March 20/09_




Hi all- our very own DJ and Producer Supremo, Michael Morph is playing this Saturday night at Matter in London alongside a fantastic lineup of some great DJs including Pendulum, James Lavelle (U.N.K.L.E), DJ Food, Aim etc. Doors 10pm-7am. Tickets £12 (adv), £15 (otd). Click here or flyer above for more details

Cheers

Pure Mint Recordings
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March 16/09_

Hi - Please come and support Nigel at the 12 Bar, London tonight - 16th March 2009.




January 26/09_

Rare double chance to come and see Nigel of Bermondsey play tonight, 26th January 2009. At 8pm you can catch Nigel perform an acoustic set at The Slaughtered Lamb, in Clerkenwell, London (on stage at 8pm), followed by a later appearance at the legendary 12 Bar Club in central London at 11pm. Hope some of you can make one or the other.

Cheers

Pure Mint Recordings
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January 16/09_

We are really pleased to announce that Nigel of Bermondsey has been nominated for the XFM New Music Award 2009. He has made the 'Long List' of 46 artists who XFM reckon released the best albums of 2008. We must confess that we concur wholly with XFM's reasoning here; that being said, we would be sublimely grateful if you could click the link below and add your vote for Nigel. After the votes have been counted, the list will be shortened to 10, and then the winner will be announced. Voting for Nigel will bring you fantastic Karma, 99% guaranteed!! :-) Voting closes Friday 23rd January. Thanks for your support.



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Nigel is also playing live at the Albany Theatre in Deptford on Saturday 31st January 2009. Please come along. Furher information from Nigel's Myspace.

Pure Mint Recordings
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November 06/08_

Fantastc support for Nigel of Bermondsey keeps coming.

(4/5) in the UK National newspaper The Independent - "Stuffed with panoramic, psych-pop arrangements..An absorbing and intriguing debut"and another (4/5) from Beat Surrender.

Click image/links to read in full.
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Nigel is also playing at The Water Rats (nr Kings X, London) on Monday 10th November. On stage at 8:45pm.  Please come and show some support.  Click on flyer below for more details:-



Pure Mint are off to LA for some meetings next week.  Web update on our return :-)  Thanks for supporting our label.

Pure Mint Recordings
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October 11/08_

Fantastc support for Nigel of Bermondsey from loads of places; Radio 2, NME, Q Radio, Clash Magazine etc.  Thanks to everyone.

Click image for full press.
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Nigel has been performing here and there acrosss London and has a gig at the Water Rats on 10th November.  Further details and discounted advance tickets from Nigel's Myspace

Short staffing over the summer led to fewer updates of the web than usual...apologies.  Michael Morph's Do What You Want received awesome airplay and reviews in the leading press, Mix Mag, iDJ, etc, it also charted at #12 in the DMC Zzub charts.  More information/press here

The summer (if one can call it that this year) also saw the release of Elevator Suite's Remixes album which picked up support at both radio and mainstream press.  And we offered Matt Kebbell a helping hand to get him up on iTunes.

Please check out all of these new releases, and let us know what you think.  Videos to some are available on youtube and the releases are available on iTunes etc.

We hope you enjoy the music

Pure Mint Recordings
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June 06/08_

New releases (coming very soon).  Please check back...

Pure Mint Recordings_
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April 14/08_

Michael Morph - Resident DJ - Summer of Love 08, Audio, Brighton.  This saturday 19th April.  Click Flyer for more information.

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A couple of great compilations featuring our releases...

Breakbeat Bass (Vol 3) Mixed by Nick Thayer on Passenger Records; includes Michael Morph's "The Crowd C'est Beau" (Aquasky mix)

Cornerstone 076 - Promo CD (Radio/Tastemakers - USA) includes Michael Morph's "Do What You Want" ft. Yo Majesty (Deekline mix)

Anthony, Pure Mint Recordings_
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January 11/08_

Released on 3 track vinyl on 14th January 2008 available from all good record shops or direct from Pure Mint.  Released digitally (with additional mixes) on 21st January 2008 from iTunes and all good download stores.  Further info click here or click graphic above to buy from iTunes.

Pure Mint Recordings_
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December 21/07_

Well, what can we say… 2007 has been a truly great year for us at Pure Mint Recordings and we are very excited to see what 2008 brings. We would like to welcome our new artists Elevator Suite and Michael Morph - who have set a very high standard for any new comers to the label. We feel very lucky to have worked alongside some of the finest out there today such as Aquasky, Alex Metric, Crazy P, Deekline, The Fix, Long Range, Geek Chic Soundsystem, Mawglee and Yo Majesty. A lot of these releases will be out in the first half of 2008…We also thank the legendary Margo Guryan for granting us the pleasure of working with you this year.  Big thanks also to Dj magazine, Eddy Temple-Morris, Mixmag, i-Dj, Annie Nightingale at Radio 1, M8, Drummer, Clash, Uncut, Boys Toys and many more who have given us great reviews and support during the last twelve months.

We are putting together a free Pure Mint Sampler so watch this space for a limited FREE 7 track download early next year…We would also like to thank you all for your interest and support in music, which is what it is all about.

We wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a great New Year.

Pure Mint Recordings_
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December 04/07_

Big shouts out to Eddy Temple Morris for his fantastic support of Elevator Suite's The Wheel on his XFM show, and also to all the other DJ's and reviewers up and down the country who have been 'bigging' up the track, including Boys Toys who made The Suite "Album of The Month!".  Thanks.  The Wheel is now available to buy from all good record shops or from iTunes etc.

Please click the image below for press/radio support



The Charlattans + Burt Bacharach x Stone Roses = Elevator Suite
Musical Maths; Nice one!
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Lots of great new music and releases are planned for the New Year, including the official release of Michael Morph's first single for Pure Mint, The Crowd C'est Beau.  Please check back soon for full details.

Probable update b4 Christmas, but if not, have a good one, and try and be nice to your family.

Much love and peace for 2008
Anthony x
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October 07/07_

What a wonderful month September was!  In the UK, the sun finally showed its face after a considerably long absence!, lots of lovely people started playing Pure Mint records on the radio (Annie Nightingale BBC Radio1, Kiss FM, XFM, Ministry of Sound, Juice FM, etc. to name a few) and lots of great reviews started coming in for Elevator Suite's eponymous second album.  We'll do a full update on press and radio plays for Michael Morph and Elevator Suite later this week. Please check back soon.
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If you are at a loose end one evening during the next month or so, please try and check out FreshFabrik on their tour of England, Wales and Scotland, supporting the fabulous McQueen. FreshFabrik have played with bands like AC/DC and Rammstein in their home territory, but this is their first UK tour, so please come out and show them your support.  Thanks.


Click image for larger version.

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August 16/07_

Apologies for the delay in updating the web.  Lots of stuff been happening - all good :-)

We are just gearing up for the release of the amazing second album by Elevator Suite.  Due for release 1st October 2007.  Check out the 'Swell' bars up and down the UK during September for exclusive pre-release 'easy-listening'.  And following on later in October we have the debut single from the awesome Michael Morph, with remixes from Aquasky, Crazy P and Long Range amongst others....check back soon.

Elevator Suite_more info

Michael Morph

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A big thanks to all at the Planetary group in Boston for their recent radio promotion of 16 Words across the States.  The record ended up being added at over 125 college and FM stations and even charted at 4 in the top 10.  And FreshFabrik will be touring the UK in October and November supporting McQueen - more info soon.

Two great legends of the music industry sadly passed away recently:-

Anthony Wilson 1950-2007
Lee Hazlewood 1929-2007

RIP_Let the music play on.....

Peace.
Anthony 16.08.07
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May 29/07_

Margo's 16 Words is really starting to "explode" on YouTube; .....maybe it's one of those missing Weapons of Mass Destruction!!  An increase of a further 12,000 viewings in the last 8 days (over 22,000 to date!).  Thank you everybody - please keep spreading the word and feel free to pass round the link to your friends.


Click image above to watch YouTube video

But more than that......we are really pleased to announce that 16 Words has now also reached the heart of the USA Administration.  Via an introduction from world renowned Barrister and Writer, Phillipe Sands QC, via one of Bill Clinton's most senior advisors, 16 Words has reached the ears of Joseph C Wilson, the former Ambassador to Iraq, and the man sent by the CIA in 2002 to investigate claims that Saddam was attempting to buy Uranium.

Further information on background to 16 Words here...

Joe and I have since been involved in a wonderful correspondence and Joe has given the song a glowing personal endorsement and quote:-

"16 Words" is a hauntingly effective anti war anthem that uses George Bush's own words to condemn him. A listener of this song, so powerful in its stark simplicity, comes away understanding that the blood on Bush's hands stems from the lies that came out of his mouth." - Joe Wilson

Joe was one of the few 'honest' officials who was willing to stand up to the Bush Administration when he claimed that Bush was 'exaggerating' the threat of WMD's.  It was Joe's op-ed piece in the New York Times critiicising the 'rush to war' that led to the identity of his wife Valerie Plame being leaked and exposed by Scooter Libby (and quite possibly Cheney) as a CIA agent.  This of course is a criminal act and Libby was found guilty in March 07 and is currently awaiting sentencing as I write this.

Peace.
Anthony 29.05.07
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April 30/07_

Video_On 'n' On More info....

It feels like summer is already here in the UK at the moment!  Which is nice :-)

Peace.
Anthony 30.04.07
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April 23/07_

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Today is St George's Day in England.....

To commemorate this proud day we present to our audience a wonderfully funny and satirical work of pure genius from a true legend of the music industry Margo Guryan.  Taking its cue from a mix of Monty Python meets Spitting Image, 16 Words is a very clever satire on the words used to justify the current war with Iraq.

With Tony Blair once again referring to his legacy last week, we offer 16 Words as a reminder of another part of his legacy, the war in Iraq, and more importantly the reasons originally given to justify such an invasion of Iraq.

We are honoured to be working with Margo to get this clever and funny song and video to a wider audience.

Click here for further information on the 16 Words, and their origins.

Oh.......

and by the way.....

St George kicked the ass of the Dragon!

Peace.
Anthony 23.04.07
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April 04/07_

Please click on images above to watch the videos.....more information soon.

Peace & Happy Easter.
Anthony 04.04.07
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March 08/07_


Robert Michael_ 1951-2007_RIP

I have some very sad news to relate.   Robert Michael, from T-Total, passed away early on 1st March after a short illness.  

Robert will be very sadly missed by all of us at Pure Mint and we extend our condolences to his family and his many friends and to his partner David. Robert was a hugely talented producer and DJ and also a great personal friend; his “Healing Song” was the first Mint Source record ever to be played on the radio thanks to Norman Jay, and thanks to Robert's music. I salute you Robert for your friendship and guidance over the years, and may you rest in peace.  

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We are busy getting some new releases ready for April.   A big shout out to Ian Camfield on XFM for playing FreshFabrik's On “n” On last Sunday.  Thank you.

Update soon_Peace x
Anthony 08.03.07
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January 19/07_

Classic Rock February 2007 - CD Covermount features:- FreshFabrik's "Life Is Passing By"_Out Now

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Hi everyone.  Please check out this month's edition of Classic Rock featuring the legendary Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) on the front cover.  On the cover also is a CD of the "best new music" of 2007, with a great track from FreshFabrik.  We hope you like it.

Lots of fantastic press has been coming in for the album and we will shortly be releasing the first single.....please check back here soon.  We are off to Midem next week and will update the press and web fully on our return.  Thank you for your continued support.  Let's together get the liars, deceivers, warmongerers and evil-doers out of power!

Peace x
Anthony 19.01.07
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December 04/06_



FreshFabrik are one of Hungary's leading hard-rock/alternative bands.  They have spent the past twelve years building a reputation as one of the most dynamic and vital live bands on the European circuit and have toured with German heavy metal maestros Rammstein, as well as supporting Muse and stadium-rock giants AC/DC. Finest is an album that we are very excited about here at Pure Mint.  The early pre-release reactions from both the press and some very important industry figures have been phenomenal and we sincerely hope that you will also love this album as much as we do. 

The record is a fantastic blend of alternative guitar/hard rock with sublime melodies, all produced under the careful hands and stewardship of internationally-renowned Smart Studios producer Mr.Colson (Smashing Pumpkins, Skunk Anansie, Nirvana etc.). Please click on the image above for further information.

