Passed as VALID, especially the Saloon bit, we all enjoyed that.
MATTERS ARISING
CHRISTMAS MEAL
It was agreed that this would take place in January, and be a New Year’s Knees Up. The date would be decided when anyone had a diary that actually went that far.
ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES
WEBPAGES
The FAQ had been updated, and both The Kraken and Chemistry Experiment albums were up, However, the latest issue of the newsletter had not been put online yet, nor had the last few minutes. Mr Hibbett would get this DONE.
NEWSLETTER
The last issue had gone off as planned, and we had been told off by KERRANG! as a direct result. COOL. Mr Hibbett would try and get the next one written before he went off to Japan.
PLUGGERS
This would be dealt with later on, although all agreed that they were (still) lovely blokes, lovely blokes indeed who worked quite late.
DISTRIBUTION
This would be dealt with further under the Kraken’s item.
FINANCE
Mr Whitaker gave evidence of £569.88 being paid for the Chemistry Experiment album, with another £23.50 for “bleed” still to be paid. A Cheque for £8.55 was also paid to Mr Whitaker for postage of the Kraken album.
Money had STILL not been received from Prime, after nearly six MONTHS of trying. Mr Fleay had written to Jamie in accounts, sent copies of invoices and sent emails to no avail until he sent one to Paul also – he had been contacted and told a cheque was “in the post today”. If this were so, he hoped to be able to Settle Up at the AGM.
AGM
Many had been invited, and Mr Fleay would take invitations to a couple of gigs he was going to, to be sure to catch everyone. He would ask The Kraken to send a message, and Mr Whitaker would similarly ask Saloon. It was important to remember to invite and REMIND everyone, and it would also be put in the newsletter.
Messrs Whitaker and Fleay would attempt to do the BPI japery, and if succesful would play the results, doubtless with uncontrollably hilarious results. Mr Whitaker would bring the OHP, and the format would be as follows:
1. Welcome and Keynote Address
2. Reading of Messages
3. Financial Report
4. Telephone Japery
5. Question and Answer session
There would then be a break, followed by SINGALONG session. Cool!
FOOTBALL
Unfathomably Mr Fleay had a RIGHT strop on, and didn’t really want to talk about it. JOY however was brought to the meeting with the discovery that Mr Hibbett was winning big time in the trophy competition, although Mr Dresden’s predictive skills concerning Derby were rightly lauded. Mr Whitaker had still to sort out the trophy itself, and it was agreed that if anybody ever won the trophy three times in a row they could keep it. Finally, Mr Hibbett was congratulated nicely for doing a lot of homework this time, and Mr Carboni of Bradford was applauded by all.
A&R
THE FRIGHTENED PRISONERS OF THE KRAKEN
The plugging report was presented, and it was seen to feature some GRATE remarks, largely from people CONFUSED by its MIGHT. Lee at Overground was chasing up Mr Steve Lamacq, and we would all now wait and see what happened.
THE CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT
There had been problems with manufacturing. Initially the turnaround had been described as two weeks. There had again been problems with the “bleed”, but once sorted we were still on target, even after the turnaround was lengthened to 14 working days – Mr Whitaker had asked them to try and do it quicker, though even this meant we would have the CDs before the tour commenced. HOWEVER, the day before they had informed Mr Whitaker that nothing would be ready until October 16th.
There was lengthy discussion about available options, but it was agreed that, as the whole point of them rereleasing this album was to have it to sell at gigs, it was VITAL that we had them by the 12th. Having exhausted all other options, the meeting then realised that they had no option but to
UNLEASH THE WHITAKER.
It was a matter of pride, a matter of honour, and a matter of money. The Whitaker had only been UNLEASHED before, and we all knew what happened then, so rest assured the decision was not taken lightly.
Anyway, the item concluded with everyone saying how GRATE the band themselves were being with super-eagerness, list sending and all that. They had been invited to the AGM and, if they could all attend, a signing session would ensue.
FRANKIE MACHINE
Mr Fleay reported that he needed to get studio time BOOKED for recording his Christmas song, but had not really moved any further with album sessions as he’d been a bit busy. He asked that Key be reminded about his need for mixed media prices, and stated that he would be playing with Big Eyes and Solar Plexus at Bunker’s Hill on November 24th. Finally he stated that he had written a nice new song. About a GURL/
MJ HIBBETT
A great stillness fell across the land. Children drew closer to their parents and longstanding outcasts moved nearer the firer, for LO! It was time for The Telling to begin.
Mr Fleay stated that he would get those pictures scanned in soon, and there was then some DISCUSSION about the proposed single – the band had, just the week before, recorded the song “Give Us A Kiss (for Christmas)” for a compilation album, and it was BRILLIANT. There was talk of putting this out as a single also, and further discussion about putting some older songs onto the end of the single. The band were playing in Derby the following night, so this would be discussed further there. Whatever happened, Mr Hibbett declared that he would tour to support it.
Mr Hibbett then thrilled the assemblage with tales of his recent gig in Leeds and handed out a tape containing the above Christmas Song and some new tracks he was considering for b-sides. Despite pleas for more Tales Of Rock or delightful interludes concerning how songs had been written, it was time to move on.
JOHNNY DOMINO
The album had been mastered and the DAT master had been all the way to France with Mr Fleay, None of the board had a copy of the album yet, and they WANTED one. It was also, sadly, noted that the Derby gig thing had gone a bit quiet.
SALOON
Who?
THE PO BOX
No delivery had come this month, although there were apparently tapes within.
ANY OTHER A & R
THE PARENTS
This was the band of Russell, the chap who’d done our films. It was he who had sent a demo to the PO Box, and Mr Fleay would be going to Check Them Out in the live environment on Thursday.
WHITE TOWN
There had been discussion on u.k.m.a. about indies and major labels, with Jyoti apparently talking about AAS – it was thought this might be a PLEA for AID, and Mr Fleay would investigate further. There then followed a comparative analysis of the Northern and Southern (or London) Indie scenes, with the massive superiority of the North being endorsed by all, with the exception of Mr Jervis who was A Lovely Chap. Mr Hibbett said “I’ve slept with him” but everyone had heard this before and just ignored it.
CORRESPONDENCE
Nothing had been received.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Not really.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would take place at the Three Nuns, Loughborough at 8.00pm on November 11th.
