach me is at pw@lysator.liu.se I'd love contact with old friends. Also on anybody out there who may have connections/insights/experience with the computer games market these days. Hell, I like contact with just everyone. :)