| Minutes of the Meeting held 27th January 2000 |
| ACTION | |
| APOLOGIES | |
| There were no apologies | |
| MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING | |
| A SLUR being removed, the minutes were passed as VALID.. | |
| MATTERS ARISING | |
| Reports were heard on the following items: | |
| MCPS/PPL | |
| Mr Whitaker passed the relevant information on to Mr Hibbett, who would DEAL with it. | MH |
| AAS GOLD DISC | |
| The Plan Of GRATE Beauty had yet to come to fruition, thus this was to Pend again. | RF |
| MUSIC LIVE | |
| This had been looked at thoroughly, and it was found that, perhaps not surprisingly in the end, events to do with this Happening had to be somewhat Live, thus the few ideas that the Board had had would not be much cop. It was decided not to bother with it really, as it would just amount to organising another gig. It was noted, however, that the “How To Organize An Event” info that had come with the documentation had been Really Good and Comprehensive. | |
| DOMAIN NAME PLACE | |
| Mr Fleay had tried to look into this, but without success. In discussion it turned out that this was because he had the wrong address. The correct address was provided, and he would thus try try again, .com. | RF |
| PROMO VIDEOS | |
| Mr Whitaker would talk to Adam about it, to see if he fancied sending his video in, but thought this would probably not occur. | |
| ACCOUNTANT | |
| Mr Whitaker had gained the contact details for his parent’s accountant, who he would contact for preliminary discussion. Mr Fleay had found the address of a Proper Music Accountant in one of his Musician Type magazines, which he passed to Mr Hibbett, for similar utilization. | MW MH |
| ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES | |
| The following label-based issues were discussed: | |
| WEBPAGES | |
| It was noted that we did not appear on Yahoo searches. Mr Hibbett would attempt to rectify this. | MH |
| WEB CONSULTANCY | |
| The Reveal Records site (www.revealrecords.com) had now been set up, and was “revealed” (arf!) to Actually Work. A price had been agreed upon during delicate negotiations, largely between Mr Fleay and Mr Rose, which would be paid into the bank account and used to at least part-fund a compilation album, or something similarly valid. Mr Hibbett was just waiting for some postage and packing info, then all would be GO! | |
| NEWSLETTER | |
| It was agreed that the recent Millennium Special had been Quite Good, and had indeed garnered some positive feedback. It was agreed that Bobby Denver be the next Band Member Focus subject. Mr Fleay would please send other board members the full mailing list, for additions and corrections, and Mr Hibbett would remember to update he newsletter archive on the webpages. | RF MH |
| PLUGGERS | |
| Messrs Whitaker and Hibbett had both held informal chats with Overground, which would be returned to later. | |
| DISTRIBUTION | |
| It was reported that Paul was currently at A Conference, but had been provided with address and cheque details for future payments, as we should soon be receiving some sales information. Nothing had been received from Shellshock, and it was agreed that it was NOT for us to spend our time harassing them. Instead Mr Whitaker would gently nudge them about a fortnight before the 1st March returns deadline, and remind them that after this date we would be able to ask for return of all records (and invoice them for sales of all the rest), and that we still required details of the presales on the Fighting Cocks album, if they still wanted the Ł50 compensation they had requested. This would, of course, be done with utmost politeness, as only a complete lunatic could take issue with any of it. | |
| FINANCE | |
| There was singing and a-dancing, as Mr Whitaker at last presented receipts for sending items to Prime, and was rewarded with the promise of a cheque. He also presented Mr Fleay with receipts for his own mailout, and Mr Fleay presented Mr Whitaker with another cheque, a personal one this time. | |
| QUALITY MANUAL | |
| It was decided that there was no longer a desperate need in the world at large for us to do this, as the indielables list (indielabels@onelist.com) had now been set up, and people with questions could be directed there instead. The list had already provided useful contacts, including the CD plant being used for current albums. The process of developing Job Descriptions had, however, been extremely useful, and Mr Whitaker pledged to combine his and Mr Hibbett’s, with Mr Fleay also getting his sorted out, so that all could be placed on the webpages. | MW RF |
