An Encore for Pete
The Journey of Encore500 v2
Part 1
Over the past 15 months I was fortunate enough to observe from the inside how this album came together. Naturally, it was Pete's idea to invite me into the Encore group as an embedded
reporter, like those in warzones, to see up-close how musicians slug it out to create a professional album where they shed sweat and blood over every single sound and musical note. Back then little did I know, little did any of us know that Pete wouldn't live to see the final product. In the end this album also became a tribute to him, to his can-do attitude, to his cheekiness, and to his friendship. And I will be forever grateful that I had the privilege of being able to sit on the sidelines and watch it all come together - thanks to him.
The day was December 1, 2024, a Sunday, just mere days after Encore64 Volume 2 was released during a big party on SLAY Radio. I don't think it's an exaggaration to say that that album was a rousing success among fans, which is best illustrated by the fact that later on at the ROTY 2024 Awards show four of the top ten tracks in the "Best C64 Remix" category came from that album. In fact, the top 3 came from that album. In fact, Jogeir's Artillery remix won that category, and Peter Clarke's Supremacy remix won the Best Amiga Remix. (In case you are wondering: yes, Encore64v2 was a C64 remix album, but you see, Pete always, always made sure he picked tunes from games that were released on both the C64 and the Amiga, this way ensuring that those remixes of his enter at least 2 categories at the ROTY Awards for that year. Thus his win of a Best Amiga Remix award with a tune that was actually made for a C64 remix album. The cheeky bastard - he loved playing games like that!…)
So, on that day, with the success of Encore64 v2 in hand, Pete told everybody on the Encore team that a new Encore project will be coming for sure, and he set a tentative kickoff date of early March 2025
. In the coming days and months additional musicians were invited to join the project (like Xiny6581, Tim Forsyth, and ziona), and on Feburary 23, 2025 Pete created a new Discord server titled Encore500 V2
which is where most subsequent discussions took place (or at least the ones that I was privy to…).
The project was officially launched on March 1 by Pete in a rather formal fashion: his post had details about the schedule (with the first work-in-progress mixes expected by June 2025, which seemed doable, as it was still 16 weeks away at that point, and with a release date of about September), about the intended target audience of the project, even setting some ground rules to ensure that the tracks of the new project will remain secret until release day. And he urged everyone to communicate and work with each other, because that's the only way they can grow as musicians. But most importantly, he encouraged everyone to enjoy the journey, because ultimately this project creates something that is far greater than the sum of the parts.
I've seen the more laid-back side of Pete before, but I've never seen his project manager
side, so his relatively business-like post was a bit of a surprise for me. But this just shows you how seriously he took the Encore project and each and every album that came out of it. He didn't just see this project as a way of churning out remix albums, but also as a way to forge stronger friendships and tighter connections between these elite remixers.
As of March 4 there were - as Pete put it - 19 musicians, 1 gfx artist (Sarge), plus one LaLa
in the project. It was really nice of him to consider me as a part of the team, even though I was there really only to observe and to ask questions from the team from time to time (as you'll see later). But this just shows you the big heart Pete had, welcoming each and every person to the project. If the Encore project had a janitor, I'm sure he would've welcomed him with the same enthusiasm and cheerfulness.
Amazingly enough, the first work-in-progress tunes have started to appear on the Discord server just days later, as early as March 8. For example, Mantronix (Martin Wall) posted the words So, this is a start…
, and then attached a tune that was basically a polished remix already, something that would've easily garnered red smilies on Remix64.com as is!
By mid-March most everybody made their track choices, and so I posed a question to the team: how do they feel about their choices? What are they excited about and what are the difficulties they are already seeing on the road ahead?
I had a dream about Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge II as a bebop version years ago and had a laugh after waking up. I thought maybe I should really do this cover, but it wasn’t a top priority as it takes a lot of effort to do it well. By that time I have started singing, too, and realized I need to write lyrics for it. And I have learned to play some more jazz instruments in the meantime. Fortunately there’s still a lot of time to do it right and now I finally have the motivation to make it real!
Seems very fitting given the idea for the tune came to me in a dream in the first place. 🙂 looking forward to hearing it!
