Interview with
Ray Manta
Added 4/10/2026
cydonia-serkul_interview-defy_4.md
cydonia-serkul_interview-defy_4.md 11.3 KB
Serkul Interview
Eminence/CYDoNiA
Handle : Serkul
Age : 19
Computer : a500 , CD32 with SX-1
Group : Cydonia
Role : Musician
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So Serkul , how long have you been on the scene ?
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err about two and a half years I spose
got an a500 near the end of '91 , and just messed around with shit until a friend introduced me to Protracker
While on a local BSS , I chatted to a guy who said that he and a friend (Extremist/Cydonia) were starting up a group , and were
looking for gfx/mzx peoples , so that's when I joined I guess
That group was Militia , and at that stage it was just me , Extremist , umm his friend (Christian Peterson ? can't remember his handle) , and you when your handle was American Eagle
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What happened to Militia
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Well we started to talk about an intro , and said that something would be released at the Pearl Party
I couldn't actually make it to the party, but apparently there were troubles with the code or some shit anyway after the party , Drift decided to quit Pearl and join us , and I think at this point Cro joined as well
Anyway , a few weeks after the party we all met , and decided to kill Militia , and form "Astral" ( took us close to 2 hrs to come up with a name )
We talked of a borntro type thing and hoped to begin putting it together as soon as possible
About 2 weeks after this meeting , Cro rang , said that Krion and Souri etc had left DA and were starting Cydonia , so we just said fuck it, and the whole of Astral became CDN SA division
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Why was your mod for Defy #3 so shit
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hehe ... yeah it was rather crap wasn't it ? But at least I'm doing something , you slack fafter dooley
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Fuck You
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ha ho he
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Do you have any favourite Ami musicians , Australian or otherwise
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As far as in Australia , Cool Col J writes cool stuff (did anyone else spot the FSOL sample in Craptro?)
ummm , who else would have liked to hear more of Geoff's (Drift) stuff
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Do you write any other music , besides mods
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Well I'm in a band with you I do some stuff on my 4-track just at home when I can be bothered , and I'm also in another band with my cousin and a few guys who used to go to my old school
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What instrument
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Well I play bass for both but I'm trying to find a decent drumkit at the moment
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What do you think of the state of the Australian scene at the moment ??
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Well , it is pretty bizarre all these groups , and so little output
Hopefully it will pick up soon as for SA , it is a joke
A few weeks ago a group which consists a few "musicians" and a graphician put out their first production ... a module , for fuck's sake
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What kind of music do you listen to
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Well lots of electronic stuff mainly more mellow stuff like
Autechre , Aphex Twin , u-Ziq , Black Dog , some FSOL
I am also into the more interesting guitar type bands , like Seefeel
My Bloody Valentine , Pram , Main , Flying Saucer Attack etc
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Do You have any synths etc that you use for mods
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Not really , only some antique Alesis gear analogue synth and a drum machine that has an ants nest in it so I can't read the fucking lcd display
I usually sample off friends' synths or I use mine if I'm desperate
I will probably buy a decent synth when
I get some cash together which will be a while , as I'm going to Indonesia for a month soon
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Do you kneel down every night before you go to bed and pay homage to the god of Ami music , Deadlock ?? (Read:Joke) errr can't say I do
Why do you think there is a distinct lack of Ami musicians and graphicians in South Australia ??
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No idea, there aren't that many good coders around either , or maybe they are just all too sensible to code demos , and have better things to do
As for graphicians. I have never seen anything or heard of anyone in S.A who is up to the standard of the Souris and the Sumaleths of the scene weird
As for musicians , well log onto any BBS and there are a million self - proclaimed genius mod writers can't say I've ever grabbed any of their mods , except for maybe some of Peter Monk's stuff (you reading Peter ?? ) because he is the drummer in the band
I'm in and I can give him shit about them =)
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How about a picture with this rather versatile font of Infinty's ?
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Why not
<removed>
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What did you think of the "Alien Autopsy" footage of the Roswell Incident (just slightly off the topic :) ) ??
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It was a load of shit at least they put some effort into the design of their "Alien" but there is just no question that it is a fake that deal with Kodak checking that the film was authentic never happened , some people on the net said it did , but most of what I read on the net I take no notice of whatsoever, with this kind of thing anyway
Anyway , I know the truth you see , all aliens are skaters right this is a proven fact , and on that day in Mexico 1947 , this guy who was beginning research on a new concept , "Rollerblades" , was testing some prototypes , and the aliens , who had anticipated his activity , were waiting for this moment
They were hovering , just waiting for the right moment , they didn't want to kill this dude , just abduct him , and put an end to his crap "Rollerblade" contraption , that would end up overtaking skateboarding in popularity
Anyway , that was their plan but when they saw this guy pulling off some fucking unbelievably spastic tricks , which were all just rip-offs of skating tricks anyway, they just freaked , and decided to slam their ship right into the guy
Anyway , they missed him and hit a cow which was also wearing rollerblades , and in the process they killed themselves
So they failed in their quest , and that is why rollerblades are where they are today
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Interesting story
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but getting back to scene related things , do you think capsicums are overrated ?? =)
Yep , definately , capsicums suck
I think that asparagus is an unecessarily neglected vegetable , and that it is the answer to most of the world's problems at the moment =)
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Do you think the Australian Scene Charts are a good idea
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Yeah , for sure , there seemed to be a good response people love the notion of having their name at the top of something
I think that more people should have voted , it's not as if it is something that requires a huge effort
I can't see why some people have this attitude towards voting , and also to writing stuff for Defy
It's not that often that people can get their articles/clip-art/whatever put out in some form so why not get off your anus and get some shit done ! People complain about the lack of any scene-atmosphere here in S
A - or Australia for that matter so why not contribute , rather than complain ?
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Back to music , can we expect a music disk from CDN
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Well Drift coded up a nice menu
a'la Sanity's Jesterday , with a rotating column to select mods , it was pretty cool , but no-one had a copy except him We had enough mods ready between me/Drift/Eminence (you!) but then there was no real contact between us all , so nothing became of it
At the moment , it would be nice to have another msx person in CDN , because really at the moment I am the only one doing anything (Uni is the cause of all non-activity it seems)
But it would be good to get a music disk out there hasn't really been a decent music disk released by any Oz group that I know of (except Frontier's thing
"Oompah"?)
(Late Breaking News : Cro just said on the phone that he wants to put together some form of a music disk soon =) )
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This interview is getting pretty long , so I guess I'll leave it there
Thanks for the interview chee
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=)