The album is officially released on CD today (4th December 2006) and also available from iTunes.  All other good record shops and download sites should also have copies and stock soon.  If any record shops do not have stock, please order it, or alternatively you can always buy directly from Pure Mint by clicking whereever you see the BUY logo.  We send records all around the world and our secure credit card payment provider is Barclays.

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We are in the process of updating our catalogue and BUY links.  You will shortly be able to sample all the music for sale on our website before buying.  Please bear with us whilst we confirm all the links and add the relevant sample clip buttons.

Love n Peace x

Anthony 04.12.06
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November 24/06_

Christmas will soon be upon us and we will shortly be releasing a great album called Finest by FreshFabrik, that has already won over the ear of some very fine people indeed, and which we are very proud to have on Pure Mint.

For a limited time, if you have a Sony PSP, you can download for free a video to your PSP.  The video is for the song On 'n' On taken from the album.  Clicking the image below will take you through to Sony's PSP download site..... an early Christmas present for you lucky PSP owners from all of us here at Pure Mint ;-)

Click on image left to download video.

The album will shortly be avaialble in both digital and CD formats.  The images below are some examples of the wonderful artwork by David Vigh @ Vitamin.

Enlarge_

Anthony 24.11.06
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September 19/06_

Hi everyone.  A quick web-update.  We are leaving today to go to the music festival Popkomm in Berlin, Germany to launch a couple of new projects, meet with our distributors, and generally have a bit of a laugh and drink some BEER!  We will update the website properly on our return, but here is a little teaser of a small part of the artwork from an album we at Pure Mint Recordings are very proud to present and which is due to launch later this year.....  More soon.



Please also be introduced to THE CALENDAR OF JOY.  Feel free to become a friend, leave comments and/or help spread the Joy!  More on this madness soon!   Click image below for a link to the Calendar of Joy's myspace page:-



Full update on our return from Berlin.  Thank you for all of your wonderful continued support from all over the world, and let's together bring about a change (BLAIR IS GOING yipppeee!!!) and help forge a new start under the banner of;
 
Peace.

Anthony 19.09.06
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July 23/06_


Pilgrimage to The Cedars In Lebanon
Csontvary Kosztka (1907) - National Gallery Budapest
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About 15 months ago, Bevin Fagan (Matumbi/EMI) and I (Anthony Hall) started writing & recording an album, that, for the last year or so, has gone by the working title of THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. We are due to start mixing the album soon and hope to release it sometime in the New Year.  Bevin also contributed vocals to Heavy Deviance's SAFE & WARM, which is featured on the album A SLOW WALK DOWN THE STAIRS.

Bevin and I wanted to offer for free an MP3 monitor mix of THE CEDARS OF LEBANON, so if you click on the painting above or here it will take you through to our Pure Mint MYSPACE page - where you can download the track for free for a limited period, and please feel free to add your comments as we would love to know what you think of it.

This is not about taking sides; it is simply about stopping the bloodshed and violence. Pure Mint has been very outspoken against the horrors of the last few years (whoever the perpetrator), and this new war is no different. Either we are all going to start living together (and acknowledge and celebrate our differences), or, to coin a phrase, “whatever" - which seems to me an admission that we have all somehow failed.

Full web update soon.
Peace x
Anthony 23.07.06

July 17/06_

We apologise for the paucity of updates recently.....though this is an excellent opportunity for us to extend a very big thank you to everyone who has been dropping by our website over recent months- the web-user stats have been showing a dramatic month by month increase recently (and from all over the world, from China, to Japan to the USA, Africa and Europe and even (Mr Bush) Iran!)  Thank you and please keep passing a good word around about the label and its fresh 'ethos' as we very much appreciate this and are honoured by your continued support. 

Recently we have been very busy working away in the studio on some exciting new releases we have planned for the label and we hope to be in a position to provide a full update on these forthcoming releases very soon.  Please check back shortly.  We are also in the process of undertaking a slight revamp of the website, so that archive material (particularly) is easier to get to.  More soon.

In the meantime (and particularly if you are in the UK) I hope you continue to enjoy this glorious summer we have been having.

Peace

Anthony 17.07.06
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April 19/06_



Click on image above for full details.  All welcome.

Peace.

Anthony 19.04.06 x
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March 29/06_

"We will introduce ID cards . . . rolling out initially on a voluntary basis as people renew their passports" (The Labour Party Manifesto 2005 p.54 [emphasis added])

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Some of you may know that yesterday our second chamber, - The House of Lords - and for the 5th time - sent back to the House of Commons the proposed ID Bill (currently doing the rounds at parliament) for further revision.

The Lords have rejected the government's plans to introduce compulsory ID cards with passport renewals.  

Aside from the Lords' genuinely held concerns about the potential for the serious risk of compromising an individual's personal and private information (and their legitimate concerns about the sharing of “the collected data” in both the private and public sectors), the Lords have also decided to stand up to this morally destitute government by holding them up to their manifesto pledge!

And they are right to do so; in fact a failure to act in this way effectively negates the real purpose of having a 2nd chamber   i.e. a body of the executive that can act as a counterbalance and a check on the first.   It is an essential part of the democracy that Tony and George claim to love so much.

My tuppence – I am wholly against the ID card scheme, although I could live with the Lords' concession that it be available on an opt-in or voluntary basis.   I am against it for a simple reason based on the legal principles of confidentiality and privacy.   Many proponents of the scheme posit that ‘since all of us have to prove who we are many times a day', say when opening a bank account or signing a new tenancy agreement (or such like), or signing in at work, ‘that there will be no difference with an ID card'.   In this they are partially right , but really, they are somewhat 'missing the point'.  

Agreed - we do have to prove our identity on a regular basis and I have no problem with this and will happily continue to produce my passport and some utility bills when opening, say, a new bank account.

The issue I have with ID cards is not "proof of identity", it is just that that under the current system, the relationship I have with the passport office vis-a-vis my passport is to all intents and purposes confidential and personal.  I also have a confidential and personal relationship with my bank, facilitated by the existence of my passport.   My passport however does not have a confidential relationship with my bank, and nor should it!   Under the proposed ID system my passport and my bank are linked like they never really were before, both in time and place, and the traffic is in both directions i.e. from bank to passport and from passport to bank.   Under the current system, the bank can legitimately check with the passport office about the validity of my passport, but the passport office cannot find out if I have a bank account without going through the legislative/judicial body and applying due process.   And rightly so – this is confidential and private information.  

I would imagine that the technology will not be disimilar to the rather unimaginatively titled “chip and pin”, where presumably you are going to have to prove your ID by swiping your card, perhaps in situations that were previously fairly mundane; such as, buying a public transport pass, staying at a hotel, using your works' computer etc.

Every swipe will be logged onto the system   - where you are and at what time and with pinpoint accuracy far superior to satellite technology – as this is how computer systems work. There will also by necessity have to be some form of communication (in both directions), presumably down the telephony system (or its equivalent).   Your whole life will start to be recorded.  The possibilities for interception or misuse of the data are also clear.   Forget trying to protect the identity of your mistresses, those weekend-away hotels, the flights to Egypt to torture prospective Guantanamo guests!! Ha! Here comes Big Brother!

If you are a believer, then God is rightly the only one capable of keeping or entitled to keep a record.   I don't think Tony Blair is God, although perhaps Tony occasionally thinks otherwise!   And if you don't believe in God, then ask yourself this question, “do you really want Tony to act and behave just like he is God?”

Sorry for the strong words – kids look away – but this is bullshit legislation from a distrusted and provenly dishonest regime, who clearly cannot keep to their manifesto pledge.   Reject it absolutely.   The ID bill is important and its ramifications are huge and potentially very dangerous.   For once, although the Lords do have their issues, support them.   It might be their last most important act of defiance. 

For further information on the potential ramifications of the ID card, please click the link below.

Peace.

Anthony 29.03.06 x
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January 13/06_

A belated Happy New Year to you all.  Pheww! - What a fantastic response we have received to the Heavy Deviance album from all the major UK press and Radio 1 FM & Channel 4 TV etc., with still more coming in.  And it was only released a few weeks back! 

Big big thanks; and an especially big 'thank you' to M8 magazine for making A SLOW WALK their 16th favourite album of 2005 - alongside Basement Jaxx, Laurent Garnier, Royksop, Chemical Brothers & Scruff etc.  Wow! - quite simply takes the breath away.  But then we knew we had a great album when we put the finishing touches to it!

For a full list of press please click here.

I have finally gotten around to digitizing the "launch party" photos, so plase click here for some photos of Heavy Deviance in action live.  Please keep an eye on the web for more live appeareances soon, plus a fantastic range of t-shirts. Watch this space! 

Thank you to everyone who has gone out and bought the album (or downloaded it), and to everyone who has supported our fledgling label right from the beginning.  It is almost surreal to think that we are now 3 years old (in one guise or another) - and it has been quite some journey!  Plus more to do and more to see and more tunes to play and hear! - We have lots of great music and nights out lined up for your pleasure in 2006.
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If you are having trouble finding some of our records in some of the major chains then please note that there are alternatives; HMV and Fopp both have stocks of Heavy D in store and we are working on Virgin, who reviewed the record on their Virgin.Net site with a cracking 4 out of 5, yet currently, I am  told, are not taking stock.  I put it down to post modernist irony a.k.a bullshit!! So stock should be there hopefully soon, but if you are having any problems getting hold of any of our tunes or releases then please just drop me an email and we will see if we can help. 

The plethora of digital "saviours of the indies", iTunes (...a staggering 20 million downloads in the week before Christmas), Napster, Tunetribe, Karma Download all have digital MP3's of our catalogue and you can also always buy the physical records directly and securely from us here in the UK. 

I noted that HMV and their ilk were complaining this week about their sales figures being eroded by the phenomenal digital consumption uptake, but there are I think good reasons for this.  Firstly there are no ridiculous "returns" policies on digital.  And there's greater choice.  It is an uphill struggle for the "indie" labels to get product into the major retailers.  No such problems (on the whole) exist within the digital sector - once you are in.  It is not rocket science to realise that without better support for the independent sector from the major retailers (including the supermarkets), the indies will, by necessity, have to concentrate more of their efforts on digital distribution, where the risks are massively reduced and the labels are not at the whim and call of "head buyers" and their inevitable subjective opinions.  These, are the long nails the retailers appear only to keen to drive into their own coffins!

If you want to buy directly from us, please do. In fact it is better for our business model.  We ship promptly and securely throughout the world, and we look forward to receiving your orders soon! :-)  We are backed by Barclays so all of your transactions are protected and secure.

Here's to 2006 and England winning the World Cup! Yeah but no but yeah but no but yeah!

Love and Peace

Anthony 13.01.06 x
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November 25/05_

A big thank you to everyone who made it down to the Heavy Devance launch on Monday night in Shoreditch, and even if I do say so myself, what a most excellent evening it was.   Thank you all for the brilliant attendance, the Photon's for the superb visuals and judging from the hugely positive  'post-party' responses, the band, well, quite simply a total success; and for me personally, certainly one of my favourite Mint parties of the last 3 years.  Thank you to the DJ's and everyone who worked 'behind the scenes' to make the night go so smoothly.  I am going to post pictures and more here soon.

In case anyone missed it, Hea vy Deviance were featured in a 30 minute segment on Paul Thomas's "ONE WORLD" show on BBC Radio 1 last Sunday evening/Monday morning, discussing stuff and playing tracks from the new album.  You can here it again for a limited time on the BBC's Listen Again feature.

Anthony 25.11.05 x
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November 14/05_



We are incredibly proud and pleased to present the stunning debut album from Heavy Deviance "A Slow Walk Down The Stairs", which has already received fabulous reviews in the UK music press with many more lined up for November and December.  Watch this space!  Featuring collaborations with Crazy Penis, amongst many others, this album is both simultaneously groovy and chilled out, being a mish mash of many eclectic and tasteful styles, all put together under the careful direction and control of main Deviant, Mr. Wayne Roberts.  The album is now available to buy from all good record shops, on-line here, and also iTunes.  It is distributed by Revolver/Universal and please ask your local record store to stock it if they have not already!  Thanks.

