FairLight are a legendary Swedish-based demo and cracking group, born in april 1987 on the c64 by two members of the West Coast Crackers (WCC), No.1 and Sir Galahad. They decided they wanted new names, and thus became known as Strider and Black Shadow, respectively. They almost immediately recruited another Swedish cracker, Gollum. In july Strider, Gollum, Black Shadow and Nighthawk were members.1 The next recruits were coder and cracker Woodo (ex Razor Express) from Denmark and Belgian graphician The Hobbit. The first months were spent cracking games. Towards the third quarter of 87, they opened their first BBS, The Pleasure Dome in Sweden. Colossus Bridge V4.0 (24 november) listed Strider, Gollum, Woodo, Black Shadow, The Hobbit, Gandalf and Dragonlance as members. Black Shadow got more and more active on the Amiga, but still found time for a few cracks on the c64 now and then - but his last known work on the c64 was in december of this year. On the 18th to the 21st of december they coarranged the Triad & Fairlight Copy Party 1987 in Stockholm, Sweden. Belgian coder Gandalf, who was last heard from in december of this year, was later known as Lord Blitter in other groups on the Amiga.
Woodo left the scene to work on games in february 1988, and wrote a small note (written using his own tool Woowriter) with the dramatic name "Woodo is dead!!!" to announce it. His place was temporarily filled by subgroup The Platoon (TPL) in february, consisting of cracker HAM, Brain and Orco - though their stay was short. Dragonlance also ceased to be a member around january or february. This meant that, in the beginning of march, only Gollum and Strider were left as active C64 members. Then, on the 14th of march released his final C64 crack, and left to work exclusively on the Amiga. He returned for a couple of cracks in april and may, but was eventually gone for good. Gollum was now the sole active C64 member. He recruited the Swedish members of Front (Saruman, Olo, Audrey and Getafix) in july. The article The History of Fairlight2 mentioned that Excalibur, Sharp, 4042, X and Y joining in late spring of this year. Y was later dismissed, and 4042 and Sharp also left after a short while, while X changed his handle to Exolon. In late autumn, Excalibur left for Abyss, while Doppelganger of Abyss went the other way and joined Fairlight. Fox Fights Back + (14 october) listed Black Shadow, The Sarge, Strider, The Hobbit, Excalibur and Gollum as members on the c64. Griffith also joined towards the end of the year.
By march 1989 they had four active crackers; The Alchemist, Bacchus, Gollum and Viper. May saw the group travelling to the Equinoxe and Horizon Party in Eskilstuna, where they recruited Seagull and Smirnoff from AVT, and came 3rd in the demo competition with Pernod and Judge's Algot's Revenge. They were also at the Defiers Party 1989 in may, where they came 2nd with Megabmxninja. In late may Viper was visited by the police, who confiscated some addresses and stuff, but he didn't leave the scene. The news was publicly announced in a note spread with some cracks done around the 1st of june. Originals were a problem during early summer, and all their cracks were spread with notes requesting new suppliers. Following Karl XII's infamous appearance on Swedish national tv in late may, selling out the entire carding and phreaking scene, The Alchemist and Zaphod decided to leave the scene around june or july. Longtime member The Hobbit also left the scene soon after. December brought even more bad news, as swedish musician Danko decided to leave the group in december. Pernod and Judge left for Horizon. This left Fairlight without much of its former demopower, and the search began for replacements. The Alchemist returned, though under an 'anonymous' handle, but began signing his own cracks again in december - Galdregon's Domain wrote "as the alchemist is on the run again and is again signing his work". Gollum and The Sarge were busy making the game No Mercy under the label Twisted Minds, which got released around early 1990 through Double Density and Digital Marketing.
