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                       Interview with CHUCK of DUNE
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UCM..... Hoi CHUCK! Here we have some interview bits for you, so how are you?

CHUCK... Well busy coz of the code of the UCM intro ;-) but glad to do it ;-)

UCM..... Even if  there are  everytime some  people that  aren't  satisfied with
         that question, just tell us when you have started computing at  all and
         what machines you have tormented on your way to the guy you're today...

CHUCK... Well I was  10 years old when  I saw for the first time an ORIC 1 Atmos
         and a ZX 81, I think they were my first computers for gaming ;-) The ST
         was my first true  computer in  fact, I have tried to code on Amiga and
         PC but ... don't hum ... can  I say  the true words ... I hate that ...
         even if I think I will go soon in a new game programmer career.

UCM..... Ofcourse we want  to know about  your scene history  as well. I have to
         excuse myself  since I don't  remember right when you appeared at first
         under the  nick "CHUCK" and since  it lays a lot of years back it would
         be nice if  you could tell us the story how you did found out about the
         scene, if there were other bands in your scene history than DUNE and so
         on...

CHUCK... Ok it is in 1991 I think  with the  LSD Demo from the giga TEX crew ...
         It was a new world for  me, I had never seen it  before, and I remember
         that I have  formatted many game  disks to have  many demos ;-) ... The
         Big Demo was so  good with  the first  overscan (not so  overscan, left
         border only but ... ) and I was very impressed ... So with some friends
         we decided to create the  FDD Crew ... I know nobody knows this one ;-)
         In fact  FDD  means ...  Freddy Dragon Doctor Mad build of the names of
         the 3 members ... Freddy  was in fact ... TECHNO, yes the one from DUNE
         ;-), Doctor Mad a  friend who works  as a policeman, and Dragon ... ???
         oh yes it was me.
         No production  from this crew, one  year after we created the 49ers and
         this time the story  goes ;-). In fact  I was in the university, in the
         same  cursus  as MIC/Dune, we  used our  free time  looking  demos like
         Union, Cuddly and more. We heard about a little coding meeting near our
         University, at  Evry near Paris. At  this coding  meeting we  have met:
         Oxygene (with the  Genious demo), Legacy, OVR and many more good French
         ST guys ;-). At this convention we  have also met EVIL METAL who wanted
         to create a new demo group, CORBEAU was here, MORTON and CORTEXX...
         We wanted to do so many things all together so the project of the never
         released psychedelic  demo was  born ;-). And the history of the famous
         ;-)))))) BrainBusters  team was born ;-))))))) In the  same time TECHNO
         and I worked in the 49ers Kidney Bean Screen for  the GFA megademo from
         FANTASY... My first production in fact on ST, in GFA.
         It was in the  1993 years I  think, MIC worked  in the same time in the
         Angel democrew the famous  Amiga team, with  his brother  NINJA. TECHNO
         and I worked with Fantasy in the World of Wonders GFA  demo, CORBEAU at
         an ASM demo, and all the gfx men in Degas Elite ;-)
         One year of work  for the World of Wonders, in the same time we changed
         the name of the team, DUNE was born, yes yes I am a Frank Herbert fan..
         We organized the Crystal Summer Convention I and II.
         We have participated at many conventions, did many never released demos
         ;-). The Faith demo  was the first asm demo I have done. And just after
         the faith I have coded the Paradise ...
         And I have met my  future wife, finished my studies (social formation),
         looking for an  appartment and life ... Oh yes euh ... CHUCK is my nick
         because of Chuck Yeager you know I think the US Air Force pilot, one of
         the fastest pilot from  the US  Army, the  one featured  in the  "Right
         Stuff" movie. ;-) Yes yes it is true ;-)

UCM..... As we all know you've taken a long break... I just remember the "Faith"
         demo from  1994 that was the last lifesign from DUNE over about 5 years
         since the "Illusions" demo never came out. So tell us  why you  and the
         whole band disappeared in the middle of the nineties from the screen...

CHUCK... At this time, I've  just started  working while  pursuing my studies at
         the same time. I've also met my wife. Furthermore, all the big names of
         the  scene  had left  the ST, leaving  behind  them  this  feeling that
         everything had  been done on  the ST. All these reasons explain why the
         "Paradise" demo was never  finished at this time  despite being  nearly
         finished

UCM..... DUNE was besides  other french sceners taking part in Frontier Software
         and so please tell me if you entered Frontier as well or if you've left
         it out...

