The Scratchrock

Album #: 15

Recording Dates: 1996-1997

Release Date: 1999

Catalog: SMR11

ScratchNotes:

I was getting straight A’s at my joke of a school, but my musical productivity was lacking.  A band formed with Joe G., his comrade Kirk K., and a singing lawyer named Tony.  We were off to a fairly good start, when some thieving bastard broke down our rehearsal space door and stole important musical gear.  The lack of instruments and practice space caused the band to go their separate ways.

I continued recording solo material, but the overall quality not what it once had been.  In April of 1997, I cut off all my hair.

Five Track Sampler

Track 01  - The Woman in My House (MX Skroch) - I lived in a small bedroom down in the crooked basement of the crooked house of the Hidden. We had smeared grey and black paint all over the ceiling, and it got cold at night. This track is about that period of my life.  [Scratch on Vocals and All Instruments]

Track 08  - Hanging (MX Skroch) - Sometimes pinin’ for the one you love can take a turn for the tragic.  [Scratch on Vocals and All Instruments]

Track 09  - Looking For War (MX Skroch) - Ashtrays, Mountain Dew cans and a wood table provide peculiar percussion on this instrumental experiment in gloom.  [Scratch on All Instruments]

Track 10  - So Happy (MX Skroch) - Some folks can never find love. Some folks find it in a few too many places.  [Scratch on Vocals and All Instruments]

Track 21  - Trying to Live Forever (MX Skroch) - Technology as conformity? Life as routine?  Freedom as an act of self-preservation? No, I’m not really sure what this one is about either. But I sure dig all the crazy keyboard sounds…  [Scratch on Vocals and All Instruments]

Album #: 14

Recording Date: 03/23/1999

Release Date: 1999

Catalog: SF

ScratchNotes:

The communal hippie vibe of the Sheep Fiends had them plugged into a few different scenes - one of which led to this last minute gig at the Morseland. An eight member ensemble performed on a cold Winter night in Chicago, and played a mix of pre-rehearsed cover songs and originals, and a long improvisational piece.

Three Track Sampler

Track 01 - Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) (Sheep Fiends) - The Fiends open the show with reckless ambition - tackling this Hawkwind classic without much practice, but with soul and an arsenal of delay pedals.  [Scratch on Guitar]

Track 03 - Car (Sheep Fiends) - This is a track the Sheep Fiends were doing long before my affiliation with the band, but I’m happy to go along for the ride.  [Scratch on Guitar]

Track 06 - Loungalicious (Rehearsal) (Sheep Fiends) - A little pre-show party music - as only the Sheep Fiends would conceive it.  [Scratch on Guitar]

Album #: 13

Recording Dates: 1998-1999

Release Date: 1999

Catalog: SF

ScratchNotes:

In 1998 former Hidden frontman Brian M. got married, and at his wedding I met up with Sheep Fiend guru Brian C. - who I had met in the early 90’s when the Brians shared an apartment. He told me about the whirling wave of confusion and glory that is the Sheep Fiends and I proceeded to start showing up at jams - and I’ve continued showing up for eleven years and counting.

This was the first Sheep Fiends CD I put together and includes a rather overblown montage of my first jam on November 15th, 1998. A very rough recording done on a Walkman and some really quickly thrown together cover is what you get here. Here’s what the Fiends sounded like before mixing boards and preamps became the norm.

One Track Sampler

Track 10 - Sea of Nothin’ (Sheep Fiends) - Brian M. freestyles some spiteful misery while I plunk out some funky guitar.  [Scratch on Guitar]