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| Minutes of the Meeting held 2nd June 1999 |
| APOLOGIES | |
| There were no apologies | |
| MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING | |
| Agreed as a VALID record. It was noted that these had appeared on the webpages prior to validation, due to postal problems. This would not be occurring again. | |
| MATTERS ARISING | |
| Reports were heard on the following items: | |
| JOINING THE PRS/MCPS | |
| Nothing had been heard yet from the Musicians' Union, and Mr Fleay would chase this up. | RF |
| BULL AND GATE CONTACTING | |
| Mr Hibbett had yet to do this, as he had had the wrong phone number. Charlie of the Fighting Cocks had, however, spoken to them, and suggested that they play along with Johnny Domino and, if at all possible, the Cuban Boys. Mr Hibbett would FACT both the Boys Cuban and the Bull & Gate. | MH |
| ABBEY PARK | |
| There had been a small scare the week previously when it looked as if the LollopaLeicester stage would not be occurring, but now things were back on track, with Stumble, Lazer Guided, Johnny Domino and The Fighting Cocks being our designated Artistes, as previously discussed. | |
| CARRIER BAGS | |
| Again, Mr Fleay had not been able to speak to Tom Reveal about this, although he understood that the shop was still going ahead, and that thus the Carrier Bag Enterprise would also continue. He would find out more. | RF |
| WEB CONSULTANCY | |
| Similarly, this was still pending. WORD had been received from other people about this also, and we would see if anything occurred. | |
| OLD BANK STATEMENTS | |
| Mr Fleay had FACTED Mr Hibbett the dates of statements, but he had still been unable to get the statements as he no longer had the bank account number, so Mr Fleay would FACT him this, and Mr Hibbett would go get them there statements. | RF MH |
| INNER CITY CRAWL | |
| This had occurred and been a brilliant day out. Board members especially should be congratulated for the sober NESS and behaviour. Mr Fleay reported that another one might be happening at Christmas. | |
| NEW LOOK WEBPAGES | |
| The new look had been implemented, and was looking groovy. Mr Fleay suggested that the catalogue number be shifted to the right a bit, and Mr Hibbett agreed to do this. Mr Whitaker said "Java" and "HTML". | MH |
| CATEGORISATION OF WEB LINKS | |
| This had been done. | |
| WEBPAGE FORM | |
| This had been done entirely successfully, but for the niggling detail that it didn't actually work. Thus the form had been replaced with a simple request for people to email to join the mailing list. Mr Fleay reported that 3 or 4 people had so done. | |
| VALID STAMP | |
| Tragically this had gone missing in the minutes-based postal horror, and it was agreed that Mr Hibbett would sort out a new one. Mr Fleay suggested the new version have curvy edges, to look like the stamp on the webpages, and this was passed as valid. | MH |
| PROJECT K | |
| This had stopped on Mr Whitaker's request. Then mysteriously started again not entirely at Mr Whitaker's request, but certainly not stopped by him. Bless. It seemed to have worked a bit anyway. | |
| EARL GREY TAPE | |
| There is no Earl Grey Tape. | |
| ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES | |
| The following label-based issues were discussed: | |
| WEBPAGES | |
| We inch ever closer towards hit 2000, which was EXCITING. A link had been placed with those nice Jeepster people, and it was agreed that we would place a link back to them on our pages. They have a thing whereby people going to a page from theirs can rate said pages, and Mr Whitaker put forward that, considering the FACT that Jeepster had asked fans of Belle & Sebastian to vote for them in the Brits, we might ask those who read our minutes to follow a link, cunningly enclosed within these minutes, and vote for us there. This was viewed both as CLEVER and a GOOD IDEA. Mr Hibbett suggested that a VALID addition to the Webpages might be some sort of guide to how to put out records, delineating our working methods. This would serve two functions - firstly to help anyone who wanted to know how they too might become a record company, and secondly to help us to focus our processes, eliminating any chance of forgetting to do things. Mr Fleay stated that this would be a QUALITY MANUAL, and that, with this in hand, we could apply for ISO9000 accreditation, and the others looked at him funny. | MH MH MW RF |
| NEWSLETTER | |
| The PLAN to send out more regular newsletters via email was agreed as VALID, with the next one coming out both to alert readers to the publication of these minutes and, rather more importantly, to advise them of the release of the Wandrin' Allstars single on June 14th. This would be done, with a paper version still being available for FACTING citizens at gigs. | MH |
| PLUGGERS | |
| Mr Whitaker stated how nice they were, with the Wandrin' Allstars project currently beginning. He said they were quite busy at the moment, but seemed to want to work with us, and that we should be flexible so that we all got the Best Thing. It was agreed that, when projects are not being plugged due to limited costs, we should still send them copies, because we LIKE them. | |