To celebrate the launch of the LP, we are hosting a party at DUST in Shoreditch on Monday 21st November 2005.  Please click on flyer above for full details.

The party is free (by advanced guestlist) and with DJ sets from the fantastic Michael Morph and Rhys Adams, supporting a full band live appearance from the Heavy Deviance boys and girls, this is assuredly a night to put on your best dancing shoes and glad rags and come and join us in a toast to celebrate what some journalists have already tipped as "one of the best albums of the year".  All are welcome.  Festivities start at 8pm sharp.

Reminder - we are hosting another Room To Manoeuvre this Friday (18th November) at the Koba in Brighton.  This is the first of the new Friday night slots for this groovy little club. As with all the Mint (and Funky Beeva) nights, soulful genuine real music is on the menu, from start to finish! Full details here.

Peace. Anthony 14.11.05 x October 29/05_

To all of you who have either purchased or downloaded a copy of Baby's On Fire. ..we salute you!  Our sincere thanks.  The record is now generally available - at least in the UK - from all good record shops, and please remember that you can also buy any of our releases securely using your credit card through the website.  Please click wherever you see the button. 

Thanks once again to Rockamerica for featuring the BOF video on their October video pool across the USA from bars to clubs and shopping malls, keeping fine company along with the likes of luminaries such as Mariah Carey, Todd Terry, Faithless, Deep Dish and Paul Van Dyke (to name but a few)!!

For those of you in Brighton this Sunday (30th Oct), our very own DJ Attorney makes a rare outing on the decks; with guranteed 'boogie-on-down' soul and funky beats for all, and a set from guest DJ Will B who will also be spinning for your musical pleasure.  This Sunday is the last of the Sundays before Room To Manoeuvre moves to its new Friday night slot from 18th November.

Please click on the flyer below for full details:


Photos from past R2M's


Channel 4 Music recently commented on the Heavy Deviance debut album with the following kind words: "We tried to pick the best track from this record but we couldn't.  They are all quite wonderful."  Cheers.  DMC Update recommended it with (4/5) in their issue this week.  Thanks again;  there are many more reviews and features lined up in November and December across the UK music press, so please check back here for updates.

The album, A SLOW WALK DOWN THE STAIRS , is a real cracker/corker, and takes the listener on a 'full on' musical journey through a landscape fused from diverse musical influences.  It is distributed by Revolver/Universal in the UK and will be available to buy in the shops and on-line from 14th November 2005.  It would make an ideal christmas present for Granny! and all serious music lovers x

We are launching the album at Dust in Shoreditch on Monday 21 st November 2005 from 8pm til 12am, with DJ sets from Frankie Valley (Grand Central) and Miichael Morph (File Under Music) , together with a live band appearance from Heavy Deviance, which all of us here at Pure Mint are really looking forward to.   More details and flyer/guestlist soon and all are welcome.  It will be free :-)

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ANT's POLITICAL RANT FOLLOWS_ for those with too much time on their hands! (though I guess that's better than too much blood!)

So there you have it.  One illegal war, at least two lying heads of state - you know who you are - and now a senior official of the USA government indicted , for being, well, how do you put this politely; "A Lying Son of a Bitch" .
 
Interesting days- Someone indicted for lying about a leak, but no-one indicted for the leak....strange!  If you are not up to speed on this particular story - then I suggest you read some background here - as this case has got the good 'ole Attorney very excited over the last few months, if for no other reason than the likely fall out from the imminent public trial will, at minimum, be very damaging for the G reat W hore B abylon (and his cronies), and if extended, perhaps even be fatal for the Administration;  that is, of course, if we are not all sidetracked in the meantime by a war with Iran or Bird Flu, or an Alien Invasion, or...... 

DJ Attorney has a question: Does Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald actually have the balls to take this investigation a little further up the "chain of command", and disover, as part of that investigation, who actually forged the infamous Niger Uranium documents (i.e. the very same forgeries that the British  first, and then the US, second, relied upon to take us to war) and why?  If so, then this could all get very interesting.  The truth will out in the end, Mr. Tony and Mr. George.  Someone forged these documents....may I ask if if was perhaps either of you?  But of course, that would be just a "conspiracy theory!" Of course, silly me.

Which brings me neatly, Mr 'GWB', to Osama; we all know that he did not and could not have flown the planes on his own (unless he had an amazing remote controlled device - now there's a thought - in the "bat cave" in Afghanistan), so logically he must have acted in a "conspiracy" with others.  Please note the words .  "Your theory", George, of " his conspiracy ", has, absent proof, only as much validity as any other "conspiracy theory", absent proof.  Bush says "Libby is presumed innocent" .  I am wondering - Why does this funadamental (and proper) rule of law not similarly apply to Guantanamo detainees or even to Mr Bin Laden? Show me the money! (proof), George, and you get my support! Simple.

With lying statesmen at the helm, I guess the gullible will believe anything - but for me, simply repeating the mantra "The bad boys! It was them that did it" is far from sufficient and is actually pretty insulting to our intelligence.  Let us hope that we do not waste this fabulous opportunity to get to the bottom of this horrible affair and with God's grace, find the real answers, and thereby discover the truth.

Politics (and Ant's rants) over for now.

Webupdate imminent.  Thanks for supporting our funky little label. Love n Peace x

Anthony 28.10.05
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September 13/05_

Hi all – big apologies for the long delay in updating the website – it's been busy, busy, busy.   Pheww!   Baby's On Fire (BOF) on pre-release on iTunes hit #5 (UK dance), #33 (USA) dance and pretty much everywhere else in between, and is currently #5 on the Video-C on line charts and received 5 “dancing men” out of 5 in Update for two weeks running at the end of August!!! with other press here and other press there and soon to be seen on RockAmerica, USA!!   Thanks everybody.   For a current full list of press/support, please click here.

Illustrations by Sophie Henson
Heavy Deviance_A Slow Walk Down The Stairs


We are very pleased to announce that we have signed a deal with Revolver/Universal Music in the UK , so the full physical release of BOF is set for the end of this month.   In the meantime we have very limited stocks of the first pressings available to buy from our brand new web-shop, where you can now buy safely with all major credit and debit cards (using SSL secure technology through our electronic payment partners, Barclays) directly from us.   Thank you to our first customers who have already found the shop!   Cheers, your custom is very much appreciated.   We have also just finished our very own MP3 download shop - provided courtesy of DA Recordings - so if you would like to collect some of the earlier releases on MP3, please click wherever you see the MP3 icon.   We are also now listed on most of the major download sites, iTunes, Karma, Tunetribe etc.

Beata Pozitiva (DJ Tilos Radio Budapest) and I are just off to Popkomm in Berlin for a couple of days taking with us some of the great new works we have coming out on Pure Mint over the next few months.   T-Total & Marc, obviously, but also the wonderful debut album from Heavy Deviance, which has just returned from the manufacturer, looking ‘spankingly' cool and hot!   The illustrations above are a little taster from the front cover artwork by Sophie Henson.

If you keep a well trained ear to the ground, you will be hearing a lot more of this great album throughout the network of Swell bars up and down the UK during this forthcoming October.   Full physical and digital release to follow later this Autumn.

Proper update when we return from Germany.  Got to shoot...

Peace x
Anthony 13.09.05

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August 14/05_

Quick reminder that we are hosting another Room To Manoeuvre tonight at the KoBa in Brighton, with guest DJ Rhys Adams (Grand Central/ARP).  We are starting to get some great feedback on Baby's On Fire, and if you would like to view an excerpt from the video, produced by our good friends and 'grand masters of light', The Photon Shepherds, please click on the screenshots below.


Click image above to view Video

Love and Peace x

Anthony 14.08.05
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August 9/05_

Hooray.  Big shouts out to Apple (and Miriam in particular) for your fantastic support of the label.  Baby's On Fire is available from today on exclusive pre-release download from iTunes.  Please click on the graphic below to purchase your own copy of this 'kicking little pop/dance' cross-over single featuring the legendary Marc Almond (Soft Cell) on vocals.  Physical product release will be later this month, and I shall post a preview of the amazing video here on the web later this week.


Baby's On Fire/Take Me Away _T-Total ft. Marc Almond
4 track ep. exclusive pre-release download (iTunes) 9.8.05

To all who made it down to our recent funky night-out in Brighton (Room To Manouevre) , a big thank you!  We will post some photos very soon.  The night was a wonderfully intimate and groovy affair with Jim (from Crazy P ) and Wayne (from Heavy Deviance ) providing the night's funky beats.  We have another one set for this Sunday (14th August), so please click here for venue, admission, times etc.  All are welcome.

More soon.....and thank you for all of your continued support.

Anthony 09.08.05

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July 22/05_


ROOM TO MANOEUVRE _ 31st July 2005
Jim Baron (Crazy Penis) & Wayne Roberts (Heavy Deviance)

We are very pleased to announce the launch of a new regular party night, ROOM TO MANOEUVRE , at a club called Koba in Brighton.  In association with Funky Beeva, the first night features the most excellent Crazy Penis doing a DJ set and Heavy Deviance also spinning the tunes, including, I am sure, some from the forthcoming album A SLOW WALK DOWN THE STAIRS.  With Crazy Penis on something of a roll at the moment and an exciting new album out on Shiva soon with a tour of Australia planned in September and the UK in October, this is guaranteed to be a night of tuneful soulful funky ass beats.  All are welcome, and please click on the flyer above for further info.

What with the bombings, the shootings, the Olympics and the rather 'ill-thought out' rush towards more excessive executive powers, London seems, at the moment, to have been metaphysically transported somewhere into Terry Gilliam's extended alter ego (see Brazil ), and as a result a little out of sorts, but London is and always has been a strong place.  A wonderfully cosmopolitan city that has never been an easy city to live in, but has always remained a welcoming, artisically and intellectually stimulating place to live and be part of, and where "free thought" has always flourished, and is perhaps one of its stronger and more noble attributes.  It would be a tragedy if we were all to so unilaterally and unquestioningly give that up. History has countless records of evil lurking in the strangest places, with its multifarious tentacles, here there and everywhere.  All of us at Pure Mint extend our deepest sympathies to all of those affected by the recent terrible events.  It really is a cliche, but the answer is Love, and perhaps this particular cliche is true.

Peace. x

Anthony 22.07.05
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June 26/05_

Only time for a very quick web update before I go off on a small holiday.  The T-Total/Marc single is coming along perfectly - please come back soon, as we will be posting a link to see a special preview clip of the brilliant video (produced by the most excellent Photons ), and which is almost now complete.

Here is a taster of the artwork for the time being.


T-Total featuring Marc Almond _BABY'S ON FIRE/TAKE ME AWAY
Design by Vitamin.
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We are really pleased to announce that we have been accepted onto Apple's i-Tunes, so very shortly you will be able to get hold of our music to play on your i-Pods...

Here's some "food for thought" about the Live8 concert for July 2nd with Sir Bob;.......I was just wondering.....but you know how each act (U2, Coldplay etc.) is gonna be playing to literally billions of peple - 5.5 billion according to the Mirror Newspaper this morning - I was thinking, wouldn't it be a lovely and perhaps proper gesture if the record companies gave, say, 50% of their increased profits resulting from any increased sales made as a result of an act's appearance at Live8, to African aid agencies?  It would be a fairly easy task to prove "increased profits" by reference to the previous 2 months sales against the 2 months post Live8.  Just a thought.
 
Otherwise it looks to me that the Artists and the Labels are really only benefiting themselves, or is that a little harsh?  Only an idea, and Sir Bob, if you want one of my acts, I'll give you 50% of the increased profits for a 2 month period after the date of performance. Guaranteed.  Your shout...Sir Bob.

See you soon.  Peace.

Anthony 26.06.05
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June01/05_


T-Total featuring Marc Almond _BABY'S ON FIRE
Photo by Michelle Robek (c.) 2005
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Hello all and a "warm" welcome to everyone to the 'ever so slightly different world' of PURE MINT .  It is the first of June today and we have lots of exciting news for you ;-) - most of it of a fiery nature.....

