Intensity / Acme, Error 2000, Equinoxe, Sataki, Lepsi Developments, Xenon, Role, Onslaught, Cosine
Added on November 19th, 2003 (7567 views)
www.c64.com?type=3&id=68



Tell us something about yourself.
Hello, my real name is Arman Behdad and I am 21 years old. I live in Germany while my real roots are in Teheran / Iran. Our family moved to Germany in 1986 because of the war between Iran and Iraq that time. My birth date is 01/22/82 and birth place is Teheran. At the moment I live in a city called Wiesbaden which is located near Frankfurt am Main.

Concerning my job, I do some kind of "career preparation" for an IT-education, I don't know how to spell it in English, sorry. ;) It consists of some hours of school and practical services, nothing special but quite useful if you want to do an education. My interests are doing music on C64 and PC (techno, trance, hip-hop), drawing on paper and hanging out with good friends. Recently I also started to learn to code in assembler on C64, I think it's never too late to do something new on the C64.

What handle(s) did you use and how did you come up with it/them?
My first handle on C64 was simply S.U.C.K, yeah right, with the points and all that. I used it because I wanted to be different, hehe, lol, but soon I got reasonable and changed my nickname into Arman, my first name. It happened after joining the Dutch group Xenon, the members of which wanted me to change that awful handle. In the year 2002 I was bored of using my first name as handle and searched for a new one. TMR/Cosine/Onslaught helped me out in the IRC and suggested me the name Intensity which I liked very much and which I finally took over.

What group(s) were you in?
Acme (dead), Error 2000 (dead), Equinoxe (dead), Sataki (Poland), Lepsi Developments (Poland), Xenon (The Netherlands), Role (Belgium), Onslaught (Australia) and Cosine (UK).

What roles have you fulfilled?
I started as a silly graphic artist and swapper, but my real passion was and still is doing music. In general I am able to do everything in a more or less acceptable quality except coding, but I am working on it right now.

How long were you active for?
From 1994 to now (2003).

Tell us about those years and how you got into the scene in the first place.
It was the year 1994 when I wrote articles for German paper magazines where I also have found my first contacts. One of them was Antifan/Equinoxe, a coder and editor for the cool magazine Shout!, a co-op between EQX and Fairlight, which died unfortunately after the first issue. I have learnt a lot from him about the scene and soon he said I could join Equinoxe, as an exception of course. With some other freaks called TBB and Checky (who is still active) I founded groups (Fireballs, Error 2000) and a German language magazine (X-Dome, formerly Brotkastenclub) which could not have been over bet in puncto lameness, but we had fun. This time was my beginning time and I could not prove anything, apart from some graphics and some swapping. My entrance into the international scene was I think 1997 when I joined Lepsi Developments and produced my first tunes for Trackmos.

Describe a typical day for you in front of the computer.
Checking the newest demos and magazines and do some music.

Did you personally invent any special techniques or tools to make things easier for you?
Not really.

When you look at what you did back then, what are you most proud of?
Well, I think I can't be really proud of anything. But if people tell me that they see a message or anything special in my C64 tracks I feel it is right what I am doing.

Who were your heroes on the scene and why?
One of my all time favourite SIDs is Johannes Bjerrgaard's Sweet, that's why I respect him so much. This SID is a lot better than hundreds of top 100 songs! I love melancholic music and I have to say that Sweet is one of the best I have ever heard. He is definitely my hero, hehe. But there are other people who influence my music, for example Trident/Active. His tunes have also a melancholic touch and he did his job as a composer very good.

What, for you, was the coolest thing ever invented on the C64?
Hehe, I think it is the Action Replay VI. It is very practical, because of the fast loader and the freezer and of course the cool sprite editor.

Did you go to any copy-parties, meetings or tradeshows?
I have visited the Mekka Symposium parties in 1999-2001 and I had a nice time there.

In your opinion, what was the scene all about?
Being in the scene was a perfect start for me. I wanted work with computers, graphics and music later, and in the scene there's plenty of information about these areas. The scene is great for everything, not only to have fun. It is a must for any creative mind.

What were the particular highlights for you?
The highlights were the Mekka Symposium Parties where I could drink beer with friends and of course the acclamation for the Deux Ex Machina demo. It was a mess to see it on big screen.

Any cool stories to share with us?
Hehe, there are! But I will share them with my best friends in the scene only!

Are you still in contact with any old C64 people today?
I just had a little conversation with old C64 people like Johannes Bjerregaard, but nothing more.

When did you get your C64 and do you still have it lying around somewhere?
I bought a C64 II and a 1541 II floppy drive in 1991 and they still work perfectly on my desk near my Pentium.

Was the C64 really as special as we like to think it was?
The C64 is the best thing which could appear in the last centuries, not only because of the ingenious sound chip.

When can we expect to see some new C64 output from you? :)
There will be several tunes from me in magazines like Domination, Attitude or Vandalism News, and of course in our upcoming demo Rage 2 from Onslaught. Just check out www.C64.org/sidfind and search for Arman or Intensity and you will find my sids. Also some graphics and maybe even code will be seen from me in the future.

Do you have a message for your old contacts and/or anyone reading this?
Keep the spirit of the C64 alive, and never say "the Scene is dead"! Because if you say it's dead, then it is dead, but if you say it is alive, then it IS alive! Some greetings to Checky, Commander, Spectator, Wvl, Jazzcat, Vengeance, Impulse, Franky, Johannes Bjerregaard, the HVSC crew and those I forgot.

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