Propaganda 24 ch05
From C64 Diskmag Wiki
+------------------------+
|One of the Transformers |
|was called Hound and the|
|other one Jazzcat, the |
|latter a name he fancied|
|so much he decided to |
|use it himself. |
+---------------FROM TRANSFORMERTOYS
FROM TRANSFORMERTOYS
TO ONSLAUGHT
TO ONSLAUGHT.
PROPAGANDA MEETS JAZZCAT.
EARLY SEPTEMBER, 1997.
Our Australian friend has been active
on what seems to be a 24-hour basis over
the past years. When Propaganda met up
with him we met an openminded Austral-
ian who speaks of his past, the setup
of ONSLAUGHT and the eternal 1OO%-
version-debate.
______________________________________
JAZZCAT has been on the boards on an al-
most daily basis since 2 or 3 years
back - An admirable effort in itself.
Doing so, JAZZCAT has established him-
self as one of the powerful institutions
of the modern market. He is organizing
______________________________________
______________________________________
and leading ONSLAUGHT, a big group from
the new generation. He edits one of the
public's favorite magazines. There have
been 8 juicy issues of DOMINATION. As if
that wasn't enough he helps his friend
and partner VENGEANCE with VANDALISM
NEWS. On the legal side, he edits a mag-
azine called COMMODORE FEVER and further
helps with COMMODORE SCENE, a Brittish
magazine. And of course, as with every
crackinggroup today, he is also involved
in gamesales. So this is old news. This
is JAZZCAT today. What was JAZZCAT like
yesterday?
______________________________________
**........
\/\/--/\><
JAZZCAT describes himself as a typical
hangaround in his early days on the
scene. His sources of software were
limited and he swapped pirated games
on a local level. TRIAD, FAIRLIGHT,
GENESIS and LEGEND were great fascina-
tion to the young JAZZCAT and he was
intruiged with the idea of taking part
in the scene himself. Back then, TRANS-
FORMERS were popular toys and JAZZCAT
happened to be owner of two.
One of the TRANSFORMERS was called
HOUND and the other one JAZZCAT, the
latter a name he fancied so much he
decided to use it himself.
+----------------------------------+
|"..WHICH LED BOTH DEFF/AVANTGARDE |
| AND WESTBAM/LEGEND TO OFFER |
| HIM MEMBERSHIPS." |
+----------------------------------+
His first groups were POWERCREW and
CPG, unknown to the wide masses but it
was also here he met some of the people
we'd later see in ONSLAUGHT. GRIZE (cre-
ator of MISFORTUNE) and SHADES were both
part of the two groups and not long af-
ter he ran into VENGEANCE, then in THE
FORCE. VENGEANCE adds into the story
later, as we all know.
JAZZCAT expanded quickly and as the
Australian group BODYCOUNT started,
he was let in on trial with his 15O
contacts. VANDALISM was also published
under the BODYCOUNTlabel. It may come
as a surprise for many of you, but it
was in fact JAZZCAT'S job to edit the
magazine. From BODYCOUNT the story
moves on quickly. JAZZCAT enters his
first European journey REBELS and gets
a modem from SUBZERO/CODERS and from
REBELS into ALPHA FLIGHT. JAZZCAT re-
members the days with ALPHA FLIGHT as
pleasant ones, and recalls the fierce
competition with RED SECTOR at the time.
+----------------------------+
|" ..WE WERE ALL FED UP |
|WITH OUR GROUPS AND NEEEDED |
| SOMETHING DIFFERENT. " |
+----------------------------+
It would still prove that ALPHA FLIGHT
was not all glitter and flash. Sceners
among many groups must have been start-
led by the Australian around-the-clock
scener which led both DEFF/AVANTGARDE
and WESTBAM/LEGEND to offer him member-
ships. For many, the decision would pro-
bably have been fairly obvious. AVANT-
GARDE still had a couple of years of
activity ahead of them while LEGEND were
hanging on to the last mile and had put
their more active days in the past.
JAZZCAT however still had an old respect
for the will of God and decided to jump
on the the train, even though it was
their last. The decision must have upset
DEFF who was used to getting served on
silverplate. Since that day, they have
never been on a friendly basis, JAZZCAT
adds.
[P] PUTTING ONSLAUGHT TOGETHER MUST HAVE
BEEN EXCITING LOOKING AT WHAT YOU'VE
ACCOMPLISHED WITH IT NOW. WHAT WERE
THE INTENTIONS AND MAINGOALS OF THE
NEW GROUP?
