Interview with Patrick Nevian

The scene is set. We see images of what looks like an abandoned factory where heavy machinery lines the floors. And a woman in gothic garb stands at one corner only outshone by the bright purple of her hair. The focus changes quickly to a man playing an instrument and wait...what! Is that an Amiga A1200?! :-o

It is true! We are watching the video to Shivers in my skin song by dark pop outfit Blue Metal Rose. And there certainly is an Amiga A1200 in the film clip. Sitting on top of a music keyboard played by BMR front man Patrick Nevian. In fact if you know the BMR album Spreading the Seed you will see a note in the booklet which says it is Powered by Commodore Amiga.

In this edition of the BlitterWolf blog we have a special exclusive and interview with Patrick Nevian of Blue Metal Rose. And we will discover how Blue Metal Rose is powered by Commodore Amiga. :-)

1. Hello Patrick and can you give a little introduction of yourself?

A. Hi! I'm Patrick Nevian, music producer, pianist and sound engineer...and of course long-time Amiga fan. I´m 37 and from Germany.

2. What's that Amiga doing in your film clip?

A. Well, the Amiga was used in the production for several songs of my band "Blue Metal Rose". In "Shivers in my skin" for example the drums and baseline were produced using OctaMed Soundstudio.

So I wanted to give credit in the video as well.

3. How is the Amiga used in your music production?

A. It´s in use in our studio. Of course it´s not the main machine for our studio work, but I still like to track some stuff and/or include some noisy 8-bit samples in our productions. That gives a pretty cool sound from time to time.

4. I know it inspires us but what inspires you to use an Amiga with music production?

A. It´s the old fashioned way of producing music like I did in the early 90´s.

Without the Amiga I wouldn´t be a professional music producer today and it reminds me of the early days of my career. Love it!

5. What musical productions have you used an Amiga with?

A. Mainly for my "Band Blue Metal Rose" It was partly used for the first and second album. Mainly drum and bass programming.

And of course I use the Amiga for all of my Amiga games productions.

6. What other projects are you involved with?

A. A lot! ;-)

I´m the arranger and performer of the Chris Huelsbeck Piano Collection.

Chris also produced a remix for Blue Metal Rose, "Feel you".

Barry Leitch also produced a fantastic remix of our song "Drei Toene".

My company Phénix Noir Productions produces songs and sounds for bands, modern and retro games, companies and much more.

Check out our homepage for more info:
http://www.phenix-noir.de/ENGLISH/index.html

I´m also producing Amiga games. The sequel of "Tales of Gorluth" is out now and its predecessor was rated as the best Amiga game of 2014.

See my Amiga games homepage for more info: http://www.amiworx.de/

7. What is your Commodore story?

A. I was infected by the Amiga virus when I saw "Shadow of Beast" in a store around 1990. I was blown away instantly...We had an Amstrad CPC 664 back then and the Amiga felt like some kind of an alien technology. :-D

I got an Amiga 600 back in 1993, but my brother and friends already owned Amigas by the end of the 1980s.

In 1994 I got a CD32 and in 1996 the A600 was replaced by an accelerated A1200.

The Amiga 4000/060 followed in the year 2000...

8. What Commodore machines are in your collection?

A. Today I still own an A600, two A1200 and a CD32.

9. What would you like in your collection? :-)

A. I fine with my Amiga stuff around.

10. What would be your favourite productivity software?

A. OctaMed Soundstudio and DPaint.

11. What would be your favourite games over the years?

A. Mhh, too hard to tell. There are so many great games.

I still love Pegasus, Black Viper and Turrican III. But there are tons of fantastic Amiga classics out there...

12. Do you have a favourite Commodore or Amiga magazine?

A. Amiga Joker, Amiga Games and today: Amiga Future.

13. How do you feel towards AmigaOS4 and reincarnations like the AmigaOne?

A. I`m not interested in next-gen Amigas. But it´s good to see, that people want to push the Amiga and its technology.

14. And what do you think of an AmigaOS spin off like MorphOS or AROS?

A. I love creativity and creative people. So I think all these spin offs or even our beloved WinUAE are great to keep the Amiga spirit alive.

15. What do think about accelerators like the Vampire and would you like one?

A. Oh yes, I´m eagerly waiting for the Vampire1200 to arrive.

16. What do you think should have been done with Amiga post AGA?

A. An early switch to x86 would have been the right thing.

17. Any other computer or musical things you'd like to tell us?

A. We are currently working on our 4th Blue Metal Rose album.

It is going to be fantastic. Check out our new single "Why Anna": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5YOemzPRcI
...and our website: www.blue-metal-rose.com

Thank you for your time! :-D

Thanks a lot. :)

Michael Holmes