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Only three weeks left of this year's WeeklyTreats!! To show you amid all the hype for next year we're not forgetting this year, we thought the final three weeks should be as a big as possible, and as such we're starting our final trio with chip veteran/legend/master/all-round-lovely-bloke, Alex Mauer. Grab the track here!: (Also, remember to like WeeklyTreats on Facebook for up-to-the-date news on next year!!!)
WT: What was your introduction to the chiptune
community?
Alex Mauer: I have told the story about how I was introduced to
chip music... so I'll give you one about my introduction to the social,
"real life" aspect of chip. In 2005 I stumbled onto a message board
for Gameboy music where I met Dino Lionetti (from Cheap Dinosaurs). We
both lived in Philly, so we met up IRL and hit it off... Not long later, I was
selling my midiNES to a guy I knew online... Joey Mariano (Animal Style).
We also met up in person in a Sam Ash parking lot and made the exchange.
About a year later we all got together to perform an early Philly chip
show w/ Don Miller (No-Carrier) on visuals... that's where I met Don for the
first time. Before all that, I had never met anyone in real life who was
making chip music.
WT: How is Motivational Growth doing since we
last spoke, and any new soundtrack work that you’re allowed to speak about?
AM: MG has been on a film festival run for a while
now... thanks to the tireless efforts of Imagos Films. The biggest news I
have is we now have Canadian film distribution for 2014! Other soundtrack
news: I just finished doing a short film score for Atomic Cheesecake
called "Horn Quest". It's all NES stuff... the film is basically
a live action cartoon. Next big news: I'm scoring a film with
Imagos in 2014 called "Depth".
WT: Could you tell us a bit more about your
WeeklyTreat, what influenced and went into it, how it was recorded etc?
AM: The weekly treats track is actually my "Hello,
world." track for Goat Tracker v2... before this I had been using Goat
Tracker v1 for C64 music. I made this song right before I started my work
on Motivational Growth... and it does have a related sound and mood. Goat
Tracker 2 might be the deepest tracker I have ever used... it definitely takes
a lot of work to get into it... and you need to keep using it or else you will
start to forget how certain things work.
WT: Has the scene changed for the better or
deteriorated in your opinion since your involvement with it began?
AM: The scene has changed for both better and worse.
Now, there are so many fans, artists, and events... it's hard to be a
known entity compared to in 2005. But there are so many fans, artists,
and events... there are more friends to be made, and more minds to blow... or
at least try ;)
WT: What advice, as a veteran of the scene,
would you give to newcomers?
AM: If you want to get music jobs... it will take you a
really long time to find one... and it will probably be by luck. So the
best way to prepare is to just get as good as you possibly can at making music
(It does matter more than your image!)
WT: Any changes in the future or Alex Mauer?
AM: Yes.... not everyone knows this about me but I have
done a lot of synth music... I even released some of it only to "delete it
from the internet" later. I am working on fixing some of that old
material and doing some new stuff... and I'll be submitting it to Telefuture.
