The Scratchrock

Album #: 54

Recording Dates: 11/15/1998 & 10/16/2005

Release Date: 2005

Catalog: SF

ScratchNotes:

The Rumpus Room became our new home base around this time. This was Brian M’s posh basement gathering spot with wood as far as the eye could see. While this space would see dramatic change a few years later; during this era we only had access to 2-track straight to tape recording – meaning the mixes on these CDs are as varied as the genres are…

This CD also contains a bonus 20 minute guitar freakout from 1998. You can listen to that one over at sheepfiends.com if the mood strikes ya.

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Two Track Sampler

Track 01 – A Friend Like You (The Sheep Fiends) – Some slide guitar over a rumbling shuffle lays the groundwork for Matt C. to speak his mind and take the role of emcee. If you love off-kilter this is another one for you!  [Scratch on Guitar]

Track 07– Levi’s Gonna Break (The Sheep Fiends) – Sometimes the Sheep Fiends get topical, such as during this bizarre musical reaction to Hurricane Katrina. Robot voices and a Big Black guitar. Tones from the cosmos. Then it somehow devolves into some dumb blues. Then the singers riff on the theme of natural disasters. So it’s definitely the Sheep Fiends!  [Scratch on Vocals]

Album #: 53

Recording Dates: 2005

Release Date: 2005

Catalog: SF

ScratchNotes:

This CD gathers the best from several jams during 2005.

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Two Track Sampler

Track 05 – You Are the Zebra (The Sheep Fiends) – Sometimes you have no ideas so you pick a list and run with it. Encephalitis. Insidious. Quartanium. Uvula. Zebra.  [Scratch on Bass & Vocals]

Track 06– Sinister Happenings (The Sheep Fiends) – A thumper of a rocker. A real haunting swirler!  [Scratch on Guitar]

Album #: 52

Recording Dates: 1995-2004

Release Date: 2004

Catalog: SF

ScratchNotes:

This collection spans the years 1995 through 2004 and features 23 different musicians. Lost sessions from one-time lineups appear along with more common configurations exploring numerous avenues of sound.

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Two Track Sampler

Track 05 – Earth Shake (The Sheep Fiends) – Pulsars set ablaze. Is this some space rock; garage rock, or native chanting? It’s all of them. It’s why we shake.  [Scratch on Bass]

Track 21– Sea of Nothing (The Sheep Fiends) – Pre-millennium angst at the state of things (or lack thereof). And Facebook wasn’t even around back then…  [Scratch on Guitar]

Album #: 51

Recording Dates: 11/20/2004 & 12/19/2004

Release Date: 2004

Catalog: SF

ScratchNotes:

The Sheep Fiends found a new place to play and some new players right along with it. Brian C. moved into an artsy loft space near the lakefront and I continued my run of not showing up for much of the 2003-2004 era of the Sheep Fiends. Despite my inattention to the band this new combination of musicians is featured on several Sheep Fiend CDs.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

One Track Sampler

Track 12 – Groundhog Mull (The Sheep Fiends) – With such a bizarre blues tale as this closing the album, the title “I’m So Confused” never seemed so appropriate. If you’ve never lived in the suburbs, let me take you there.  [Scratch on Vocals]

Album #: 50

Recording Dates: 2001-2004

Release Date: 2005

Catalog: SMR22

ScratchNotes:

By 2001 my musical activities had slowed to a pace that only the Sheep Fiends could fill. There are numerous reasons why this volume that covers four full years is comprised of only live performances. The economy fell apart and my career was in serious jeopardy. My attention moved towards putting together the Skroch 200. I returned to school in pursuit of a Finance Degree. There just seemed to be no time for music; until a phone call or email arrived inviting me to the palace of free thought just off of Bryn Mawr in Chicago.

I showed up for 7 jams in 2001 and 7 jams in 2002 and no jams in 2003 and 3 in 2004. A total of 17 jams in 4 years – that’s 1460 days – a jam once every 85.88 days. This volume of Scratchrock is comprised of 14 songs from 9 of these musical groupings.