First off, and in a very exciting move for the label, we have a single, planned for release exclusively on iTunes on Tuesday 9th August and physically released two weeks thereafter, from T-TOTAL featuring guest vocals from world renowned SOFT CELL vocalist MARC ALMOND .  We are really proud and happy to be working with both Robert and Tim and Marc, and we think you will also be very happy and impressed with the results.  The track is a double A side to be released on both 12" single and also on CD, and we have also shot a lovely video for the song with Marc and the boys, which we are currently editing, and which we are sure is going to help 'raise the temperature' significantly. 

Please check back here soon, but for the time being, I hope you enjoy the fun little JPEG teaser above, and the flames are intentional!!  I am told we are heading for a heat wave this summer (apparently), so it is time to make this baby burn! Burn baby burn....


A Beeva Night, in association with Funky Beeva.  Line up...

For all those who are around in Amsterdam next weekend (12th June), and fancy getting away from all the "constituional nonsense" gripping the Netherlands (and France), then please come along to our party at Bitterzoet .  It is on Sunday 12th with our regulars Heavy Deviance and Barth Fader.  Please click on the flyer (above) for further details.

The new HEAVY DEVIANCE album "A SLOW WALK DOWN THE STAIRS" is scheduled for a September 05 release, so please also check back here soon for updates on the album.  It is sounding and looking absolutely wonderful....more soon.
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Business News -
We are currently in the process of updating the SHOPPING LIST section of the website, which we will shortly be dramatically improving for your 'shopping pleasure'.  We have been very gratefully offered an electronic payment systm by BARCLAYS BANK, so very soon you will be able to deal directly with us using their SSL secure payment processing system, in the knowledge that your transactions will be fully secure and protected. 

The new shop should be up and running within the next few weeks and I would like to take this opportunity to thank ALL OF YOU who regularly 'drop by' our website each month. The stats are hugely impressive and have been very encouraging to this little indie label (that we are), so welcome everybody, whether you are accessing us from IRAN or INDIA, the USA or JAPAN, or pretty much everywhere in between.  We value and appreciate your support. Thanks.

MP3s
We are also currently in discussions with the major MP3 providers and you should, with a good tail wind, be seeing and hearing a lot more from us soon.

For now, please take care, and if you are minded to give praise, 'thank God'. Let's all pray that the next 4 years (under the stewardship of Mr Blair) involves a little less state sponsored genocide than the last 4 years.

Regards

DJ Attorney. 01.06.05

April25/05_

Hi all. 

Congtratulations are hereby extended to Wayne Roberts from HEAVY DEVIANCE for the hugely entertaining screening of his debut short feature WINFORD LOCKINGTON's HEALTH & SAFETY video at the EXP-TV "Short Film" Network event at 93 Feet East on Saturday 23rd April 2005.

The film, a wonderfully irreverent take on 'industry standard' corporate instruction videos, together with its main character (Wayne's "alter-ego" WINFORD LOCKINGTON ), went down an absolute storm with the audience, and I wish Wayne all the very best of success with it.  'Winford' will also hopefully soon to be getting his first television broadcast transmission on Sky and NTL shortly, and I will post an update here when I know more.  Please check back for details.  For the time being, here is the cover from the DVD... and a copy of the flyer from the event. 



Flyer......



EXP-TV - Short Film Network .


A big thank you is also extended to everyone who was able to make the HOLY BEEVASHIP party at Bitterzoet, Amsterdam on the 3rd April.  It was great to see all of you there and we will be back soon to hold another.  Please check the web for updates on all of our events and parties. 

We are 'mastering' a new 12" vinyl this Tuesday for an exciting new single from one of our acts (with special "guest vocals" to be revealed soon...!!), which we are also preparing a great new video for.   It will be released later this summer 2005 and I will update the web properly soon.  The long awaited debut Heavy Deviance album, which now has a name "A SLOW WALK DOWN THE STAIRS" , is currently being 'top & tailed' ready for your forthcoming listening pleasure.  Again, an update soon.

All best wishes for now.  Use your vote wisely.  My advice - Avoid Liars.

Anthony. 25.04.05
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March 25/05_

Happy Easter to everybody.  It's 'Good Friday' today, a bit of a 'misnomer' whatever your religious viewpoint.  But I won't start off on one.  Not just yet anyway.

We are having another party THE HOLY BEEVASHIP with the zany and wonderful Funky Beeva crew at Bitterzoet in Amsterdam on 3rd April 2005.  It all 'kicks off' at around 10pm with DJ sets from Amsterdam legend Bart Fader, the UK's Michael Morph and our very own Heavy Deviance headlining the night.  I hope as many of you as possible can come and "boogey on down" with us all.  Guranteed fun for all...;-)

Please click on the Flyer for further details / admission / address:


Funky Beeva in association with Pure Mint Recordings:
The Holy Beevaship

Canada has been and gone and I would like to thank everybody I got to hang out with, and all the great people I got to meet, for your hospitality and kindness.  It was a hoot.  Ta.   Canada is a wonderful country full of really great people and it was an honour to be invited by Canadian Music Week and the BPI to come to Toronto and let all you lovely Canadians know what we at Pure Mint have been up to, and give you a 'taster' of what we have coming up over the next few months......watch this space.  Exciting things are afoot!

Here is a picture of the CN Tower.  Unfortunately I left my camera at home, so there are only a few other photos that I took - with one of those disposable cameras - but please have a look.  I also got the chance to make a flying visit to Niagra falls - which was very impressive and definitiely worth seeing.



The CN Tower , Toronto, Canada
More Photos.....

Forthcoming Pure Mint releases are moving steadily towards the production line, including an exiting new single which we are currently keeping the wraps on.  Update soon.

Ant's Rants (new websection - Ed!) - Whilst everyone argues about the release of the Attorney General's advice, and whether it is a legally privileged document or not, it seems to me that somehow we are all missing the point,..... somewhat.  The question is not whether the advice should be released but whether the war was legal?   If it was, then we don't need to see the advice, if it wasn't then someone has been "negligent". 

Peace. x.

Anthony.  25.03.05

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February 12/05_

Hi all.  Quick web-update.  Just got back from a fantastically productive and hugely fun Midem (though admittedly probably the coldest Midem ever on record!!!!).  This year we had to keep drinking just to keep warm!  Honest!

I am very pleased to announce that we will soon be travelling again, as we have been invited by Canadian Music Week and the BPI to take part in a sponsored trade mission to Canada (March 2- 6) for the CMW festival in Toronto.  More info soon.


The Blvd.  Directed by Danny Minnick.  Produced by Friends Productions. 2005.  Movie features Crazy Penis - Fly (taken from Flowers in the Attic). 

We are also really proud to announce that we have just licensed the first of the label's tunes to a great movie, which has just been releaed on DVD in the USA and is scheduled for its Hollywood premiere soon (see image above).  THE BLVD, directed by "skate" legend Danny Minnick, takes you behind the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, and features cameo appearances from superstars such as Quentin Tarrantino, Harold Hunter (Kids) and Max Perlich (Drugstore Cowboy), coupled with breaktaking footage of some of Hollywoods best "pro" skaters. 

Crazy Penis open the film in their inimitable disco house style, with the movie then taking you on a rollercoaster (Ed- skateboard!) high energy ride around Hollywood (and its back streets and the famous Boulevard itself), all bouncing along to a kicking soundtrack from the likes of Flava Fav, Weezer, Ralph Myerz and many others.  Produced by Friends Productions in LA, please check out their website www.friendsproductions.tv to get more info and/or order copies.  A big thank you is extended to Darryl at Universal/Geffen for helping to make this happen for us.  Thanks. 

For those of you who were able to make it to Lannie's gig in January, a big thank you also.  The evening was a wonderfully intimate session, with Run (Lannie) singing a variety of pieces from his past cannon/ouvre together with many of his newer orginals.  Please click here for a few photos of Run in action.

A new date for the party diary.  We shall be back in Amsterdam again at Bitterzoet for another party with our very good friends at Funky Beeva on 3 April 2005.  Full line-up and details to follow shortly.

The debut album from Heavy Deviance is currently having the finishing touches put to it and pre-release promo copies will be with us soon.

Peace. x.

Anthony.  12.02.05
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January 7/05_

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I wish all of our regular and our new visitors a prosperous and successful 'fun-filled' 2005 - I don't know about you lot, but I have a suspiciously good feeling that this year will be a really great year for music.

With that in mind, our very own 'living-legend' Running Water (aka Lannie Fagan) - lead singer with world renowned reggae artists Matumbi (Trojan/EMI)- is kicking off the start of 2005 with an intimate session for London's 12 Bar Club on Tin Pan Alley.  The date is Wednesday 19th Jaunary from 7:30pm.   Please click here for futher details of the venue's address.

I would like to extend a big thank you to the editors of M8 and Notion magazines for featuring great profiles of the label in their January 2005 issues.

(c) M8 Magazine 2005	(c) Notion Magazine 2005

For those of you who were able to make it to our party in Amsterdam just before Christmas, I have posted a few photos below.  The Funky Beeva crew did us all proud and promoted an excellently enjoyable evening that was brilliantly attended and fantastically well "danced"!!!!  And that's what Life's all about I reckon;  it's not about blowing the shit out of the deserts (and the people) of Iraq in the 'duplicitious bollocks' of so-called "democracy", nor about 'lying' to the country (....whilst 'lying-low' in Egypt!)- it's just about spending as much time as possible boogying on down with beautiful people to groovy tunes.  Or at least it should be! 

More photos....	A Beeva Christmas...

We are off to Cannes for Midem in just over two weeks time to spread "more love" and to let loose some great new MINT tunes....so an update on my return.

Peace to all.

Anthony.  07.01.05
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November 27/04_

Hello all and welcome.

It has been a little while since the last proper web-update, and I am very pleased to say that in the meantime we have started supplying Cisco Records - a great chain of vinyl shops in Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo. Welcome to everyone in Japan who has maybe bought or heard one of our tunes recently. Thanks for your support and I hope that you enjoy wondering around our website.

We are also pleased to announce that in conjunction with our very good friends - the Funky Beeva crew - we are having a little celebration in Amsterdam on Sunday 12th December 2004. It coincides almost exactly with our birthday 2 years ago, so please come and celebrate our 2nd birthday party with our friends and us. DJ sets from Heavy Deviance (Pure Mint), Frankie Valley (Grand Central), Michael Morph (File Under Music) and local legend Barth Fader (Fatbeats). The party is from 10pm til 3am, only 5 Euros entry and the venue - Bitterzoet - is excellent. All are welcome.


Full line-up/address

Industry Gossip.....

Apple Corps (Beatles) and Apple Computers are still @ log-a-heads and currently heading for the English High Courts to determine their fascinating dispute! - ok it's fascinating for me (DJ Attorney). Apple Computers recently changed lawyers in mid-stream going from Linklaters to Freshfields - which I must say seems an exceedingly strange thing to do. Maybe they were getting the wrong advice, or perhaps advice they didn't want to hear??! 

Full details of the dispute are thin on the ground, though it appears to hinge on a trademark settlement agreement - rather than a disputed trademark - which the parties entered into in the early eighties. Apparently, so the rumours go, Apple USA agreed not to enter the music industry - eerrrm; i-Tunes and Logic Audio come along! And U2 endorsed i-Pods; eerm....does anyone remember 'Zooropa' or perhaps Bono has selective memory?

I understand one of Apple USA's arguments may be that no-one then envisaged computers would be powerful enough to deliver music, such as they are now. Well - eeerrrm - what were the NED Synclavier, the Fairlight, and even the humble Mini-Moog all about then, if not a form of computer "delivering" music!…..and I am fairly confident that the Beatles wouldn't have taken too kindly to Robert Moog releasing, say, the Apple Moog in 1967/68; although I think the pair of them should seriously consider making one now!……and while we are at it, isn't an agreement once signed supposedly binding on both the parties thereafter, caveat emptor 'n' all! Or are we all heading into dangerous uncharted territory here - where technological improvements negate the legality or otherwise of previously negotiated and properly represented commercial agreements?! 

I sincerely hope that I have not bored you with this one, but our very own DJ Attorney is really looking forward to seeing how the case turns out (..he doesn't get out much!…) and "the nutter" is even considering booking a seat at the Royal Courts of Justice to see if the Beatles have truly got the [bottle/gall!] (delete as appropriate). I will let you know how it develops.

