26 August 2013
It is now so close to the delivery of the deluxe editions it is almost palpable!
The final chance for pre orders is on Saturday at midnight!
one of over 3000 digiprints signed by Mark and I so far!
Up until then pre orders qualify for the digiprint signed by Mark Wilkinson and myself and entitles you to 15% discount of pre selected items in the mail order shop @ fishheadsclub.com
Alistair, Tom and Michael have been doing a fantastic piece of work here and all the packages for orders placed so far will be complete by the end of this week and ready to have the deluxe editions, prints and the FLAC code stickers added to hit the post as soon as they arrive here. We are completely in command of our end here and the local post office is primed for a very heavy workload. Our priority as soon as the albums arrive will be to get your pre orders out in sequence. Although we will still be taking orders those of you who bought your copies first will be served first and once the decks are cleared in the mail room we will be servicing the other orders made after August 31st. We hope to clear the mail room in just over 7 days working 12 hour shifts with extra hands coming on board!
Although it appears that that the standard edition with the 20 page booklet will be here before the deluxe version because of the easier production it will not go on sale until the preorders are cleared in deference to those of you who have helped support us through the recording stage.
The FLAC and MP3 downloads will also not be available for sale until the deluxe editions are sent out.
If all goes according to the cunning plan the standard editions and the downloads will be on sale on September 14th, the night of the first gig of the fast upcoming tour!
The 180 gramme vinyl versions will not be on sale until the end of November.
Michael, Tom and Alistair and a pile of boxes full of your ready made packages waiting on an early Santa of Prog 🙂
The standard CD in a jewel case with 20 page booklet is priced at £9.99 ( inc VAT £11.99) plus postage
The FLAC version will be 24 bit 44.1khz and comes in at £8.99 (inc VAT £10.79) and comes with a PDF file for the 20 page booklet
The MP3 @ 320 KBPS will be £6.99 (inc VAT £8.39) and comes with a PDF file for the 20 page booklet
I am trying to keep the prices as keen as possible on the CD’s to offset the postal charges as the physical titles will only be available on mail order and at the merchandise stall on the European tour!
We have done as much as we can to here to prepare for “The Feast” and are now at the relative mercy of the printers and suppliers who we are chasing every day for news of the arrival of the deluxe editions.
The band are now set for rehearsals and are due up next Tuesday night to start work on the set. There are a couple of new additions that have to be learned but the main workload is getting the Feast tracks into their new shape, arrangements and sounds. They will be very different versions from the ones heard on the UK tour in May and there is a lot to cover.
Angus Fearful is up this weekend and we will be working on the back screen projections in detail to get them in a more advanced state than a few months ago. His Dad, Sandy will be setting up the 5 new tour T shirts as we whittle away editing footage ! 🙂
John Reid is setting up banners for websites, sorting out the FLAC codes for the deluxe edition, readying himself for Calum’s uploads of the files we need and preparing the shop for the next phase.
Dave Barras is completing the next video with album samples for the shop and for spreading the word.
Yatta is printing itineraries and polishing the tour details.Mark Wilkinson is still beavering away with deigns for shirts , banners and the fliers I need to take out on tour. It’s all very much full on across the board!
Elspeth gathering the orders and marshaling the munchkins!
It is an extremely heavy workload just now but we are all coping and still in control of everything. I can’t remember a release being so coordinated and organised and I am looking forward to getting this album out into the big wide world.
I was buoyed yesterday when Rich Wilson came to the studio to interview me for Classic Prog for the October issue. He arrived at 1pm and didn’t leave until after 9.30. It was probably the most concise interview I had given for years and could probably have filled a magazine never mind a feature! Steamed mussels and a roast chicken dinner made it a very different interview vibe and we had a long and very interesting discussion around a whole manner of topics. The most important thing was he heard “A Feast of Consequences” . It was the album’s first listening session from a professional journalist and all I can say is that I had a huge beaming inner smile when he gave his comments to me. 🙂
Amongst all this hectication, incessant demands and greased elephant juggling I am amazed I have managed to cope without opening a bottle of wine or lighting up anything! The gym is visited every 2 days just now and there are hard bits appearing in the saggy places. Today was spent in the trenches in full repel mode and ended with a walk behind a lawnmower in a rare 40 minutes of solitude. Tonight is signing another 1200 digiprints to bring me up to speed with the present orders.
Tomorrow will no doubt spring another host of surprises on me but I won’t be phased. I’m feeling confident all will come together when it has to. I have a magnificent team working behind the scenes making it all happen and I can’t thank them enough for all they have done so far in preparing “The Feast” Bring it on I say! 🙂