The Dentists formed in early 2001 as one of the many failed attempts at creating a “real band” out of Sheep Fiends. DDS ((aka The Dentists)(aka Dave, Doug, Scratch)) kind of learned some originals, but more often just crafted odd takes on a diverse collection of cover tunes like those of Boston and the Monkees found on this disc. After two months or so the Dentists stopped showing up altogether.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Four Track Sampler

Track 01 – Inside a Room Inside a Cave Inside the Moon (Sheep Fiends) – A favorite of mine from this era. I’m your guide for another improvised cosmic journey backed by a somewhat bluesy performance from the band. Can’t you hear we’re docking soon?   [Scratch on Guitar & Vocals]

Track 06 – Russell’s Potion (Sheep Fiends) – Fuzzed out bass and swooping theremin form the soul of this track, with my warbling guitar and a jazzy beat bringing a healthy sense of confusion to the party.  [Scratch on Guitar]

Track 09 – Don’t Try (The Dentists) – One of the few original tracks the Dentists worked on during their short stay in the chair. If this song had lyrics, I never saw them!  [Scratch on Guitar]

Track 12 – Is That All There Is? (Sheep Fiends) – Brian M. lashes out against the forces of dissatisfaction in this stomping aggro number. A cathartic despair expressing the downside of human interaction.  [Scratch on Guitar]

Album #: 49

Recording Dates: 2000-2001

Release Date: 2002

Catalog: SF

ScratchNotes:

Despite a steady stream of CD releases typically sourced from a single Sheep Fiend jam, oddities and side jam tracks began to pile up.

Dave L. determined it was time for a compilation CD of various unreleased tracks from the previous few years. And thus the “Leftovers” series was born!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One Track Sampler

Track 14 – Happiness (The Sheep Fiends) – Wah-wah drenched electric guitar is where we find our joy. [Scratch on Guitar]

Album #: 48

Recording Dates: 1994-1995

Release Date: 2002

Catalog: SMR21

ScratchNotes:

Years before I became affiliated with the Sheep Fiends the band was joined for a period by Daniel A. Foss, Phd. Dr. Foss was much older than the 20-whatevers that largely populated the band at that time. Dan worked as a sociologist for most of his career, and gained major cred by publishing the book Freak Culture: Life Style and Politics in 1972 – back when the freakiest thing about the Sheep Fiends were their diapers. Daniel Foss did not lead an easy life, suffering a range of family and health crises.

Dan would add commentary about cultures, wars, and the rise and fall of civilizations to instrumental Sheep Fiend jams. Many pure conversations where recorded with Dr. Foss at this time, and Brian C. conducted a full autobiographical interview with Foss that appears here in several segments. I was given the challenge of taking 6 or 8 tapes of raw material and creating an album that captures the experience of Dan Foss. How successful I was in this endeavor is for others to determine, but immersing myself in the world of Foss for a few months was certainly a unique time for me.

Sadly Dan passed away in 2014 – but he lives on in our memories…and on the Internet. He has a Wikipedia entry here. And you can read Dan’s unique take on his days with the Sheep Fiends here.

Three perplexing samples of this release can be accessed below.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Three Track Sampler

Track 05 – A Drunken Wall (Daniel A. Foss) – Drinking is the topic. And minorities. And New Zealand. [Scratch on Production]

Track 16 – N2O (Sheep Fiends with Daniel A. Foss) – This ridiculously psychedelic sonic cornucopia was presented to me somewhat pre-produced. Some of the effects I added but most of this was recorded in real time…somehow! A bit of rearranging was really all it needed. [Scratch on Production]

Track 22 – The Possibility of Daniel A. Foss (Daniel A. Foss) – Dan ponders those who ponder him. [Scratch on Production]

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Album #: 46

Recording Dates: 08/10/1999

Release Date: 2002

Catalog: SF

ScratchNotes:

Another compilation arising from Brian C’s deep dive into unreleased Sheep Fiends material. This album puts together some very different sounds from several eras but I’m only featured on a few tracks of dark melodrama and one about dinner. The best of these tracks is available below.

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

One Track Sampler

Track 01 – Fear is Real (Sheep Fiends) – A brooding and sometimes raging stomper featuring the always engaging improvised lyrics and vocals of Brian M. [Scratch on Casio SK-100]