If you’ve made it to the end of many of our podcasts, you’ve heard this triumphant tune:
Now, I get to chat with the prolific maestro behind many, many bleep-blooping works, Chris Pickett of CHICKENANDROFLS. Chris is currently planning to make a movie called Gothmog. He is accepting donations through purchases of MP3 copies of his soundtrack through BandCamp. Let’s delve into the mind of Chris, shall we?
Red-Headed Mule: How are things in Texas? Here in Georgia, the heat and humidity haven’t left yet.
Chris Pickett: It’s finally cooled off (I’m hoping for an epic winter).
RHM: Did you play 8-bit and 16-bit video games from the 80s/90s?
CP: Constantly. I’m pretty sure I can still beat get Super Sonic in Sonic 2 by the fourth stage (but, you know… still the second zone).
RHM: Did you learn any music before crafting chiptunes?
CP: Depends on how loosely you define the word learn. I was a one-person metal band (The Cauldron Born) for about six months a few years before I started making chiptunes.
RHM: What are your tools of the trade?
CP: My laptop, FamiTracker, Audacity (for mixin’) and plenty of soda and cigarettes.
RHM: Explain how you came up with Gothmog? Is it from a love of metal music?
CP: More out of a want to write a cheap enough movie to possibly film (but I always had it in mind that I would write the soundtrack too). I do like me some black metal though.
RHM: If you stare at one person and make him/her do your endless bidding, it would be…
CP: Werner Herzog, I would have him narrate my life.
RHM: When will the updated version of my theme song be finished, eh? >_>
CP: I could’ve sworn I’d sent that.
[Here’s the official theme song! Thank you, Chris! -Ed.]
RHM: Someone tells you you get to remake Mount Rushmore. The four new faces would be…
CP: The Street Sharks.
RHM: What other chiptune artists inspire you?
CP: Nestrogen, DYLANBROCHILL, Alex Powrs, Masi Masi, PANDASTAR, Ben Landis, just you know, lots.
RHM: Do you have any other words or thoughts to share?
CP: I’m almost finished with my new album Americola and people can go listen to it… or just look at it, I don’t know.
-30-
Listen:
Asteroid Field:
Full Life (collaboration):