Tim Wright (Welsh musician)

Tim Wright, known professionally as Cold Storage (stylized as CoLD SToRAGE), is a Welsh video game music composer most known for his work in video game soundtracks such as Shadow of the Beast II, Agony, Lemmings, Wipeout and Colony Wars. As company director of Jester Interactive Limited, Checkmate Solutions Limited and Tantrumedia Limited he also designed and developed Music Sequencing Software titles including MUSIC™, MTV Music Generator™, MTVMG2™, MUSIC 2000™, MUSIC 3000™, Pocket Music™ and several eJay™ titles.

Tim Wright
Tim Wright in 2008
Tim Wright in 2008
Background information
Also known asCoLD SToRAGE
GenresElectronica, Contemporary classical music, Ambient music, Video game music
Occupation(s)Composer, programmer, creative director, managing director
Years active1989–present
Websitewww.coldstorage.org.uk

His first commercial works were created using the Amiga in the early 1990s and featured in computer games published by Psygnosis.

Wright left Sony in 1997 to form Jester Interactive with the key goal of developing music creation software for home consoles. In his role as creative director at Jester, he has designed Music and Music 2000 for the PlayStation and MTV, along with Music Generator and Music 3000 for the PlayStation 2 before leaving along with his brothers to form Checkmate Solutions Limited.

At Checkmate, Wright developed several musical sequencing products for Empire Interactive plc. under the eJay brand. After several products were developed, Wright left to form his own company, Tantrumedia Limited.

Wright currently manages Tantrumedia Limited and their audio division where he composes music, designs music sequencing software and oversees the production of websites and other multimedia projects.[1]

Career

While working as a computer programmer for Littlewoods/Index the Catalogue Shop in the late 1980s, Wright penned compositions for computer-based demos. One of these, entitled "Puggs in Space", caught the eye of Psygnosis' then managing director, Ian Hetherington. This led to Wright creating music for a number of Psygnosis' Amiga and Atari ST games, some of which won awards.[2] This initial freelance work eventually led to him leaving his programming job for Littlewoods and going to work full-time at Psygnosis. as their senior sound artist on projects such as Lemmings, Wipeout, Wipeout 2097 and Colony Wars.

Leaving Psygnosis in 1997, Wright was involved in the formation of Jester Interactive Ltd.,[3] with the intention of bringing music creation and mixing to Sony's original PlayStation console. The MUSICtm and MTV Music Generator series received industry awards & accolades,[4] and spawned several incarnations of the MUSICtm Software before Wright finally departed with his brother Lee to form Checkmate Solutions Limited to design a new range of eJay music sequencing software.

In 2003, Wright formed his own multimedia company called Tantrumedia Ltd., involved in web space provision, website creation, software production, design & print and music. He also set up an official website to host much of his musical output under the name.[5]

In 2005, as well as releasing the CoLD_SToRAGE double album Melt, he designed a new version of the dance & hip hop eJay music software for Empire Interactive, and made a return to Wipeout, this time for the Sony PSP with Wipeout Pure.

2006 saw Wright create more music for games, this time on the Nintendo DS, PSP and PC for forthcoming titles.[6]

In 2008, Wright released his Android Child and Cold Storage HD albums.[7]

In 2009, Wright penned music for more games on the DS, Wii and PlayStation 3, most notably Gravity Crash. He also released his fourth studio album, entitled Project Moonbounce 2009, which features sounds created by bouncing radio signals off the moon[8] as part of World Moonbounce or EME (Earth Moon Earth) day.[9]

The soundtrack album to Gravity Crash was released in 2010 and is Wright's fifth studio album, entitled Gravity Crash Anthems. This is quickly followed by his sixth studio album, Tik Tak.[7]

Wright created his longest track ever, "Tangerine", which weighs in at 9 minutes and 31 seconds. This track was given away free to anyone who participated in the 2010 Cold Storage Easter Promotion. As such the track was a limited edition download. It was unavailable to the general public until it was made available on Bandcamp on Easter 2015.