Enough for now. Early date for the diaries. Lannie Glenmore Fagan (Running Water) - lead singer with Matumbi and currently working on some great new stuff for Pure Mint - is playing the 12 Bar Club on Denmark Street in mid Jan 05. More details soon.

That's all for now.

Anthony.  27.11.04
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September 21/04_

Quick update...

Heavy Deviance has started picking up some excellent press for 'Make Me Feel It' with a loverly 4 dancing men out of 5 from DMC Update (09_04) and the rather pastoral quote "...a quartet of mixes of this deep and mellow number..bucolic impressions and dream inducing electronic in mind.  Nice one chaps!".  Lovely lovely. 

Bucolic according to the dictionary - means; 'of or relating to herdsmen' - which brings to mind Coleridge's opiate induced dream poems, such as; ..."in xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree...where alph the sacred river ran from caverns measureless to man.." and so on and so forth. - Editors note.

DJ Attorney was featured as a Tastemaker in the 11th September Music Week, quoted as the MD of Mint Source - not my fault BBH  - honest!

And Freedom Republic's StarShaking has started to pick up some fantastic interest from Zane Lowe at BBC Radio 1 (winner of the 2004 NME Best Radio Award) - who featured the band as part of the Fresh Meat segment of his show last week - and also from Steve Lamacq who recently aired the track on his BBC Radio 6.  Thanks guys.  Sure and solid quality support is beginning to grow for what we all at Mint know to be a great little band.

To hear exerpts from (or buy over internet) any of our catalogue please click here and then click more info.

All the best for now.

Attorney.  21_09_04

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August 27/04_

JAPAN_ well, what can I say?

When we landed in Tokyo, the next day Mount Fuji went red

Photo (c) the Japan Times /Kyodo Photos.

......which according to the Japan Times is an auspicious sign, which itself apparently means ñauguring good fortuneî and whose fundamental derivation is said to ultimately be taken from ïthe flight of birds'. Nice; though I digress somewhat.

It was an honour and a privilege to be a guest in Japan and I had a wonderful and amazing time in a truly hospitable country; and made some excellent new friends along the way....amongst both my fellow UK ñmissionariesî - all of whom were promoting some fantastic new music - and also with the many great Japanese contacts and associates we were fortunate to meet and be introduced to.

More Japan Photos.....

Karaoke Fun!

A very big thank you is extended to Wendy Wyatt & Crispin Parry from the BPI, Phil Patterson from UKTI and Keith and David in Japan for the superlative organisation and for your wonderful company throughout the week. On the label side, we have already been following up a number of interesting "avenues" and Pure Mint very much hopes to be back in Japan soon and certainly we shall be getting our records there even sooner.

Tokyo is a fantastic city and it was great to get the opportunity to meet up also with our Japanese licensee ageHa ( T-Totals - Feel The Rain/ Junior Vasquez ) and thank you also to Yuuki for the VIP treatment at Womb . There are too many others to thank individually so please take a blanket ñtaî from me. Ta. I shall though personally thank Taiyo Nagano from the Photon Shepherds for his help and friendship during my stay in Japan. I will see you back in London soon Taiyo.

MINT NEWS_

On the Mint front we are starting to pick up some interest for Heavy Deviance 's ' Make Me Feel It ' (a lovely 4 track 12" ep of dream inducing electronica/house) with, I am told, a forthcoming 4/5 review in the influential DMC update and wonderful support for the label from Annie Mac on Radio 1.  Thanks.

Freedom Republic 's Starshaking/40 Days is available on a limited edition 7" vinyl with a cleverly designed and very stylish sleeve from all quality purveyors of recordings.  A big thank you to Rick O'Shea for recently supporting the track with a week's playlist on his RTE show in Dublin in July.  Cheers.  Please ask at your local record shop if you are having trouble finding the vinyl and you can also hear snippets of the tracks here .

NAPSTER_

We have also started getting the Catalogue put onto various downloads. The first available Pure Mint tracks are "Starshaking" and "40 Days" by Freedom Republic and if you haven't got a turntable then maybe you might want to get an MP3 of both tracks. They are up on Napster UK . More downloads will shortly be available.

That'll do for now.

Anthony  27.08.04

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July 31/04_

Just a quick update of the news.   A very big thank you to everyone who came down and supported us on a horrible and seriously stormy night a few weeks back at Madame Jo Jo's.  It was a great fun night and thank you also to all the acts who performed.

I am off to Japan later today to make a presentation to the Japanese Music and Media industries with the kind support of the BPI and the DTI.  It is a real privilege to be offered the opportunity and I confess that I am really looking forward to it. 

I will update the web properly on my return.  Many thanks for your continued support.

Anthony  31.7.04

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July 5/04_

I thought I would update the web this time pictorially.  We are having a party this Wednesday (7th July).  All are cordially invited.  Freedom Republic , Khus Khus and MC Blaze are on live duties; Heavy Deviance and Frankie Valley (Grand Central) on the decks.  Festivities commence at 8pm.  Madame Jo Jo's.  Soho.  London.

Madame Jo Jo's _London 7th July 2004 (8pm-1am). Full line up _

Recording Sonic Flok . Soon to be featured on
ITV's Mixmasters with the Photon Shepherds .

I thought you might like to see the cover for the forthcoming 7" single Starshaking b/w 40 Days out soon on Pure Mint.  It's another wonderful design from David.

A:   Star Shaking B:   40 Days 7" vinyl disco bag.

MINT NEWS _ Some news in the Mint camp

The label has very kindly been offered an opportunity by the BPI and the department of Trade and Industry to make a presentation to the Japanese music industry in Tokyo at the beginning of August.  We are proud to be in the very good company of labels such as Fabric, Sanctuary, One Little Indian and No Half Measures.  All of us at Mint are very much looking forward to spreading around more of the Mint music (and some of the Hippie Punk ethic) to a wider base both in the UK and abroad.  More on the trip later.

Map of Japan (c) CIA. All Rights Reserved, including " due process "

Other news.  We are putting the finishing touches to a kicking little single from the Master Assassin, MC Blaze; there should be some promos doing the rounds soon.

I thought I would also take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been supporting the label from its inception and I feel confident that we can now build on some really solid foundations with some of the fabulous artists we are working with.  A special thanks to Daniel (our recent work placement student) for being so helpful around the office and continued thanks to Pete Norman at Heathman 's for making our vinyl sound so loud, punchy and wonderfully warm.

Daniel Sengupta	Pete Norman

Peace.

Anthony  5.7.04

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May 20/04_

The astute of you amongst us will realise that we haven’t updated the website in absolutely ages and that we have made some fundamental changes to Mint Source, including changing the colour of the website and establishing our new label Pure Mint Recordings Limited. Pure Mint is a wholly new sister company to Mint Source and the website
www.mint-source.com now redirects to www.pure-mint.com.

The question is why?

Out of good faith I didn’t think it appropriate that we keep updating www.mint-source.com during the last few months (although we have just had our busiest and most commercially productive three months) until we could determine whether this dispute, that we innocently found ourselves in, could be resolved. It doesn’t now appear that we can resolve that dispute. So let me introduce you to Pure Mint Recordings, a proverbial “phoenix from the fire”. Mint Source Recordings remains alive as a legal entity and will continue to remain so in order to enforce what we call “goodwill” in the name of Mint Source in the fields of records and music promotion. However, Mint Source will not put out any new material in the applicable territories until the “threat of legal action” it faces has either been removed from it, or determined by an appropriate court of law.

What happened? And when? For a quick précis of the dispute please>Click here

For a brief news update on what Mint Source was “up to” prior to May 1st 2004 and what Pure Mint has been doing since, please continue reading.

Mint Source’s music (with videos created by The Photon Shepherds) were also featured on 25,000 promo DVD’s “Sneak Preview” released through O2 by eyetoeye. I think most of these have already gone, but you might be lucky at your local O2.

Featuring... Heavy Deviance_Eastern Lights MC Blaze & DJ Attorney_Southside Crazy Penis_The Time is Right (Shiva) Videos by The Photon Shepherds www.eyetoeye.com

Len & Ant in full flow...		..in Londonderry with Radio1 FM

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February 28/04_

Sorry for the long delay in updating the news, but this has been as a result of all of us being a) rather busy; b) out of the country a lot; and c) making new music!
What's been happening....

January saw Len and Ant in Cannes getting up to lots of wonderful shenanigans, making some great new contacts both personally and for business, and generally just having a bit of a laugh in the South of France. We took a CDR of some new releases, which all went down very well, and here is a photo-op in classic "politician style" of me giving the Minister of State for Trade and Industry (the Rt Hon Mike O'Brien MP) a copy of the forthcoming release "Lifestealer" by Khus Khus at the Katie Melua party hosted by the BPI. I must actually write to him to see if he likes it but maybe everyone is too busy with Clare Short at the moment! The Rt Hon Member is in the privileged position of currently being the owner of 1 of only 3 promos! Apologies for the quality of the photo but it's from Len' Phone - and Len by the way asserts copyright!



It was great to be promoting both the label and our new legal endeavour Entertainment Advice (which is now, after some hard graft in January and February, very much "up and running") and some business has already starting coming in for both the label and the business. My most enjoyable party was probably the Danish night - where there were liberal amounts of free champagne and hors d'ouevres, but our night out with Sam from Aim will probably be best remembered if only for not getting thrown out of the club (and for being rather pissed on our last night).
Meanwhile Dash and Wayne were out in Australia living it up on tour with Crazy Penis; and I have seen the photos, so nuff said! Congratulations to the Photons as their Crazy Penis video is apparently on rotation on MTV Asia and some other far-east channel...hooray!

We have just got the whites back on Heavy Deviance and Lifestealer so you all be able to hear them soon. We have also started work on finishing off a couple of newer things - more later - and we are off to Miami at the beginning of March to the Winter Music Conference taking with us lots and lots of very sexy "sexed up" vinyl. Oh and the Carl Cox compilation FACT II is out in Australia featuring T-Total's "Feel the Rain" and the Mastercuts Chill is out and available to buy featuring Heavy Deviance's "Eastern Lights".
I would like to thank Melissa from the Renaissance Club and Mark Powell (bespoke tailor) for allowing us to put on the music and visuals for the party with you recently at the Mango. It was a great night of fashion music and wine and we got the dancing going with some solid low down Mint Source tunes!

We are in the process of updating the web properly soon (and particularly the artist pages) which we should have up and running some time soon after getting back from Miami. In the meantime enjoy the coming spring, and keep on dancing!

Anthony 28.2.04
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December 30/03_

As 2003 draws to an end, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us through our first amazing year; to all who came to the parties, to everyone who has bought one of our records and to all the DJ's that have played Mint Source tunes on the radio and in clubs. A special thank you is also extended to the DJ's who have licensed our records for their own compilations.

It's been a great debut year for the label; and with lots of new stuff (parties/releases) planned already for 2004 I thought I would take a moment to list an overview of some of the highlights.

December 10th 2002 - We launch the label at the Bug Bar in Brixton. Music comes from London's Finest, Heavy Deviance, T-Total, Fire and Water and the Last Fast One.

January 2003 - a mad mental wonderful week in Cannes, with Running Water and the Mint Source crew. We partied as if the end of the world was coming (...better not wish to hard as it might still come!) and released our first press release - re. Mint Source's 'Weapons of Mass Delusion'!! Norman Jay MBE airs the first Mint Source radio play, 'The Healing Song' from The Hint of Mint debut double vinyl.

February 2003 - Parties in London. We take on office/studio space in London.

March 2003 - A trip to Budapest for our first overseas party. Heavy Deviance and the Carbon Fools provide the music. The head of the UK students' union Ents. body comes with us to see what we are all about!

May 2003 - 'Mint in the Loft' at the Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel. Another mad party night with music from Neon Heights, Heavy Deviance, DJ Attorney, DIY, Smokescreen and others coupled with 3 screens of visuals from the Photon Shepherds. Also, 'A Mint Night', our first party in Amsterdam.

June 2003 - 'Budding Stuff', a night of new audio and cutting edge visual talent brought to you in partnership with Saatchi and Saatchi. Norman Jay plays Crazy Penis off the pre-release 'Flowers in the Attic' album. We sign up with www.recordstore.co.uk for Internet distribution.