Cabal ++++++ (january 1990) welcomed Spike as a new Amiga member of the group. Bacchus left his job in a computer shop which had been their source of originals to go back to the university in january, re-starting a neeed for a fresh source. They first collaborated with Brain Using Demo Section (BUDS) from Nato, before them being recruited to be full members. Fairlight and Nato went into a very shortlived cracking cooperation around march. Swedish c64 coders Dino and Rowdy joined from Altobrows in january, announced in Official Version (march). It was also around this time we first saw ads for a Fairlight bbs, The Boardgazm. Viper was kicked from the group in march or april due to extensive lying. Aaron (Strider's little brother) became a troublesome member, talking himself into getting unpopular in the scene. Fairlight co-arranged the Swedish Elite Easter Conference in april, where the two Finns Servant (supply) and Rockstar (crack) joined from Contex, accelerating c64 cracking activity again. Their stay was short, and by late may the pair departed for Extasy. Visual left the group for Dynamix in may or june. In late may, RT changed his handle to Gerwin. From early june, Bacchus claimed he would leave the scene in one month, going into cracking overdrive for that period. This news led to Rowdy and The Alchemist also losing some motivation and leaving. Dino and Seagull remained as crackers, and still with no regular supplier. Around july, cracker Ghost joined from Ruthless, but his stay was also short and he quickly left. Another cracker showed up, Wild 1 - in fact an alternative handle used by Watchman. Their war with Censor Design finally ended in october, followed by a small demo by Censor called Eye Damage. Also in october, Harlekin joined. Most of the group visited Censor's party in Gothenburg in november, though no releases were made. Algot (6 november) was the group's first demo since march. Watchman then joined officially from Triad around november. Bacchus' hiatus was on and off, and several cracks from his hand appeared in october, november and december. Nearly the entire group travelled to Odense, Denmark to attend the Dexion X-Mas Conference 1990, and released the demo Vir Optimus there.
1991 would be the year Gaston did all the Amiga cracks. Exolon and The Black Shadow remained on the memberlist, but did not crack anything. Supplying was mostly handled by Splatt! and Drone No. 5 (who by the end of the year was gone from the memberlist), with the occasional game from JBM, Luke & Chuck, Stik and Stone. C64 cracker Bacchus decided he couldn't stay away in january, and became active again. "I'm not 100% back, but I'm not 100% gone either" he wrote in a scroller. Triad's "Gamer's Guide" (who had released its first issue late last year) quickly became an important part of the c64 cracking scene, and likely the reason for abandoning the new intro in use since the last months of 1990. The Sargeshow was released early this year, and its scrollers also told about Gollum and The Sarge's new game, Rubicon (released through software house Hewson). Duncan & Turner started releasing games, probably around february or march - but this was in fact just Rowdy under a different handle. A new supplier, Englishman Suckpipe helped the supplying situation. Flood's c64 bbs Wonderland was advertised from around march. A private meeting was held at the end of march (easter) at Bacchus' place in Lund, where Gollum's return to cracking was announced. They visited the big swedish easter party held by Horizon, but no releases were made. The Fuck Shop BBS Announcement (may) for the Amiga announced new bbs The Fuck Shop. C64 cracks continued to appear in june, now with Harlekin doing a few too. On the 16th of July, Aaron's packages at the post office did not get sent on, but was confiscated due to faked stamps. He was called to the police for questioning on the 20th. In september Strider, Gaston, Rebel, Drone no. 5, Warlord, Splatt, Tom, Luke & Chuck, Pizzaman and Tiger were members on the Amiga.3Ogami released some standalone pictures as well the Stan Kajman Pictureshow in july. A c64 demo called Legoland was released mid october at an internal meeting at Harlekin's place. A few cracks were released in cooperation with Triad in october. Originals were plentiful at this point.4Lemmings II (29 november) was dedicated to Sniffy (of subgroup Diamonds and Rust) who apparently "got busted". Sledgehammer (sysop Head Trauma) was announced as a new member in november, but was not on a memberlist the following month. Towards the end of the year (november or december) Flatliners lost its WHQ status, but Pizzaman remained on the memberlist. The new WHQ was Apocalypse with its sysop POW. Amiga memberlist in december was Strider, Gaston, Rebel, JBM, Damage, Exolon, Black Shadow, Genius, Splatt, Sarge, Pizzaman, POW, Silencer, Luke & Chuck, ToM and Tiger5 - meaning original suppliers Stik and Stone were gone. Tiger's ICC BBS was listed in september and october, but only Tiger himself and not the board for the rest of the year. Ramius joined in december.6Enduro joined from Intruders in december.