Since I already had 2 tracks in mind and Romeo Knight wrote about Monkey Island and creating a proper reggae version of it, I had a spark in me. I was in a project called Generation 500
8 years ago, (which was) a book about Amiga 500 and the people that were in the scene. There was a demo released together with the book. There were 3 musicians from Encore involved in the music: Danko, Mattias Brian, and me. There were other talented musicians as well. But to make a long story short, the demo had an intro and I made a beep version of the intro track of The Secret of Monkey Island. And back then I wanted to do a proper reggae version of it and that spark came back to me when Romeo brought it up. Also. it is not my typical track and I do love a challenge. So if I only get this done if I will be happy. As my philosophy with my remixes is to bring out what the original composer intended. This will be something completely different.
I also picked Overload
by Tip and Mantronix, and Memorydust
by Codex. Both tracks have a strong connection to me emotionally. I just have very fond memories of that time. We’ll see. 😎
A huge struggle for me to find something which had the nostalgia factor this time around… and I played plenty of Amiga games and watched quite a lot of Amiga demos back in the day… So, I went looking, (listening) for something which appealed to me musically and landed on Giana Sisters
. That arpeggiated subtune which is really well known does exactly that and it has enough space in its arrangement to let me get some of my own ideas into it. Optimistically, I'll find a 2nd remix for the album but first & foremost, I want to make my Giana Sisters remix memorable and different from the many others out there. (Oh, that it happens to be) dual-Platform? Double-whammy? I've no idea what you're talking about…
For Bubble Bobble I feel a bit concerned. I chose to do it in the style of a New Orleans James Bond style funeral. It'll be a very dark tongue in cheek funeral march for old Pete who I'm sure is almost as sick of this tune as he is of Parallax…
As for the Goto80 piece (Underscore), I haven't decided on a style yet. I fell in love with it in as a cracktro and I found it to be quite the banger. The original had some crazy time adjustments to make it feel almost live, so maybe I'll just go heavy club style. I'm a little concerned, as the second half of the original meanders aimlessly. That'll give me plenty of space to improvise, though.
I don't have nearly as much nostalgia for the Amiga as I do for the C64 and I hadn't listened back to much Amiga music since the 90s, so the prospect of finding a song or two was a little daunting.
The more I dug around on YouTube - where I found ut surprisingly hard to find Amiga tunes - the more I started discovering long lost gems. I was quick to choose Puzznic without much thought. It's such a short tune and while I don't think it's Tim Follin's best work, It has a certain something. It's the sort of tune that you'd listen to several loops of, so I figured I'd try to connect two loops with some messing about and random noodling. At worst it'll be a nice HD remaster.
It's been a joy to play around with so far, but recently I've had difficulty getting the final part of the remix together. The main groove is this repeating 2 bar phrase, with no chord changes. It's so easy to break this song by introducing new things so it's a learning exercise and a lot of trial and error. I often think making music is like solving a puzzle and this is no exception.
Unreal was really magical to me as we went to the UK in 1990 and the game was running on an A500 in the basement of Hamley’s. The game was unbelievable and the loading screen with the song really felt unreal. Several decades later the song still works well, even better. A lot of tiny things happening there that I didn’t pay that much attention to at the time. It’s so perfect that covering it without just redoing the stuff that worked perfectly in the original doesn’t do it justice. I need to find something that sounds like it just was supposed to be there in the original but wasn’t - and that is a challenge. My aim is to make it feel a bit more human but still mystical. And I still haven’t made my mind about which instruments to use!
On July 4th Pete posted things are now critical with almost no prospect of recovery.
The well wishes and encouraging words started pouring in on the channel, and so did the wonderfully touching and deeply personal notes as we've all realized that this might be our last chance to say our goodbyes to Pete. I don't think we've ever seen Pete being so discouraged and so downbeat before, so we all knew things must've turned very, very serious with his health.
Still, it hit us like a ton of bricks when on July 31st Tomsk (Barry Thompson) posted the sad news that Pete passed away. Even though a Discord channel doesn't have any air, I could just feel it all being sucked out of it. It was devastating news that everybody dreaded, but nobody wanted to believe can happen. Pete was always a fighter and he always went back home from his bouts to the hospital eventually - so how could this be possible?!?..