| FOOTBALL | |
| Mr Fleay was very chuffed, while Mr Whitaker was markedly less so. The “bonding” aspect of this item was not turning out to be quite as successful as initially hoped. | |
| A&R | |
| Bands and Ting were talked of, as follows: | |
| FRANKIE MACHINE | |
| Mr Fleay reported that the oft-heralded solo gig was actually taking place NOW, himself having only found out about it that day. Cuh! Mr Hibbett meanwhile continued to harass the 12 bar. | |
| Mr Fleay then revealed his New Plan, to record the NEXT single in a similar way to the first, during February – Arnaldo The Illustrator had already agreed to do the artwork. He then planned to record an entire darn ALBUM in the summer, utilizing a mixture of techniques, including a proper BAND and also some work with Stephen Domino. The Board was duly EXCITED. | |
| MJ HIBBETT & THE VALIDATORS | |
| Mr Hibbett reported that the Hey Hey 16K single had had 2882 hits, just from people typing in http://listen.to/heyhey16K, which was pretty darn exciting. In non-album matters, he also reported that he was booked to play solo at Pop-A-Go-Go on February 19th, that the Reveal single should be out on February 28th, and that he had written two new songs, one of which was Rather Good. | |
| JOHNNY DOMINO | |
| Mr Fleay reported that they had cooled on the idea of free copies of Rabbit Themes being placed in a limited edition version of the new album. It was also noted that there was a vague chance that The Shithouse Masters might be released, possibly by A Gentleman Of Ilkeston. | |
| THE FIGHTING COCKS | |
| Well! It was certainly World Of News for the Fighting Cocks. The meeting noted with joy their recent appearance as Album Of The Month in Front magazine, despite the fact that the album wasn’t actually out on AAS (as credited therein), nor was it likely to be as, in MORE news, they had signed RCA to THEM! The explanation of this had come from Charlie, so was too arcane to go into, but was all GRATE anyway. Charlie had also offered to make a donation to AAS in recompense for the previous months of delay and wotnot, and we would wait to see what happened with this. Finally, the whole experience seems to have made us a New Friend, Nik Moore, at Front, who would be nurtured gently. All quite exciting though eh? | |
| LAZER GUIDED | |
| The Guided had performed the night before the meeting, though unfortunately the Board had been unable to attend. It was reported that they had a new “poppier” style of songs coming through (i.e. shorter and with choruses), and would be off into the studio to Lay Down Some Tracks next month. On a sad note it was reported that Joanne was off to Australia in April, and it was unclear what this would mean for the future of the band. The Board hoped it would all have a lovely happy ending. | |
| SALOON | |
| After the last minutes had gone up on the interweb, Mr Fleay had received a suitably guilt ridden email from Adam – Hoorah! and GOD BLESS them! There was much news. Conquistador would still be appearing on the French Popnews CD (www.popnews.com), though a little later than initially planned, and the next single Shopping/Song For Hugo would be out in March on Amberley. GIGS were occurring on February 24th(Portland Arms, Cambridge), 25th (Jug of Ale, Birmingham) and 26th (21 South Street, Reading). A US Tour had also been planned, but now looked like not happening, and FINALLY the NEXT single would be a split with the Sonic Catering Band, with label pending. BLIMEY! Wouldn’t it be nice if all bands CARED so much and let us know what was happening? We sit here alone at night and worry about their health and if they’re eating properly, and it’s so nice when someone gives us a call. In a spirit of WARMTH the Board agreed that Adam’s (slightly cheeky, the little scamp!) request for a T-Shirt be greeted with a big old YES, and Mr Hibbett would dispatch it forthwith. | |
| THE WANDRIN’ ALLSTARS | |
| Mr Whitaker reported that the 8-track motor had now arrived, but was unsure as to whether it was actually attached to anything, though he did know that they also had both a new mixing desk, and a lot of wine. They had completed the theme tune for a TV programme called “The Venue” and all were extremely happy with it. Meanwhile, new tracks were promised, and it was noted that they had been mentioned on Simon Mayo last week, due to the efforts of someone who ought really to have been working instead of listening to the flipping radio. | |
