Interviewed and written in 2001 by Magic of Nah-kolor
Proloque
Berlin, Raumerstrasse. The X-Bar is a small cocktail-bar in the in-district
called Prenzlauer Berg in the east of germanys capital. Happy hour from
18 to 20 a.m. RokDaZone who has turned from beerviking to a longdrink-sipping
bon-vivant already sits inside and studies the sushi offers when I enter.
200 cocktails in a card which weighs two pounds need to be tested.
"After three you have enough of those" he ensures me. We have a lot to talk
after six years since we last met at The Party 1995.
I light my first cigarette of the day..
In other words, RokDaZone is back to air some words about his
where-abouts today, the reason for his silence on the (diskmag-) scene and
ofcourse his view on various other topics he will be tested on.. Please
welcome RokDaZone back to the stage anno domini 2001. Atleast in this
interview done for Speed issue 63.
RokDaZone, here, now and earlier..
- Give yourself a small introduction for the scener's who don't know
you yet, and tell us what it is your doing now; How does the life
of Henning Brau look like today ?
Funny you already differenciate between RokDaZone and Henning Brau yourself.
Factually, RokDaZone more or less died with the Symposium'99, which was my
last party. Nowadays I am mostly busy with studying engineering psychology
which mostly deals with usability testings. Currently I am working on my
diploma work about evaluation of language-manipulated computersystems and
competency relevant multiagent-systems on CNC-machines.
Then of course there is Tiefsee.de which has grown a respectable musicians
and DJs network. Ah, not to mention Berlin. Living here is an event for
itself. By the way: They have a cocktail named 'Tiefsee' here. No joke.
- What happened two years ago, after the last issue of Generation that
made you dissapear from the Amiga Scene ?
Difficult to say. As you remember I have been spending much of my time on
the scene and Amiga throughout 1991 to 1998, yet then it started to just
fall away. I think there have been multiple reasons: I have reached
everything I wanted with Generation and for myself as writer, most of my
older contacts left scene, many youngsters started to chase me, like I
did before with others... Many reasons to add.
At the Symposium'99 for the first time I felt like not being part of the
scene anymore. I had lots of fun with the guys like Acryl, Uyanik, Santa
and Antibyte, but not scenishly seen. When I moved to Berlin other things
got more important, like finding a new place in life and work. It just
died away.
- You told me in a e-mail that you don't have an Amiga present here in
Berlin where you live. Untill what date did you still had your Amiga?
What were the last demos and diskmags you have seen?
Haven't seen anything in ages. I had to leave my Amiga behind when I
moved in May 1999. Yet it would be a lie if I tried to tell that until
that day I'd been an active scener. Matter of fact: I even didn't try to
get the demos from TP98, Gathering99 and Symposium99 on my computer.
- What are the channel's today you get some Amiga Scene information trough?
Which internet pages do you see? Which sceners are you still in
contact with ?
Mostly I get informed by Ghandy and his Scenet homepage which is highly
recommended. He's a scener of great qualities when it comes to reliability
and prolifiency.
RokDaZone vs Diskmagazines..
- What is your knowledge of the diskmag scene anno domini 2000 ? What
do you know of it ?
Nothing left. Just what I see from Scenenet which is mostly retro. Yet I am
curious to see DISC and Devotion, but I fear I can't wait for a HTML-version,
hmm? ROM, Generation and Seenpoint are dead. What about Showtime ?
- Why did you stop making Generation ? Is there a chance for a comeback
of Generation ?
Nopes, no chance at all. Sometimes it tickles in my fingers, but when just
remembering all the work needed, I just need to say: No time. That goes for
me aswell as for Damion. We're both sucked into real life. But we are in
contact still.
- With witch writers/editors do u still have contact ?
Well, Ghandy as he has become some sort of friend in the distance and
that's it. (Ghandy visited RokDaZone in Berlin end 2000 -ed.)
- What was your motivation to make Generation in the past ? Do you ever
think you can find it back again ?
Motivation for sceneing has always been to see my name on the screen
and knowing that hundreds of others see it aswell. Then it turned out
a challenge, a game of ambition. It was grand to be someone special.
Must sound arrogant as hell, but it's all a game of egostimulation. But
I wouldn't be able to find this motivation back again as my new scene has
become the world of usability engineers. I just wait for the day I first
see my name on useit.com! Childish as I am some things never change.
- Did you like the Abnominio I wrote and signed with Macno's name in
Generation 22 ?
I hated you for that. Literally. It really pissed me off to be fooled like
that. Not to forget about Damion, you can really be happy you haven't met
him afterwards. Anyway, stories of the past, forgotten and gone.
RokDaZone vs The Amiga Scene..
- If you have any knowledge to judge today's amiga scene please give
us your view on it.. your thoughts..