Despite Pete's untimely passing, the dedication of this team to the Encore project was impressive. There was no question in their mind that the project had to be finished - especially since that was one of Father's (Pete's) last wishes. In fact, just a few days after Pete was gone the question was already asked: who will be in charge of the project now? Ultimately, Jogeir took up the challenge of holding the virtual whip for the project - and may I say, he took over that responsibility with grace and conviction. Sure, there were bumps in the road and unexpected delays, but it's undeniable that the end result was well worth the wait. The album combines the original goal of a diverse something for everybody
track list with a deeply moving tribute to the person who has been the main driving force behind all Encore albums.
Still, it took quite some time for everybody to get over the initial shock of the loss of Pete, so it's little wonder that progress on the tracks has slowed to a crawl. And even though in mid-August a new deadline was set (October 1st for all submissions), I don't think it'll surprise anybody that that deadline came and went, too…
And so on August 31 - exactly a month after Pete's passing - I asked the team how they feel about the obvious void that Pete left behind, what did Pete mean to them and to this project, and how do they think they'll be able to move forward with their tracks (if at all). Here's how they responded.
As for me, he - together with Danko - was the center piece holding this together. Others called him father and I can understand why. It's hard to understand that he took his time to give input on all tracks and really gave input. Always had a joke up his sleeve. The few times I was in the video chat you could really tell he was warm and kind. It has really affected everyone for sure and the Encore team has lost big with him. He and Danko were the ones keeping most of us on track. Many have great discipline, and others - like myself (or maybe just me) - is all over the place. That sounds bad, but it's not as bad as it sounds. Just had some trouble choosing songs to remix.
As I said in my letter to Pete that was read in the tribute show on SLAY Radio: it's not due to my ignorance or disrespect that I did not know the names of many when I joined. I had to look them up! To me we are all human beings doing what we love. So when I found out who most of the people were I was really blown away to be in such a fine company. Little me in these fine halls of legends. 🙂
He left a big, big void and we all feel that. We knew this would come sooner or later but you can't really prepare. I just wished I knew him better. This will be a bitter sweet release this time.
Pete was the backbone of the project and the one that kept us from not doing stuff we didn't mean to do at time (but we still did). He was like a father figure to me and I really loved the late night talks with him. A warm and a caring person whom we lost too early. Well, the old dude can show us the way when we enter the next dimension. Really glad I got to know the legend. RIP Peter!
I only got the chance to get to know Pete this year (2025), but the way we met sticks in my mind.
I was unaware at the time, but Pete actually got in touch with me in 2024, almost a year before I joined the Encore project and that message sat unread in Discord (with no notification) for nearly 12 months! Despite unknowingly ghosting him for the best part of a year, when I discovered the message and apologetically replied, Pete's answer was straight to the point: So, the question still stands. If it's something that would interest you… No pressure.
We agreed to have a chat the following day when we were both free and when I explained that I was out all day with my son at a competition he said Tell him 'Uncle Bobble Bobble' is sending him good vibes. LOL.
That made me chuckle.
We had a long video chat that evening about the Encore project, remixes, RKO, music, and all sorts of unrelated things. I expected to feel a little star-struck given the names of the people involved in the project, some of whom, including Pete, I saw as heroes when I was a teenager. However, Pete was so personable, warm and friendly, always with a story or tale to tell, always with a sense of humour that I immediately felt at ease and welcomed into this team of talented musicians.
I know that Pete really valued the friendships that developed from bringing people together just as much, maybe more so than the music everyone created. And while a lot of people will look back and talk about their favourite Commodore 64 tunes by him, some of us lucky few got the chance to be able to admire Pete for much more than his musical legacy.
I always liked to joke that Pete talked like a shop steward… He could be the voice of reason in the maelstrom of herding cat-like composers. Sure he talked too fucking much, but it was to get his point across in a way that everyone could understand, which is especially important when half the team doesn't speak English as their native language. The subtleties of us teasing each other mercillesly at every opportunity can often seem quite daunting to non-English speakers, I'm sure.
I miss him a lot. I don't have messages from him when I wake up like I used to. When I see there's a new plugin or I stumble upon a nice repository of Kontakt instruments, my first thought is to tell Pete. He's sorely missed! He was always willing to listen to your latest version and offer feedback, as we all need it at times. He lived for the ROTY's and cracked the whip to keep the cats herded towards that goal, and it's been hard finding someone willing to step up to do that.
