Q: Hi Chris, thanks for taking some time with the interview! Let`s get it on then... Do you remember when you started composing. When did you start making music on computers? What computers / programmes did you use?

A: I don't think I've ever thought of myself as a composer, it sounds too much like a full-time job involving frilly shirts! I owe my introduction to writing music on computers to Chris Wilson (who also coded a few sections of Lost Patrol). Chris was looking for music for his demos and games and I'd just recently bought a humble A500. I think my first music ap was Activision's Music Studio, followed by Aegis Sonix, which was better but still a bit too bulky for file sizes, and in any case, we didn't have player source code for it. We'd finally got hold of a version of Soundtracker, complete with the assembly language for the file player, so the Lost Patrol theme was written directly on Soundtracker (the DOC edition!), on a plain, unexpanded Amiga 500. I think the track had almost entirely standard Soundtracker instruments.

Q: What influenced you most while composing? Were there other artists that inspired you?

A: I had a tendency to build songs from the bassline upwards and Lost Patrol was no exception. (I guess I'd listened to far too many bands with Mark King and Pino Palladino in the 80s!) Trying to get a "filmic", moody quality with four notes polyphony makes it all that more challenging, and I was damned if I was going to use nibbling! (i.e. quickly playing, say, three notes on one channel to give the impression of a chord being played, often used on the C64). I've always been a fan of 80's anthemic pop productions that were typically bathed in lots of echo and reverb, hence my desire to get as close to that as possible with echoing the snare drums and koto instruments. It's fascinating to hear how some people had interpreted the echoes in some of the remixes of the theme.

Q: How came that you had the chance to compose commercial game music? Do you remember how you met the guys of 'Shadow Development'? In which way were you related to Ocean Software?

A: I had done a number of songs to accompany demos and game projects with Chris. As ever, it all started out as a hobby and I think through a mutual friend of ours we got in touch with Ian. To this day I'm not exactly sure how *I* actually got the job of writing music for the project - must have been demos sent to Ian via Chris, I'm not really sure! I'd at least met and chatted with Ian. Anyway, I had no direct involvement with Ocean, you could just say I worked for Ian.

Q: Can you share some memories of your work on the music and of the work with the team with us.

A: I remember that I'd been briefed with the project and deadline beforehand, but I actually wrote the main theme whilst staying with my mum in England during a school holiday period! In true geek style I'd lugged my Amiga and floppy disk collection with me. I was probably 16 years old at the time.

Q: What`s the first thing that comes to your mind when remembering these days? What are your feelings when thinking about Amiga and the good old days in general? Whats your view on nowadays multi-million-dollar software companies?

A: I think the first thing that comes to me is how different the rules are now. I like limitations - it's an essence of playing a musical instrument, that you can get rich and musical sounds out of something that others can't. Computer sound chips, like those of the 64 and later the Amiga had exactly that quality. You listen to Rob Hubbard's stuff on the SID chip and it was fantastic, balls-out, unashamedly getting every last grungy inch out of the chip. In the context of what sort of games and soundtracks that were available at the time, you were really wowed by the realism of, say, the lead violin sound on "Monty On The Run"!! I guess as soon as games manufacturers were able to put basically any recorded soundtrack on a game, that whole era ended, the musical instrument inside the computer became redundant. That's not to say that era isn't regarded with affection even now; I salute those who still write SID and tracker music.

Q: Why didn`t you continue making commercial music? Did you stay in contact with Ian and the other guys?

A: At the time I had a couple of offers to work in-house at a commercial venture but at 16 I simply wasn't a grown-up, self contained person to even think about moving to England. I'd worked with Ian on a few seminal projects after Lost Patrol but really I think from Ian's experiences with Ocean, it took quite a bit of wind out of his sails. I still have Ian's number somewhere, although it'll have the old city codes on it!

Q: Did you expect so many people appreciating your work, even almost 15 years later? What do you think about all those remixes of your tune (sid, mp3, ringtones...)?

A: There's no accounting for taste, is there?!! I have to say that my contribution to Lost Patrol amounts to a few hours of work compared to countless hours of development by everyone else involved, yet loads of people still recall the music in a big way. (I guess it played round enough times if you played the game!) I'm amazed by the number of different versions of the theme that are out there, it's very flattering, to say the least.

Q: Are you still composing music, as a hobby maybe?

A: I usually do things to order - that's not anything to do with money or some form of hard-line business attitude, it's just the way I am. I'm not "arty-farty" enough to constantly produce bits of music for the sake of it, and if I do they tend to be cast aside, rather than kept for posterity. These days I'm playing live in bands and that's certainly keeping me busy, and it involves beer much more!

Alright, everything that involves beers sounds good to me! Thanks for your interesting answers and all the best for your future!