In january 1993, members of the pc section were Ford Perfect (president), Blade Runner, Orion, The Hawk, VenoM (senior staff), Beach Bum, Berserker, Cenobytes, FILA, Gank Master, Nemesis Enforcer, New Kid, Night Ranger, Jack, Onyx, Rifleman, Silencer, Sicko, The Patton, Tom Brokaw, The Terminator (members), Hare Krishna, Patch, Phoniex, Rescue Raider (cheats/trainers), Flyboy, Jester, Avalanche, Master Disaster (senior couriers), Doom, Night Blade, Overseerer, Shadow Lord, Dark Bader, Butter Ball, Olan, Lion, MacBlue, Budsky, Mad Dog, Steel Thunder, Natas and Ranks (couriers).17 On the c64, Oxidy, Ed and Avalon joined late last year or january 1993.18 Sysop and cracker Lexi left for Legend this year, but would later return. Reformation 1 (6 april) was a merger between the former magazines World News and Emanuelle. German Mendrake joined in may because of the promise of some first releases, but was immediately kicked the same month, after he joined a second group and will therefore stay in Bodycount only. He later rejoined again in 1997. Bacchus moved to Stockholm in june. A late june release by Fairlight pc listed Strider, Black Shadow (sysop Seventh Heaven), Dragon (sysop Dragon's Lair), Will Stanton (sysop Dyer's Eve), Izzy & Newkid, Sniper, Don Corleone and Coq Rogue as members of that section at the time. August saw some controversy concerning Austrian writer Ayatollah and his subsequent leaving the c64 scene for the snes.19 Ranger left the scene, Lexi returned to the group and Alchemist returned to the scene.19Dishy joined from Dominators in august as a swapper and supplier. Their Dutch sysop Duvel was let go, after no contact for a very long time, and HCL , VDK (Vodka)/Booze Design and Bappalander/Light had joined on a trial basis around october.20
The bbs Braindead was no longer a part of the group in november 1995.21
Towards the end of 1997, Bacchus took a big step towards a real comeback. Seeing no real future in a cracking section, he focused instead on forming a powerful demoscene group, and recruited several members. Around november Gum, Logger, Wiggen, Hollowman and Rooster from Alter were allowed in on trial to deliver a demo for The Party 1997. Two weeks before The Party established editors Duke and Sun Dancer joined, bringing with them a new diskmag project, "Scene+". Bacchus made Duke the new main organizer of the c64 section, and he quickly recruited Crossfire and Goat, Mendrake and L.A. Style from Motiv8. The entire diskmag (using existing code, mind you) was then put together in just 10 days, and Scene+ 1 was released at The Party 1997.
After a period of dormancy Fairlight returned to the pc iso scene in 1998.
The Fairlight pc demo division was born in february of 2000, from various members of the Razor 1911 demo division that had left after some internal trouble. The founding members were Pantaloon, Graffik, Fireblade, Musik, Smash, Illuminator, Oyise and Case. Some time later that year (july?) also the Fairlight Music Division was launched; its founding members were Andromeda, Azazel, Loxley, Keith303, Norfair, Smash and Xerxes.22 The subgroup's first releases were the demo Absolut Vodka and the intro FLT Rox - both at Remedy 2000 in july. Oyise left for Aardbei in november.
Puterman joined from Civitas in the first months of 2003. They won the 4k competition at TUM in december with Blueberry.
Danko had rejoined the group after years away in 2012, and a full active memberstatus for the c64 section in june was; Avalon, Bacchus, Danko, Hollowman, Louie64, Maktone, Oxidy, Pantaloon, Puterman, Reed, Sledge, Tempest, Vodka, Wiklund and Zabutom.23
10th best cracking group and 16th best demo group in Design #1 (february 1997).
9th best demo group in Revealed #1 (1 september 1993).
6th best cracker group of the month in Illegal 19 (august 1987).
8th best cracker group of the month in Illegal 18 (july 1987).
- HQ
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X-mas 2023 C64 compo
- 2nd - 24th December 2023
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Mysdata 2022
- 18th - 20th November 2022
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Zoo 2013
- 8th - 10th November 2013
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SILIConvention 1997
- 28th - 31st March 1997
(C64)
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Amega Party 1991
- 28th - 30th June 1991
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Transcom & Fairlight Party 1989
- 28th - 29th October 1989
