_________ SWAT MAGAZINE ISSUE THIRTY JUNE 2000 __________ / \___________________________________________/ \ / Brakis-Lopex Interview \ / by Phreakazoid \ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Now this month, I went ahead and interviewed Brakis-Lopex, or Brakis as he is known. Brakis agreed to the interview and it went well. So ladies and gentlemen, boy and girls, children of all ages, I bring "An interview with Brakis". :Þ --------------- INTERVIEW START: Sunday 12th June, 00:30 -------------- Me: Ok, hiya mate Brakis: Hello Me: To start off, let's have a little introduction. What alias's/nicknames do you go by, and what others have you used in the past? Brakis: Well back in the early, early, early days I was known as Razor and then Blaster and finally Brakis which has been fucked about with so much you wouldn't believe... Me: What about Barakis, how did that come about? Because your nick is Brakis isn't it? Brakis: Spelling error, it is Brakis yeah Me: Ok, sweet So how long have you been in the "scene"? Brakis: hphpphphphp fuck, em...... 4/5 years yeah. Me: lol, nice.. So how did you get involved, in the early days? Brakis: I was a silly little kid who enjoyed making crank calls from phone boxes Me: heh, what would be your personal favourite one that you did? Brakis: Well the "Insuring of the Penis" was pretty cool but I have recently done one where I phone up the Bermuda international operator and shout SPUNK incredibally loudly (it sounds immature but who gives a fuck) Me: lol, nice one Brakis: Yeah it should be on the website pretty soon Me: :) So how did you get involved with the bombs/destructive side of it all? Brakis: I took GCSE (Standard Grade) Chemistry and found me copy of the Anarchists handbook, but as far as destruction goes that is just down to the fact that I am a naturally very angry kind of person Me: heh, I figured that from the Chris incident (see early SWAT issues) So, how long have you known FireStarter? Brakis: We are cousins, so I guess about 6 months(!) Me: So you are cousins? nice Brakis: No it isn't. Can you imagine what it is like being related to a nutter like that? Me: lol. How did SWAT come about? gimme all the gory details :Þ Brakis: Swat came about as a kind of mixture of the two of us just messing about and causing havock during the holidays. It was originally known as A&D Anarchistic, but shit just seemed to grow and grow. In the early days it was crank calls an pipe bombs but it became so much more (people will remember from the early issues of SWAT how backward we were back then) Me: Yeah, I remember ahhhhh, the good old days Brakis: 'spose Me: But they are better now Brakis: it's like anything, the more it developes the better it becomes Me: Yeah I suppose this is a controversial question, but I just have to ask it... Brakis: Go on Me: What are your feelings about the group known as Anti-Social (A-S Mag)? Brakis: erm, they are a bunch of ferret-shagging, cock-sucking, fudge-packing, dildo-wiping, happy-hardcore loving bunch of script-kiddies who should enrole in basic literacy skills in night school so that they can try and spell there names correctly without sending the English Language to that concentration camp they call and E-zine ever month. Me: LMFAO Very nicely put.. Brakis: But seriously, I have a lot of respect for Farmer Gaydon and his vicious band of Ferret-fucking pixies... Me: yeah, who wouldn't :) Brakis: heh, wonderful thing isn't it? Me: yep, sure is... We havent seen any articles from you recently. Can we expect to see anything soon? Brakis: Yeah, Issue 30 promises some shit from me, unfortunately I have had a bit of shit recently at work and also with my little girl but at the end of the day I always make time for SWAT and also there should be some new sound files getting put on the website. Me: nice one should be a good read Brakis: Hope so Me: SWAT 30 is looking good so far Brakis: I should think so too Me: So, anything interesting happen in your life lately, that you wanna share with the world? Brakis: Intersting stuff? Let's think...... Well my little girl took her fist steps this monday Me: awwwwwwwww congratulations dude! Brakis: Cheerz Me: Buy a drink on me (after you give me the weed you said you would, on you) If that makes sense Brakis: [in a scottish accent] nae prob (I think) If it was a boy we would have called it Phreakazoid Me: lol sweet Recently, KRASH has declined in number, to now only 3 members, what are your feelings on the subject, if any? Do you have any contact with any KRASH members, or the head, Chicane? Brakis: Well I liked the shit those guys put out, but I try to keep of these sometimes strange disputes that some groups have. Chicane is someone I have never really spoken to so to be honest I am fairly indifferent towards him. Me: ok, that's cool I mean, FireStarter knows him obviously, as SWAT and KRASH used to have an affiliation, so that's the only reason I asked Brakis: Yeah it's cool, like I said I read the mag, liked it but Chicane never bothered me so I didn't bother him. But with reguards to the affiliation, it is MY OWN opinion that KRASH were just using SWAT as a kind of bridge to the bigtime. It was a kind of onesided "affiliation" Me: That was the oppinion of quite a few people as well, and now they've made it, they seem to have drifted, no offence to Chicane, or anyother KRASH members though, they did a good job Brakis: Yeah they did and I wish the guys good luck but to be honest if i had my way SWAT wouldn't affiliate itself with guys who couldn't give as much as they wanted to take Me: Is it ok, if at this point we take a little 5-10 minute break? I gotta go pee.. I mean freshen up... shit, that sounds wrong Brakis: ok, sure ----------------------------- Interview Suspended and 1:05am ---------------------------- At this point, I went to the toilet and Brakis went off to make a sandwich and get himself a beer. ------------------------------- Interview Resumed at 1:17am ------------------------------ Me: ok, lol, that took longer than I thought Brakis: a good Caffreys takes time to settle Me: You drunk yet? Brakis: nope Me: Stoned? Brakis with all respect mate I dont do that shit so much now Me: good, I wouldn't want you revealing something and them coming after me for it Brakis: That would be a shame Me: ok, recently, there's been alot about Overhead GSP maps, real overhead photgraphs What is your oppinion on the subject? Brakis: To be honest, and I say this without trying to give offence, but people who take stock in this paranoid bullshit I treat with the same contempt and loathing as the religious nutters who wake me up on a monday morning wanting to fucking talk about god Me: lol, ok I'm gonna try to link this in with Echelon, or to most people, "Big Brother" Now, there is little doubt that this DOES exist, but it's just hard evidence that is lacking.. Brakis: Well fair enough, dont get me wrong, there is something in this shit but I stopped giving a fuck when I realised I couldn't square to the whole world ----------------------------- Interview Suspended and 1:25am ---------------------------- I suspended the interview at this point as I accidently made a noise waking up my parents So me and Brakis arranged a time to continue the interview the next day. ---------------------- INTERVIEW Resumed: Sunday 12th June, 6:53pm ---------------------- Me: Ok, cool Before I go on, one thing I forgot to ask... Brakis: what was that? Me: How did the nickname "Brakis" come about? Brakis: When I was 15 (a long time ago) I read a book where the Dark evil Cyber Knight kind of guy was balled Brakiss... I didn't like the words "Bra" and "Kiss" being together so I changed it a bit and then shamelessly nicked it Me: lol -=Firestarter=- always had me under the impression that you got it off some japanese instructions for something Brakis: Oh yeah, about a year after that I saw it, the word came up again, "Bra-Kis", in my Matsui Video instructions Me: ok, linking on from what I was saying about Echelon, but not really the same... ... from September, ALL internet traffic though UK ISPs will be sifted through and monitered closely by MI5. Including e-mails and other things such as web-sites based in the UK. What effect do you think that will have on the UK Hacking community, if any? Brakis: Well while anyone can appreciate the need for security, too much security is a bad thing but what you have to remember if hackers and phreakers are going to busted effectively it is not the security equiptment used to catch them that should be updated, it is the legal systems that are used to try them... Me: Good point Brakis: A lot of it stems from the natural paranoia that a lot of people in the "scene" have Me: hmmm, true ok, moving back on to you.. ... what do you personally "specialise" in? Brakis: drinking shagging Me: lol I mean, more underground activities :) Brakis: seriously, I am a Social engineer and information gatherer Me: nice Brakis: I used to have a finger in every pie but nowadays I just stick to what I am good at Me: How old are you now, anyway? Brakis: I'm not telling Older than you Me: ok Do bombs and so forth still play a part in your life as much as they did in the beginning of SWAT? Brakis: hmm interesting. well if someone is pissing me off then I am still partial to a good fire bombing, but there are stolen chemical stock piles in parts of the country that have lain there dormant since the days of Evil Onion and the Candyman Me: really?? Brakis: yeah Me: I think I'm gonna go on a treasure hunt Brakis: ill tell you more later Me: nice.... :P Me: So your still up in Scotland right? How have things changed for you since the early days of SWAT? Brakis: I am living in Scotland just now. but I have travelled extensively and lived in Spain, Germany and Holland but it's like anything, as you get older you have other commitments that in some cases even override you political and philosphical beliefs. e.g. my use of credit cards has changed dramtically from say about two years ago Me: lol Do you think the underground, or your activities in it, have taught you any valuable lessons, or anything else that you would like to share with us Brakis: Yeah, and this is good advice for anyone. If you come to a bridge or a wall, that you think you can't get cross because some prick or company says you can't, you just have to find the balls and intelligence to get past it. Me: cool Ok, to finish with, is there anything else you would like to say to the good readers of SWAT, or any shouts you want to give? Brakis: no Me: heh Brakis: yeah no, I would like to thank everone who has kept the mag going for as long as it has, and shouts out to everyone who I speak to regularly.... except Pred (joke) Me: nice one ok, thanx for the interview dude, and thanx you for your time it's been a pleasure to interview you Brakis: nae prob, bob I'm off to the pub Me: lol ------------------ INTERVIEW Terminated: Sunday 12th June, 7:16pm ------------------- And there ya go people That was the interview I conducted with Brakis, hope you enjoyed and found it enlightening into the world of Brakis :) - Phreakazoid ========================================================================================== I'd just like to give a big SHOUT-OUT to all at SWAT, AWOL, KRASH, HDC and everyone else that I know. Especially, -=The FireStarter=-, Brakis, Odysseus, Deimos, Mirage, TnC, SyZtem|Krash, raX, Narayan and others from #CocytusUK and #shelloracle on irc.destructor.net ========================================================================================== [EOF]