NEWS & GIGS

At last we have some news, not a lot admittedly, but hopefully for you all, some is better than none. We've finally got our hands on the "pluggers"(the bloke who takes the records into radio stations to get them played) report and apparently the band had plays at:

Radio Two on the following shows Johnnie Walker, Bob Harris, Steve Wright and Richard Allinson. Furthermore there is a 'possibility' of a live session on Radio 2. This is to be finalised as no matter how much they like the band the fact is that there is no real story surrounding SO!

London Live pluggers quote "We only achieved the bare minimum here".

Virgin liked the record but did not play list it, as they had never heard of the band basically.

On the regional side they had plays on Clyde, Forth, Scott FM, Piccadilly Gold, BBC Manchester, BBC Stoke, Signal, BBC WM, Red Dragon, Metro FM, BBC North East, BBC Leeds, BBC Bristol, BBC Northern Ireland and Downtown. The majority of the regional stations have also requested copies of the album, hopefully for future plays.

SO! the response to both the single & album have been good (as we expected), but both Radio Two & Virgins response is a very worrying one. In our humble opinion, here at the SO! web site, we strongly feel that not enough is being done to promote the band and raise their profile as the above report shows. Where are the interviews/reviews in magazines, press & local press??? The email that we have received from you all simply reinforces our thoughts.

Lack of promotion is already showing it's ugly head, and we are more than a little surprised that Prestige Records have not done more to get the band known. Everyone (from your mother to your kids) enjoys the music, and we have honestly not heard of a 'bad reception' to SO! from anyone. Prestige 'appear' to be relying on 'simply selling to FM fanatics' and not doing anything to increase the following, which is a total mystery to us. Is anyone trying to get SO! a slot with Jooles Holland, or a support tour with the Stereophonics? Those that followed FM can remember they toured as a support band, the following year they were headlining! The answer to all these questions will hopefully be answered by someone "in the know" at Prestige shortly .

The record label must now know that the band is 'sell-able' to the public (those that have actually heard of them), and surely some greater effort on promoting them is going to increase record sales, which will return more revenue for Prestige?

These day's the 'industry' is all about promotion (more so than actual talent in many cases), with Popstar's being the prime example. It leaves us feeling stunned, when both the public & press say "These guy's are great! Why aren't they huge????"

Why Prestige????

We have heard, through this site, that Brass Monkey is getting harder to find at the moment as the original stocks of the album seem to have run dry. Record shops have started to contact US as a last resort to source copies.

On a brighter, happier note, Steve and Pete are appearing on their old friend Andy Fox's live radio show on Monday 30thJuly between 10.00pm and 1.00am. It covers the Bristol and surrounding areas and listeners are being invited to ring in or email questions to the boys on:

Phone 01179 221444

E-mail onair@star1073.co.uk (address to Andy Fox)

Feel free to contribute your questions/requests and we, at the SO!-website will do our best to try & 'twist Steve & Pete's arms' into taking along an acoustic guitar or two in the meantime. We will probably just arrange that there are a pair waiting at the studio, for when they arrive!

You can find the show on Star 107.3 FM

Star Rock Mondays 10-1am.

If you live in the area tune in and support the show every week.

We would like to thank everyone who has ordered albums through the web site and are happy to announce that we are in the process of striking a deal with Townsend Records so fans can buy on-line, world wide, securely with a credit card. We'll let you know shortly when this is up and running.

Finally,

More albums are planned later in the year by both SO! and FM.

Keep in touch…. SO!-WEB

P.s. The links to screen savers are now working

(just can't get the staff eh….)