Scratch_eddie profile picture

Scratch_eddie

Scratch_eddie makes sounds and isn't taken serious

About Me

Hello, I'm Scratch_Eddie, welcome to my page.


I am an electronic musician from Sheffield , though that doesn't mean that my organs are comprised of myriad circuits or that I have some kind of robot brain nestling inside an metallic head. I attempt to play all sorts of 'instruments', having started out playing drums, singing and playing guitar in bands when I lived in Devon (where I grew up, amongst sheep and trees and so forth). However, in recent years I have become closely associated with the art of DJing.
Personally I don't like to be referred to with the term DJ, as it suggests that I follow in the footsteps of people like Skream or Vex'd, who are more like organic jukeboxes than true jockeys of discs. Don't get me wrong, they're fine producers, but I don't think they bring much to the arena of live performance, and as such I feel they should stay in the studio making tunes that proper noise-jockeys can manipulate at events.
I attempt to be a bit more Box Office than producers who masquerade as DJs, by trying to integrate all manner of different sound creating devices into my sets. These devices include vinyl and turntables, along with effects units, live laptop sequencing and also live instrumentation (I often play my flute, guitar and synth in amongst my mixes, though I haven't yet managed all three simultaneously!). Sometimes, if an audience is particularly unfortunate, I also attempt a bit of (admittedly poor but enthusiastic) mic work.
I am interested in all sorts of music and I find it quite worrying that there are so many genre-purists around. By genre-purist I mean people who religiously follow one genre and all its conventions whilst actively spurning any musical venture that lies beyond those narrow boundaries (this can be easily observed in the speed garage scene, as well as the grime and Drum and Bass scenes). My mixes recently have focused on a brutal and intricately woven form of dubstep music that I call Clubstep (akin to dubstep, breaks and grime, but more dancefloor oriented than lumbering dubstep, more intricate than grime, and harder&more interesting than breaks) . Check out this example of the kinda sounds I marry together:

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/30/2006
Band Members: Scratch_eddie is played by Tom Castle , who, in his eddie guise, utilises any/all/some of the following:

  • 2 or 3 Technics Turntables (for vinyl)
  • A Korg Kaos Pad 2
  • A 3-channel DJ mixer (though I've not mixed a single DJ with it since it's purchase some years back)
  • A Korg ESX1 sampler beatbox
  • An Apple powerbook G4 (purchased just prior to the dual-core revolution, curse you Steve Jobs and the fickle gods of technological progress!!!
  • Ableton Live 5
  • A Novation X-Station midi controller keyboard
  • Myriad Microphones (that's not a brandname; the term myriad actually means many or countless. Thanks for reading eddie's fact of the day)
  • A Yamaha transverse flute
  • A Fender Jagstang solid body electric guitar (you know, the one that Kurt Cobain designed...and it's not blue, it's green)
  • An old and somewhat decrepit clarinet, make and model unknown! (also sometimes known as the Bloodclartinet, but only when it's being used in a gabba-jungle situation)

  • Influences: scratch_eddie 's influences are many and varied. He names, off the top of his be-dreadlocked head (and in no order whatsoever), the following as performers who have inspired him to feebly attempt his acts of immitation: Tim Exile, Shitmat, Akufen, Soft Machine, John G. Perry, Andy Havok, The Real Elastic Band, Tea, ~CRACKHAUS~, Stephe Beaupre, The Rip-off Artist, Skream, Horsepower Productions, John B, Venetian Snares, DJ Food, DJ Hype (for the early jungle stuff and the inspirational scratching), The Posies, Sunny Day Real Estate, No Knife, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Greenslade, Yes, Caravan, Camel (especially Andrew Latimer for kindling my interest in the flute), Matching Mole, Colosseum, King Crimson, Early Genesis, Jethro Tull, Hatfield and the North, Richard Sinclair, Egg, E.L.P, Rick Wakeman (for the capes and the keyboards), Oris Jay/Darqwan, Hindzy D, Mark One, DJ Distance, Tipper, DJ Deekline (smoke the reefer and every posse&kru), Soundmurderer, Elton Dean, Love Battery, Iron Maiden, Egg, National Health, King Crimson, NOFX, Nirvana, Pond, Six Finger Sattelite, Green Magnet School, Love Battery, Maddslinky, Iron Maiden (an early formative influence that has to be guiltily acknowledged), Sinker, Five Carrot Gold (!), Shoddy/Choppy, Chora, Dzihan&Kamien, Mike Shannon, Spor, Raiden, Evol Intent (to an extent!), The Mighty Mule-O, Technical Itch, Dom&Roland, Our Lady Peace (pre-pansy era, before they supported Avril L.), Rage Against The Machine, Al Jolson, TAD, the Fluid, The Methodists/Chad Channing, Therapy?, 2 Unlimited, MC Hammer, Smashing Pumpkins, ......the list is nearly endless!
    Sounds Like: An educated white boy from Devon, abusing sonic devices in an attic int' North of England.
    Record Label: Scratch_Eddie's Fine Choons
    Type of Label: Indie

    My Blog

    To anyone who received Dodgy ’Out in the Mix’ CDs at Don Valley Careers Fair

    I handed out the wrong CDs at the careers fair... I burned a load and accidentally gave out the ones in my blanks pile, rather than the ones I'd just burned!  I apologise to those of you who got ...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:00:00 PST

    Heating is bourgeois ostentation...

    I type this with the shivering digits of a humble (if technologically advanced) peasant. Yes, in another bout of frugality (brought on by my inability to "knuckle down and get a real job") I am attem...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:09:00 PST

    Scratch_Eddie @Room -303, November 10th

    Get your bad selves down to the Redhouse in Sheffield on November 10th if you want to hear some disgusting filthy riddim. Here's the flyer...Also, it's tentative at present but I also have a gig in E...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:09:00 PST

    New Scratch_E Clubstep mix

    Clubstep Mix 15-10-07You lucky People! Shout it from the rooftops: Scratch_Eddie is the most value for money artist on the scene! Not only have you been given the fantastic "Out i...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 06:09:00 PST

    Shreddie&Beat Bandits present: Out In The Mix

    Just a quick note, as some of you are aware already I also work as half of the cutting edge electronic music duo Shreddie (alongside the Shrimpernel). We've just released a mixtape which can be acqui...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:12:00 PST

    Back on the Rant!

    Numerous people have recently expressed concern about the lack of ranting blogs on my page over the past month or so. I assure you this has not been intentional... I simply haven't been out of the st...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:06:00 PST

    Solar Sister... another cover version of a tune by The Posies

    If you cast your mind back afew months then you may remember that I mentioned being in the process of recording another cover version of a tune by The Posies. Well, I finally got around to finishing ...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:36:00 PST

    Sucka- Vocal Mix

    A few people have actually listened to and commented positively on my tune Sucka, so I thought it would be a nice reward for said sycophants if I were to put up the extra-special, VIP vocal version fo...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Sun, 16 Sep 2007 05:44:00 PST

    Opus and Endless Promotions present...

    Scratch_Eddie and the Shrimpernel are performing at Good Deeds, the Oxjam fundraiser, Wednesday 12th September. We're going to be playing some good old Clubstep riddim, some rave sounds and a bit of ...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:53:00 PST

    Hmmmm... plagiarism?

    Well, I just noticed/Oris Jay has posted a bulletin announcing the release of his latest record, which happens to go by the name of Sukkah. Now I'm not saying that he's directly ripped anyone off, bu...
    Posted by Scratch_eddie on Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:23:00 PST