| crashed zine interview | ![]() |
| crashed - 48k spectrum zine, issue 7 march 1995 | |
| whatever
happened to those heroes? - the shaw brothers. interview by matt beal. |
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| matt - how were you first introduced (blah)? | graham - we first got into computers back in 1982. we were actually stuck inside one for six hours once. (ho-ho! lard) one of our pals had a zx81 and we thought it was amazing. the fact that you could only have around ten lines of basic didn't seem to disappoint us. we bought the odd computer mag and then saw an advert for the zx spectrum 16k. christmas 1982 approached fast and we splashed out £12o odd quid for one. spent the next six weeks solidly typing in spectrum games from mags. then it packed in so we replaced it and updated to a 48k. |
| mat - favourite crisps? | graham - cheese and onion quavers/mccoys. |
| mat - favourite cartoons? | graham - roger ramjet and duckman. |
| mat - favourite monty python sketch? | graham - that bit in the holy grail film where that bloke took a vow of silence in the desert (ho ho). (i presume the film shaw is referring to is life of brian. i recall no such skit in quest for the holy grail) |
| mat - favourite drinks? | graham - vimto, yorkshire tea, mcewans red can, guiness... |
| mat - favourite brand of shoes? | graham - erm dms? erm converse, diadora and dunlop wellingtons. |
| mat - favourite magazine? | graham - fish, wired, q, select, anything mediocre. |
| mat - favourite wierd theory? | graham - there is intelligent life in cheshire. (matt - bugger off) |
| mat - favourite items of clothing? | graham - luna lunapark white t-shirt, levi jeans... they've just dropped to bits, so now it's lee coopers (back in fashion by the end of summer ... he hopes...). |
| mat - favourite speccy games? | graham - atic atac, sabre wulf, match day 2, matchpoint, robin o' the wood, nighshade, legend of avalon, quazatron, etc... |
| mat - favourite musical entertainment? | graham - the beatles, neil young, velvet underground, love, lovin' spoonful, jonathan richman, the la's, mazzy star, house of love, monkees, mercury rev, bob dylan, red crayola, luna, galaxie 5oo, wedding present, stone roses, oasis, beat happening, rod mckuen, nirvana, iris dement, james taylor, memphis slim, muddy waters, lloyd cole, donovan, champion jack dupree, miles davis, smiths, morrissey, simon and garfunkel, happy mondays, leonard cohen (ed - aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!), the seeds... how long have you got? (matt - wish i'd never bloody well asked) |
| mat - favourite books? | graham - catch 22 (heller), how to talk dirty (lenny bruce), 2oo1: a space odyssey (clarke), hitch-hiker's trilogy (adams), fahrenheit 451 (bradbury), a kestrel for a knave (hines), an american dream (mailer), body bag (rollins), lord of the flies (golding), tarabas (roth), trickster's handbook (edin), etc... |
| mat - films? dare i ask? | graham - 2oo1: a space odyssey, slacker, take the money and run, blooming youth, one trick pony, don't look back, kes, apocalypse now, saturday night sunday morning, billy liar...(matt - i've had enough of this. shut up) |
| mat - what's the future of the spectrum? does it have one? | graham - i think the spectrum died a thousand deaths when mr nintendo and mr sega took over the marketplace. apart from the chosen few soldiering on i don't think we'll ever see a computer industry like that of the mid to late 8os again. i still use my rubber-keyed 48k spectrum as a dtp (sad but true). |
| mat - criminal justice bill: orwellian (etc)...? | graham - unfortunately we are now a police state, which is the only way this sad government can keep any kind of hold on proceedings. kill the bill i say, and a few others while you're at it. off with their heads. i don't automatically believe anything i see on the tv or read in the paper. most of it's down to mi5 anyway. and if there's any mi5 reading this then let me just say "ooh, ooh, sorry mister" and quote "leave me alone - for i was only joking." but we know different. (matt - scary.) |
| mat - take that: ironic purveyors of perfect plastic pop, or pile of petrid poodle-piss? | graham - what a load of sloblock they are. they are the cheesiest chart "act" since glen and chris. well, more can you expect from a man whose main influence was elton john? rock and roll... |
| mat - how would you like to die? | graham - being immortal i've never had to think about that one. but maybe from a mortal standpoint i'd like to die by standing next to a certain former conservative prime minister with a live hand grenade, pulling the trigger and stuffing it down said person's throat whilst singing "there she goes again" by the velvet underground. how's that for starters? |
| mat - have you been fooled by the national lottery? | graham - i have actually bought the odd ticket in my past. i actually "won" a tenner on the first one... but not a sniff since. i'd rather see ninety first prizes of £1oo,ooo than three at £3,ooo,ooo each. it stinks... i've got about as good a chance of winning as barnsley have of playing in the premiership. |
| mat - what's the best thing you've every written on the speccy. | graham - i once wrote my name and postcode using a green marker pen. it just rubbed off into my hands... i ended up with green fingers for six weeks. best game? ooh, a tough one this, they're mostly the same level. erm, cerius was the first one to get published, how about moontorc, cavemania, superkid in space, skatin' usa, last vampire and kosmos. a funny thing on the last vampire inlay is that it mentions the town being called "whitley bay", when it was supposed to be "whitby" (where dracula was set), but somewhere along the line somebody mistyped it to whitley bay. it was too late to rectify things. anybody with an ounce of authenticity will know the subtle difference between the two towns! |
| mat - favourite telly programs? | graham - bottom, calendar, late review, alan partridge stuff, match of the day, the white room, blackadder, reeves and mortimer. |
| mat - have you heard talk radio uk yet? | graham - has anybody? i did actually tune in once; it's like standing at a bus stop and listening to two not-very interesting people talking about a simlarly not-very interesing topic. it stinks at the moment. then again i do rate most radio stations in the same category. i do occasionally listen to radio one ("1fm") through the week between 7pm and 11pm and gmr on match-days. |
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