July 2003 - Parties in London and Amsterdam.
August 2003 - We sign with Amato for UK distribution, attend Popkomm in Koln and extend the Mint Source presence throughout Germany and beyond. 'Mint It!' at the Rhythm Factory is a sell out success with music supplied by Frankie Valley (Grand Central), Heavy Deviance, DJ Attorney/MC Blaze, Crazy Penis and our friends at Digital Dance.

September 2003 - Impressive PR start UK pr. MC Blaze and DJ Attorney play a gig for The Prince's Trust in Trafalgar Square, London.

October 2003 - Anthony goes to the States on business. Makes excellent contacts with some of the leading DJ's, promoters and labels working in America, with the Mint tunes being very favourably received. T-Total's 'Healing Song/Feel the Rain' released to critical acclaim from DJ's/press. 'Feel the Rain' is licensed to a Carl Cox compilation in Australia.

November 2003 - Excellent reviews for 'Flowers' in Mixmag, Record Collector, DJ, International DJ, Logo etc. More radio plays, including our first BBC Radio 1 airplay. Mint Source signs Benelux distribution with Fount Music in the Netherlands. Radio plays across the continent from Italy to Germany and in between. Flowers in the Attic released in the UK. Mint Source web site hits received from 54 countries (from the USA to Russia, Japan to Africa, South America to Europe...and still rising). DJ Attorney and DigiDub provide music for the Anti-War coalition's "Stop Bush" rally in Trafalgar Square, playing to over 100,000 people.

December 2003 - We finish off the year with Heavy Deviance's 'Eastern Lights" released. 'Eastern Lights' is licensed to the seminal 'Mastercuts' compilation series. Crazy Penis' 'Fly' is licensed to Norman Jay MBE's next compilation. Further BBC Radio 1 plays, XFM plays etc. Further licensing requests from Japan and Taiwan have also just come in, so please watch this space.

Thank you everybody; a busy, fruitful and extremely rewarding first year that took the company literally all over the world!!

I would like to especially thank Dash and Wayne and Darbs for making Mint Source a company we can truly be proud of and for committing so much of your time and energy! Words will not suffice! And also to David, Greg, Taiyo and Kay from the Photon Shepherds for all the party visuals and for creating the amazing Mint Source design aesthetic. Thank you's also to Sian and Pascale for your help.

The Mint Source release schedule is taking great shape for 2004 and my sideline career (independent legal consultant to the media industries) is also growing steadily. Len Bendel (another bass playing solicitor!) and I are launching a new specialist media law advice service called 'Entertainment Advice' in January 2004, to provide 'no-nonsense sound legal advice at inexpensive rates' to our growing client roster (which includes leading artists, actresses, independent television production companies, bands and producers etc.). The website for this will be up and running soon.

So I am left now only to wish you all a prosperous and successful New Year and hope that in 2004 we can put the liars, deceivers, and warmongers behind us once and for all, and together begin to build a better world for all based on the principles of truth, equality and justice.

Anthony. 30.12.03

November 28/03_

In 1963 Bob Dylan wrote the song "With God On Our Side" which included the lyrics:

"To hate them and fear them,
To run and to hide,
You never ask questions
When God's on your side."
(©Warner Brothers 1963)

Last Thursday, 20th November 2003, Mint Source was kindly invited to provide some of the music at the "Stop Bush Rally" in Trafalgar Square, which passed both peaceably and had a fantastic joyous "party" atmosphere to the whole day's event. DJ Attorney spun a few tunes and Helen and Lee from Digidub (see photo below) performed a couple of wonderful new numbers, including the first public performance of "Lifestealer".



I felt incredibly humbled and honoured to be able also to play the final song of the day (Primal Scream's "Come Together") to the many thousands and thousands of people crowded into Trafalgar Square (estimates vary between 100,000- 200,000 according to police and the organisers...and however which way you look at it, that's a heck of a lot of people for a "school day"). The 'sound and vision' of so many people singing "come together, as one" in unison will stay with me forever. Thank you Simon from Headancer for letting us take part in the day's events....and while we're at it; the diversity of groups and racial backgrounds that makes up the Anti War coalition is its greatest strength; notwithstanding the "neo-cons" suggestion that it shows its "rag bag" weakness. They are wrong, pure and simple! People can, and do, want to live together. It's just greedy individuals who want us to be divisive; and the time has now come, in my opinion, to tell them to fuck off! Go on - fuck off!

Flowers continues to pick up excellent reviews, including one in this December's Mixmag (4/5) with the quote; "....a gorgeous collection from the Loft dwellers...". All of us at Mint Source are absolutely delighted with the critical response the album has received in the press. We are starting to promote the record to a few key radio/specialist DJ's so we sincerely hope you will be hearing more of our hard work and endeavours on the nation's radio airwaves very soon. Thanks also to Seb Fontaine at Radio 1 for his support of T-Total's "Feel the Rain"/ "Healing Song".

Given that I started this update with a mention of God, and as our "glorious leaders" Bush and Blair often seem to emphasise their personal special relationship with the Almighty, I wondered how they both might interpret (theologically speaking) the following passage from the Scriptures (which on the face of it appears to relate to them/weapons of mass delusion/collateral damage etc.)

Proverbs 6 v.16-19
16. These six things doth the Lord hate; yea seven are an abomination to him:
17. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18. An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19. A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among breathren"

Alright - bible studies over for this month. Back to the business of Rock'n'Roll!

Good friends of mine over at Grow Collective are having a little celebratory pre-Christmas party "Cohesion 11" in Shoreditch on 14th December 2003, where both Mint Source and the Photon Shepherds will be (respectively) spinning a few tunes and projecting some new visuals. Click here for details. It would be great to see as many of you there as can make it. A £2.50 donation is suggested to cover costs.

Anthony
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November 18.11.03_

Flowers in the Attic has now been officially released (Hurrah and Hooray!) and is starting to pick up a number of very positive reviews (DJ, Record Collector, IDj) with more to come, and a few great radio plays here and there (..thank you's to Rob Da Bank on Radio 1 and Norman Jay MBE on BBC Radio London and Rick D and Dave FM at Switch FM in Nottingham for your fantastic support). We recently concluded a number of excellent business meetings at the Amsterdam Dance Event, including appointing a Benelux distributor; Fount Music. Thanks for your support Welmer and I look forward to a successful partnership together. You may also have noticed a slight re-design of the website; we have added little icons of our current releases and pre-release videos at the top of the home page to help you get straight to the music. Quicker!

I hope you have already bought your Christmas presents because a little bird tells me that between the 10th November and 26th January 2004 shelf space in the chain record stores in the UK is tight due to the abundance of Christmas fodder and pap (or as good old Pete Young at Jazz FM termed it; 'throwaway fluff!'). "So Sis, sorry; but it's Britney again this year!! But hey; you also get a free pack of 'Britney Stickers' this time round!" Flowers is available here and there up and down the country (a modest but solid opening), so bear with us and it'll be in all good records shop near you soon; or please ask your local shop to stock it the meantime (you can hear excerpts from the album here). It is a top album and you will not be disappointed. And if you are; tell me why. Please. T-Total's wonderful and tribal "Feel the Rain" and "The Healing Song" is also available and our distributor Amato can be contacted here (020) 838 8330. And thanks Leigh (at Amato) for all the updates and support.

Alternatively you can also buy the record on-line from many different places on the web (or from our website here), and as the artist and label make more money that way, please feel free to let the gargantuan corporate shops (with their huge high street overheads) and the oligarchs that run them go in the direction they seem so desperately to want to go in. All's well that ends well! We're alive and kicking and Flowers will be a great album in 10 or 20 years time, not just for the next few "Designer Mag" months.

The last couple of weeks have been rather hectic (but wonderfully productive) for Mint Source with so many good things coming along and so many new friends to thank. Los Angeles was the start of a long series of 'budding beginnings' for the company (with so many new pwople, all of whom seemed to really to take to the Mint Source ethic and music) and also saw an increase in the number of strange and unexpected run-ins and coincidences (not that I believe in the concept of 'a coincidence'); let's just posit that whoever or whatever is dealing out the cards of "fate" is perhaps getting impatient to see who holds the winning hand.

A big thank you to Daryl (my old boss!) for lunch and also to Richard from Psychobaby Records for dinner and access to some of your wonderful contacts. After a couple of wonderful days in the sun in LA (..which sadly caught fire after I left! A bit like Portugal earlier in the summer!), I headed to New York for The CMJ music Marathon; a conference aimed at college radio in the States (which has broken many many great acts over the years). 5 days in New York is as indescribable as the city itself. I never tire of the city and a big thank you is warmly extended to all my New York friends (both old and new); Eric (sorry I missed you), Maryam, Cori and Paul in particular.

Here is a photo of me with Mike Schwab from Lift Promotion at an excellent little party they hosted one night in a club in the meatpacking area.Mike and I have started discussions about getting some promotion going in college radio; so watch this space.



Copies of Flowers were liberally passed around to discerning dj's and labels (from Mr Scruff and DJ Spinna, to Verve, Interscope and Island records) and Mint Source will be back in the States very soon; but for much less business next time, and more partying!

Congratulations are extended from all the Mint Source camp to Crazy Penis (who are off on tour in Australia with Groove Armada and The Streets in January) and also to our designers the Photon Shepherds who are providing the visuals (for your retinas!!..so to speak!). Mint Source are hard at work putting together some new stuff as we speak including a possible limited edition white label which may be considered a little contentious to say the least!

STOP PRESS - MC BLAZE and DJ ATTORNEY are playing in Trafalgar Square on Thursday 20th November as part of the STOP BUSH rally; that is if the CIA and Bush's cronies will let the rally go ahead with music! Watch this space!

Anthony
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October 20/10/2003_
 
“When I say Southside, you say Yo!”; less of an epigram this month, more of a clarion call!
 
Sorry for the delay in updating the news, as I have been a little busy, though I am very pleased to report that a number of reviews for Flowers in the Attic have been confirmed in some major magazines for November and December. I hope the respective publications enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed putting it together and thank you for your support.
 
The Photons are busy producing some great new visuals (and have put up their website where you can check out some of their wonderful talents), and we are talking to a couple of people about some more Mint parties soon. We are all beginning to feel the itch to party again, so watch this space.
 
Congratulations and thanks are due to Tim and Robert from T-TOTAL whose FEEL THE RAIN is being included on a Carl Cox compilation in Australia and also for all the positive press and dj support on THE HEALING SONG, which has just been released through Amato this week. A big thanks is also extended to Steve Lawlor at Kiss FM and to the numerous other DJ’s who have been supporting what is a really great tune. To hear snippets, please click here. And if your local record shop doesn’t have it, please ask them to get in touch with Amato, or alternatively please feel free to order it through the web if more convenient.
 
The quote at the top comes from MC Blaze’s ‘Southside’. We have just put the finishing touches to a DVD produced and directed for Mint by Greg McKneally of the Photon Shepherds, of the performance by MC Blaze and DJ Attorney at the recent Prince’s Trust mini-festival in Trafalgar Square. Both the video and tune are awesome, and very lyrically astute and very pescient. MC Blaze is most definitely one to watch, so if you want to watch him as well, please click here for the streaming video of the DVD.
 
That’s about it for now. I am in Los Angeles and then on to New York for CMJ this week, and Dash and Wayne will be at ADE (the Amsterdam Dance Event) at the end of October. Will update sooner next time. Promise.
 
Anthony. 20.10.03
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September 19/09/03_

London's Finest feat. DJ Attorney and MC Blaze are playing in Trafalgar Square as part of the "Walk About London" festival in association with the Prince's Trust this Sunday 21st September 2003.  On stage at 1:15pm so please come along and give your support if you are in town.

Please also come and support Wayne (from Heavy Deviance) who, as one of 5 artists in residence for Creative Rooms, is showcasing some of the finest young talent in the East Midlands at The Powerhouse, Victoria Studios Nottingham on Thursday 25th September 2003. Featuring a six piece hip-hop group LINCS, a full gospel choir, Nottingham Youth Orchestra and the Nottingham school of Samba (plus a guest appearance from me on the grand piano), it is sure to be a whole lot of fun (and it is all in a great cause). There are two performances (at 2:30pm and 4:30pm) and it is free to the general public.