| SHELLSHOCK | |
| Nothing much to report at the moment, though this would change with the coming onslaught of releases. | |
| FINANCE | |
| Mr Fleay had received a letter from the Credit Protection Association, suggesting we owed the Davis Group £146.88 for some 7" mailing envelopes. He had written to them stating that we had provisionally ordered some over the phone, but that there had never been and written or faxed information confirming this, and that no delivery of goods was ever taken. He asked that their accounting records be amended to reflect this, and regretted that the misunderstanding had occurred. This was agreed and confirmed by the Board. On a less stern note, Key had at last asked for payment for the Pala repress, and this was DEALT with by Messrs. Fleay and Whitaker. Mr Whitaker asked that we consider repaying funders on a more regular basis than annually, and it was agreed that this policy was one that would evolve as more records were produced. | |
| AGM REPORT | |
| It was with deep sadness that Mr Hibbett reported that no-one had FACTED him their materials from the AGM. It was agreed that Messrs. Fleay and Whitaker would send him copies of their slides, and he would develop the report from them. | RF MW MH |
| LOLLOPALEICESTER | |
| LollopaLeicester was moving from the Factory to the Spreadeagle, as the Factory was no longer opening during the week. There was some discussion about possible other venues in Leicester, moving on to discussion of other MATTERS to do with that fair city. | |
| A&R | |
| Bands and Ting were talked of, as follows: | |
| WANDRIN' ALLSTARS | |
| Mr Whitaker reported Many Things. The single had been mentioned on Ceefax, and Mr Steven Eastwood, who does the Channel 4 Ceefax, was also in receipt of a copy. He stated that the photographs had been taken by Mr Ben Phelpstead, who was really good and recommended to anyone - contact details would be available on request from AAS. Meanwhile, Shellshock reported that pre-sales were going much better than expected, due to the Cuban Boys connection. Shellshock had some stickers for promotional purposes, and had suggested the Wandrin' Allstars themselves visit Virgin in Derby, to persuade them to take some records. As stated, Overground were plugging the single, using 35 copies, and seemed keen. Despite PLAGUING, they would not be burning a fiver outside any building, and Mr Whitaker used an ANECDOTE about Bill Drummond to explain this. The Radio 1 roadshow had been looked into, with no response as yet. Flyposting had been thought of, but after paying carriage costs for the singles to get into the country, it had been felt not to be worth it. Finally, it was stated that the band had started work on their second track already. After all this, the BOARD agreed that this was both and exciting and a beautiful project, and would be listening intently to John Peel to see what would occur. | MW |
| THE FIGHTING COCKS | |
| Mr Hibbett stated that a release date had been set for July 14th, with a FACTSHEET done and promo singles on the way. He would be contacting Overground soon, and the band would be sorting out some gigs. He pointed out what a delight they were to work with, as they were dead enthusiastic and GRATE, and Mr Whitaker stated they were exactly the kind of people we wanted to work with. Yes. Mr Fleay reported that he had spoken to Charlie Out Of Them about MP3 stuff, for future reference. | MH RF |
| STUMBLE | |
| The Inner City Crawl literature had stated that the band would have a single out in July. This seemed rather unlikely, as they had not found a label to do it yet, but tracks had been recorded. There was a possibility that, if nothing was forthcoming, they might come back to what they know i.e. us. There was discussion about becoming a "Plan B" for bands unable to get someone to pay for their records, but it was felt that this was OK - the way we work means ARTISTES have an impetus to do their best, so there was no worries about apathy, and the process of Validation meant we would continue to release stuff that was GOOD anyway. Also, it was no surprise that larger labels might possibly not be able to spot a good thing when they saw it, and the fact that they rejected a record might not necessarily be an indication of lack of quality. In other news, Sam The Guitarist had left, with Will from The Guided stepping in temporarily, while the band considered how best to move on. | |
| LAZER GUIDED | |
| Mr Fleay had consulted with the band re: costs, and they had been pleasantly surprised by the inexpensiveness of the Czechs, and were back to high level keenness. They would be recording at the end of June, which meant the split single was still a way off yet, however. | |
| SALOON | |
| Saloon had already FACTED a copy of their DAT to Mr Fleay, and he reported that it was LOVELY. Ollie of the Guided was keeping in touch with them. | |
| PALA | |
| The band were recording even as the meeting occurred. They planned to tout their single round to see if they could get someone to pay for it, and if not we were once again Plan B, probably. As with Stumble, this was agreed as Fair Do's,. and also VALID | |
