by Neil Carr

Kenz is the editor of "Commodore Zone". He also set up a PD site called "Binary Zone Interactive. To top this he has been involved with the Channel 4 show "Bits" as a Retro-Reasearcher. But to continue matters he is the Executive Producer for Bit 3 and he is responsable for the companion cd for bit3. Chris Abbott described this man as the "man who single handedly tried to save the c64" - I think he has a point.

Real name: Jason Mackenzie
Handle: Kenz
Born: 1971
Nationality: Englsih

Rob Hubbard & Martin Galway (and many others!)

Too many to list them all! All time faves include Zoids, Sanxion, Arkanoid,
Rambo etc.

At the time my thoughts were probably "I REALLY NEED A WEBSITE!" I set up
Binary Zone PD in 1989 but 10 years later everything seemed to be heading
onto the Net - so the Binary Zone Interactive website was born.

To fill the gap left by the demise of the 'off the shelf' magazines like
'Commodore Format' and 'Commodore Force'. Plus I was fairly confident I
could deliver something which was comparable to those magazines - and not
just another 'fanzine'.

Not really. There's always loads of C64 type stuff you can write about -
but nowadays it's more emulator related. The internet has made it easier to
track down C64 celebs so I'm never short of interviews for the mag!! In the
past I've interviewed Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway, Tim Follin, Paul 'Dokk'
Docherty, Simon Nicol, Shaun Southern, Ubik etc. etc.

Yes, very. But it's near the end of it's life as a paper magazine I'm
afraid. I've got things planned for the mag though ... Like an online
version! And a CD-ROM which contains HTML versions of all 15 back issues.

I've got loads of fond memories of the C64. I've made some great friends
through the C64 from having contacts all over the world and swapping 'kewl
C64 warez' over the years. C64 music will probably be the thing which lives
with me forever though. I adore SID music. Always have done, always will!
Being interviewed in mags like Zzap!64 and Commodore Format are nice
memories too. Too see stuff by me in a mag which was on a shelf in every
newsagents in the country was amazing!

I agreed to take the CD-ROM companion off Chris's hands so he could devote
more time to the Back in Time3 audio CD. I'd already produced a few
CD-ROM's in the past so Chris knew what I could do. It was great fun making
the CD-ROM although writing all those reviews of the beta tracks made me go
a bit mad in the end! Hehe!

It contains early versions of tracks from Back in Time 1, 2 and 3 (along
with the aformentioned reviews of each beta track!), the previously
unreleased Back in Time CD (which is an updated version of Back in Time 1),
a gallery of rendered pictures inspired by the Back in Time 3 story,
assorted C64 remixes hand-picked for the CD-ROM (and kindly donated by the
remixers from Kwed), a guided tour of the C64audio.com studio and Binary
Zone Interactive (complete with lots of photo's), an account of when Chris
Abbott met Paul Norman and Rob Hubbard in America and MUCH MORE!!!! It
really is jam-packed - there's exactly 650mb of data on the CD-ROM!

I was one of the track beta-testers for Back in Time 2 and I was the
executive producer of Back in Time 3. I think the Back in Time 3 CD turned
out really well (hopefully thanks to some of my mad ideas and suggestions!)
I love the way the tracks are linked together with Jarre-esque joins and the
way the whole album follows a story. It really is an awesome listening
experience. There's some amazing C64 remixes on there, with the ambient and
orchestral versions of Zoids, the cool versions of Phantoms of the Asteroid
and One Man & His Droid, a wonderful version of Trap and a MAD version of
the Wizball high score tune being my particular faves.

It's basically a late night computer game and gadget review show presented
by three lovely young ladies - Aleks Krotoski, Emily Newton Dunn and Emily
'Bouff' Booth. They review all the latest console and PC games but have
been known to have some nice retro moments too!

