Messrs Fleay and Hibbett apologised for having greasy fingers, having just eaten their tea, and Mr Whitaker apologised for any inconvenience cause by his rotten cold.
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
Passed as VALID, but for the fact that the crap demo Mr Fleay had received was actually from Derby. The American demo had been promised, but failed to arrive.
MATTERS ARISING
Reports were heard on the following items: GIGS
The Mansun/Stumble gig had gone well, with tapes being sent to the promoter, and the Joint had been Jumping. Mr Fleay would be getting in touch with said promoter to see what good might come of it.
Pala need some help with gigs, and it was agreed that, once a release date for their single had been sorted out, Mr Hibbett would contact the Garage to arrange another gig. Johnny Domino could also do with a launch gig, and so Messrs Fleay and Whitaker would liaise over release dates to arrange them for nearby times, so that the two launches could be done at the same time, as with the last thing at the Garage. Mr Hibbett stated that a Leicester gig could also be slotted into the LollopaLeicester schedule for each group, again when dates were known. Stumble had a single out in the New Year, and again LollopaLeicester would be suitable for this, although they were already booked to play there on December 7th, with Lazer Guided playing on the 21st. The latter had several gigs coming up, in order to train up their new guitarist, meanwhile Sienna, Pala and Stumble would be playing together in Derby on 16th November for the long-delayed AAS night there. Gig-tastic.
WEBPAGES
There had been a huge update of the pages, with each band now having their own page. It was reported that we were now logged onto several webrings and label pages, including Tweenet, the IndieRing, and the Indie Labels list. This had resulted in a pleasingly increased count on the webcounter, with more avenues to be explored for similar linkage by Messrs Fleay and Hibbett.
UMBRELLA ORGANISATION
Mr Whitaker had rung twice, leaving messages, to no avail. It was agreed that it was time to Get Arsey, and he would write another letter accordingly. If this failed to get a response, then it would be time to Get Tough, and at this Mr Whitaker indeed looked Tough. Mr Hibbett, quaking, passed a copy of his own letter to them to Mr Whitaker, and it was agreed by all that we should try whatever we need to do to get our money back.
PLUGGERS
The latest plugging report was presented, and it was agreed that it was very very valid, with a high rate of plays, most stations having played each single several times (especially AAS012), with some extremely positive comments. GRATE. It showed several plays in Europe, which combined with Shellshock's amalgamation with that European distributor, made the future look so bright we might need to squint, with regards to International Groove potential.
The meeting paused to discuss the motion that Cigars are, in fact, not very nice at all. Mr Hibbett proposed the motion, and was seconded by Mr Fleay, although Mr Whitaker's opposition to the idea caused it to lapse.
Mr Hibbett had contacted Overground with regards for the stations asking for more info, and had been told that we need to prepare a "Press Pack", primarily giving more information about the label. He had drafted a version of this which, though mostly valid, needed a few alterations, and there was a brief discussion of this. Mr Fleay took the draft away with him, and would alter it accordingly. Mr Hibbett was also pleased to report that he had spoken briefly about future projects with Overground, who had stated that they would be very happy to work with AAS in future, as all singles had gone down really well, and that, unprompted, they had expressed their enthusiasm for a compilation album. Everyone looked pleased.
SHELLSHOCK
Mr Whitaker had been in touch with Shellshock, and had arranged for 40 copies of AAS011 to be returned to us, being delivered to Mr Hibbett at his place of work. He had spoken to Ms Steelyard at Shellshock about a release date for Pala, and Mr Fleay had done the similar for Johnny Domino - the former would be around mid to late January, with the latter around the cusp of January and February. Ms Steelyard had questioned the lack of sales of AAS012 in Nottingham's WayAhead, and Mr Fleay agreed to contact her and see what that's all about then.
The sales figures for September were received with pleasure, and it was pointed out that there should be more CASH coming in next month, when AAS014 sales would be shown. A cheque was signed for the AAS011 advert, and Mr Hibbett looked guilty at the time this had taken, producing a groveling letter, which he would send the next day, along with an invoice for September sales.
MUSIC WEEK
Mr Hibbett had written to Music Week, to see if we could get into their directory, though he had to confess to doing it a bit late.
NEWSLETTER
It was agreed that the first issue of the Newsletter had been COOL, and Mr Hibbett asked for ideas for the next issue, especially photographs. The board would consider this for the next meeting when, hopefully the Pala signing session would take place, giving AMPLE room for photo opportunities.
A&R
STUMBLE
Mr Fleay had been in The Studio with the band the preceding day, where they were recording their next EP for Reveal Records, and BY GEORGE, he said, did it rock. He was scheduled to attend the studio again next door, to hear how it was progressing, with the whole thing scheduled for release on January 18th. He reported that they had also recently supported Gorilla at the Victoria Inn, which had also ROCKED.