As much as I know it has grown very very small which means that it lost
a lot of potential. To me the Amiga scene is the last demoscene that
deserves its name, but with its try to compete with the PC, it turned into
a pityful state. Things are over, but I wish all active guys the fun and
excitement I have found while my active years. The scene is a good training
for what comes lateron in business. Each group is a small or bigger company
that tries to survive, to grow or to save its position. A socialscientific
study about the dynamics would be very interesting
I don't have much experience about the actual state of the scene, but I
expect it to be less party-centrated as the classic demoparties are replaced
by LAN-parties. Am I wrong when stating that modellers and designers are
the new big players ?
- Your old friend Virgill joined Nah-kolor january 2000. Any words to him why
he still should continue tracking for Amiga and/or PC prod's ?
He should continue because he can. He's the last creative german musician on
the Amiga since 1997. Or better: he should stop and turn over to make money
out of his ideas. Or even better: Have it both.
- Which demos are the last you have seen? Did you like them? How do you
think the demos on amiga will be like in the future ?
The last ones have been those from Symposium99 and plainly I didn't like
them too much. I started to hate Lightwave-conversions for they turned our
demos into mere animations which often looked good but all alike. Booooring.
I don't expect the style of demos to change so much. Always better looks
but less individuality. No big surprises anymore. But I also don't have
any better ideas myself.
- The more active groups on Amiga last year (2000) were Iris, Loonies, Mawi,
Potion, Haujobb, Darkage, Nah-kolor, TBL, Ephideria.. Have you seen any of
their productions ?
Nothing in 2000.
Tiefsee.de vs RokDaZone
- Please tell us all about Tiefsee. What is it exactly ? Which sceners
have supported it ? Do you earn much with it ? Who founded it ? Do you
maintain Tiefsee all alone ?
First of all: I don't earn a buck with Tiefsee. What started as a company
has turned into a creative network and a great hobby. I founded it together
with a friend of mine, nowadays we have five people in the inner circle plus
eight to ten additional dudes. Not much to say. We have a couple of
homestudios and produce our tracks together or individually. Whenever the
money is there, we produce a vinyl and distribute it to independent record
shops. The records always pay the next one, but up to now just partially so
the time between two releases is long. Everyone is invited to leach the
tracks from http://www.tiefsee.de for free.
What Does RokDaZone Think About..
- The Eurocharts: Big in the past, overrated in recent years. Although I
liked the guys personally I preferred other charts.
- ROM: Suffered the same weakness then Generation: We want to be as
ingenious as Macno and as prominent as Lord Helmet. Too long articles,
too complicated written, too egocentric to be objective.
- Showtime: (Mostly) weak articles but my favourite charts. I always
liked it.
- DISC: Uh, I guess I am the wrong person to be asked here, or ?
- Upstream: Never ever liked it. Wolfman was my personal counterpart.
- RAW: Lord Helmet had the best topics but he was a weak writer. He knew
how to utilize the scene, but became to bigheaded when he messed up
with Hydra/Andromeda. He had no chance and he disappeared that's it.
- Zerox/Gods: I didn't know him before my slagg-off against DISC 10. He
attacked me hard, while I was rather sensing a game. Lateron I found out
that he's a nice dude and I will with greatest pleasure look at his
modern works.
- Alvin/ex-Generation (now Devotion staff): In Alvin I have seen the
potential new maineditor of Generation, too bad I couldn't hand it over
to him. He was and hopefully still is a gifted writer, but he lacked
topics and style. Much like me before I met Macno and somehow I tried to
coach him. Looking forward to his latest writings.
- Darkhawk/Iris: What a friendly dude and prolific writer, yet to be
honest: I liked himself as person more than his writings. Not a gifted
writer but always good for a filler - and I don't mean it a bad as it
sounds!
- Macno/Abnormalia: What to say? My mentor and without any doubt (repeat:
any) the best articlewriter the scene ever had. Fineminded and objective
with great lust for irony and style.
- Mop/Rom: When the first thing that comes to your mind about a writer is:
'Hey, great english, impressive vocabulary and so long articles' then it's
not such a good sign. I can remember dozends of Macnos and Helmets
articles, but literally not a single one from Mop. A gifted writer who
most of the time didn't write for his audience, but for creating his own
monument. I fear that's what the other guys also tell about me, to be
honest.
Epiloque
Meanwhile, the Nach-Bar has gotten entirely overcrowded and the happyhour is over.
RokDaZone smiles: "You must be a Happy man now Magic!" ..I look fuzzy infront of myself.
"You are making a new diskmag called Cocktail, and you have a great competitor in DISC
and the Eurocharts. Without competition everything becomes dull."
Magic took a last zip of his rum cola, says a quick goodbye and leaves the bar on his way
home to The Netherlands with mixed emotions.. My mission has failed: "Only an interview
with the living legend, my plan to lure RokDaZoNe into the staff of Devotion wasn't a succes..