It started off with me entering a 'geek' competition they ran for a bit of a
laugh!! I'm not really geeky in the traditional sense - I'm not spotty or
wear glasses - but I thought my retro madness might give me a chance. And
it did - I came second!! It was through this competition that I got to talk
to the Bits team and then I got invited to the series 5 launch party (and
got nicely pissed and then went clubbing with Emily Booth!) During series 5
I was on the show again doing a 'video rant' going on about how new games
aren't as playable as the old classics. I even danced around to the 'Monty
on the Run' music with a C64 and it was shown on the telly!! They also
showed some other stuff I had done on later shows and I got to help them out
with emulators and stuff for their retro features. I was actually mentioned
in the end credits on the last show of series 5 as a 'retro researcher'! (A
proud moment for the retro Kenz bloke I can tell ya!)

It was all amazing fun! And such a blast when I got mentioned on the show.
Plus things like being deluged with calls from the Emily B regarding
Spectrum games made it all worthwhile! Hehe! Full details about my 'Bits'
adventures (along with loads of other stuff) can be found on my website
http://bitsonline.tv

I don't know about that but I certainly stuck with the machine through thick
and thin. When everyone else seemed to be abandoning ship I never gave up
with the C64. I've kept my PD library running for the past 11 years, I took
over 'The Guild Adventure Software', set up 'Psytronik Software' to release
C64 games, started up 'Commodore Zone' to fill the gap left with the demise
of the main C64 mags and I'm still doing C64 stuff to this day! Full
details can be found on the BZ site:- http://www.binaryzone.org

Initially, yes. In fact I dabbled quite heavily in the Amiga scene myself
for a good few years. Although I kept my C64 activities going alongside.
But I eventually lost interest in the Amiga and now both my Amigas (A500 and
A1200) are sat gathering dust. But I still regularly use my C64!

There's something special about the C64. The games seem to have a unique
feel to them. Plus the demo scene is absolutely amazing ... And then
there's that SID chip! I reckon C64 music has played a big part in keeping
the C64 going for all these years.

Likes:- It's a great community to be part of, I love the way people are
still doing stuff on the actual C64 (and producing C64 related stuff - CD's,
hardware like the HardSid etc).

Dislikes:- It's not the same as the good old days! Buying games just for
the Hubbard music, getting amazing new demos from Compunet, playing games
with your mates crowded around a crappy little TV ... Ahhh, good times!

It's going to be an amazing night and it seems to get better all the time!
I really can't wait to meet all those C64 heroes and to hear remixes of
Commodore 64 tunes being played LOUDLY in a nightclub!! For a C64 fan it
just doesn't get much better than this! Jeff Minter!! Rob Hubbard!!
WOW!!!!

Probably a long time - in some way, shape or form. It's constantly changing
but no-one is going to forget the Commodore 64!

I'd say it's the combined effort of lots of people and not down to one
person. We are all trying to do our little bit for the good old C64 in our
own way!

It started with some audio tapes I made when I was younger. They contained
me and my mates farting around (literally), computer game tunes, film
snippets and other assorted oddness. These led on to the Xmas Chortles film
which was done in the same style as the audio tapes although now you could
SEE what was going on. The first film contained lots of camcorder capers,
homemade music video's, computer games being played (with us shouting into
microphones) and stuff like that. Nine years later I released the sequel to
'Xmas Chortles' which is much classier, contains plenty of CGI scenes and
lots of alcohol was involved. Xmas Chortles 1 is basically a record of my
life in the late 80's and early 90's and the second film follows my
adventures in the late 90's and early 2000's!! It will be interesting to
look back on those tapes when I'm an old git! Check out
http://www.xmaschortles.co.uk for details of the tapes and films.

Amusement and bemusement! People seem to latch onto different scenes. For
some it takes a while to grow on them but once it has they are hooked!!
It's all good harmless fun.

Lots more working with Chris Abbott and lots more working with Emily Booth
from Bits! (Which, surprisingly, is really happening! You heard it here
first!)

I'd just like to say KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK to anyone still supporting the
C64. Especially all you C64 music remixers out there - I love your stuff!!
KEEP IT COMING!!! LONG LIVE THE C64!!!!!!!!

A man with a mission, a man with a dream, and a man i have the deapest respect for. Keep up the good work Kenz.

- Neil