I had started a version of Bubble Bobble in the style of a James Bond creole-style funeral march as a tongue-in-cheek dark humored nod to Pete (there's a scene in a 007 movie where there's a slow creole funeral march where Bond gets stabbed and put in a coffin, and when he does, the band goes from slow morbid music to a joyful When the Saints Go Marching In
style jazzy fun.)
We all knew he had serious health issues, but it felt like he had a few more years left. When I told Pete about my plan, he laughed, he got the joke! He dealt with his mortality by laughing at his situation. It helped, and it helped all of us to accept and deal with it too, but sadly when his condition took a sharp downhill turn, I felt like the remix would be received as being in very poor taste. So I abandoned it to focus on another track. Now that he's not here any more, I still feel like I want to finish it, and write the happy part for the end of the piece, to celebrate Pete and his music.
Pete’s passing was deeply personal for me. When we met at Kenilworth two years ago, he wasn’t well, but he was still up, full of energy, and cracking the kind of wise jokes we all loved. That evening/night with Dr Hubbard,
as he called him, is a memory I’ll always hold onto.
Last year, I saw how much he had changed. The energy wasn’t the same, and it hit me rather hard. Still, he met me with that same warmth. After that, things got worse, though he still had moments where his old self shone through.
Even from his hospital bed, just weeks before he passed, he was joking, dark humour, but sincere. Around that time, he asked us to write what he meant to us (the Encore gang). That’s when it really sank in.
He handled it with warmth, curiosity, and his usual non-quiet
strength. No self-pity, no drama, just him, still finding things to laugh at when most wouldn’t. That was Pete. He carried music and life the same way, thoughtfully, patiently, with an ear for the details most of us missed.
It’s strange knowing he’s no longer just a message away. But what he left behind still speaks, just like he did.
Even before I was asked to join Encore500 V2, me and Peter had endless voice calls and chats about music in general that very soon would get into the most intimate geekery. Many evenings we would speak about music theory, analyse instruments and speak about what we were best at, purely out of respect, love and passion for music.
Peter and I grew tight from the very first moment. He taught me so much about music and would always give me the most respectful feedback on how to improve my music, and many times it was brutal honesty! Something only a few can do to me. Still to this very day I feel how much I miss him.
Peter came with many great ideas that would get this project into the right direction. He gave me the best feedback to without a doubt made my remix shine that extra! He just had it!
His passing affected me deeply and I had a difficult time to even open this project for a long time. It felt like something had been carved out of me and just took something away from me.
I can't go on this road again and share my deepest emotions, but let me tell you this: I never felt forced to pick up where I left and complete the track! I never ever doubted that. I just waited for that feeling, let it rip
. Then I knew what to do and just let the emotions flow.
'Thank you for everything - see you one day.'
Starting with the first question… I am a person who can talk a lot (just like Pete), but when it comes to losing someone important, it is quite the opposite. It feels like no words can justify or express what I feel, and I noticed it just gets harder overtime. But I will make an attempt…
What did Pete mean to me… His pure presence in the scene warmed the hearts of many of us. It is one thing that he was a brilliant musician, but he was also a wonderful human being, trying to lift up everyone who needed help to grow - or just needed a little support. He tried to teach us as many things as he could. And he really wanted to leave a legacy behind, which he absolutely accomplished, not only with his top-notch songs and teachings, but also with this whole community, the chatters, the laughs, all the jokes. To me it feels like when people like him with such a remarkable character depart from Earth, the place gets colder in every possible way.
When he wrote on Discord asking what our last words would be to him, I said that to me he feels like the grandpa I never had. (Sadly, both my grandpas passed away before I was born, and my Dad's place is sacred and taken in my heart). But I am sure he also felt like a father to many of us.
Pete also definitely held this project together, it was very hard for most of us to carry on without him. Even just moving forward with the tracks for a while felt like it's not working… But I genuinely hope that we don't cease to exist entirely. and now he is looking down from somewhere at us with a warm smile, that we finally managed to pull ourselves together and made this album happen - after all, this was one of his last wishes!
All 16 tracks of Encore500 Volume 2 are available now at AmigaRemix.com and through Remix64.com.
NOTE: The 2nd and final part of this article will be published soon.
