Scratchrock Volume 13 - 1999-2000

Recording with the Sheep Fiends increasingly made up the bulk of my musical output as my free time turned to other endeavours. A sick fascination with the stock market ensued, and an emotional obsession was fostered by way of the rise and collapse of Wall Street. I must forever live with the knowledge that at an April 2000 Sheep Fiend jam, I warned through song that "The Nasdaq is gonna crash" - while in real life I kept my tech stocks and took a beating.

My former role as multi-instrumentalist in the Sheep Fiends became mutated, as I slowly transformed into one of the main vocal presences in the band. My unique improvisational take on reality and what should be done about it meshed well with the more folk and hippie elements typical of the Fiends lyrics. A few of the band members began making edited CDs of our rehearsals, and the Sheep Fiends' archiving ritual was stepped up a level.

I purchased a digital 8-track recorder which saw little use - "Vikings (part 3)" and "The Skyway" being the only recorded output to date. I also played around with sample manipulation using my PC, and participated in a few left field collaborations.

Anisa and I kept quite busy during this period, our primary activities being the creation of the "Vortex of Skrochocracy" website, and making preparations to buy a house and finally ditch the dirty city...