| Minutes of the Meeting held 3rd September 1998 |
| APOLOGIES |
| What's to be sorry about? |
| MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING |
| Passed as VALID. |
| MATTERS ARISING |
| Reports were heard on the following items: |
| GIGS |
| Mr Hibbett reported that the first London AAS gig had been booked for October 1st Upstairs at the Garage, to act as launch party for both forthcoming singles, featuring himself, Lazer Guided and Stumble. Lazer Guided are playing there in the very near future, and it was agreed that they should take some flyers to promote the AAS gig. Mr Fleay would liaise with them to ensure that this was carried out. It was also agreed that, whensoever one of us is next in London, they should get it together to take some posters round and such-like, and that all would do their utmost to promote it - the cost is around 175 pounds, and it was agreed that in the event of this not being met by ticket sales, the Board as a group would cover the rest. Mr Fleay reported that Sienna and Stumble would be playing in October at the Loft with Pala, as the rearranged AAS Presents gigs, the Bar 121 date having been cancelled due to Bar 121 itself being cancelled. Mr Hibbett reported that he was getting some stuff together too, and asked for ideas about places to play. Mr Fleay agreed to investigate the possibility of an acoustical affair at The Vaults in Derby, around the time of the singles. |
| CONTRACT |
| In light of agreements at the last meeting regarded relaxing cover styling policy for CDs, Mr Fleay had made a couple of minor amendments to the Contract, which were passed as VALID. |
| WEBPAGES |
| Mr Hibbett would be overhauling the webpages to reflect forthcoming releases very soon, and asked that scans of the AAS012 cover be passed to him as soon as possible, along with any publicity material etc. |
| UMBRELLA ORGANISATION |
| Mr Hibbett had written to them asking about getting some barcode stickers, but with no response so far. Mr Whitaker gave him their telephone number so that he could ring them up. Said number came from Mr Whitaker's copy of the Music Week Directory, which listed record companies. It was agreed that we might as well get ourselves in it, if only so we could show off a bit about it, and Mr Whitaker pledged to investigate this further. |
| PLUGGERS |
| The final report from Overground was presented, and passed as VALID. It was agreed that the whole experience had been COOL, and should definitely be carried out again. |
| A&R |
| STUMBLE/LAZER GUIDED |
| Mr Fleay reported that both bands were very happy about everything and excited at the prospect of having a Proper Single in the near future. The Board looked happy about this and said "Bless", for surely this is what it's all about, yes? |
| MJ HIBBETT |
| Mr Hibbett was similarly cheery about his next release, and also about his forthcoming new sessions which would involve more trumpets, more synths, and more Durham Ox Singing. |
| PALA |
| Mr Whitaker was in constant contact with Pala, who were busily recording even as we speak, with the track "Be A Celebrity". A tape would be forwarded to the rest of the Board soon, with the Cut scheduled for mid-October, giving more time to sort things out than had been available for the current batch of releases, which is a Good Idea. Pala were quite happy with the idea of doing a colour sleeve with AAS house-style, as discussed last time, which was also handy. |
| SIENNA |
| Mr Fleay had discussed matter further with his bandmates, who were very enthusiastic about doing another single, and were currently Saving Up for it. A Bass Player was about to be auditioned, which would be handy, especially as they had a Long Awaited Gig pretty soon. |
| JOHNNY DOMINO |
| Sampler Tapes of the Johnny Domino album "Rabbit Themes" were presented for approval by the Board. Mr Fleay showed a finished copy of the sleeve, and it was agreed that, if the release was officially validated, Johnny Domino would be asked to slightly alter the sleeve, adding the AAS logo somewhere and changing the catalogue number to AAS016. Mr Fleay to liaise, and also to send a copy to Shellshock to see what they thought, and how many copies they would want to take. Also Mr Fleay would ask how they had got CDs so cheaply, so that we could do the same. In light of this allocation of serial numbers, it was agreed that all future catalogue numbers would follow a strict linear allocation procedure, for example whatever came next, be it vinyl, tape, CD or loo roll covered in tinfoil, would have the catalogue number AAS017, rather than messing about with CD and MC and all that. |
| WIGWAM AND THE BEEF PEOPLE |
| Mr Whitaker had spoken further to the above, who were still keen, though needed to get hold of an 8 track. Mr Fleay suggested that J from Cato had one, which they might try, and Mr Whitaker said he would pass this thought along. |
| EUROPA |
| Mr Whitaker presented the board with tapes of the demo of their new song, "Four States of Being" to the board for approval, with the promise of more to come. He said it was "Norman Cooky". |
| ANY OTHER A&R |
| Mr Hibbett reported that he might maybe be taking part in a Christmas single for Fortuna Pop!, on an MJ Hibbett vs. FPV version of "Santa Is Coming". and promised to relate the Funny Story of this song to the rest of the board after the meeting. He had also received a tape of some German bands, some of which was dead good, and would provide the rest of the board with copies anon, while writing to the Germans with information about the Genius Of The AAS Set-Up. Mr Whitaker had recently received a demo tape, the first on-the-off-chance one we'd received, but it was crap. |