Early in his career, Wright was the victim of plagiarism. Keyboardist Stian Aarstad copied the title track of the Amiga game "Agony" when he was recording an album with Norwegian band Dimmu Borgir; Aarstad also stole from other artists for this album.[10] Wright was not compensated for this plagiarism.[11]

Awards and accolades
  • Golden_Joystick_Awards 1995 : "Best Game Music - WipEout on Sony PlayStation"
  • Golden Joystick Awards 1997 : "Best Sounding Game - WipEout 2097 on Sony PlayStation"
  • Official PlayStation Magazine Awards 1999 : "MUSICtm - Most Innovative Game"
  • Sony Computer Entertainment America Awards 2000 : "MTV Music Generator - Most Innovative Game"
  • BAFTA Nomination 2000:[12] "Interface Design : MUSIC 2000 by Jester Interactive"
  • Remix64 ROTY Awards 2015:[13] "Best Newcomer (C64 or AMIGA) CoLD SToRAGE"

Personal life

Tim Wright spent his formative years attending the nearby Llanfynydd County Primary School, a Welsh first-language school. He exhibited musical aspirations at the age of three, singing self-penned songs into a portable cassette recorder. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a farm just outside Henllan. At the age of seven, he began attending weekly formal piano lessons. Wright lived on the farm with his mother, father and four siblings until he was 18, attending both Henllan County Primary School and Denbigh High School.

In his early teens he formed a short lived band called TUCAN with a fellow student. After completing his A-level examinations, he moved away to attend the Polytechnic of North London, where he studied Electronics and Communications Engineering for two years. Whilst at college, he also formed another two-man band in the shape of the snappily named Infinite Remix III Jnr.

Upon his return to Wales after his studies, he worked for six months at Sharp Manufacturing UK in Llay near Wrexham, but quickly moved on to work for Littlewoods in Liverpool, where he was part of the core team that programmed the in-house software for Index The Catalogue Shop. It was soon after moving to the Wirral that he also met and eventually married his first wife Michelle.

Leaving Littlewoods, he spent four years at Psygnosis before leaving to form Jester Interactive with his brother in 1997. It was around this time that he also met his second wife Claire, and just over a year later, their son Jacob was born. In 2003, Wright left Jester to form Checkmate Solutions Limited again with his brother Lee. In 2006, Checkmate Solutions Limited was dissolved leaving Wright to manage Tantrumedia Limited, a company he originally incorporated in 2003 as a vehicle for his work on websites and music production.

In 2016, Wright departed the UK and moved to Switzerland, where he now works for Numfum GmbH as their head of Studio.[14]