I will update the news properly soon, but for time being here is an epigram that I came across and which I thought fitted Mint Source perfectly.  I am told it comes from Cicero (who was writing around 70BC) although it seems more like King Solomon's wisdom to me.

"Two brothers go to see a judge to divide an estate that they have been left, though neither can decide a fair way to divide it.  The judge suggests to one brother that he should divide the estate, and that the other brother should get first choice!!"

Neat.  I like that.

Mint Source are also back in Southend on Saturday 27th September 2003 for another night of dubbed out soulful classics at the Sunrooms (9:30pm-2am).  Guest DJ is Beata Pozitiva (Tilos Radio Budapest) who is over from Hungary.  Please check out Events for more info.

Anthony.

September 02/09/03_

Welcome everyone to the 'multi-dimensional' universe of Mint Source. To those of you who have been here before, my thanks, and to those of you who are here for the first time, please enjoy your stay. Things are now picking up nicely.

First things first; a very big thank you to everyone who came down to our recent "MINT IT!" night at The Rhythm Factory to see Crazy Penis, Frankie Valley, Heavy Deviance et al perform wonderful sets. Thanks to MC Blaze for a wonderful PA and "MC set" and a special thanks to Digital Dance for providing a wonderful second room. The turnout was hugely welcomed and the night was great fun. Busy doing some business at the moment so please watch this space for our next party.

Popkomm has been and gone and was both hugely entertaining and also fruitful for business. The BPI and Aim provided an excellent platform for supporting new British music and a special thanks to Matt (from the BPI) for your very kind words of support, which greatly encourage me. The picture below is of Running Water (from Fire and Water) singing with our new German friends the night we took over the piano bar lobby at the hotel for a good old fashioned "sing-a-long", that managed to wake two guests up at 4am who, thankfully, had the graciousness to join us with a bottle of champagne!!



Here are some key dates:
Flowers is officially released nationwide on Monday 3rd November, ably supported by Heavy Deviance's first single Eastern Lights (feat. a kicking remix by Neon Heights) taken from the album. With a national PR campaign and a national bar promotion, it should be available from all good record shops, and if your local shop would like to get hold of a copy please ask them to contact our distributor Amato Distribution on (020) 8838 8330. Flowers in the Attic was recently reviewed in an influential Cultural and Political publication in Hungary, receiving 4/5 and the quote: "..if you're bored of the current music, then you'd be better off choosing this album, for the dark side is not always the winner."

Robert and Tim's (T-Total) The Healing Song is picking up a lot of FM radio play; Kiss, Tay, Power, Southern etc. and is no.2 in influential DJ Antoine 909's chart presently and has an official release date set of 13th October. I was heartened (and humbled) by the great response (and the kind words) Mint Source received at Koln from a lot of great people. So here's looking forward....

We are currently hard at work putting together a brand new Mint Source project, which in the manner of naming "combat operations" that the "so-called" Allies seem to be so keen on these days, we are naming "Son of the Bitch!", but more on this soon - but have no fear, for notwithstanding the "aggressive" coded name, there'll be lots more hearts and flowers. And we are even talking to the Russians about it!

For music is the key ingredient of the principal dimension of Mint Source. Music as art, music for perhaps enlightenment and music that is just so "damn groovy" that you cannot but help to "shake yer ass" to it. 'Cause, afterall, there's nowt wrong with a bit of "ass shaking"

Tootle pip!
Anthony

August 12/8/03_

All of us at Mint Source are very pleased to announce that we have signed an exclusive UK distribution deal with Amato, who have been established for over 10 years and distribute a wide and eclectic roster of great labels. We will be celebrating at the Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel on bank holiday Saturday 23rd August together with Crazy Penis, Frankie Valley (Grand Central), Heavy Deviance, guest MC’s, visual delights from the wonderful Photons and the second room provided by our special guests Digital Dance. So please come along if you can make it.
Full line-up is here.

Things are hotting up. Literally! The world continues on some kind of maniacal suicide mission, and apparently ring-tone downloads is now a bigger market (in filthy lucre) than the CD singles market. ‘Hey – have you heard my new ring tone? It’s kicking and just listen to that frequency response.’ Times are strange indeed.

To all those who made the Pure Mint at the Whitehorse, thank you for your support. Due to an altercation occurring we are putting "Pure Mint" on ice for a while. Watch this space!
We are off to Germany this week to Popkomm (which is an industry event in Koln) and I am really looking forward to it. Will update the news upon our return.
Anthony

July 23/7/03_

Just back from Amsterdam after the weekend’s party and I thought you all might appreciate the picture below of my mind finally exploding! What with my commandeering of a bus at Terminal 1 in true "Hollywood Style", BA on strike at Heathrow (we won’t go there!) and almost not having most of our records (we certainly will not go there either! again!) - it is a miracle that the party even took place! But took place it most certainly did. Thanks are due once again to Dash for making the night run perfectly; it is always such a pleasure for me to be able to form so many new friendships in your esteemed company.


Photo: Kay Shin
More photos...

We are proud to present our new monthly night PURE MINT starting Friday 1st August 2003 (and the first Friday of the month thereafter) at the Whitehorse, Brixton Hill, Brixton. It is free before 10pm and only £2 afterwards. The launch will feature sets from special guest DJ Frankie Valley (Grand Central) and the Mint Source regulars Juan Le Jack and London’s Finest, together with a guest appearance by South London’s rapper and composer MC Blaze and a tasty side order of delectable visuals by The Photon Shepherds. The Whitehorse is a lovely venue with the bar staying open until 1am and it would be great to see as many of you there as are able to make it. Full line-up, venue address and flyer details can be found here. Alternatively please drop Mint Source your email above, and we will send you an e-flyer.

Advance warning: Mint It – 23rd August 2003 (bank holiday Saturday til 5am) Rhythm Factory – confirmed line-up and flyer very soon!

Salutations,
Anthony

June 2003 28/06/03_

Firstly I must offer my apologies for the delay in updating the website, but we have been hard at work debugging and making a few enhancements, as well as progressing the business of Mint Source and its varied and wondrous artists. Some of these additions you may already have noticed, like the email subscription on the top right. If you let us know your email, we can then more easily keep you informed of upcoming events and releases.

‘Flowers in the Attic’ (the CD version) is now back from the manufacturers and looking and sounding great! Thank you David for all your hard work in helping to get this together. The www.recordstore.co.uk has agreed to start handling our internet distribution, so please get our your credit cards, sell your body and start buying it. Click SHOPPING LIST, then CATALOGUE and hit BUY (about 15 times each please!…if you can afford it!!!!), and if you’re just "buy curious" please click here and start listening to some of the tunes. The sound links are optimised for broadband.

Big thanks to Norman Jay MBE (www.normanjay.com) for playing Crazy Penis’ FLY from the compilation on his giant 45 playlist (15/6), and the first two (very favourable) reviews for the album have also just come in:www.digitaldance.com where it got 8 out of 10, and July’s International DJ (IDj); a very respectable 4 out of 5. We are finalising a number of shops in Nottingham, London and a few others dotted here and there where you will also be able to buy the CD in the material world so please check back here and I will post the details very shortly.

The next Mint party is at the Akhnaton in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Saturday 19th July. Yes, we’re going back to create more havoc in the bohemian centre of Europe! Chris Todd from Crazy Penis is coming over to play a DJ set, together with local favourites Barth Fader, London’s Finest and the Heavy Deviance crew. If you are out there, or know friends who might like to come, please contact Mint Source for an emailable flyer.
Further details are also available here.

A retrospective big thank you to everyone who very kindly gave their services and loaned us their wonderful artwork for the ‘Budding Stuff’ party we held last week at Saatchi & Saatchi’s private bar The Pregnant Man. The evening was a wonderful success with an excellent turn-out, top tunes and of course the ‘mint’ visuals! Will that be the usual then, Sir? We are now in discussions with Saatchi’s to turn this into something of a more regular thing, so watch this space, and soon we will be putting up a gallery space on our web pages to showcase some of the artists. If you want to check out the invitation, please click here. Special thanks are also kindly extended to Appletons Rum for providing the fantastic free mohito bar, and also to the Flower Lounge for making the place look and smell gorgeous.

We are currently mastering the alternate vinyl version of Flowers together with some new Mint Source goodies, and with a bit of help from a good tail wind, we should have the finished product back within the next three weeks or so and available to buy.

Other Mint Source news:
Fire and Water are in the Mint studios early July polishing off some new tracks…..London’s Finest has recently starting collaborating with Scorpio Productions on some new tunes – a demo version of their first fruits ‘Life After Death’ can be heard here…..The motley Heavy Deviance crew are busy working all over the shop (Juan is currently chilling in Portugal…lucky sod!) and Eastern Lights will be available to buy within the next 2-3 weeks….and Matt Kebbell, a new Mint man, was recently seen in the studio putting down some ethereal and haunting music. Last, but not least, we now have a regular monthly night we are calling Pure Mint starting on the first Friday of the month (1st August for the first one) at the White Horse in Brixton, a lovely bar/club venue with a 1a.m. licence. More on this on the next update. Oh - and one for your diaries – next Mint in the Loft (‘til 5a.m.) is Saturday August 23rd at the Rhythm Factory, Whitchapel.

I noticed the "oh so controversial…not" Easy Jet advert the other day when cycling on my way into work, and it reminded me of a press release we issued in January 2003 at Midem that referred to ‘Weapons of Mass Delusion’. Since we firmly believe that Mint Source were the first to ‘coin the phrase’, unless, that is, we are grossly mistaken – and if so, we’ll just blame our own spooks as it seems to be ‘de rigeur’ these days) - we are now consulting in top level meetings with our lawyers to see if we can establish the truth behind the whole matter………since you never know what you might find……if you just dig deep enough!

Love and peace
Anthony

May 2003 29/05/03_

I am a little overwhelmed. Mint in the Loft, Sunday just past, and a huge thanks from all of us at Mint Source to everyone who made the night one to truly remember. The Photon Shepherds' visuals were awesome; thank you to Osborne and Tom for a wicked set that I actually got some time to dance to, and the Crazy Heavy Valley combo, well what can I say! To all the dj's and each of the performers, my deepest thanks. To Sian and Darby; thanks for running the door. To all of you that came (and I feel very honoured) - a very big thank you - and to all those that made it back to ours, that was a lot of fun. Everyone tells me that the party was wonderful, so I'll guess we'll just take that for a fact! And if nothing else, it shows that we are all beginning to speak with one voice.

We have a few things we are busy planning at the moment, including another gig in Amsterdam for Mid-July and another London party in August. In addition we are putting the Mint Source bells and whistles on a couple of things for June and early July, which I will update the web with next time around.

Anthony

May 2003 15/05/03_

Phew! Amsterdam was very kind to us. Thank you Dash for your generous hospitality; a special thank you to Barth and Taco (an excellent set that I really enjoyed!) and also to Passionflower and to everyone who came out to support us. The Mint posse all, unanimously, had a wonderful evening and weekend!!!!….and we are now in the process of planning another party, provisionally for the w/e 18th July. Watch this space.

BMG have now very kindly given their consent (thank you Paul) for the fabulous Bent remix of the seminal Hall and Oates track "I can’t go for that", recently sampled on the Simply Red comeback single, to be included on the brand new Mint Source compilation "Flowers in the Attic", which is now, as I write, being dutifully polished and smoothed off by our conscientious band of merry Mint Source elves. Featuring heavyweights like Crazy Penis, the aforementioned Bent, Frankie Valley, Heavy Deviance, the wonderful ‘Lectric Ladies (shake that ass! touch that tit!) and of course Neon Heights and many many more, Flowers in the Attic is set for release on Monday 23rd June 2003. I’ll post more info on all the artists on the web soon….but I have just been a little pleasantly busy recently…

We are holding another party!

Mint in the Loft will take place this coming bank holiday Sunday 25th May 2003 at The Rhythm Factory in Whitechapel – from around 8pm til 5am, and we have, for your delectation in two rooms, a whole host of stupendous dj’s and live p.a’s, including many of the acts on Flowers, Tom from Smokescreen and Oz from DIY, 3 projectors of live moving images and 3 slide projectors under the caring control of the Photon Shepherds, and all for £6 in advance or £8 on the night. If you would like to get a ticket please email tickets@mint-source.com. You are all very welcome and it would be great to see you there.

