Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
NULL mag Issue 07 07 Interview with filth
you all know filth, so intro for this guy :) i only have to say that
his work is an inspiration for NULL and perhaps the reason why NULL
exists. GUTTER was something different from all other emags at the time
and that's what i also wanted for NULL. he also is the first one who
colored his interview :) hahahaha ANSI artist to the bones ;)
úþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþúþú
xq> when was your first "contact" with computers?
fil> mic check.. excuse bad grammering and wordsing
somewhere in 93-4ish. so i would have been 13-14ish. my best friend
had rich parents who bought him a computer. i believe it was an
intel 8088. those old beasts where the diskdrive was a part of the
keyboard. shortly after, he upgraded to a 286 PC and gave me the
8088. later on he got a 386 and i got the 286. this goes on for years,
like i said, he had rich parents. luckily for me, i kept getting
slighty used computers for free. :)
xq> how you involved with bbsing and ansi art?
fil> i'm from a small town that had a surprisingly popularity in BBS's.
as soon as you found out about one, you'd find the rest. eventually,
my rich friend started a BBS. and since i liked to draw he said i
should make menus for his BBS. i didn't actually know there was such
a thing as 'ANSi art'. i could just draw ANSi menus slightly less bad
than everyone else.
then one fateful day a new BBS opened up in my area. (717 RPRZNT)
it was called 'Not Yet Named' and the very first time i dialed it
up, my mind was blown. up until this point the only ANSi art i'd
ever seen were simple 25-line menus on BBS's. but on THIS board,
a long ANSi scrolled down my screen. i instantly recognized the
picture: it was the comic book character Zealot. i'd also feel into
the love of comics and i was shocked to see this displayed on my
shitty computer. this entire BBS had all these amazing ANSi'S. (which
the dude totally chopped up to use on his BBS. hah!) so i freaked
out and paged the sysop immediately about this trove of artwork.
he explained it all came from these 'art packs' by 'ANSi groups'.
i was fuckin' clueless to what this was so he put up a bunch of
iCE art packs in the file base for me to download. i downloaded
every single one and was totally enamored with it. once i found out
it consisted of a network of teenagers doing crazy shit, i knew
i had to figure out a way to get involved.
so here i am!
xq> in which groups you were a member?
fil> 90's: deep, CiA, samsara, TWiLiGHT, echO, gutter, The Legion, vii
and glUe.
now: blocktronics and AMiSH (HI BLOCKTRONiCS AND AMiSH)
xq> how did you get your nickname?
there's a good chance i got the name from a punk band in Philly
called FILTH. plus 'filth' can be used for different occasions. most
of them offensive, which makes it cool when your an artist.
xq> what is one thing that you miss from the past? when bbses were in
their pick.
fil> networks of teenagers coming together to share information and other
shenanagins with each other. in those days there were no ropes
for someone to show you how to get stuff done. people would just
figure it out themselves and pass that info along. i have a good
feeling that all the crazy shit people did in those days structured
what would later become security online. it's no doubt when they
called it the 'Wild West.'
xq> how and why you wanted to make another emag? at that time, for
sure, there were a lot of them. weren't you a bit "scared" that it
may not have the success you wanted to have?
fil> i wanted to do an emag because i liked emags. :) plus it was something
that didn't require imput from a bunch of other people. i figured
i wouldn't need to worry about getting art since, well, i was an ANSi
artist. i was a punk rock kid, so writing endless complaints about
ANSi related things and calling them 'articles' seemed easy enough.
that's when homie jack phlash comes in. we were already pals, and
when i was thinking about doing this for real and needed it c0ded,
our destiny emerged.
we basically had one simple goal: do this for as long as it's fun.
it wasn't going to be something where it looses steam every time we
put it out because of lack of support (as in art/articles). after
twelve issues and millions of dollars, we figured that we never lost
that steam so we should end on a high note. 12 issues was a good
number for that high note.
xq> at that time, did you realize that you had in your had a
successful emag or the success came afterwards on in the middle
life of it?
fil> thing with emags, if you made them, they'd be popular. they weren't
a saturated deal. let's say there were five emags coming out a month,
if you're going to read one of them, you're going to read all of
them. :)
xq> i've heard that you decided to stop gutter, when it was in its
pick of success. was that, really the reason? did you felt tired
from all of this and you wanted to stop.
fil> as i rambled before, we wanted to end on a high note. going strong
for one year-ish was a cozy place to stop.
xq> would you consider the success of gutter, a personal thing? after
all you were the only author in it. would you consider, that
gutter was some sort of a blog, ahead of its time, where you were
able to express your self?
fil> oh, i can't take all the blame for the writing. we had a pretty open
door policy on people contributing. as for the personal thing, it
was a cool concept to me at that age to do something like that. i
remember being that age and thinking what other teenagers who WEREN'T
doing this stuff did in their spare time. so it was cool for me the
way it was cool for everyone else involved in this underground stuff.
we could say and do whatever we wanted. and thanks to the actual art
behind it, it really felt (in my adolescent brain) validated.
xq> how was the cooperation with the other members of the team?
fil> outside of me and jp, a good portion was contributed by other fine
folks in the scene. every single issue had stuff from people that
helped make it showcase a good variety from folks from all groups.
xq> would you consider to do it again? now?
fil> never thought i'd see a 20th anniversary, so let's shoot for a
40th.
xq> what do you think made gutter a successful emag? i mean, emags
came and went to oblivion, even before gutter, what was it, that
made it to stay in the memory of a lot of people?
