At the time he still attended Indiana University, and I had gone to a couple of Belgian Waffles shows in Bloomington, Indiana where Matt was a fixture as that guy who made noise to piss people off. I would take photos and generally stand in corners.

Matt's music was not bad, in fact he had great "concepts" and contempt for whatever was popular (he still does). This aspect of him is one reason we got along so well.

After Matt moved here to Purdue University, somehow we hooked up and started making noise. At the time, I was a complete novice at actually making sound, although I had a great appreciation for it (it has something to do with my background, I guess). About that time, I had played around some with a sampler belonging to John Davison, and I knew it was something that I could learn to love.

The earliest stuff that Matt and I emitted occurred right after I had picked up a Sony D3 DAT tape recorder. Our first production, the 22 minute epic sound-collage O Danny Boy was a 4-track wonder, and would probably get us sued out of existance if it were ever commercially released. From the KLF to Elvis to disco and back, it is something I am still proud of.

Then I bought a sampler for myself, and for about a year and a half, Vergiftung was a spontaneous drunken phenomenon, and it is all documented - there are hours of it digitally preserved for anyone who is curious.

Apparently, conflict-of-females came into the picture, I discovered some sense of quality control, Brady started coming 'round my apartment, and Matt began to loose interest in what I was churning out. Our last live show together was at The Lower Links in Chicago in December, 1992 - it was a nice slide show, and the people seated on the dank floor at least clapped once. Everyone (including those on-stage) were perplexed. In the audience was a friend whom I know through the Jazz Butcher, one Martin Stebbing who happened to be a recording engineer with a perverse sense of taste. Within the month, Vergiftung were in the studio, sans Sharp.

With Matt decidedly retreated into the bars, the Whittemore/Brady Branam alliance became one of necessity - I had things to express, and although I wished Matt to be involved, I didn't let it stop me.

With Matt no longer interested in making music, I continued on with what I was doing under the Vergiftung name. This is what you find here.

Epilogue

Matt is soon to attend graduate school, either at MIT, or in Chapel Hill. He has played around some with music some since, adding beats where his unique style is requested. I wish him the best with everything, and without him, none of this would have been possible.

Thank you Matt.