| STUMBLE | |
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Mr Fleay had had a somewhat heated discussion with Stevie Stumble, ranging over various topics, but including Peoplesound. From this Mr Fleay had learned DIRECT FROM THE LIPS OF STEVIE STUMBLE that Peoplesound was actually funded to the tune of Ł10 million, being run by 4 A&R men WITH UNSPECIFIED COVERT MAJOR LABEL ASSOCIATIONS. Hmm... and indeed HMM! There also appeared to be some dodginess going on with ownership of recordings – Recordings by Pala (half owned by Mr Whitaker) and Twinkie (owned by Mr Price) were up on the site, with no notification from PeopleSound or permission given so. Mr Whitaker would liaise with Mr Price with regards to what action to take. Why, it’s almost like Major Labels deliberately setting up a pirate site to give the whole thing a bad name and thus validate whatever anti-internet action they wished to take. ANYWAY, it was noted that, whatever the evil links to THE MAN, the Peoplesound single had done Stumble well in terms of publicity, having tons of radio play, and that Neil The Manager was again Down South talking to a variety of labels about their future. Stumble’s, that is. | MW |
| COMPILATION ALBUM | |
| Though nothing concrete or assured had occurred, was there not perhaps a glimmer of a possibility, now that the Web Consultancy was almost complete? | |
| ANY OTHER A&R | |
| Mr Fleay had had a very lo-fi tape sent him, which would not be passed on. It was noted that Spraydog would also be in Sheffield, which might provide an opportunity for Being Nice and explaining what had gone on a bit, just in case, while it was stated that the Europa Plan would only go forward (and thus require itemizing in the agenda) if sufficient monies were received from the re-released Wandrin’ Allstars single. | |
| THE “PLAYERS WITH WORDS” MASSIVE PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN | |
| Plans were AFOOT. Firstly, Mr Whitaker asked for a good copy of the Johnny Domino album (on mini-disc, if poss) for copying and sending to various people, and Mr Fleay agreed to liaise with them re. this. Mr Whitaker went on to report that he would be sending tapes out on Tuesday, to Overground, Razzle and Ben Clancy, that they might hear, and WONDER. | RF MW |
| Mr Hibbett had spoken to The Domino about promotional budgets, and they had agreed to something around Ł2-300, which Mr Whitaker would bear in mind in his negotiations. Mr Fleay then presented his rejigged version of the Validators on-CD artwork which, along with other files presented earlier by Mr Hibbett, he would take to the print place before he left for Nice. Mr Hibbett would then go and fetch this when done, and send it all off to Voyager. The importance was STRESSED of getting Johnny Domino’s artwork similarly SORTED by the end of the next week, so that they too could get transparencies made, all to be sent off up to Dundee in Good Time. | RF MH |
| There was then a lengthy discussion about barcodes, ending with Mr Hibbett agreeing to ask Voyager about their availability, and Mr Whitaker doing the similar with Prime. The Reveal single was mentioned, and it was noted that, as there was only 200 being made, only limited publicity would be possible. Next, the TOUR was discussed. Gigs looked hopeful in Leicester, Nottingham, London and Derby, and Mr Hibbett stated that there were possibilities of others in Glasgow, Sheffield and Leeds, though he would not be actively seeking out more joint gigs, as it was a Bit Of a Pain. Finally, Mr Whitaker told Mr Hibbett NOT to give away. OR ELSE. | MH MW |
| CORRESPONDENCE | |
| Mr Hibbett had received a letter from Emmanuel Stranadacia, asking for Frankie Machine material, which he had passed on to Mr Fleay for ACTION. A letter had been received from Wellcut, which would be dealt with in mere seconds, through the medium of Discussion. | |
| ANY OTHER BUSINESS | |
| INTERNET MUSIC TYPES | |
| After the discussion of Peoplesound, it was noted that Wellcut were now UP, as a proper INDIE MP3 site. It was agreed that we give them a go, and Mr Hibbett would FACT Mr Fleay with DATs, to burn a CD, which he would then send to them, with Mr Fleay emailing the chap first. | MH RF |
| DATE OF NEXT MEETING | |
| The next meeting would be on the 29th of February at 7.00pm in the Three Nuns, Loughborough. | |
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