fil> right place / right time. there were also a few solid mags going on
around this time. a lot of them cast a broader net into other
underground areas. i guess since i was an ANSi artist the main
theme of gutter was mostly geared toward straight up ANSi biz.
that, and reviews/top pics. people love that shit.
while i'm here, wanna shout out some peeps who kept it real with
the emag biz: pogue/woe, maeve wolf & squidgalator 2/ooze,
inazone/fistful of steel, black jack/lost in the translation,
pariah/massive.
xq> i noticed that one unique difference from other emags of that era,
was that you didn't write only about the bbs/ansi scene, but also
for political and social matters of the time. do you think that,
that was the "thing" that distinguished gutter from other emags?
fil> oh man, i hope not. :) i know that ever single one of us cringes
at stuff we said in those days, but man, i would really just
put out sporadic rants. i figured, why not? if you write one or
two serious articles and five or six bad ones, the quanity would
make up for it. :)
xq> i also saw the same thing in your anniversary pack. you also write
for things that matter in real life. why is that? do you think
that through bbses, something can be done?
fil> BBS's would be a good fallout shelter if the internet ever goes
down. :)
xq> i am also pointing it, in an article in this issue, that today,
users/members of bbses, don't really want to discuss things other
than bbsing stuff, in the echonets. and you can see clearly the
lack of such discussions... why you think this is happening?
specially today, that the world goes crazy.
fil> the world IS crazy. but i can only vouch for the US. adults new
to the internet, NOW, act like we did as teenagers in the 90's.
a catchphrase i like to say: stupid people shouldn't own smart phones.
xq> do you think that the world goes crazy? :)
fil> every single day, dude.
xq> would you even consider of re-starting gutter or another emag?
you could even have it as an alternative media for a blog of
yours. i think Jack Plash is going to do something similar. or
that "days" are completely gone for you?
fil> it means a lot to me when people say i should do it again. but it's
a done deal. i mean that in a positive way since i find it more of a
reflection of a certain time and place. if like if i did it now it
would take away from what it was then.
doing the 20th anniversary deal was a right place at the right time
kind of situation. the fact that i was actively drawing ANSi again,
TWENTY years later, made it a no-brainer. also, twenty years later,
i'm an older kind of lazy. :)
xq> what do you think about bbsing today? i read some of your views in
the anniversary pack of gutter. do you believe that bbses are able
to make a difference in this world of big-brotherish-corp.-social
media?
fil> well, it's like this: i'm an asshole who draws for BBS's and doesn't
call them. but here's why, I GET NERVOUS. i for some reason think
the sysop is watching and will break into chat and i won't know what
to say. whew...
xq> do you believe, that perhaps a "hard-core" group of people, will
return or even discover bbses, as a media for free-speach and
free-thinking?
fil> BBS's would be a perfect platform to do social media type things
but not on social media. just to keep away from that noise.
they dumbed down the internet so people just need to push a button.
a BBS would be an abstract thing to them.
xq> except ansi art, do you do other types of art? did you follow a
profession based on the experiences from the world of bbs
computing? :)
fil> i love illustration both freehand and digital (wacom). i like having
two mediums going so when i get frustraited at one and can go to the
other.
xq> as a "professional" in the subject... what's your opinion about
NULL? what pros or/and cons does it have?
fil> this is where it gets awkward. until recently, NULL to me was a
dark secret from the hit mobile series, The Room. when i did that
NULL ANSi, i had to look up all that stuff. :)
xq> would you consider of writing stuff for NULL? and join in :)
fil> absolutely! it will most likely be me complaining about one thing for
too long or something vague and confusing. that's how it goes.
xq> i see it in a lot areas, not just bbses or computing... people now
days don't group together and they prefer to be independent and
work as individuals, why you think is that? was it the same back
then?
fil> actually i feel like people ARE coming together. or getting back
together. these are weird times. over the last few years i've been
fortunate enough to meet a bunch of great people in the ANSi scene
in real, actual life. UNCANNY. love every second of it. [HEART EMOJI]
xq> what is your opinion about the present ansi scene?
fil> it blows my mind that it's happening in 2018. not just happening, but
with so many old school motherfuckers in the mix. i had a 14 year gap
from drawing ANSi, and it still boggles my noggin at times seeing how
many people are putting out amazing art.
xq> what is your favorite group? not only from the present, but also
from the past.
fil> EVERY GROUP TODAY IS MY FAVORITE GROUP. back in the day favorite,
i'm gonna go with CiA. i was in a lot of cool groups with great peeps,
but that was my first real group. (HI NAPALM, V4ND4L5 2UL3)
xq> i can see everywhere, that todays bbs users/members consider
bbsing something that is dead or going to die really soon...
because of that "excuse" they prefer to not do anything, than just
make even the simplest thing, lets say, write a tutor. why is
that? is it because bbsing is really dead or because that
generation grow up and don't have the time or "appetite" to make
something?
fil> here's the way i look at it: in the 90's people said the BBS scene
was dead. listen, it's 2019. WE HAVE ROBOTS ON ANOTHER PLANET.
and guess what else? BBS's are still around. i've probably drawn
more stuff now for boards than i did back then. :)
xq> what's your favorite bbs software? from all times.
fil> i never had the phone line to run BBS, but i was mesmorized by
OBV/2. it was mysterious to me. i hadn't really been exposed
to the ANSi scene at the time, but there was something fucking
cool about setting up a fake OBV/2 board. :)
so shout-out to Michael Griffin!
xq> do you think that younger people can be intrigued to use bbses?
how can this be achieved?
fil> hopefully the same way it happened for all of us: curiosity.
oh, and to make people pHEAR.
