[5] He came up with the band name Skycycle while reading an article in Entertainment Weekly about the two-wheeled rocket in which Evel Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon in 1974.
[5] Skycycle released a self-produced demo tape named Siren with seven songs in 1997, and after playing a show in the L.A.-based club The Dragonfly on Halloween night that year, MCA Records A&R executive Tom Sarig offered them a record deal,[5] leading up to the issuing of their six-song debut EP Breathing Water in January 1998.
The band insisted on Ken Andrews to produce, record and mix the album, because they deemed him "the perfect guy to put in just that special touch".
In the same year, Skycycle's management arranged for the band to contribute to the Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island soundtrack, for which they performed and produced the songs "The Ghost Is Here" and "It's Terror Time Again".
[4] Skycycle's belief "that the quickly increasing popularity of the Internet could make MP3 a viable and effective promotional tool", combined with the growing impatience of the fans due to the many delays, led to the band releasing several songs as free MP3s on their website, which was still rarely done at the time.
[4] Skycycle continued to play and write music for about a year, and among others recorded an alternate version of the song "Antebellum", which was included on the 2000 compilation album Happy Meals Vol.