It was agreed that Mr Whitaker would double check May 11th, and if all was well with that Mr Hibbett would book IMMEDIATELY. The format of the day would follow the usual pattern, i.e. a Board Meeting followed by extended discussion. Topics to mull over this time included:
Christmas Cards
Demo Rejection Policy
Distribution
Sales Methods (Web pages)
Sales Methods (Record Stalls)
Promotion (especially using Org)
Planning for a Five Year Retrospective of AAS.
It was going to be GOOD.
BIG DERBY GIG THING
PEND
BADGES
Mr Fleay proudly presented the meeting with the finished badges, and very nice they were too, a GRATE job had been done by Ryan at Wee Badgers, thanks! It was agreed that all Board Members would take some to give out as and when to people they liked.
ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES
WEBPAGES
The SHOP section had now been set up, and Mr Hibbett and/or Mr Fleay would check to see if we’d flogged anything yet. Meanwhile Mr Hibbett had set up a Pilot Scheme on his own website to sell his back catalogue through zShops, part of Amazon. He would be rereleasing "Hey Hey 16K" to promote their availability, and if it worked successfully this system would be used for all of our records. Finally it was agreed that a referral counter be placed upon the main site, so that we’d know who was visiting.
NEWSLETTER
It was agreed that the re-release of Hey Hey 16K wasn’t enough for a whole newsletter, and so Mr Hibbett would borrow the mailing list and FACT The Kids from his own address. Mr Fleay would forward him the list.
PLUGGERS
Mr Hibbett reported that he had STILL not received a plugging report, almost four months since the campaign had gone on. He was unhappy generally with what had happened, as all he had received was one email with a brief list of comments. Mr Whitaker would get in touch with them to see what had occurred.
DISTRIBUTION
There were STILL no statements - these were now desperately needed so that we could pay the Chemistry Experiment, so that THEY could pay for their ongoing recordings. Mr Whitaker had been told things would be sorted out within a month, though this was three weeks ago now, and it was agreed that he would wait until this time had passed before upping the ante. He would demand a DEFINITE date for their receipt, after which both he and Mr Fleay would take ACTION.
In another PLAN, Mr Fleay would contact Tom at Reveal, and Mr Hibbett would contact Jason at Left-Legged, to ask them who they thought were worth using, and that this would all be discussed in greater depth at the Away Day. Mr Whitaker then spoke of his predilection for prodding molluscs, and so the meeting moved on.
FINANCE
There was currently £431 in the account, and though we did not know what was owed to whom at this point, it was agreed that an advance of £100 be paid to the Chemistry Experiment as soon as possible.
FOOTBALL
Mr Whitaker was looking forward to seeing the Fit Girls Selling Beer at Pride Park again in the next season. It was happily reported that both Bradford and Posh were now safe. Meanwhile, the TROPHY would be bought soon so that it could be officially presented at the Away Day.
A&R
THE FRIGHTENED PRISONERS OF THE KRAKEN
The group had done some gigs recently, as well as a session for Radio Liverpool, with copies of said session forthcoming. The band wanted to put out a 7" single, and given our current "difficulties" Mr Hibbett would discuss with the band and Sorted Supremo Dave Dixey the idea of releasing it through Sorted, possibly.
THE CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT
Sean’s postcards were looked upon and enjoyed, before Mr Fleay presented the Board with copies of 5 rough mixes and one new song on CDs. It was, he stated, GRATE, especially the title track "Starlight Ballroom".
FRANKIE MACHINE
THE ALBUM WAS FINISHED!
Also, it was bloody GRATE, the meeting agreed. Mr Fleay would soon be meeting with Acacia Media about making a video, which would be included on the CD. Cool huh? Mr Whitaker would check up on the cost of doing this, as well as to do a Double CD (with FREE singles compilation!) with double sided tray card, whilst Mr Fleay himself would get the artwork sorted out, hopefully within the month. Finally he reported that he had also played a BRILLIANT gig in Nottingham lately, and had sold tons of records. Well done Mr Fleay, say we!
MJ HIBBETT
"Our favourite part of the meeting!" stated Mr Whitaker in front of witnesses, and relaxed into his seat. Mr Hibbett presented the Board with a tape of five freshly mixed tracks, and stated that he was not hurrying, and vaguely hoped for a September release for the completed opus. The following week he and the Validators would be recording the 2002 version of "Fair Play Trophy", both for Interweb Single Release AND for sending to Radio’s Mr Simon Mayo, and also in the near future he would be appearing in a BBC3 (yes, BBC3) documentary. It was all terribly exciting, really it was!
JOHNNY DOMINO
Mr Fleay had attended a performance of Marc’s other band, Liberty Ship, which would hopefully spur on the mighty Domino to return to the live arena. Tales of their playful, happy-go-lucky live antics were exchanged, and it was stated that a sample of their Degausser Sessions was now available online.
TERRASHIMA
These were now out of our remit.
L CHRISTIAN LUNDHOLM
Mr Hibbett GLEEFULLY reported that L Chris might be coming to the UK soon, and it was agreed that we would all love to meet him if this occurred. He had also completed the writing of his music, and would be commencing recording proper very very soon. ZANG!
THE PO BOX
Last month’s highlights had been that one about Hands, which Mr Hibbett had enjoyed, and the one on Spraydog’s label. This month, however, was a RECORD BREAKER, and the FIFTEEN demoes were dealt out as follows: Mr Hibbett took Personal Hell, Cedar Falls, Equidistant Sand, Colour Pool, Switch, Mike Halliwell, and Evil Jesus. Mr Whitaker took Track of Field, Jettison Head, 12 Foot Machete, Luci Baines, Sugar Rat (who had sent some sweets too, which were shared nicely), Prosthetic World, Blimey., and Morgan. Crumbs! Happy listening chaps!
Also from the PO Box, Vanity Project Fanzine had asked to do an article about us, which had been agreed to, a copy of Organ had arrived with a very nice review of the Chemistry Experiment, and there were various letters, adverts, and mailing things.
ANY OTHER A & R
ALUMNI NEWS
Mr Whitaker reported that he and Rob had found a singer for their new project. She was called Jocelyn Hughes and had been in the West End production of Rent. Cor!
CORRESPONDENCE
There had, as usual, been LOADS of crappy emails saying "Download our MP3s!" The meeting was fairly sure that the FAQ said not to do this, but Mr Hibbett would check and AMEND it if this was not the case.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
WAREHOUSE
Mr Hibbett formally offered the use of the outhouse in his proposed new dwelling for a warehouse/label office, and everyone agreed that that would be LOVELY.
FIVE YEAR RETROSPECTIVE
Mr Fleay proposed that all of our singles so far be placed on a CD and sold, possibly in the much discussed Book Format, to mark our fifth anniversary next year. This was a GRATE idea, and would be discussed and developed at the Away Day.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting would hopefully take place at the Millstone Inn, Hathersage on May 11th.
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