LAZER GUIDED
The band had recruited a guitarist, who was currently being TRAINED, leading to 3 gigs all together in Derby in December, including the Johnny Domino/Stairwell single launch gig. They might be doing a split single with Cato, although Mr Fleay stressed that this was only PUB TALK and thus might not actually occur.
MJ HIBBETT
Mr Hibbett reported that the Album Sessions had actually got started, with a first practice the preceding Monday and more to follow. The assigned bass player had not managed to get there, but he would investigate this further. His plan was to take things slowly, recording and practicing at a leisurely pace, and the meeting agreed that he ought to concentrate on recording stuff, rather than Getting A Band Together for a gig.
PALA
After the first version of Be A Celebrity had turned out a bit disappointing (although the B-Sides had been fine) Pala had, at the behest of Mr Whitaker, gone to Redditch to redo it. There had been a few liaison problems leading up to this, but Mr Whitaker affirmed that the new version was much much better, and passed a cassette copy to the rest of the board for their pleasure. Similarly, the artwork for the single looked a bit drab, and possibly would not be suitable for the printers, so Mr Hibbett offered to have a go at rejigging it slightly, though still based on the band's initial idea. Artwork was passed to him, and Mr Fleay stated he would forward the specifications for CD's to him via the wonders of the e-mail. When completed, Mr Hibbett would send a rough copy to Mr Whitaker ready for his meeting with the band on Saturday, after which he would print out a final colour copy, and send it to the printers.
Mr Whitaker moved on to detail the finances. The cut had cost £340.75, which Pala had paid. They were paying a further £389.25 into the bank account, bringing things to a round total of £730. He himself had paid in £610 on October 27th, with a further £120 going in on November 3rd. From this £350.27 would be sent to Damont for pressing, and a cheque was written accordingly.
As there had been 500 singles bags left over from AAS011, it was agreed that these be bought from the funders of said project for £15, and more cheques were written. Mr Whitaker had been called "My Man" by Lithogroove, thus indicating good relations, and another cheque for £84.60 was written for the printing of the labels, with Mr Hibbett passing him the masters of said label. Mr Whitaker would be sending all this out in the near future.
A cheque for £622.75 was written for Key, which Mr Hibbett would send with the artwork. After all this, Mr Whitaker estimated that £46.63 would be left, which would be paid to Mr Hibbett, along with a further £103.47 which Mr Whitaker would pay directly into his personal account, that Mr Hibbett might thus be able to send a cheque for £150 to the printers, along with the artwork. The issue of plugging money would be dealt with by Mr Whitaker at his forthcoming meeting with the band.
Finally, Mr Whitaker expressed his gratitude to the rest of the Board for their help and support throughout this matter, and they stated that Hey, That's What We're Here for, and lo, much goodwill and beauty was spread around.
SIENNA
Mr Fleay stated that the gig on the 16th November might well be the final Sienna gig, due to various reasons, and the Board expressed their support for him both in this and his future projects, pledging to stand by him in his next venture, and to do their best to attend said gig.
JOHNNY DOMINO
The Johnny Domino album had been put back, due to the impossibility of meeting the projected deadline, and also in order that it might follow hot on the heels of their forthcoming single on Reveal. It was agreed that this was a Cool Plan. Mr Fleay stated that all was looking cool, that he would probably not be using the AAS account, and that it was looking like being Pretty Cheap, with artwork being done in Derby and the pressing being done in Czechoslovakia. As had been discussed earlier, release was set for sometime in January/February, with the band Well Up for a gig in London. There was discussion of the possibility of getting a London band to play too, for Audience Level Reasons, and it was suggested that the Action Time be contacted for this.
WIGWAM AND THE BEEF PEOPLE
This was still very much pending.
EUROPA
Mr Whitaker revealed that the New Name for Europa (or at least for Country and Western) was the Wandrin' All Stars, and he further revealed that their new track was on the same tape as Pala. He stated that the mix included was a rough one, possibly with too much bass, and that they would be going for a mix before Christmas. He awaited input from other board members at the next meeting before decided how to continue.
ANY OTHER A&R
Mr Whitaker had received a demo from Bok. He didn't think much to it, although Steve Lamacq apparently did.
It was agreed that Pala would be signed at the next meeting, with Mr Fleay conferring with Johnny Domino to see if they wished to undergo a similar ceremony.
COMPILATION ALBUM
There was some discussion of what should be placed on the compilation album, with Mr Whitaker asking whether perhaps past singles should be put on, and other board members stating that no, it was new material for maximum value for THE KIDS.