Video games
  • Awesome (Amiga, 1990)
  • Carthage (Amiga, 1990)
  • Tentacle (Eldritch the Cat, Amiga, 1990)
  • The Killing Game Show / Fatal Rewind [FMV Intro] (Amiga, 1990)
  • Lemmings (Amiga, 1990)
  • Shadow of the Beast 2 (Amiga, 1990)
  • Armour-Geddon (Amiga, 1990)
  • Powermonger (Amiga, 1990)
  • Leander / Galahad (Amiga, 1991)
  • Amnios (Amiga, 1991)
  • Lost Soul ([[Atari ST, 1991)
  • Agony (Amiga, 1992)
  • Aquaventura (Amiga, 1992)
  • Shadow of the Beast 3 (Amiga, 1992)
  • Lemmings & Oh No! More Lemmings (Amiga, PC, Macintosh, PlayStation, 1992)
  • Holiday Lemmings (Amiga, DOS, Macintosh, 1992)
  • Puggsy (Amiga, 1993)
  • Last Action Hero (Mega-CD, 1993)
  • Combat Air Patrol (PC, 1993)
  • Phoenix Rising (Mega-CD, 1993)
  • Sensible Soccer (Mega-CD, 1993)
  • Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Mega-CD, 1994)
  • Bram Stoker's Dracula (Mega-CD, 1994)
  • Microcosm (Amiga CD32, 1994)
  • No Escape (Mega-CD, 1994)
  • Mickey Mania (Mega-CD, 1994)
  • Magician's Castle (Amiga, 1994 - Unreleased)
  • Championship Soccer 94 (MegaCD, 1994)
  • Wipeout (PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, 1995)
  • Flink (Amiga CD32, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Mega-CD, 1995)
  • Wipeout 2097 (Amiga, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, 1996)
  • Krazy Ivan (PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, 1996)
  • Formula One (PlayStation, PC, 1996)
  • Adidas PowerSport Soccer (PlayStation, 1996)
  • Lemmings for Windows 95 & Lemmings Paintball (PC, 1996)
  • Necromantics (formerly Magician's Castle on AMIGA) (PC, 1996)
  • Adidas PowerSport Soccer International 97 (PlayStation, 1997)
  • Chomper (Psion 3, Psion 5, Psion Revo, 1997)
  • Thunder Truck Rally (PlayStation, PC, 1997)
  • Codename: Tenka (PlayStation, 1997)
  • Colony Wars (PlayStation, 1997)
  • Brainless (PlayStation, 1998)
  • WipEout64 (N64, 1998)
  • MUSIC: Music Creation for the PlayStation (PlayStation, 1998)
  • Tellurian Defence (PC, 1999)
  • Music 2000 / MTV Music Generator (PlayStation, PC, 1999)
  • MTV Music Generator 2 (PS2, 2001)
  • Supertruck Racing (PS2, 2002)
  • Pocket Music (Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, 2002)
  • Music 2002 Slinky Club Edition (PC, 2002)
  • Music 3000 / Funkmaster Flex's Digital Hitz Factory (PS2, 2003)
  • Jet Set Willy (J2ME, 2004)
  • Wipeout Pure (PlayStation Portable, 2005)
  • Ring Factory (PC, 2005)
  • Dance eJay 7 (PC, 2005)
  • HipHop eJay 6 (PC, 2005)
  • Techno eJay 5 (PC, 2006)
  • R&B eJay 1 (PC, 2007)
  • eJay Virtual Music Studio (PC, 2007)
  • Sudoku (NDS, 2007)
  • TT Superbike Legends (PS2, 2008)
  • eJay eQuality (PC, 2008)
  • Spellbound Party (Wii, 2009)
  • Spellbound (NDS, 2009)
  • Gravity Crash (PS3/PSP, 2009)
  • Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (Xbox 360/PS3/Wii/DS/PC/Mobile, 2010)
  • Skillz (Xbox/PC, 2010)
  • Sodium 2 (PS3, 2011)
  • Psychroma (iOS, 2011)
  • Extreme Bingo (Facebook, 2012)
  • Adventure Dungeon (iOS, 2012)
  • Travel Bug (PS Vita, 2012)
  • Boxbeats (PS3, 2012)
  • Table Top Racing (iOS, 2013)
  • Write Your Own Music (Xbox 360, 2013)
  • Slipstream GX (PC, 2013)
  • Table Top Racing (Android/PSVita, 2014)
  • Gravity Crash (PS Vita, 2014)
  • Dynablaster Revenge (PC, 2014)
  • Gravity Crash Ultra (PS4/PS Vita, 2014)
  • Pacer (PS4/Xbox One/PC, 2020)

Discography

Albums

  • MELT (Digital Album, 2005)
  • ANDROID CHILD (Digital Album, 2008)
  • Gravity Crash Anthems (Digital Album, 2010)
  • Tik Tak (Digital Album, 2010)
  • AMIGA Revisited 2011 (5 track Digital Album, 2011)
  • Chipfest 6 - The Rehearsal Tapes (6 track Digital Album, 2011)
  • 6E 61 32 (Digital Album, 2011)
  • MUSICtm Demo Tracks (26 track Digital Album, 2012 )
  • SLIPSTREAM Volume One (12 track re-master Digital Album, 2012)
  • SLIPSTREAM Volume Two (18 track re-master Digital Album, 2012)
  • STRIX MEMORIA ◔ ( Psygnosis Commemorative USB Memory Stick Album, 2013)
  • DECADE ( Boxed USB Stick: 14 Albums, 11 Singles & Bonus Material, 2014)
  • Overdrive Collection (10 Track 'Best of' Digital Album for REMUTE 'Does Time Really Exist?' Bundle, 2014)
  • SHADOW OF THE BEAST (CD Album released by Bitmap Books : Remixes of AMIGA music originally composed by David Whittaker, 2015)
  • Radiophonika (10 track Experimental Digital Album, 2015)
  • Shadow of The Beast MMXV (13 track Digital Album, 2016)
  • Ch'illout" (17 track Digital Album, 2018)
  • Lemmings (12 track Digital Album, 2021)

