
                     Interview with Exocet of Arclite
                 - ---------------------------------- -


o1.  When did you make your first Ascii attempts?

 That must have been somewhen around 1992 I guess. I really cannot recall
 it correctly - being a weird geezer like me sure has its disadvantages.

o2.  Do you know how many Ascii-productions have you released?

 Phew, why not ask my manager ... hm, that should be around 12 collies all
 in all plus 3 "let's get drunk and do some Ascii in the meantime"-
 cooperations. I am not a goddamn machine and I have always laughed about
 the supposition that you only can be cool if you release one collection
 every two weeks like that Roadhogz-jerks wanted people to think.

o3.  What's so damn special with Ascii?

 Nothing much any more ... let's face it: the special times are over once
 and for all.

o4.  Have you got any special idols from the Ascii-scene?

 I would not call them idols. I mean, I don't have an altar in my room
 where I worship the disks with their collections every midnight :) Besides
 the ARCLitE-people my favourites are old masters like Red Devil, redSkin,
 Skin & Amblin, Rotox, mAz and some more.

o5.  What's your opinion about the Iff2Ascii-Art?

 It can be nice addition to a 'regular' collection but it is nothing one
 should be proud of.

o6.  Are dot's more stylish than 'regular' Ascii?

 Nope. One can do some cool effects with dots but a collection featuring
 dot-styles only would bore me to death.

o7.  Do you read every single collection that is released today?

 Gaaaaaaah, no way. I do however try to check out most of the collies by
 artists I have heard of.

o8.  Do you answer requests made to 'All Available Artists' ?

 Very seldom.

o9.  How should a request be written to be guarantied a answer from you?

 Write me an Email, don't waste your time on trying to order me around :),
 let me know that you can be patient and I will try to do my best to get a
 cool and individual-looking logo done for you. As always in life, there
 are no guarantees...

1o.  Are there more Ascii-groups than there has to be?

 This is hard to tell. Normally I would say there cannot be enough groups
 and artists as long as they are able to keep up a certain standard. But as
 things are, there are some completely useless groups out there....

11.  What do you think of the attitude in the Ascii-scene of today?

 Oh kewl, I did not know you wanted to release a 1MB-issue this time...
 I'll try to give a short answer ... today's scene isn't too cool anymore
 because there are too many people who take themselves way too serious
 although they only represent mediocrity, there is too much ripping going
 on and too many little wannabe's hungry for just a little bit of
 attention. Remember that "old skool vs. new skool"-bullcrap? Shit like
 that is not very helpful for the Ascii-scene. In former times the scene
 was much funnier because it was based on friendship and RESPECT!

12.  What do you think about the idea of having special magazines
     dedicated to the Ascii-scene?

 In fact I love the idea as long as they do their work in a correct way.
 But so far, I have not seen any mag that could live up my ideal
 imagination of what such a mag could be like. "Art Bomb" was really nice
 but apparently Mark Ryder has already lost his inspiration to publish it
 any longer. Oh yes, one more thing. It is absolutely essential that the
 makers are insiders and not some kiddies with too much time on their
 hands.

13.  Is there a big difference between Old-skool Ascii and Ascii of today?

 Oh, my favourite discussion again ... OK, once and for all. All this "Old
 Skool"-theme did not come from the ones, who were later on referred to as
 "Old Skool"-artists. Maybe there is a general idea the older artists
 shared of what styles should look like, that they should be readable etc.
 Considering that, I have no problems if someone calls me "Old Skool".
 The only problem is however, that I have failed to notice a special "New
 Skool"-style until today... There is no reason in the world, why a new
 artist should not be able to produce something cool and readable as well,
 so what the fuck... To me, it was nothing more than the attempt of some
 newbies to gain some attention - after some "Old Skoolers" let them know
 what they thought about the whole matter, they backed up. Remarks like "My
 next collection will be old skool" could only give me the giggles.
 Personally, I only divide between cool artists, mediocre ones and outright
 lamers and rippers.

14.  Have you any special projects going on that will be released in a
     near future?

 After all the nice mails that followed my last collection "Resistance Is
 Futile" (and all the requests, hehehe), I have already started on another
 colly which will be called "Necrose Evangelium". However, I have not got
 the slightest idea when it will be released, although it already would be
 long enough. So, who knows - it will be released once I am 100% satisfied
 with it.

15.  What would you be doing instead of Ascii if you suddenly quitted?

 What a joke ... Ascii has never played the most important role in my life.
 Nothing would change, that's the answer. I only do Ascii if I really want
 to and not because I have some requests waiting or because I have to fear
 that people might forget about me. I don't have anyhing to prove anymore -
 I do it just for fun and for ARCLitE. If it was not for my mates in
 ARCLitE, I might have stopped somewhen - but as long as they are around, I
 will not quit.

16.  Do you have a horny snoop doggy dogg?

 Only in my CD-shelf. I do have a horny girlfriend though, ehehehe...

