First-Hand Accounts

Interviews

Primary source interviews with Gremlin founders, developers, and composers. External links open in a new tab.

Barry Leitch

Remix64 Text Interview — Lotus Trilogy & Imagitec Design

Barry Leitch, composer of all three Lotus racing game soundtracks at Imagitec Design, gave a detailed interview to Remix64 covering his career, the Lotus trilogy composition process, and the relationship between Imagitec and Gremlin Graphics. This is the primary source for understanding how the Lotus soundtracks were created.

"The Lotus games were a great opportunity to do something really musical. The Amiga had fantastic sound capabilities and we wanted to push them as far as we could. The brief was speed and excitement — and we delivered that." — Barry Leitch, Remix64 interview

Key topics: Imagitec Design's relationship with Gremlin, the Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge composition process, working with Amiga audio hardware, and the evolution of the soundtrack across the trilogy.

Read the full Remix64 interview →

Also see: gamedeveloper.com article on Barry Leitch's composition career. Listen to the soundtracks in the Music section. Biography at People.

Matt Furniss

Arcade Attack Video Interview — Sheffield Origins & Gremlin Career

Matt Furniss — Sheffield-born composer who joined Gremlin as a playtester and progressed to full composer — gave a video interview to Arcade Attack covering his unusual career path, his Sheffield connections, and his work on multiple Gremlin titles.

"I started at Gremlin as a playtester — I was just a kid who loved games and happened to be in Sheffield. From there it was a natural progression to start contributing musically. Gremlin was a fantastic place to work." — Matt Furniss, Arcade Attack interview (paraphrased)

Key topics: Sheffield game industry context, progression from playtester to composer, Gremlin's internal creative culture, and the Switchblade and Zool soundtracks.

Watch the Arcade Attack interview →

Listen to his Gremlin compositions in the Music section. Biography at People.

Ian Stewart

Retro Gamesmaster Interview — Founding, Key Titles, Acquisition

Ian Stewart, co-founder and director of Gremlin Graphics, gave a retrospective interview to Retro Gamesmaster covering the company's founding from the Just Micro retail background, the key titles that defined the studio's legacy, and the Infogrames acquisition in 1999.

"We started in a computer shop. That was the genesis of Gremlin — we understood what players wanted because we were around them every day. Sheffield gave us a particular attitude: you work hard, you get things done, you don't show off about it." — Ian Stewart, Retro Gamesmaster interview (paraphrased)

Key topics: Just Micro origins, company philosophy, the Lotus era, Gremlin Interactive rebranding, and thoughts on the studio's legacy.

Read the Retro Gamesmaster interview →

Biography at People. Full history at History.

Ben Daglish

c64audio.com — Obituary, Archived Interviews & Quotes

Ben Daglish, the prolific C64 composer who worked at Gremlin Graphics from approximately 1985 to 1989, left behind a body of interviews and quotes archived at c64audio.com. His obituary, published following his death in 2018, brought together reflections on his Gremlin years and his broader career.

"The SID chip was an instrument. People forget that — they think it was just a sound chip. But if you understood it, really understood what it could do, you could make it sing. Gremlin gave us the freedom to explore that." — Ben Daglish (from archived interviews)

Key topics: SID chip composition philosophy, Gremlin Graphics working environment, relationship with Rob Hubbard, and the creative approach to writing music for C64 hardware constraints.

Visit c64audio.com for interviews and obituary →

Listen to his compositions in the Music section. Biography at People.