Singles and EPs

  • Henllan School Centenary (CD Single: Short Run Welsh/English, 2004)
  • Albino 2 - The Red Eye Mix (Digital Single, 2008)
  • Gravity Crash (Virtual Vinyl Digital Single) (Single, 2009)
  • Rubber Band Boogie Woogie (Experimental Digital Single using only Rubber Band Samples, 2009)
  • Smile Inside (Digital Single, 2009)
  • Dancing Dad - Christmas Hero! (Digital Single, 2009)
  • Tangerine (Limited Edition Digital ingle - Easter Sale Promotion, 2010)
  • Yin+Yang (Double 'A' Side Digital Single, 2010)
  • Escape from Barkhaven (Digital Single A & B Side, 2011)
  • Evolution (Dirty War) (Digital Single, 2011)
  • CANADA E.P. (Digital Single A & B Side, 2012)
  • Orpheus - per due pianisti (Digital Single, 2012)
  • Outersphere (I Feel So Alive!) / Boomerang (Double 'A' Digital Side Single, 2012)
  • Torvolution (Digital Single, 2013)
  • Beastly Adventures (2 track Digital E.P., 2013)
  • New Year Song, "Here we are again..." (Digital Single, 2013)
  • Brain Trainer - Hoopla Boopla Mix (Digital Single, 2015)
  • CANADA - tilt shift EDM mix 2015 (Free Digital Single on soundcloud.com, 2015)
  • Momentus (Digital Single, 2015)
  • Onyx - Brechdan Araf Mix (Digital Single, 2018)
  • DRIFT (Digital EP on Bandcamp, 2021)

Appearances on compilation albums

  • XTM - The Game Mix (CD Album, 1993)
  • CD Consoles - LE MAGAZINE DES SCREENAGERS: Music Collector 1 (CD Album, 1996)
  • JOYPAD - le mag des consoles: Joypad CD LE BEST OF DE PSYGNOSIS (CD Album, 1997)
  • Psygnosis: The Future Is Now (CD Album, 1997)
  • Amiga Immortal 2 (CD Album, 2002)
  • WipEout Pure: The Official Soundtrack (CD Album, 2005)
  • Amiga Immortal 3 (CD Album, 2006)
  • Amiga Immortal 4 (CD Album, 2011)
  • Velocity Ultra (Soundtrack Remix CD Album - Track #8, 2013)
  • Paula Agnus Denise (CD Album released by 010101 Music (ZOZ-1-CD), 2013)
  • B.F.O. Drift [ Polka Dot Mix ] (Digital Album - Track #17 : "The Sound of SceneSat Volume 3", 2014)
  • Blank (Video Game Heroes - Dolby Surround CD/DVD Album - Various Artists, 2014)
  • Ski or Die (Digital Album - Track #4 'Super VG Christmas Party' by Various Artists, 2014)
  • Determination (Bob Reynolds Sax Mix) (Digital Album - Track #35 : "The Sound of SceneSat Volume 4", 2018)
  • Xanderful (Digital Album - Track #38 : "The Sound of SceneSat Volume 5", 2019)

Covers and remixes

  • Crazy Comets UpMix (CD Quality cover version of Commodore 64 'Crazy Comets' by Rob Hubbard, 2015)
  • Ocean Loader v2 - Upmix (CD Quality cover version of Commodore 64 'Ocean Loader v2' by Martin Galway, 2015)
  • Kid Gloves [ Castle ] The Toe-tapper's Up-Mix (CD Quality cover version of Commodore AMIGA 'Kid Gloves - castle theme' by Tim Bartlett, 2015)
  • Risky Woods - "El Pueblo" Cover Version (CD Quality cover version of Commodore AMIGA 'Risky Woods - El Pueblo theme' by Jose A. Martin, 2015)
  • Cream of the Earth ( CoLD SToRAGE vs. Romeo Knight ) (CD Quality cover version of Commodore AMIGA 'Cream of the Earth demo tune' by Romeo Knight, 2015)
  • Super Twintris "Those 3" Tunes Up-Mix (CD Quality cover version of Commodore AMIGA 'Super Twintris - theme tune' by Tor Bernhard Gausen, 2015)
  • Scorched Tanks - Horizon's Edge theme cover version / Stardust - tunnel theme cover version / Guardian title theme cover version (3 tracks on a 35 track CD Audio Album - "Amiga Power: The Album With Attitude", 2019).