- Yes, it was rather exciting in several
ways, one of the mainreasons was to sh-
rug this "Australian only" type feeling
and have a big break ino the scene on
an international level. ONSLAUGHT was
created by myself, VENGEANCE/SCS*TRC
and MAJESTY/TALENT. At that time we were
all fed up with our present groups and
needed something different.
[P] SPEAKING OF VENGEANCE, HE IS SOME-
WHAT YOUR SECOND HALF IN PUBLIC. IS YOUR
FRIENDSHIP VALUABLE FOR PRODUCTIVITY?
- Yes our friendship is very valuable,
it gives you reliability and it also
gives you a reassurance of getting the
job done. I know Matt has relied on me
seveeral times with helping him with
his magazine. With other people he can-
not ask this as the friendship is not
as strong so neither is the responsi-
bility level. In ONSLAUGHT it is an im-
portant thing that all members are fr-
iends. I don't want the group to be like
a business but a productive hobby. If
thingswent inactive the frienship would
still be there to hold the group to-
gether, ready for another day to strike
again.
[P] SO WHAT WOULD A NORMAL DAY BEHIND
THE ONSLAUGHT-CURTAINS LOOK LIKE?
- Normally we just laugh and talk about
what's going on in real life. Sotimes
I ring up Matt (VENGEANCE) and we don't
even speak of anything that is scene-
related. We just have conversations on
matters of real life interest and girl
problems and ways of solving them.
Scenewise, we urge members to get work-
ing hard on current releases that are
in the pipeline - there is always some-
thing happening in the crew, hence it's
name.
HOLY MOSES. MY DISKS ARE ALIVE.
+-----------------------------------+
|" ..HE IS NOT THERE TO SEE WHAT |
| TAKES PLACE AND HAS TO GET |
| INFORMATION FROM HIS SO CALLED |
| "RELIABLE SOURCES".. "|
+-----------------------------------+
[P] AS PART OF A CRACKINGGROUP, THERE
HAVE LATELY BEEN SEVERAL INFECTED DE-
BATES BETWEEN THE GROUPS ON THE BOARDS.
ULTIMATELY, IT ALL COMES DOWN TO RE-
LEASES, FIXES AND 100%-VERSIONS. WHAT
IS YOUR OPINION ON THE ENTIRE AFFAIR?
- I think because originals are getting
more scarce that groups are wanting the
points so much that 1OO%-versions are
becoming more and more evident. Groups
like AFL criticize others for hunting
points when they are the ones who poorly
crack and rush releases such as MAGICAL
FORMULA to try and steal some points.
They are the ones who do the majority
of the 1OO%-versions, yet when it is
done to them (URINE) they cry like
children. Why I react so much on this
particular group is because of it's
habit in contradicting itself. People
should just learn to get originals from
elsewhere, or make their own and sell
them and then crack them, like we do
sometimes - where there is no harm done.
I would also like to add the fact that
some magazines like RELAX are used by
ALPHA FLIGHT as a tool for their con-
troversies and problems they find with
the majority of the crackinggroups. I
feel that the editor, RRR, only sticks
up for them and what they do so much
because of being a former member of the
group and because a large number of the
RELAX editors are members of AFL. When
criticized about this RRR awlays ex-
plains about his wishes to keep the
magazine objective and so on. He should
not be a spokesman on the subject of
1OO%-releases or any topics that are
board-related. Fact is, he never calls
any C64-boards, the only one he called
was EDGE OF MIDNIGHT when it had a a
O13O-German tollfree number routed to
it and that was only for a couple of
months. He has therefore not enough
knowledge and experience to make any
judgements or even try and write an
article on any situations that are
caused by AFL. He is not there to see
what takes place and has to get info-
rmation from his so called "reliable
sources" and all of these are either in-
volved in argumentative situations with
me or my group or are willing to take
side of the idiots who are trying to
bombarde the scene with lies and actions
that simply just never took place in
the past.
[P] I SEE. SPEAKING OF RELAX, YOU ARE
EDITOR OF THE MUCH ACCLAIMED DOMINATION.
HOW WOULD YOU GRADE YOUR WORK AS A
JOURNALIST?
- As an editor you see your own mistakes
more than the reader. I have noticed my
errors in the past and I think I am
getting better and better at what I do.
I am not someone that is over modest
so it is a hard question you ask. I
prefer other people judge me. But I also
think that before you judge others, you
must jusge yourself first.
[P]THE MAGAZINEMARKET IS PROBABLY THE
ONE THAT HAS BEEN EXPANDING THE MOST
AND GROWING IN TERMS OF QUALITY. WHAT
DO YOU THINK OF THE MAGAZINES AND COMP-
ETITION TODAY?
