The Real SOS Crew

Written by mSQ & xClUziWe

While reading the 16th issue of HUGI, I suddenly noticed that there is another crew abusing our initials. First I thought this was a joke but after reading more about it, it became more real. The whole name that they are using is Sons Of Satan. And that's far from what we are. I'm not into a war or something else childish, but I just want to set the record straight.

Talking about myself, I joined up with sOS in 1996. The crew existed for a while because it had been founded in early August 1994. And I must say that I was and still am a proud member of this crew. Our full name is Save Our Souls, and that sounds much friendlier don't you think. I think if you log on BBSs a lot those day you must have seen some work by someone of our group. Mainly based on the fact that we were/are quite 'famous'. Here's a little background information supplied by our groupleader xClUZiWe.

In early August 1994, xClUZiWe from Sweden gets really fed up of the really few 1oo% ascii crews there are and decides that he and his dear neighbur, $LAá, shall create the 1oo% ascii-crew called dZAiN - [d]. dZAiN is never anything really serious, more like a group where all our ascii-related productions go.

My (xCz) first dZAiN production could be found in xCz-pHq!.tXt from the 15th of December 1994, and since that issue I've continued to include dZAiN somewhere in my productions. But the need for ascii-only crews soon becomes urgent, and our earlier private dZAiN-hood becomes a 'real' group when we chose to include pSYChiC sANTA (pSS) and bEhEMOTh (bHm) in our happy squad. If you looked at the release list you could see that it wasn't until after we got more than two members that we started to name our productions with the group abbreviation - [d].

Fuzz joins as our wHQ with his board iNTOXiCATiON (5 nodes) and some days later tOMMY (t0!) also decides to join. tOMMY only stays for some weeks due to distance problems.

This name, dZAiN, created by me (xCz) without any special research, is found to be quite problematic, since it's equal to another great ascii-crew, and the search for a new name starts. After some hard trying (we had about 30 name-examples to choose from) we together decide to pick the name sAVE oUR sOULS - sOS.

Some week later we decide to let the quite new artist tHE kEStREL (tK!) into our squad. Through the times with sOS·[d] we've had lots of different group-joinings going on, with nice guys in grotesticle, digital graffitti and other persons doing ascii for non-ascii-related groups. After some time cZAR (czar) makes up his mind and joins some weeks after tHE kESTREL.

The period after this is quite active and we feel we don't need any more members. The guys who have been asking to join during this period are quite many, but most of them don't qualify according to the members. But when talented rANDY (RandY) asks for membership we can't resist to accept him within the squad.

sOS goes international when Norwegian wOObER (wBr) asks for membership, and as he is quite a good and really active artist we take him in. wOObER leaves after about two months and the search for a new worthy member continues. The amount of eight members is quite good, so we are open for new talents. I get hold of sPEEDdEViL (+sD+) on IRC and he accepts my offer to join. Behemoth quits the ascii-scene some months later and thereby leaves our force.

sPEEDdEViL feels more home among his friends in Style so he leaves us after two collections released but instead mSW (-mSW) from the Netherlands joins with his good ascii-talents. The day after that aQua from Norway decides to become a saved soul, and at the same moment The Northern Palace becomes sOS Danish HQ. The day after that wiSE-K (wk!) from New Zealand joins, he is a rookie, but with some great talent, so we decide to let him in. nEMESiS (nM$) and I talk at Spaced Out, and with Zoltrix's help he becomes a member of Save Our Souls. Also, Zoltrix's BBS Spaced Out becomes sOS Ukhq.

Some days later, once again on IRC, I and zOd/mEPHiSTo (zod/m!) agree on a merge between Save Our Souls and Digital Grafitti, which transforms zOd and bAStARD (b!d), both from Germany, to new sOSers. Some week after they join, Zod's BBS Skynet becomes the sOS German HQ. And the week after that I choose to let sATANS fiRE (sF!) into the group as he really is a talented nice guy - definitely a worthy soul. Also his great board Back Fire becomes sOS Netherlands HQ at the same time.

In early autumn in 1996 cZAR, pSYCHiC sANtA, rANDY, and tHE kESTREL are kicked out of Sos due to inactivity.

Some days later fUNKI (f@nK!) accepts a life as a fellow sOSer and joins up with our forces. From then it does not take more than a couple of weeks until nEbRASkA (NeB) agrees with a future as a sOS-member and joins up with us. Short before that had mSW's great BBS The Oase has become (as it went up Telnet and so on) the sOS European Hq.

Wise-K has never felt really 100% comfortable in sOS, living far away from the rest of the squad in New Zealand, so it isn't so strange that he leaves us on October 15th, 1996.

Excactly a week later miLO a. fAGNAN (mAF) / zORRO (2o!) of ex-Digital Grafitti joins up and is once again in the same group as his other two ex-dG-members. With some great samples he proves that he has still got awesome ascii-talents. Sadly enough he leaves again, shortly after he's joined us, for House Of Style. He has his neighbours in that group and hasn't been able to resist their offer to join, but he releases one pack under the sOS label. After some heavy persuation by Nemesis and Zoltrix I decide to let bLUE (-B-) into the squad instead. He's just released a cool collection and defintely has the talents to be a Saved Soul.

mSW closes down our Ehq on December 6th at 23:22. Because of hardware problems. It is a great loss, but nevertheless mSW is still a saved soul. I thereby let zOD take over the position as European Hq, he has recently increased his Telnet activity.

nEMESiS leaves on December 15 due to little contact with the rest of the group as he says. But the new talent jAVIS (-j!) joins up our force only three days later. He's unexperienced, but a really good ascii/ansier. Sadly Javis leaves us again for Looker House soon, after only one collection.

The group needs new fresh talents and in the end of February I let in the awesome artists kARLOS (-kLs) from U.K. and hORiZON (-hzn-) from Finland. bLUE and kARLOS leave the forces for the U.k.-project Aerosol together with ex-sos'er nEMESiS in early 1997.

The whole 1997 is really inactive as never before and that because xCluziwe's Amiga model 1200 breaks down in the early spring and no real organization is made in Save Our Souls. The computer gets fixed in September the same year and sOS takes a new fresh start. cRANE (cr) joins up the squad, and the releases start to flow again! sOS-lTNC.tXt, a coop with xCluziwe and hORiZON that was meant to be out in the spring 1997 is the first release to show up.

nEbRASkA leaves us and the scene for PC-activities shortly after the coop. Then another break takes place and nothing happens until late november 1997 when xCluziwe releases a 320k large 'comeback' and mjOLNiR (ml), a promising artist former known as -mSO, joins up the team. Sadly mJOLNiR has to leave right after that due to a promise to join up with the group Head, where he also had searched membership.

History has stood still for YEARS. Only kept alive by our strong, nowadays PC-based member mSW who released a few packs. Also old legend 911 returns to the scene and makes a bunch of logos fpr sps, and joins us a few days before going back to ultimate scene-sleep.

In late January 1999 we are finally back, and loads of packs are to come. We've recruited a few new members too, first the old Artcore-legend cRAZY who popped in at #ascii and whom I introduced to the scene through our group. Then not much later talented h7 from Finland and German zAPhOD (also an old returner who searched me up through the Internet) joined up, and here we are today with a never stronger crew. That's good in times like this when no one breathes ascii any more. So now, that's how it is at this moment.

I hope that all of you now understand that there can be one only sOS, and that it was us who were here first. And I guess that we will stay here a few years. Secondly we have nothing to do with the Sons Of Satan's activities, so no cracking or whatsoever from our part of the story.

mSW ^ The 'REAL' sOS ^ Jolly