Still looks like peace remains a distant ship on the horizon though I think that it is starting to sail our way. The madness of what has just happened in Iraq cannot be allowed to be the way that mankind continues to resolve its troubles, however dire the need, and, as Ozzy said on leaving Sony, "[surely] it is time for some new ideas".

Anthony

A conundrum for you all;

You know how a double negative effectively makes a positive…..well…..does it follow that evil fighting evil somehow makes a "good"…errmm? Not sure about that one!?

Lots of exciting news in the Mint Source camp but where to start…..where to start….

The Mint Source "posse" is currently fervently working away putting the finishing touches to a sublime new compilation that the very kind boys and girls in the Loft Bar Nottingham have compiled for us. Entitled "Flowers in the Attic" the record features some of the UK’s leading DJ’s and seminal deep house producers including, amongst others, Mary Anne Hobbs favourites NEON HEIGHTS, CRAZY PENIS, BENT, DIY/SMOKESCREEN, our very own HEAVY DEVIANCE and a whole host of other gems. We shall be releasing Flowers in The Attic in both a CD and alternate Vinyl version, so there should be something there for everyone. A big big thank you to Simon (Neon Heights), Dave and everyone at the Loft. Your generosity is much appreciated.

We will be launching the album at the Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel on Sunday 25th May 2003 (it’s the bank holiday, it’s an "all-nighter" and as an added bonus there will be a secret "after gig" party to keep us going during the holiday Monday). The night will feature many of the acts on the compilation together with a host of Mint Source regulars (including a live set from Hungary’s CARBON FOOLS). Two rooms of classic tunes and genius visual projections from THE PHOTON SHEPHERDS…so please keep the date free. A flyer/poster will be up on the website soon. Please check back for full line-up, admission charges and guest list.

For those able to make it, we are also promoting a party at the Catacomb Studio (Haarlemmerstraat 124c, Amsterdam) on Friday 2nd May 2003. With sets by Juan Le Jacque and DJ Goodlad (Heavy Deviance), London’s Finest, local dutch Dj’s Barth Vader and Taco Fett, and a live set from Mint Source’s PASSIONFLOWER (and many others), the night is sure to be a hedonistic pleasure bash as only the ‘Dam’ can provide!! And of course Sian and Anthony will be in attendance to hand out the goodies!
Please check out the flyer under Events. And if you can’t make it, but have friends in Amsterdam, please let them know. Email info@mint-source.com for a copy of the email flyer.

Other news:

White labels are flying out of the Mint Source studio as we speak. First up we have MOSQUITO by the Carbon Fools, on a twelve featuring, in addition to the original, a breakbeat dance floor killer TARZANINO and Law’s (from the Last Fast One) Dub Steppas remix of MOSQUITO. A TINT OF MINT (featuring ECTAMORPH’s house stomper "YOU GIVE" and VIOLANTE’s SUPERWOMAN) is also grooving its way out. An official release will be out shortly. In addition, I have just received back the whiteys of HEAVY DEVIANCE’s "EASTERN LIGHTS" backed with the heavy dubby bluesy "ROOM TO MANOUEVRE" on the B side which is sure to be a regular in clubs across Europe (and America if it can sort its act out!!) this summer!


More news to follow….stay posted, keep "minted" and remember that whatever you’re told, most of it is usually bullshit!

Anthony. 23.4.03

March (update) 03/03_

Some good news. Essential has agreed to start distributing "A Hint of Mint" in the UK. In France, Cire Jaune has also agreed to start distributing the label through their independent network, Virgin and FNAC stores throughout France. To get in touch with either, please see our contact page.

The Carbon Fools have kindly agreed to come over to play the next party on the 25th May 2003 - it's being held at the Rhythm Factory (Whitechapel) on the Sunday night of the bank holiday weekend - so the perfect excuse to get trolleyed - and it will be going 'til 5am. I hope lots of you will be able to come. A flyer, the finalised line-up and advance tickets will be with us soon!!

We are also holding another party (for those of you who can make it) in Amsterdam on Friday 2nd May at the Catacombs - the line-up is not yet settled, but will involve at least one local dj and act, and a heavy (no doubt deviant) Mint Source posse! Flyer to follow, please email info@mint-source.com for further details.

I am off to New York again early April and will update the web on my return.

Much love. Peace.

Anthony

March news 03/03_

My good friend Toby, who now lives and studies in Paris, says there are only two important things in life; "love" and "art". It seems, having witnessed what must be one of the most inexcusably poor displays of so called "democractic diplomacy" that the world can ever have possibly seen, that we (as a collective whole) lack both art and love. Which seems a bit of a tragedy. Anyhow...

Mint Source has been very busy over the last couple of months and I am sorry for the delay in revising the website. I will be updating the news section properly later this week, and following the huge success of the Carbon Fools sortie recently in Budapest, we are now well into planning two new parties; one for Amsterdam in early May, and the other a party in London, for the end of May. Please keep an eye on the web for further details.
More later.....

19.03.03

February news 02/03_

The Mint Source "posse" are off travelling again. This time it’s Budapest, Hungary, with the head of Making Waves (NUS Students Ents body) to see the Carbon Fools. London’s Finest is playing a soul funk set Thursday evening 27th February with Croatian DJ|’s "Dzihan and Kamien" at the Citadella (Budapest) and Juan Le Jacque will be playing a DJ set with Titusz and the Carbon Fools at the Kultiplex Budapest on Saturday evening 1st March 2003. All are welcome (if you can make it there!)

January news 01/03_

28.01 - MIDEM, Cannes, France

Thankyous will not suffice (and this website seems to be rather clogged with thanks lately - but what the hell it's better than blowing the shit out of the desert whilst trying to sell your toys!).....but.........the posse did us proud!!! Rob, Jo, Polly, Julia and Matt - thank you. Cannes has now been and gone - and none of us seem to remember much of it, other than the oysters exacted their revenge on me - that'll teach me to pre-empt my own happiness.

Where to start. We met David (a French journalist writing for Les Inrocks - the French NME) in the bar of the Martinez, forged what I am sure will be an eternal friendship (you just kind of know them when they come along...it's all in the eyes, or is it the ay's that have it!) and then we all continued at a party which we hobbled together with the speakers from my laptop, back at the apartments. David wrote a fabulous and glowing article (thank you..) about the label which appeared in Les Inrocks. We also got a small piece in the MIDEM daily news, the businessy bit of press that accompanies the festival, which respectfully quoted me as saying that the majors should not complain about their customers stealing from them, when they were stealing from their artists! But all done in the nicest possible taste! I assure you.

We met with the controller of RFI (Radio France International - BBC Radio1 equivalent i am told) who loved the label's concept and music and even invited Pascale for a private drink. Thank you also to Matt and Sarah and your colleagues at the BPI for promoting us, particularly when we failed to turn up until after lunch, or was that breakfast!

A special thanks to Norman Jay MBE, who has now played Leslie and Robert's track "THE HEALING SONG" two weeks in succession on the Giant 45 selection on his Sunday night show on BBC Radio London. Norman's website can be found here: http://www.normanjay.com Juan Le Jacques and DJ Goodlad (Heavy Deviance) did us proud on the BPI MIDEM promo CD (some 5000 i understand were given away at MIDEM) sandwiched between a David Holmes track and the 250,000 seller Big Brovaz's "Nu Flow". It's definitely time for a new flow. The Mint Source promo CD's seemed to ebb consistently away from the BPI stand which was also nice.

One night we took over the Hilton Savoy, with the complicity of Didier the amazing house pianist, where Run and Chester from Chicago sang duets and competed in a singing competition that was sublime to listen to. I even played a poor Marilyn Monroe inspired version of "I don't like Mondays", but we'll forget about that! A thank you also to Becky from Sheffield for singing.
Run (from Fire and Water) was amazing all week - everwhere i went with Pascale to meet the posse (after we'd done some business), i would hear our music. Run kept giving each establishment one of the HINT OF MINT promo cd's and they played it, a number of times. It was nice to hear our music, cause afterall this is what it is all about.

But this could go on forever.....

I am off to New York on the 31st January for a week to follow up some meetings i had last November. We've put together another compilation CD which i am taking to New York which is called "TO NEW YORK WITH LOVE" which everyone i have played it to so far has liked. It is in an early stage, but more on this will follow. The TINT OF MINT second vinyl is virtually ready and the quality (and quantity!) of great music i keep getting sent is wonderful. If we can keep our heads, i think that we are possibly on to something here. It's really afterall only a business model based on the principles of respect and trust. Thank you all for your help and i will update the web again on my return from New York.
Anthony.

18.01.03_

Mint Source are very pleased to announce the appointment of Judith Weaterton (Appetite PR) to handle the label's pr and press. Formerly Head of Press at Polydor and Arista, Judith can be contacted on appetitepr@ntlworld.com

01.03_

THE LABEL LAUNCH
A very big thankyou to everyone who was able to make it down to the Bug Bar for the launch of the label on the 10th December 2002. And a special thanks to the Last Fast One, Frank and Run, Wayne, Anne, Robert, Sam, Catrine, London’s Finest and Christina for playing and the last thanks especially for Pascale who got the whole thing to work! The evening seemed to go very well on balance - few hiccups here and there - and a couple of good things have come from it as a result and more importantly everybody seemed to have a great time. So let’s all continue the party!
Which brings us to…..

The Launch Pad– Opening Night 19/02/03
The Bug Bar has kindly agreed to us starting a monthly Wednesday night there from February 19th. We are calling it "The Launch Pad" and it will feature a night very similar to the label’s launch but cut down on the bands to one, and have three dj's not four. I hope you can all make the first one. Stef and Ute from Passion Flower are coming from Amsterdam to play, and the rest of the line-up should be sorted by early January. We will have a flyer soon. If you would like to get an "emailable" flyer, please let us know your email.
MIDEM/ BPI (18th January – 23rd January 2003)

Mint Source is off to Cannes for MIDEM in January with a small posse (for wont of a better word). MIDEM is the international Music Industry festival (in its 37th year) where the world’s music industry meets for conferences, licensing, new acts, business etc. Running Water will do a bit of busking.
The BPI (British Phonographic Industry – governing body) have very kindly allowed us to come under their umbrella at reduced cost and "Notts Plaza" (by Heavy Deviance) is being featured on their MIDEM promo CD. Pascale and Anthony will investigate some business! And if it all gets troublesome at least she can speak French. We are very proud to be taking a lot of new music to MIDEM showing the eclectic forward direction of the label, together with A Hint of Mint (vinyl) and promo cd.

MUSIC WEEK/ LAUNCH
As a result of the launch a freelance music week journalist called Mint Source. We met and had a very interesting conversation. We should have a very small introductory piece about the label in the pre-MIDEM issue (which I believe is dated 6th January 2003).

NEW YORK
Mint Source went to New York at the end of November 2002, principally for Anthony to get admitted as a New York attorney, but also to have a couple of meetings for the label. Those meetings went well and we shall be following them up in early January. Updates will follow.
WEB UPDATE/ T-SHIRTS etc.

When we get back from MIDEM the first priority will be to work a little more on the website, which will become more interactive and include more levels. We will have sections with biographies and pictures of the various Mint Source acts, sound clips, video clips and various links. We hope also to start a gallery of designs and photographs and paintings from some of our many talented friends; and writings/poems whatever. We shall see. There will also be a section where you can get hold of records slip mats t-shirts and postcards/prints etc.

NEXT UPDATE after MIDEM…………………………….

December news 01/03_

12.02
To celebrate its launch, Mint Source is holding a party at the BUG BAR in Brixton on 10th December 2002 from 7.30 pm - 2 am.The night will feature both live music and dj sets from a number of artists featured on "A Hint of Mint" our first release- a double 12" vinyl. A promotional CD will also be distributed featuring 11 contemporary exciting new acts and musicians from Hungary, Jamaica, Germany, Italy, Holland, Pakistan and of course the UK. So come down and party with us on the 10th December 2002 @ the Bug Bar.
IT'S FREE AND EVERYBODY IS WELCOME !
Bug Bar
St Matthew's Church
Brixton.
London SW12 1JF
Nearest Tube : Brixton (Victoria Line)
www.bugbrixton.co.uk

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