Week 36 and we are visiting sunny old blighty, spending some time with the extremely talented Poisoncut. Grab the track here!
Weekly Treats: How did you first come into contact with the chiptune scene?
Poisoncut: I don't know if you would call it 'the scene' but the first time I heard chiptune music would have been around 1990, playing copied amiga games as a kid. I often left the cracktros running at the start to listen to the music. Over the years I still listened to it occasionaly but what revived my interest in a big way was the 8-bit collective site.
WT: Who or what would you consider your main influences musically?
P: Mostly memories of old game music but everything I listen to influences me in some way, I listen to all kinds of different genres but usually stuff with a bit of melody and without lyrics. I've been listening to some Joe Satriani lately. His latest album is good.
WT: Where did the name Poisoncut come from?
P: The name comes from when I used to make drum n bass music around 2001. I can't remember how I came up with it but I thought it sounded cool for the type of music I was making at the time. I just stuck with it as I changed to different styles. Some of that old stuff is still online on a site called soundclick.
WT: Could you tell us a bit about what you use to write your music?
P: I sometimes use Milky Tracker but usually FL Studio with a few plugin like quadraSid, vopm and magical8bit plug. I put a beat together with a chord progression and a bassline and then play around with the midi keyboard over the top until I come up with a decent melody.
WT: You've done some work for game soundtracks, how did you get into doing this?
P: The game developers found my music on soundcloud and youtube and sent me a message asking me to do the soundtracks. One of them I did by answering someone on the 8 bit collective forums looking for game music.
WT: What went into writing your Weekly Treats track?
P: The weekly treats track was written with my laptop and headphones whilst on holiday. I made it in between visiting a volcano, swimming in the pool and sitting on the beach! Not sure if the holiday vibe shows through, maybe if you imagine a spaceship blasting out of a volcano.
WT: What does the future hold for Poisoncut?
P: That's a hard question. At the moment, I have no idea!
