Interview with RS3 of Exiles

Makke / Comic Pirates / Hugi

And now we're going to talk to a guy who's famous on IRC, but people who don't use IRC much probably don't know him. I'm talking about RS3, tracker and something of a 'manager' for the music-group EXILES. RS3 is a 17-year-old college student who lives in the sleepy town of Port Angels, Washington State, in the US of A (that's a little north of Seattle). Ok, I know you're excited about this interview, so I'll get down to business right away!

So, what's the story of EXILES?

Exiles began back in April of this year as a result of group dilemmas. I was at the time in No Affiliation, a little group I co-found that wasn't going anywhere, and I had just left rOot, a nice ansi/music/scene group that was unfortunately dying... I'm probably at partial fault for the group's death, but that's another story. :)

Anyhow, because of NoAff's inactivity I was kicking around the idea of just dropping the group idea altogether and releasing solo. I talked with Broam about the idea, but I also admitted that I'd like to work with him someday on a co-op disk or some other kind of release. He liked the idea, but one of us suggested starting a small group of just a few of us (I forget who now). We thought up a few good names, but one, my suggestion, stuck: Exiles. We then recruited Deezay (who was with Broam in a large group called Intensity) and soon after greatFox and Krest, both former members of rOot. Downward (aka Mindfuck) soon joined after the first musicdisk. Some time ago he and I were to form a group called Global Volume (a real cool name, I must say :) but that idea fell through... unfortunately, Downward has moved from Exiles to join Prismatic for various reasons. But... that's life, I guess. :)

Are you like, 'STUCK' in EXILES or would you consider leaving if you got a 'big time' demogroup offer?

I don't intend to leave Exiles. I have made a deal of sorts to leave the group if any other members leave (because we're very tightly-knit and all), but I had to make an exception for Downward--probably because his departure was not about creative differences or anything, he left on good terms. So, I've updated my deal a bit to say that I won't leave Exiles unless someone else can maintain it and I have a good reason to leave. I've been offered into a couple groups, and I will take up at least one offer if Exiles dies... however, I seriously doubt that Exiles will die anytime soon. :)

Which style would you say you're tracking in?

I'm not really capable of being specific on this question, but I will say that I've written a lot of different kinds of music - the sort of music I track most, though, falls somewhere around synthpop or demomusic. There's just something I really like about high-energy and dramatic, if not cheesy, music.

Which are your main influences and what inspires you?

I think I'm heavily influenced by other trackers in particular. If I review or listen to a really nice track, I find myself inspired to outdo the tracker himself (or herself ;). I'm a competitive tracker in some respects, but not shamelessly; so I won't imitate other trackers, but instead try to do better than them. I don't know if I've succeeded or not, though... :)

Other influences (outside of the scene) include Jean-Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode (somewhat), The Crystal Method as of recent, and various artists that make mainstream radio. Basically, anything that I listen to often influences me stylistically. My inspiration is difficult to pinpoint, but I find myself getting depressed for months at a time, then pulling out of that depression to write one VERY good tune and several decent ones in rapid succession. I'm more spastic about my inspiration, rather than consistent.

Hmm, ok. Do you have any favorite trackers?

The list changes daily, but among my favorites are Mellow-D (md), Awesome, Broam, greatFox, Hunz, Basehead, Downward, Zeromous, and Tangerine. You can guarantee that there are others, but these ones consistently crank out good tunes and I find their work most memorable. :)

And so, the ever lasting question for trackers! WHY Impulse Tracker and NOT Fast Tracker?

*g* I knew I'd hear this from you, Makke. ;) Well, I began on ST3 back in March 1996, since it was the only tracker I knew of or had access to (no modem, no internet access). The interface was a bit awkward and the default colors were ugly, but it worked great for what it was meant to do. :)

Once a friend of mine got internet access, I went crazy and checked out tons of trackers. I made my first two releases in FT2, which I used after ST3 for a few months. Soon, I moved to Velvet Studio for its nice interface and functionality - unfortunately, it proved itself unstable on 4mb of RAM so I went back to the game of tracker-hunting to find a nice stable tracker. Impulse Tracker was my next pick. I knew very little about it other than that it wrote IT files... Basehead's 'Sleight of Hand' musicdisk came with three ITs and I had no clue how to play them, but now I did! I checked it out, and relearned the ST3 keys and interface, and soon found IT to be my tracker of choice. But why, you ask? The interface is one thing, but the capabilities of IT are unsurpassed as yet. Not only was there more channel potential, but the virtual channel support was just AWESOME. :) Also, it read my S3I files...so I was pleased.

Just a few more ok? :)

Haha :) of course.

Got any plans for the future?

I'm not too sure yet. Maybe more tracking for a while, maybe messing around with a MIDI setup of some kind... but I know that what I do will involve music. :)

Now -* drumroll *- the quick questions! Which is/are your favorites? Movie?

I never have a SINGLE favorite, so bear with me... :) The names that come to mind: As Good as it Gets, Demolition Man, Toy Story (don't laugh ;), Coma, Tron, Face/Off.

Book?

I don't read much, honestly. However, I've always been a bit of an Asimov fan, so Robots of Dawn would be a quick pick.

Food?

Starchy, Italian stuff. :) Like pizza, lasagna, spaghetti, you name it. Also, if this counts under food, I'm a chronic pepsi drinker. ;) (Yes, beverage count as food! / Makke)

Well, that's all I've got! Anything you'd like to add?

Nope.

Ok, anyone you'd like to greet/thank/salute?

Heya #trax, Exiles, Symmetrix, Equipollent, T-Rex, Comic Pirates :), anybody I've talked with; the list would be too damn long... I hope you understand. ;) Anyhow, thank you kindly, <Makke>D

No no no, thank YOU!

Yes, that's the end of this interview. But it's not the end of RS3's scene career, that I'm sure of. :)

Anyway, thanks to RS3 for the answers, and thank you for reading. Hope you liked it, I did :)

Thank you and good night.

- Makke / Comic Pirates / Hugi