Film scores and soundtracks
  • Traveller: RED (Merkelbach Films, 2006)

Public appearances
Event Location Date Performance
Video Games Live[15] Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK 3 December 2006 On Stage Special Guest, Meet & Greet, Autographs
Burning Man 2009[16] Black Rock, Nevada, USA Summer 2009 Controlled Burn Reno performance
Video Games Live[17] Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff, UK 3 December 2009 Meet & Greet, Autographs
ChipFest 6[18] Bier Keller, Liverpool, UK 27 August 2011 As CoLD SToRAGE playing selected hits Live
Sunrise Demo Party 2011[19] Strathmore Hotel, Luton, UK 10 September 2011 As CoLD SToRAGE playing selected hits Live
London Gaming Con (Inaugural)[20] Rocket Complex, London, UK 3 December 2011 As CoLD SToRAGE playing selected hits Live, on-stage Q&A session
MegaByte: CoLD SToRAGE Live[21] The Retro Bar, Manchester, UK 16 December 2011 As CoLD SToRAGE playing selected hits Live
FurVention 2015 Aloft Hotel, Liverpool, UK 23 January 2015 Guest of Honour - Presentation and Q&A Session
Amiga 30th Anniversary Event (Amiga30UK) Marriott Hotel, Peterborough, UK 2 August 2015 As special guest, alongside Mike Clarke, playing various tracks live and describing life his time and work at Psygnosis.
AMIGA37 Kunstwerk, Mönchengladbach, Germany 15 & 16 October 2022 As a special guest alongside others, being interviewed on stage, and off. Signing autographs and posing for photos with fans.
Back In Time Live 2022 - A Musical Homage to the C64 & Amiga Stereo Club, Christiesgate 14,Bergen, Norway 21 & 22 October 2022 Interviewed by John Carehag (Ziphoid) alongside Barry Leitch, Chris Hulesbeck, Jeroen Tel.
Played multiple keyboards on stage with the rock band Fastloaders, performing cover version of his Shadow of the Beast 2 and Shadow of the Beast 3 music.
Sat at Chris Abbott stand, signing autographs and posing for photos with fans.

References
  1. http://www.bwrweira.co.uk Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine BWRW EIRA
  2. "Golden Joystick Awards 2010 - About The Joysticks". Computerandvideogames.com. 26 August 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  3. "Composer Interview: CoLD SToRAGE (Tim Wright) - OCRWiki - OverClocked ReMix". Ocremix.org. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  4. "Codemasters". Codemasters. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  5. "Official CoLD SToRAGE Website". Coldstorage.org.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  6. "Music, Sound Effects and Voice Over for Games, Video, Film TV, Websites and Media Projects". Bwrw Eira. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  7. "Cold Storage". Coldstorage.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  8. jeriaska on 6 October 2009 12:00 AM (6 October 2009). "Sound Current: 'CoLD SToRAGE Audio Trip – Project Moonbounce 2009'". GameSetWatch. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  9. "World Moon Bounce Day Celebrates 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 Moon Landing « National Space Society Blog". Blog.nss.org. 7 April 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  10. "Dimmu Borgir – Stormblåst – Least Worst Option". 2 March 2015.
  11. http://www.psygnosis.org/games/agony/files/notes.txt
  12. " ""BAFTA Nominee Music 2000 Jester Interactive"".
  13. ""Remix64 ROTY Awards 2015"". 8 December 2020.
  14. "Numfum Roles in LinkedIn".
  15. "VGL London 2006". Video Games Live. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  16. "Controlled Burn Reno 2009 - Burning Man". OGP Phonogramatica. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  17. "VGL Cardiff 2009". Video Games Live. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  18. "Chipfest 6". Calm Down Kidder. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  19. "Sunrise 2011". Demo Scene Party. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  20. "London Anime & Gaming Con". LAGC. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  21. "Megabyte Manchester". Megabyte. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
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