CHUCK... In fact  I never really  worked in  Frontier, EVIL METAL  and I weren't
         that friends at this time... Mic has worked many more time ;-)

UCM..... Was the commercial work for "Frontier" the reason for DUNE  to stop the
         scene works?

CHUCK... Yep, mostly as most of DUNE members had joined Frontier.

UCM..... While several projects  of Frontier as well  as "dunegraph" were Falcon
         projects, DUNE itself  stood on  the ST/STE unlike  many  other  french
         ST sceners who changed to the Falcon. Have you ever thought to join the
         Falcon scene or were there ever moves of DUNE as band to do so?

CHUCK... Never, as for me as for the band.

UCM..... As I checked out  your "Memorial" demo I checked out that you greeted a
         lot of  guys as DUNE members  that formed the 1st SECTOR ONE team, just
         like MEERCLAW... was that band joining forces with DUNE since it fastly
         disappeared in the middle nineties?

CHUCK... There never has  been any DUNE/SECTOR ONE fusion. In fact some projects
         have been developed in conjunction with Sector One. The first  batch of
         Sector One members  disbanded just after their second sanom party where
         as DUNE just continued making demos a long time after. Please note that
         relations beetween DUNE/Sector One (the first team!) weren't that good,
         some fucks  being distributed. Today  I have to thank Edo, Frost and St
         Ghost for better relationship, enabling the creation of  the Odd Stuff,
         and perhaps the future "Odd Stuff 2".

UCM..... And, a thing  that is very  interesting... what has  forced you to come
         back to the ST demo scene? Unlike the  most others that  joined this ST
         revival and released just old stuff to disappear very  fast again, DUNE
         was going one step further with "Memorial", "Paradise", the "Toxic Mag"
         intro, "Odd Stuff" with the Sector One guys, the intro for UCM and your
         further projects...

CHUCK... MIC, who  released the  unfinished  version  of the "Paradise" (without
         informing me!), what  has  motivated  me for making  new demos. Another
         major reason is  that today, I have  a job which  is totally informatic
         free and I need this computer feeling, so why not making demos again?
         Furthermore making demos is a different way of computing, far away from
         the mainstream: to make demos has sense for me.

UCM..... What do you think, the so called "ST revival" of  1999/2ooo seems a bit
         overrated today, do you think the ST scene will fall back  into eternal
         sleep now, except  DUNE and maybe  CREAM there aren't much movements to
         see on the ST anymore nowadays... so just tell me!

CHUCK... It is clear that  it is quite a dream to belive that the ST scene could
         be the same as  during the  golden years. Who could replace Tex, TCB or
         the Lost Boys? I think nobody can, and certainly not DUNE.
         In fact, most  old sceners are now around thirty years old and now have
         a life  after  computer. Concerning  the "revival", all  crews  may not
         have said or done  all they had wanted to do and this is why I think we
         have seen and will see new demos from these old groups (I hope so!).

UCM..... Ok, back to DUNE... tell me, what movements impressed you  in your work
         on the  ST scene? It seems  as the DUNE productions  are very Amiga5oo-
         demo-a-like... have you followed the ECS demo scene on Amiga?

CHUCK... Well, a lot  of inspiration  came from  the Amiga scene  but also  from
         groups like Legacy on  the ST. I've always  made demos designed  by the
         team artists, for  instance ask ST Ghost what he thinks of the artistic
         management of Edo in the "Odd Stuff".
         It's always harder  to make  such graphic  oriented  demos but it makes
         them much more beautiful.

UCM..... And do you have any idols on the ST scene? What do  you think about the
         nowadays survivors on the ST demo scene?

CHUCK... An idol? No, idols instead, and not only in the ST scene: Nick/TCB, ES/
         TEX, Babar, The Lost Boys, the  Thalion team  for the ST scene but also
         people  like  Steve Bak/Pete Lyon (Goldrunner,  Leatherneck,  Return to
         Genesis and so on). I  will always  regret to have  never met Nick from
         TCB. Concerning  the new scene, I don't  think it  is that  new because
         there are people  who started emerging during the nineties. I just hope
         that this "new" scene will last.

UCM..... Are you following the movements on the Falcon scene?