The Board need to move forward with this, to get started with determination in the New Year, and for this reason some VALID costings need to be worked out, so that the bands could be told how much it would cost - ideally each band would have two tracks each but this would need costing. The idea of bringing in other bands from outside the label was mooted, but it was decided that this would be both impractical (i.e. they might be dubious about coughing up) and also perhaps against the idea of the SCHEME. All members should speak again to their A&R responsibilities about this, and costings would be worked out next time when the details of the Pala and Johnny Domino finances were clearer.
Whatever, it will surely ROCK.
PRESS PACK
There was more detailed discussion of this issue, with a few minor alterations, as long as the idea of the NON-BRITISHNESS of discussing money in public. Mr Fleay would collate extra press for Lazer Guided and Stumble, alter the address details, and forward the revised version to Mr Hibbett, who would send the finished articles onto Overground.
The discussion of address details led to a revival in the idea of getting a PO Box. Mr Fleay reported that we might be able to share one with some Derby bands, and would investigate further.
FINANCE
A Cheque was signed for payment for the advert in the NME to Shellshock, which would accompany an invoice for September sales. It was planned that when this was received, the next invoice would be paid. If you see what I mean. Furthermore, all board members were pleased to report that they had set up Standing Orders to pay the TITHE to AAS, which is COOL. CENTRAL REGISTER OF FISCALLY RELATED STUFF
Mr Fleay suggested that a central depository of financial STUFF be set up, so that if it was ever necessary we would know where everything was. He and Mr Whitaker suggested that Mr Hibbett take charge of this, but he stated that he was Rubbish at that sort of thing, and Mr Whitaker volunteered to take the responsibility, which was terribly nice. Thus all financial paperwork should, in future, be forwarded to him for safekeeping. CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Mr Fleay reported that Johnny Domino were using a Czech pressing plant for their CD as it was CHEAP. There was some debate about the usage of "sweat shop labour", but it was agreed that it would probably instead be a VALID investment in the burgeoning economies of Eastern Europe, and there were TEARS IN THE BEER about this. It was agreed that Johnny Domino be a kind of PILOT for what could be a nice cheap way of putting stuff out in future. ARTS GRANTS
Mr Hibbett reported that the next day he would be attending a meeting with Voluntary Action Leicester, to discuss what processes should be undergone to allow us to qualify for Arts Money. It was agreed that we should carefully consider the implications of this, and see whether whatever changes were necessary would be worth it for whatever money was available. Mr Hibbett agreed to email or ring other Board members to alert them to the results of this meeting.
QUALITY OF RECORDING
It was agreed that we had been very lucky so far with the quality of recordings, but that we were lining ourselves up for problems in future i.e. in several cases we had trusted bands to record a good thing, often only having a few days (or hours) between recording and production. It was thus proposed that in future recordings NOT be VALIDATED until the DAT was available at the meeting. This would mean that the schedule would take a little longer, as things like CUTS and RELEASE DATES would not be set until the actual single (or whatever) was recorded. It was agreed that we need not rush through things, and that this was a much more GROWN-UP way of doing things, and was thus passed as VALID. Patience, after all, is a virtue.
CORRESPONDENCE
Nothing had been heard from Glamour Puss about their Stumble interview, though the fanzine had been in the NME recently.
The issue of mail order companies was raised, and Mr Fleay agreed to contact them again to see about them selling AAS012 and AAS014.
LOLLOPALEICESTER
Mr Hibbett was pleased to report that this had been booked for the 7th and 21st December at the Factory, with Stumble and hopefully Lazer Guided booked for the AAS slots. It was agreed that any flyers available advertising records should be available to pass THE MESSAGE onto THE KIDS. COMPANY SONG
Mr Hibbett presented the finished lyrics to the meeting, which were passed as VALID. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
PRINTING
Mr Fleay brought up the notion that there would be plenty space left on the printing sheet for Pala, and wondered if anybody had any ideas of how to fill it. Other members of the BOARD looked blank, so he suggested asking Tom from Reveal if he had anything that could go on in a cost sharing stylee or, failing that, possibly a Christmas Card. This was agreed, and he would follow it up. MCPS
There was some discussion about sorting something out about this, although the meeting thought you probably only needed to do it if you were recording cover versions, or something. Forms were available from Key, apparently, but the meeting agreed to worry about it when it happens. PRS
Mr Fleay enquired about the validity of joining the PRS, bearing in mind Mr Hibbett's 18p profit on the deal. Mr Hibbett agreed to dig out THE DETAILS and pass them on to him.
7" MAILING ENVELOPES
Mr Fleay told the story of his quest to buy some of said envelopes, involving a right rum old cove out the back of music week. To cut said story short, no envelopes were procured.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be at 7pm on December 9th in The Brunswick, in Derby, with a signing session to be arranged in The Bless with Pala for 10 o'clock.
