He reported that they had supported gigs by INXS and by Beastie Boys. An extended play, Booty Full, followed in September. Paul Searles joined soon after on keyboards. Skunkhour signed with Id/Mercury in 1994 and released two more EPs, State (May) and McSkunk (October). Del told The Canberra Times that as a rapper "I soon discovered that if I wanted to be taken seriously I had to be Australian and rap using Australian words and images". A recording deal with Sony/Epic led to the band's second album, Feed, in April 1995. It was co-produced by the group with David Hemming (The Exponents). According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, it "featured a more adventurous and varied sound". Feed spent 14 weeks in the top 50 of the ARIA Albums Chart, peaking at No. 21. Two further EPs, Up to Our Necks in It (April 1995) and Sunstone (July), widened their exposure. They signed an international deal with UK label, Acid Jazz Records, which released Feed in Europe to a "positive response". In early 1996 Skunkhour embarked on a 10-week tour of Europe. However, by March they had written only one new song for their third album, which bothered Aya: "I was saying to Del that we've really got to get going on this new stuff. We might lose momentum if we don't keep creating. So I [asked him] 'What have you got, man?' And he said, 'Mate, I've got nothing'. He'd been saying for a couple of years that he wasn't sure this is what he was meant to do. He didn't feel like a rapper any more. He didn't feel like a lyricist any more. He wanted to go back to his artwork, which is his first love. I said, 'I understand. You should leave the band'". Del completed the tour, then quit to become an in-house artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Australia. Aya told Dino Scatena of The Daily Telegraph that "What was best for him was best for us because his malaise might permeate the band and I would much rather he leave and we be strong and revitalised rather than try to perpetuate an old chemistry that wasn't working". 1997–2001 From mid-1996 Skunkhour created a new sound, abandoning spoken-word content and focusing more on melody. Aya described the re-defining moment when Dean provided the bass guitar for "Foam": "It really turned things around. That bassline