- Competition is still there today. it
was fun and fierce in '94 and '95 when
THE PULSE and SKYHIGH were still around,
but as you said the quality is still
improving. VANDALISM, RELAX, PROPAGANDA
and DRIVEN and the other mags offer good
competition as far as breaking news and
getting that special original chapter
across. Other mags that I see that will
eventually also be ones to watch out for
are EMPHATIC, VITALITY, NEWSPRESS and
PALLADIUM.
[P] I AGREE, AND IT IS GOOD WE ARE FIN-
ALLY SEEING A NEW GENERATION OF MAGA-
ZINES COMING ALONG. ANY SPECIAL JOURN-
ALIST-FAVORITES ON THE SCENE?
- I respect the work of SKATER/CENSOR,
he was very objective and his chapters
were very understandable and entertain-
ing. Another editor I like is JACK
DANIELS from CORRUPTION and REMIX from
CLIQUE for his work on the SCRIPT-mag-
azine. He would probably be the friend-
liest editor in the scene.
..- RRR: I AM ANGRY.
-- MARC: ME TOO. LET'S MAKE
SOME CHAPTERS.
[P] THE C64-SCENE IS CONSTANTLY CHANG-
ING BUT NEVER SEEMS TO GO AWAY. WILL
YOU LEAVE THE SHIP OR STAY PUT WITH
ONSLAUGHT AND YOUR MAGAZINE?
- I think I will be in ONSLAUGHT until
either the group dies (which I doubt)
or the scene does. My magazine will con-
tinue as well as our other productions
unless some wild circumstances in rea-
lity give me other reasons. I have
thought of other projects and things I
could do, but I am happy with the cur-
rent circtumstances and look forward
to the future.
+------------------------------------+
|.. RRR: MAKE SURE THEY'RE 100%. |
|-- MARC: URINE WILL TAKE CARE OF IT.|
+------------------------------------+
[P] IS THERE AN IDEAL GROUP AND HOW
WOULD THAT LOOK?
- CENSOR have always been one of the
groups I looked up to, they were great
in the magazine-, cracking- and demo-
scenes. These days I don't think there
is any ideal group. I could say my own,
but that would be a lie. But, we are
working on a demo. It will come! Then
I could say ONSLAUGHT. 8)
[P] FUTUREVISIONS FOR ONSLAUGHT AND THE
C64? ANY PLANS TO EXPAND TO ANOTHER
FORMAT LIKE F4CG AND HITMEN?
- I doubt it. The only true scene is
C64. Other scenes are just for wares
and that's why they suck. If were to
venture onto another platform it would
be under a new name anyway. But I don't
see this happening, at least not with
the inner organization anyway.
[P] BUT WHAT ABOUT THE LEGAL MARKET?
HOW MUCH INVOLVED ARE YOU?
- Actually I have been involved with
quite a lot of projects. I hooked up
John and Steve Rowlands from APEX with
Phil Thorton/SYSTEM3 and they now (or
did have) a 3D PC-project with 18-month
contract. Also I have some gameprojects
of my own in the pipeline, like GOD-
FLESH, a beat'em-up game with the same
type of play as IK+ from SYSTEM3 and
MORTAL KOMBAT. It features graphics by
CRUISE/TABOO and DEEKAY/CREST/ONSLAUGHT
and also music from GEIR TJELTA and
MORBID/BASS/ONSLAUGHT. Coding is being
done by JOLZ, but the delay of the
productions is the sprites, which I wish
to be very well animated and detailed.
______________________________________
JAZZCAT in a nutshell, that may be. He
has to rush of to his parttime job now.
STAR BAR CAFE consumes time, as does
his girlfriend and studies. Where he
finds time to do strolls on the scene,
we still do not know. By the way, did
you know JAZZCAT is one mother at mart-
ial arts. Kung fu is a great hobby of,
so make sure to keep that in mind if
you meet him in a dark alley at night.
Or after several rags at a copyparty.
Don't say PROPAGANDA didn't warn you.
+-----------------+
|JAZZCAT FAVORITES|
+-----------------+-----------------+
|GROUP................LEGEND, IKARI|
|DEMOGROUP.....CENSOR, CREST, FOCUS|
|BOARD.................TST, DBL, TO|
|MAG........SHOCK, REMARK, REVEALED|
+----------------------------------+
"I RESPECT ALL IN THE SCENE.
FOR STAYING WITH THIS ANCIENT COMPUTER.
KEEP IT ALIVE! THE COMPUTER IS NOT
THE SCENE, THE WARES ARE NOT THE
SCENE - THE PEOPLE ARE."
JAZZCAT,
SEPTEMBER 1997
