There was talk of apologies for the postponement of the meeting, but as this was due to ACTS OF GOD (i.e. Snow/Railtrack) it was agreed there was no need.
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
Passed as VALID.
MATTERS ARISING
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
Mr Fleay had meant, again, to get this done that afternoon. PEND!
INTERNET COMPILATION ALBUM
Copies had not been sent yet because a) Mr Hibbett had not FACTed Mr Fleay the press release yet (which he VOWED to do), and b) because it would have got lost in the excitement of Christmas anyway. When press releases were available, Mr Fleay would send them out to the previously agreed list, with the addition of a copy for Mr Jimmy Possession.
ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES
WEBPAGES
Mr Fleay asked that the old version of the front page be returned – although he saw the benefits of having new easily accessible, he felt it was disconcerting for first time visitors, and that our MANIFESTO should be available from the first. This was agreed, and would be enacted. In further housekeeping, it was asked that the minutes pages be updated, and that the Pala page be either updated, or linked to their own pages.
NEWSLETTER
The Christmas issue had not occurred, because there wasn't really be anything to say. There was Discussion, and it was agreed that an issue should be released soon, if only to remind people that we existed, and of course also to bring into people's lives the beam of sunlight that is This Is Valid. Mr Hibbett asked Mr Fleay to BUFF UP an article he had written about the BENEFITS of the crappy Melody Maker closing, both because it made Many Salient Points, and also because it would be FUNNY to send it to our list… which includes many scum journalists. ARF!
Following on from this, the meeting REALISED that we could in fact run an entire ISSUE on the theme of how GRATE the interweb is, featuring not only Mr Fleay's article, but also stuff like our internet singles and anything else RELEVANT. Board members were INCITED to come up with exciting ideas to fill the issue. Meanwhile, it was agreed that Mr Jyoti Mishra be contacted for Band Member Of The Month, and Mr Fleay would do this thing.
PLUGGERS
As ever, everyone agreed what top blokes they were… er… but there wasn't much else to say this time. There was disagreement over whether Mr Hibbett had FACTED Mr Fleay their address, and he agreed that he would do so. Again.
DISTRIBUTION
Mr Fleay reported that in the month of release for "Cartesian Product", a total of 101 Frankie Machine singles had be sold. HOLA!
FINANCE
The missing May invoice had finally arrived, and Mr Fleay was now in full and complete control of the accounts. Some money was still owed to Rob Wandrin' Allstars (and Mr Whitaker would gently ask him to cash his cheque if this didn't happen very soon), while some was to do with Pala, which Mr Whitaker would also sort out. Mr Fleay also presented a receipt for the CDs he bought for the compilation album, and a cheque was issued.
THE BPI
Mr Hibbett gave a brief presentation about the benefits of us joining the BPI, and outlined some of the possible difficulties. It was agreed that he would contact some of the other members to see if it was worth doing for a small label, and enquire further about who could propose us. At the next meeting a decision would be made upon the proposal that we joined for a year to see how it goes.
FOOTBALL
The big sell-off of Bradford players was discussed, but conversation moved onto the FA Cup, especially Posh's GLORIOUS defeat. Mr Fleay then reported that he had seen Derby twice over the festive season, and the meeting discussed the FA Cup some more.
FRANKIE MACHINE
Mr Fleay had recorded 3 songs at the Hive, and had then decided that it would be more financially prudent to buy an Expensive Microphone and record at home, which he had been doing. There was a GREAT deal of discussion about his album/single dilemma, with different parties arguing for more singles, singles on or off the album, and all sorts. Eventually the idea was planted that he would release a new single in the next few months, and possibly have the lead tracks off the singles on the album too, garlanded with different linking bits and loads of other songs. Of course, this was all subject to VALIDATION, and Mr Fleay would FACT Mr Whitaker a copy of the putative single for this very purpose.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the American Frankie Machine might be changing their name, and that Mr Fleay's preferred album title would be "Francis Albert Machine and Friends."
MJ HIBBETT
Four songs had now been nearly completed, and there was lengthy discussion about what to do with them. EVENTUALLY it was EXCITEDLY agreed that "You Will Be Hearing From My Solicitor" be released as a 7" single, with one of the other songs plus a "Say It With Words" refugee AND "Futuristic Multimedia", the BRILLIANT idea which would make it the first REAL Internet Single on VINYL … EVER! And also possibly a ZX Spectrum program, if anyone got around to it.
In other news, a new song had been recorded for a Sorted compilation album, as indeed had several new songs, copies of which were passed around. GIGS were in prospect, as indeed was a WEDDING to play at. Finally, the current top 3 choices for NEXT album were revealed, being "Nanpantan", "Love, or Microwaved Popcorn" and the favourite "This Is Not A Library".
JOHNNY DOMINO
The Domino were reconvening on Thursday, and Mr Fleay had been invited to be a member of their Focus Group, to listen through and choose the best of their recent sessions. In other news they had nearly got a drummer, but hadn't, and Marc's solo project, The Liberty Ship, was being release on Fire Station Towers in Germany. Keep on Rocking you crazy Dominoes!
SALOON
There was some discussion about the prospects of their album, which the Board were all very very keen to do, as well as some thoughts on a possible remix album.
DENVER & CARWASH
Nothing, really, had happened.
TEENBEAT
Mr Fleay had pointed Mr Hibbett at the website of this band, and the latter would contact them to ask for some Music.
VARIOUS DEMO TAPES
Mr Fleay produced numerous demo's which had been received, and which were allocated to particular board members. After reading through some of the biographies and what nots that had been included, it was agreed that a Jolly Piece be written for the webpages, to tell people what sort of stuff we could use (e.g. Not Poems), good ideas of what to send, Stamped Address Envelopes, that sort of thing. Mr Hibbett would put his thinking hat on.
CORRESPONDENCE
A Christmas card had been received from Record Collector, and everyone was really quite touched by it, aaah, bless. Two letters (to our Media Director and A&R Department) had been received from Middlesex University, which had been acted upon, and it was reported that the aforementioned Mr Mishra might be writing an article about US for a Magazine! Ooh!
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Not this time, no.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would (hopefully) take place in The Three Nuns in Loughborough at 8pm on February 6th.
