Interview: Jon McClure (Reverend and the Makers)

 

Jon McClure is probably best known as the Reverend, the lead singer of Reverend and the Makers whose hits include “Heavyweight Champion of the World” and “Open Your Window”, which many of you will know from a certain football game soundtrack. He also has a number of side projects such as Mongrel which features Lowkey (UK Hip-Hop Artist), Andy Nicholson (Ex-Arctic Monkeys Bassist), Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys Drummer), Drew McConnell (Babyshambles Bassist), Joe Moskow (Reverend and The Makers) and Jagz Kooner.

He is a close friend of Alex Turner, lead singer of Arctic Monkeys, who McClure met on a bus in their native Sheffield but what many don’t know is Jon is a huge fan of football games and even runs his own 32 team tournaments. Luckily I managed to snatch a few moments with the outspoken frontman to talk about his love of gaming for This Is My Joystick.

Q. You were the first person to play Football Manager 2010 outside of Sega Sports Interactive as a games tester, how did you get involved?

“I just went down to Sports Interactive to see what they do and really enjoyed it, I picked up loads of useful tips, I’m the fucking Daddy at it now, but after twenty-odd seasons it has started to get a little boring.”

Hello Games: The Interview

Following on from yesterdays feature on Hello Games and their new game Joe Danger, we were lucky enough to grab the four friends living their dream for an interview about life, the universe and just about everything.

Q. Was it scary stepping into the unknown and walking away from established developers and going it alone?

“It’s pretty much the scariest thing you can do. Genuinely, I mean I really loved the games I worked on and the people I worked with, and that’s really hard to leave. I think most people know, trying to make a new game is one of the hardest and probably silliest things you can try to do, so it’s fair to say we were nervous and still are. It’s tempered by a fair measure of excitement too. Depending on the day we’ll wet ourselves for one of those two reasons, excitement or fear.”

Interview: Dan Maher (XBL’s MrPointyHead)

 

Daniel Maher, AKA MrPointyHead, is responsible for overseeing the publication of content across the Xbox LIVE homepage in Europe, i.e. Spotlight, Game, Video, Music Marketplace and, of course, Inside Xbox..

Most Xbox 360 owners will be used to seeing him alongside SuperKaylo on SentUAMessage on the Xbox dashboard with their amusing videos, so are delighted to grab him for an interview with This Is My Joystick.

Q. Where did your love affair with gaming begin?

“France. I can’t be more specific than that because I was 2 at the time. My mum plonked me in front of a Pac-Man machine, then bought me a Spectrum 48K soon after (possibly because she was fooled by claims that it was an educational device). The rest, as they say, is boring.”

Interview with VV Brown

Many of you will know the fantastic VV Brown from her hugely succesful debut album Travelling Like the Light last summer. The album was inspired by 1950′s and electronic music as well as sounds emitted from Gameboy and Nintendo. VV Brown’s songs have been featured in many American TV shows such as Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, The Hills and The City to name but a few.

As well as performing the album on the road, VV has also been busy being creative in other ways as she has contributed her skills to a Comic Book Anthology called “Ctrl.Alt.Shift” with some of the best-known comic book writers, as well as writers better known for other things, such as fellow musician Lightspeed Champion (legend, seen him live – Andy!). The Experimental Youth Initiative brought together an eclectic mix of comic book and graphic novel work in a bid to politicise a new generation of activists through the medium of popular comic culture.

However, what many don’t know is she is also has a huge love of gaming. With so much in common with the gang here at This Is My Joystick, we feel very fortunate to grab an interview with the talented singer.

Q. When did you first discover your love of gaming?

“First Gameboy; classic, addictive, simple but beautiful. Ahh, the feeling of completing that Mario game, Nintendo utopia.”