Interview
The British IBM by Stuart Johns Acorn Electron Today catches up with Aidy from the British IBM Stuart: Aidy, thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview for the Acorn Electron Today site. Regular visitors to the site will know that I'm a big fan of the band and have an
"Offering a nimble mesh of indie rock and vintage computing" -- The British IBM
Electronified fan-page; hope that doesn't scare you off!
Stuart: That music video was my path into becoming a big fan of your music; I stumbled across your first
Aidy: No, it's all good and the Electronified fan-
album online and fell hook line and sinker for the title
art on the page looks awesome.
track, even before I really knew anything else about the band, simply because of the vintage computing
Stuart: I wanted travel back in time a little bit,
feel of the video for the song 'the British IBM'!
back to when the band first began as we know it now. Naturally, I'm a big fan of all things
Retro and vintage is obviously a big passion for you
Acorn, am I right in saying that the film Micro
too; do you find the stuff you do at the Centre for
Men had a big influence on you back then?
Computing History in Cambridge overlaps a lot with
Could you perhaps share a little bit about your
your music?
feelings on the film and the inspirations you drew from it? Did you have a favourite yourself in the Sinclair vs. Acorn battle?
Aidy: There is some cross-over between the two, the BBC Micro in the main music video borrowed from the museum. Also the museum's Jason Fitzpatrick
Aidy: That movie was a massive influence on
had a cameo in Micro Men as he provided a lot of the
myself and the creation of the band. I loved it
props for the film along with some technical
and that one scene in particular where Clive
supervision.
Sinclair and Chris Curry get thrown out of the Barron of Beef in Cambridge is where the name of the band and the song came from. "We could have been the British IBM" is possibly my all time favorite line of dialog. It's moving scene that gets you thinking along a whole line of what-ifs.
Stuart: As you can imagine, I've always had a big Acorn obsession, focused really on the humble Electron, and it often frustrates me that these Acorn machines are largely left out of the mainstream 'retrogaming' scene today. Yet, to Acorn nuts, their nostalgia is as strong as it is for folks that owned the Speccy or C64 back in the day. Are there any vintage or retro computers or consoles that you feel the same way about - other scene-underdogs maybe?