CHUCK... Not at all and I'm not interested in.

UCM..... DUNE in 2oo2... Who  is still left  and can be  called active... We all
         know that DUNE was blown up to a big band in the middle nineties.

CHUCK... Active on  ST? MIC, FELIX  and I. In  computing? All  the  others. Some
         examples: CORBEAU worked  on "Nomad Soul", MORTON worked for "Kalisto",
         EVIL METAL  and  CORTEXX  still  work  in  Frontier, THADOSS  works  as
         computing engineer.

UCM..... With FELIX  you discovered  some new  coder, so how does it come? It is
         not very typical to take newbies into legendary teams, so  what has you
         impressed on him or his works that you took him into your team?

CHUCK... In fact, I've  always thought  that a good relationship was better than
         just a good  programmer. FELIX is  first a  good friend  before being a
         DUNE member. DUNE is always opened for  new members (in all fields) for
         the next productions.

UCM..... DUNE in  the  future... You  told  me on  #atariscne  about your coming
         projects  and at  least for  the next  year there  is also some release
         scheduled... How long  do you  think DUNE  will stay  on the  scene now
         after the past 5 years break? Can we count on  you for some  more years
         now?

CHUCK... I'm here to stay. Many projects  are  scheduled. The  next  one will be
         "Fantasia" which will be an  ST dentro starring MIC, FELIX, TAO and me.
         Next, there will be an STE demo called "Seeds". The "Illusion" is still
         in work because of the loss of the source code. The work is made harder
         because of  the two disks and because of the loader system. It makes me
         crazy! I  don't  know  what  will  be  done  after but Game Boy Advance
         development seems to be a good ST alternative.

UCM..... Topic 2oo3 and Error In Line party... will you be there this time since
         no DUNE buddies  were there  in the past  years? Would you like to come
         over, it could force you on your demo works ;)

CHUCK... Yes, I will attend  the Error In Line party, with a production. I would
          be pleased to see more ST only parties.

UCM..... Ok... That's it for the big  part, it's time  for a bit  brainstorming!
         I'll give you a  bunch of words and you just have write down the things
         that are coming into your mind  right after  reading  them, just with a
         single word or short sentence...

A.tari .......... For ever
B.abar .......... Best french gfx men and so sympatic guy
C.oding ......... Part of my life
D.iskmags ....... Read it or die
E.vil Metal ..... Hum ... Joker
F.aith .......... Arf so many work and a so bad result ...
G.ames .......... Beurk
H.olocaust ...... YES YES YES
I.nternet ....... The new world commuication
J.ess ........... Ninja turtle ;-)
K.ilobytes ...... ARf tell me why a disk has onl740 ko ??????
L.amers ......... Nobody is, perhaps sometimes newbies but never lamer
M.ic ............ My best Friend
N.ecrosys ....... Metal crew ???? YEs metal music Maiden rules
O.xygene ........ Hum ok Oxbab, Leonard and Spiral ... but I prefer Holocaust
O.ldschool ...... My way of coding demos ...
O.ne frame ...... The only way of coding demos ...
P.arties ........ Where where where ????
Q.uality ........ The only word ...
R.ealtime ....... Always Always always ... euh ....
S.cene .......... Fanatics ;-)))))
T.ex ............ Golden regards ... ES you are the one ...
U.CM :) ......... Yes ??? lol
V.U meters ...... No no no not today ;-) oh yes a good oldschool demo ...
W.indows ........ What? It is a joke ?????????
X.xx ............ XXX international Demo
Y.o Demo ........ Hum I have met the Black Cats, good guys
Z.appy .......... Respect ...

UCM..... Yeah, total burnout! Ok, I think  we have  stressed you  enough now and
         our have some deeper views behind the scenes of DUNE now... if you want
         to leave some special words  to our readers, greet  someone or anything
         else you now have the possibility to do so...

CHUCK... Thanks to  Keops for  always being  there, to  Leonard for still making
         challenges, to DHS for  keeping the  scene informed, Sector One for the
         Odd Stuff (especially  Edo, Frost and Deun) and  of  course  my  golden
         regards go to  all the ST scene. And  also a big thank to you, Moondog,
         for interviewing me.

UCM..... Ok, so we have to thank you for your patience and hope  that you aren't
         bored to death now ;) take care and stay Atari!


                                                            interview by moondog
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