Interview


So dude, whats your megacool handle that made you all that famous?
Well ZiKE!, it's the one and only Azatoth handle.

Tell me a fascinating story about how you came up with that?
Ok. Some friends played the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu (that may be the correct spelling, dunno these things nowadays) and they were babbling about some thing named Azathoth that was a god in the universe of their game. You could never actually see Azathoth, he was more like a blurry blob that penetrated the entire universe and basically was superior to all other gods and all things you could ever imagine existed in this universe (if this is not true, then it is at least what i dreamt up at the time). Now, since i suffered of hybris during that time I immedietely identified myself with this thing and took the name as handle. However i removed the first 'h' because i thought it looked silly.

In what area of the sphere do you live:
Jag bor i Uppsala / Sverige ("I live in Uppsala / Sweden" -Ed)

What was your first computer, and when did you get it?
My brother had played Amiga games at a friends house and thought that it was real fun. So then he fooled my father into buying a A500 by letting him think that he (my father) would use it for word-processing or something like that. Of course he never used it, partly because we simply took it and regarded it as ours (sorry father). I was out riding light motorcycles illegaly at that time but it came to a stop when i put my heel in the wheel (this is true) and i was forced to stay in the house (my foot actually split right open so i could see the bones and other internals... it was quite instructive :-), it healed up nicely though). Anyway i was forced to stay home so i switched on the computer and that was it! i didn't leave it until i knew how everything worked (years later), in particular how one made demos. I started out drawing lines in different colours by using simple commands in AmigaBasic. Then i just continued programming manically day and night, it was great. This happened around 89. Love at first sight.

Well, how did you get into the hysterically cool and fun scene subculture?
I got to speak with Celebrandil on the phone and then i started to terrorize him with phonecalls asking how different things were done (For instance how to compute the square root of a number, something which i am now actually analyzing mathematically). I also had some contact with Mr Gurk and that way i joined Phenomena. Eventually Celebrandil realized that Phenomena would be the new masters ;-) and joined us as well. (It was something like that).

For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered ?
Because i made the good and mega arrogant demo Enigma which dropped down like a bomb in the amiga-scene culture.

What was the proudest moment in your career ?
When i recieved a hate letter written on toilet-paper signed by some guy in Byterapers, probably it was someone else who wrote it trying to provoce a war between Phenomena and Byterapers. I realized that i must have done something good to make who ever it was so envious.
Seriously: It's when i watched the response Enigma got.

What made you stop the scene activity ? (and do you remember when?)
I started to become interrested in other areas of computing. Noting the fact that there was no good programming language available ( If you think that C is a good programming language then i think that you do not know much about computing). I became interrested in compilers. Made one almost to completion and then i started to study Computer Science here at Uppsala University where i am sitting and typing this. The computer science community actually is not so different from the demo-culture. The demo-culture is sprung from computer science. Without computer science no demo-culture. So in some sense computer science is the "real thing". Demo-making is when you use computer science to create art, and that is real fun as we all know. I would be really surprised if i will not do a little bit of that again sometime.

What are you doing nowadays ?
Im am currently involved in a project called "Getting all the babes" I am taking up an interest in humans and their relations. Computers are fun only to a certain extent. I think it's a good idea to balance these things against each other.

What is the meaning of life?
Nobody knows. And if it exists one, what is the meaning with that? Of course i am hounored that you expect me to have an answer for this question ZiKE!, but i have to admit that this is beyond my powers. My recomendation can only be: Forget these kind of questions, have fun instead.


We would like to hear What your favorite
        game(s)
        demo(s)
        programmer(s) (or programming team(s))
        cracker(s) (or cracking group(s))
        overall group
        gfx artist
        composer(s)
        best composed track(s) 
        event(s) (e.g. copyparty)
        memory(s)

      were?

Actually my first demo (Vectormania) was very inspired by Delta/RSI 's Cebit 90 demo. And Enigma was very inspired by Mental Hangover by Slayer/Scoopex. I actually sat and compared the latter two in great detail, clocking how long they were and stuff like that, convincing myself that my demo was better. I guess you could say that it worked.

Is there anything you'd like to say to the public (read: admires)
Well some traditional computer-scene GREETINGS to EVERYONE is in place i think. For me the scene experience was great. Can one have more fun then many of us had? Very possibly not. SPECIAL greetings to all programmers, musicians, graphicians and all other creative people how made the scene what it was.

Of course we should enjoy the past but dont forget to look FORWARD as well. I'd say that everything is possible. Live your life, do the things that you wannt to do, make sure the things you want to happen happens, do not be a coward and you'll see that the world becomes a less boring place.


Thanks to ZiKE! for making these great scene-nostalgy pages.

Regards from Olle Lindroth