Siddhesh Joshi (Editor)

Tim Wright (Welsh musician)

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Birth name
  
Timothy Brian Wright

Origin
  
Cymau, Wrexham, Wales

Years active
  
1989–present

Also known as
  
CoLD SToRAGE

Genres
  
Electronica

Name
  
Tim Wright

Tim Wright (musician)
Born
  
31 July 1967 (age 56) (
1967-07-31
)

Occupation(s)
  
Composer Video Repair Technician Analyst/Programmer Creative Director Managing Director

Tim Wright (born 31 July 1967), alias CoLD SToRAGE, is a Welsh video game music composer most known for his work in video game soundtracks such as Shadow of the Beast, Agony, Lemmings, Wipeout and Colony Wars.

Contents

Tim Wright (Welsh musician) wwwvgmonlinenetwpcontentuploadstimwrightjpg

His first commercial works were created using the Commodore Amiga in the early 1990s and featured in computer games published by Psygnosis / Sony Computer Entertainment Studio Liverpool.

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 designed Music and Music 2000 for the PlayStation and MTV 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.

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. This initial freelance work eventually led to him leaving his programming job for Littlewoods and going to work full-time at Psygnosis Ltd as their Senior Sound Artist on projects such as Lemmings, Wipeout, Wipeout 2097 and Colony Wars (refer to Video Gameography below for full list of titles).

Leaving Psygnosis in 1997, Wright was involved in the formation of Jester Interactive Ltd 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, 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, of course, music. He also set up an official website to host much of his musical output under the name.

In 2005, as well as releasing the Cold Storage double album Melt, he designed a new version of the Dance & HipHop 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 Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and PC for forthcoming titles.

In 2008 Wright released his Android Child and Cold Storage HD albums.

In 2009 Wright penned music for more games on DS, Wii and PS3, most notably Gravity Crash. He also released his 4th Studio Album entitled Project Moonbounce 2009 which features sounds created by bouncing radio signals off the moon as part of World Moonbounce or EME (Earth Moon Earth) day.

The soundtrack album to Sony's PS3 game Gravity Crash is released in 2010 and is Wright's 5th Studio Album entitled Gravity Crash Anthems. This is quickly followed by his 6th Studio Album, Tik Tak.

Wright creates his longest track ever Tangerine which weighs in at 9 minutes and 31 seconds. This track is given away free to anyone who participates in a 2010 Cold Storage Easter Promotion, and as such is a limited edition download, unavailable in the public domain. ( This track was finally released to all on the Bandcamp service at Easter 2015 ).

Personal life

Timothy Brian Wright was born at 6 Fford Las, Cymau, North Wales and spent his formative years attending the nearby Llanfynydd County Primary School, a Welsh first language school. He exhibited musical aspirations at the age of 3, singing self-penned songs into a portable cassette recorder.

At the age of 5 he moved with his family to a farm just outside Henllan in North Wales. At the age of seven he began attending weekly formal Piano lessons. Wright lived on the farm with his mother, father and 4 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 2 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 6 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 4 very prolific years at Psygnosis before leaving to form Jester Interactive with his brother. It was around this time that he also met his second wife Claire. 2003 saw Wright leave 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.

Wright currently lives on the Wirral in the United Kingdom and has one son called Jacob.

Video gameography

  • Puggs in Space (Amiga, 1989)
  • Awesome (Amiga, 1990)
  • Carthage (Amiga, 1990)
  • Tentacle (Eldritch the Cat, Amiga, 1990)
  • The Killing Game Show [FMV Intro] (Amiga, 1990)
  • Lemmings (Amiga, 1990)
  • Shadow of the Beast 2 (Amiga, 1990)
  • Armour-Geddon (Amiga, 1990)
  • Leander (Amiga, 1991)
  • Amnios (Amiga, 1991)
  • Powermonger (Amiga, 1991)
  • Lost Souls (Atari ST, 1991)
  • Agony (Amiga, 1992)
  • Aquaventura (Amiga, 1992)
  • Shadow of the Beast 3 (Amiga, 1992)
  • Lemmings & Oh No! More Lemmings (Amiga, DOS, Macintosh, PlayStation, Windows, 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)
  • 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)
  • Screamer 2 (PC, 1996)
  • 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, Game Boy Advance, 2002)
  • Music 2002 Slinky Club Edition (PC, 2002)
  • Music 3000 / Funkmaster Flex's Digital Hitz Factory (PS2, 2003)
  • Jet Set Willy (JAVA Mobile Phone, 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 (PSVita, 2012)
  • Boxbeats (PS3, 2012)
  • Table Top Racing (iOS, 2013)
  • Write Your Own Music (Xbox360, 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)
  • Discography

    Albums

  • MELT (Digital Album, 2005)
  • ANDROID CHILD (Digital Album, 2008)
  • Gravity Crash Anthems (Digital Album, 2010)
  • Tik Tak (Digital Album, 2010)
  • 6E 61 32 (Digital Album, 2011)
  • AMIGA Revisited 2011 ( 5 track Digital Album, 2011 )
  • Chipfest 6 - The Rehearsal Tapes ( 6 track 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 )
  • 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 )
  • Momentus ( Digital Single, 2015 )
  • 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 )
  • Film scores and soundtracks

  • Traveller: RED (Merkelbach Films, 2006)
  • Songs

    CairodromeWipeout: The Music · 1995
    WipEout - Messij: 2011 Chipfest mixWipeout: The Music · 1995
    Cardinal DancerWipeout: The Music · 1995

    References

    Tim Wright (Welsh musician) Wikipedia