| JOHNNY DOMINO | |
| The band were joyously currently in the process of recording their next album, which seemed to be going well. They now had copies of their mini-album, and had stated we could have some copies, which would be nice. Thank you. They would be playing LollopaLeicester in the next week. | RF |
| MJ HIBBETT | |
| Mr Hibbett reported that the practice the day before had been ROCKING, and that they would be back in the studio on the 16th. "Hey hey 16K" was validated as the single, despite Mr Hibbett mithering with worry about cost, as usual. Mr Whitaker would FACT him the address for his contact in the Czech Republic, that things could get done. It was stated that he would like to do some gigs, and asked that Board Members keep an eye out for him please. | MW ALL |
| LUKEWARM SKYWATER | |
| Mr Fleay stated that he wanted to be even more positive about this than he had been last time, and pledged to book some studio time to try out some songs, in order that he see how it goes. | RF |
| TAKING PICTURES | |
| Mr Whitaker had sent items of VALIDITY to them, including THE TRUTH and the Contract, and awaited reaction from them for next time. | MW |
| LAUREN HOFFMAN | |
| Mr Fleay awaited a tape. A new album was forthcoming, and Mr Fleay struggled with vocabulary for a time before settling for saying that the new material was reportedly a bit more "raw." | |
| CUBAN BOYS | |
| Although the plan to release their next single had been thwarted as a direct result of them swanning around in Jonathan King's Rolls Royce, Mr Whitaker had received a mini-disc from them full of SONG. One particular track, "The Car Of The Future" was extremely catchy, and had been offered, and accepted, for inclusion on the Compilation album. COOL. | |
| COMPILATION ALBUM | |
| Mr Hibbett had been in contact with them again, and stated that they would be judging our bid at a meeting at the end of June. He pledged to ring them just before the next AAS meeting, to see if any result was forthcoming. It was noted that we were POISED for action, if the bid succeeded. | MH |
| PROJECT B | |
| No response had been received yet. She was probably still a bit busy. | |
| ANY OTHER A&R | |
| Mr Whitaker had spoken to Twinkie at some length during the Inner City Crawl. They were planning to put out their own single, as Fortuna Pop!'s workload meant they would be unable to do this for a time, and Dave Twinkie was thinking of starting his own label. Mr Whitaker had stated to them that, if he did wish to start a label, a Twinkie single would be a very good first release, but if they wanted to have an VALID single process, then we are GRATE for that sort of thing. There was suggestion that he might like to work with us in some way, and whatever occurred we would of course give them any help and advice they needed. At this point Mr Fleay employed a metaphor, suggesting that the situation was similar to deciding whether to rent or buy a house. Yes. Mr Whitaker would report back on developments next time. Mr Hibbett had received a tape from the band Murph, who had been in touch with Mr Fleay. He stated that they sounded really good, but unfortunately didn't really have much in the way of songs to use this Good Sound on. He would contact them and say this, in a nice way. | MW MH |
| CORRESPONDENCE | |
| A flyer had been received stating that we would soon be hearing from the band Alcopop, which rung bells in the head of Mr Fleay. We had, however, heard nothing yet. | |
| ANY OTHER BUSINESS | |
| CATMOBILE | |
| Mr Whitaker had been in touch with a chap from Toffee Shop fanzine, who was starting his own label, and also ran a mail order company. Mr Hibbett would send Mr Whitaker some of the spare records, which Mr Whitaker would use to TEMPT this fellow into including us on his roster. At this point it was remembered that Mind The Gap needed asking if they wished to sell the Wandrin' Allstars and Fighting Cocks records, and Mr Hibbett would do this too - this, by the way, is exactly the sort of thing that would be covered by the Quality Manual. | MH MW MH |
| VAT | |
| Mr Whitaker had been caught rather by surprise by the large VAT he had paid for the Wandrin' Allstars single, and this was something to note for the future. It was suggested that we might be able to ask Tom Reveal to act as an Agent, as he knew of VAT and records and THAT, and Mr Fleay would speak to him about this also. | RF |
| NICE | |
| Mr Fleay let it be known that 1.3 Billion will be playing at Chez Wayne in Nice doing all your favourite cover versions from August 23rd-29th. Anyone in the area at the time was advised to pop along for fun and good times. | |
| QUALITY MANUAL | |
| It was agreed that this should be discussed more fully next time, and that Mr Whitaker would draft a draft of a draft policy document to outline its contents. He hoped that, as discussed at the Away Day, this might help us to crystallize our roles still further, leading to less possibility of confusion and more efficiency. This of course was extremely VALID. | |
| DATE OF NEXT MEETING | |
| The next meeting will be at 7pm on July 7th in the Durham Ox, Leicester. | |
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