| SCHEDULING |
| The Cut for AAS012 and AAS014 had gone fine, and financially everything was rolling along OK (although Mr Hibbett looked a little faint at the thought of all of it). Mr Whitaker had test pressings of AAS012, which were to be handed over to the bands later for final validation. Mr Hibbett passed on responsibility for checking his test pressing to Mr Whitaker, in order to save time. AAS014's test pressing had been rejected by Quality Control. Nobody made any REMARKS about this. GOOD. All that was left to pay for was about 15 pounds for Mr Whitaker from Mr Hibbett for bags, which would be sorted out anon, and the 200 pounds for radio plugging, Mr Hibbett reported that we had finally recieved an invoice from Shellshock for the advert, which was about 130 pounds, a couple days after a cheque for 150ish for sales. Hey ho. Mr Fleay would ask Lazer Guided and Stumble whether they still wanted an advert at this price, although Mr Hibbett said he still might as well. The main issue was about OKing singles and then picking them up. Mr Fleay would pass on the OK from Stumble/Lazer Guided to Mr Whitaker, and Mr Hibbett had already done so, after which Mr Whitaker would contact Damont and set the ball rolling. |
| As Mr Whitaker is responsible for shaping the minds of THE KIDS he would be unable to participate in collection, and after a quick mental diary check, it was agreed that Messrs Hibbett and Fleay would go get them, preferably on the 16th September, a Wednesday. They would need to go to the printers for covers, then to Damont, then assemble sufficient copies for Shellshock, and deliver them! Mr Whitaker to check how many Shellshock would need, and Messrs Fleay and Hibbett to sort out somewhere to do this funky thing. Copies could be sent to Overground in the calmness of the next day by post. Due to the tight schedule, it was absolutely essential that everyone had their promotional mailing lists ready to go as soon as possible. Mr Hibbett would contact Ms Thompson at the New Musical Express to find out which particular lackeys of THE MAN might be best to contact, and would also get his advert text sorted quick. Above all, it was firmly agreed that the most important thing was NOT TO PANIC. After all, we rock so hard it chafes, and can easily get through it all, no worries. |
| LOLLOPALEICESTER |
| Mr Hibbett was currently engaged in other Leicester Scenesters and Cool Cats about the possibility of doing Something Or Other in Leicester similar to Oxstock and the Camden Crawl, whereby the many and varied record companies would work together to promote some sort of multi-gig thing. Ideas were up in the air at the moment, and he was due to attend a meeting with regards to arrangements in a few days. The Board gave him authority to act on behalf of AAS in such matters, and he agreed to report back at the earliest opportunity. |
| CORRESPONDENCE |
| Mr Hibbett had had a letter from a French radio station, asking to get a copy of the last single to play. It was agreed that we might as well send one, in fact we might as well send all 3 when they're ready. He had also had a letter from some people in Wales who wanted to sell copies of records at record fairs, on sale or return. Mr Hibbett to contact them again to get the full details, especially how many they'd want and how much they'd pay. In order to ensure all board members were kept up to date in future, it was agreed that Correspondence become a permanent fixture on the agenda. |
| COMPILATION ALBUM |
| Mr Fleay put forward the idea of doing a compilation album thingy, with all our bands on it. He reminisced fondly about compilation albums of the past, such as the Creation "Doing It For The Kids" LP that everyone he knew had bought because it was only Two Quid. He suggested that, for a minimal amount, ten bands could club together to pay for it, that a few hundred could be run off, and they could be flogged at gigs and so forth. Mr Hibbett suggested doing a tape, but the others rightly pointed out that this was a bit of a step back, and he said OK, Fair Do's. Mr Whitaker worried that perhaps getting another Big Thing on the schedule might lead to us being overloaded, but he was gently persuaded that this wouldn't be getting going for a wee while yet. Thus was the general idea VALIDATED, so long as it could be done cheaply, and all Board Members agreed to SOUND OUT their respective A&R responsibilities to see how they felt about it. |
| COMPANY SONG |
| This led to talk of the Company Song, and the possibilities inherent in the recording of it. There was much animated discussion and GRATE ideas, not least of which was having everyone playing a guitar solo, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Smart. The lyrics so far were presented, with Mr Fleay to take away and sort out so that his could fit into the structure too. |
| ANY OTHER BUSINESS |
| Mr Whitaker pointed out that some business cards would come in very handy indeed. Mr Fleay suddenly remembered a good idea of having some AAS badges done, and make a sort of AAS club, allowing badge wearers 50p off gigs, or something. Mr Hibbett said how nice it would be to have some stickers for things. All these ideas had POTENTIAL, and Mr Hibbett pledged to get some costings from the company who did the Number One Hitmaker singles. |
| DATE OF NEXT MEETING |
| The next meeting will be at 7pm on the 8th October in Loughborough, pub to be decided. The Board left for Bless and the Signing Ceremony, which Rocked and Mightily. |
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