Community Interview: Damian 'Saxman' Grove Gets Musical

Our second interview with Sonic Hacking Community (SHaC) webmaster, Damian 'Saxman' Grove, focuses on the community leader's interests in music, and his latest projects in that area. Beyond that, we discuss the new SHaC-owned newsletter, forum launches and other things. Sonic_Hedgehogs has the scoop.

TSS: Hey, SH here with a second interview with our friend Saxman, hows it going?

Saxman: Hey SH, it's going great, and I'm happy to be here!

TSS: Thats great! ^_^ To give people who haven't read our first interview, tell us briefly who you are and what's your background.

Saxman: Well, I'm from the old Sonic community, before SSRG even existed. I am usually credited as the "guy who kick-started the Sonic 'hacking' scene," which really it was a community effort. I created the first ROM hacking documentation for a Sonic game -- that was the Sonic 2 Hacking Guide.

Later, I left SSRG, created a website called Sonic Hacking Community (known also as 'SHaC'), and recently I have been recording a bunch of songs -- both cover and original. I guess that sums up my basic identity in the community.

TSS: Tell us about your music, isn't it true you're currently trying to get your music on the radio?

Saxman: Yes, I have been in contact with several radio stations -- a couple in Maryland, one in Pennsylvania, one in Virginia, and one somewhere in Canada. When I get my recordings finished, I'm supposed to send a CD to the radio stations. One station may also interview me, which I thought was pretty cool when I first heard this from them.

My songs are mostly easy-listening rock -- you know, the today's rock that people listen to when they don't like heavy metal, rap, or loud guitars. I wrote a song called "Without You" and it's quite popular among older adults.

In fact, I have a demo of the song available at http://damiangrove.iuma.com/. It's incomplete, but it has the basic mood in there. My dad practically fell in love with the song and my mom had a hard time believing that I even wrote the song and all the parts to it myself.

TSS: So will you be doing any Sonic themed songs in the future? Sorry, I had to ask! ^_^ Also, will you be releasing your own CD in the near future?

Saxman: I thought about doing some Sonic-themed songs because that's what attracts most of the listeners in this community. Then again, I simply like the 80's music better than all the video game music! I would much rather cover songs from artists like Huey Lewis & The News, Billy Ocean, Van Halen and Ronnie Milsap, than I ever would covering video game songs. Although I must admit I like a lot of the songs on the Sonic CD US soundtrack.

As far as releasing my own CD, I have actually made a CD containing a bunch of cover-version songs I did, as well as two songs I wrote. It contained 9 tracks, and was quite popular with the people that I have passed it along to. Many people have asked me to make them copies of it because they loved it so much. The songs that really grabbed the most attention were "The Heart of Rock & Roll" and "If This Is It".

A CD containing nothing but original material probably won't be available for a few more years.

TSS: I've also heard you're creating (or created) a newsletter at SHaC called the "SHaCY-Zine"? What's this about, is it about your site or kind of an online magazine?

Saxman: SHaCY-Zine is a newsletter I created a little over a week ago. I've sent two issues out now. It contains information about news and events in the general Sonic secrets and hacking scene. It's a way to keep people up to date each week with what's going on basically. SHaCY-Zine went from a little less than 10 subscribers, to over 40 within the time that it's been issued. From the comments I have received on it, people seem to really be satisfied with the content it delivers.

TSS: Do other people help work on it with you and how does one subscribe to this newsletter?

Saxman: I'm the only one working on SHaCY-Zine. I figured it would be easier if it was under my full control. Only I know what kind of audience I want SHaC to appeal to, so rather than trying to make others understand what I want for SHaC, I decided to do it all myself.

As far as subscribing, it's very easy. All one would have to do is e-mail me at '[email removed]', contact my AIM SN ([removed]), or contact me using my ICQ UIN ([removed]) and send me the e-mail address they want me to send SHaCY-Zine to.

TSS: Tell us about your first issue, run us through what the articles were about and what its layout is like.

Saxman: Well, at the moment, SHaCY-Zine is very simple and basic! This is because I don't want to make it stressful on myself to get an issue done for each week. I am thinking of ways to improve it's look and appeal.

The topics discussed were the recent discoveries that were made by expert ROM hackers Esrael and Nemesis. It also mentioned the contest that Sonic Stadium was holding, as well as the new SHaC message boards.

TSS: That'd be the Sonic Site Awards, for those who don't know ^^ Tell us about your brand new SHaC message boards - are these new to the site as a forum, or did you have a forum on SHaC before?

Saxman: The new SHaC message board is called "The Freedom SHaCk". I named it that because most boards I've been to don't offer much freedom. Sonic-CulT offers a lot of freedom, but I always felt that the people were out of control at the Sonic-CulT forums. Me and Pachuka both decided to get rid of my forums that were part of his board, and get me a board of my own. With the help of Pachuka and Digital Xeron, I was able to get my board up.

It doesn't have a skin to replace the default or anything. It's pretty basic looking right now, but it's slowly picking up I believe. I am just hoping that it does better than my many failed attempts to have a successful board in the past! The new forums have a much more simple URL this time -- http://www.shacnet.com/forums/. It makes it easier for those people who can't remember long URLs!

TSS: What other projects do you have lined up for SHaC, anything big in the coming days?

Saxman: For SHaC itself, there aren't really any new projects that I have planned at the moment. As far as anything else, I'm trying to finish a software program called "Sonic QX". It's a music editor and sequencer for Sonic ROMs on the Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive. I have no clue when it'll be done, but I'm hoping I can get it out as soon as I can get it finished with it.

TSS: I wish you luck on SHaC and your several other great projects Saxman, thanks for a great informative interview! ^_~

Saxman: Well thank you SH!