Friday 6 September 2013

Week #36 | Poisoncut - Hidden Legacy

Week 36 and we are visiting sunny old blighty, spending some time with the extremely talented Poisoncut. Grab the track here!

Weekly Treats: How did you first come into contact with the chiptune scene?

Poisoncut: I don't know if you would call it 'the scene' but the first time I heard chiptune music would have been around 1990, playing copied amiga games as a kid. I often left the cracktros running at the start to listen to the music. Over the years I still listened to it occasionaly but what revived my interest in a big way was the 8-bit collective site.


WT: Who or what would you consider your main influences musically?

P: Mostly memories of old game music but everything I listen to influences me in some way, I listen to all kinds of different genres but usually stuff with a bit of melody and without lyrics. I've been listening to some Joe Satriani lately. His latest album is good.

WT: Where did the name Poisoncut come from?

P: The name comes from when I used to make drum n bass music around 2001. I can't remember how I came up with it but I thought it sounded cool for the type of music I was making at the time. I just stuck with it as I changed to different styles.  Some of that old stuff is still online on a site called soundclick.

WT: Could you tell us a bit about what you use to write your music?

P: I sometimes use Milky Tracker but usually FL Studio with a few plugin like quadraSid, vopm and magical8bit plug. I put a beat together with a chord progression and a bassline and then play around with the midi keyboard over the top until I come up with a decent melody. 

WT: You've done some work for game soundtracks, how did you get into doing this?

P: The game developers found my music on soundcloud and youtube and sent me a message asking me to do the soundtracks. One of them I did by answering someone on the 8 bit collective forums looking for game music.

WT: What went into writing your Weekly Treats track?

P: The weekly treats track was written with my laptop and headphones whilst on holiday. I made it in between visiting a volcano, swimming in the pool and sitting on the beach! Not sure if the holiday vibe shows through, maybe if you imagine a spaceship blasting out of a volcano.

WT: What does the future hold for Poisoncut?

P: That's a hard question. At the moment, I have no idea!