Blog: Dinosaur Planet In 2012

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So, I was sat at work on Wednesday grateful that we had FINALLY pretty much sorted out the rhyme for the Christmas Card and looking forward to a delightful evening in Cambridge, when an email arrived in my inbox from the CD people. "Aha!" I thought, "That'll probably be them saying that they'll be arriving on Monday, rather than Friday as promised. Hey ho."

I was right to be pessimistic, but things were much worse than I expected. The email said that the Digipacks had come out all scratched and marked AGAIN, had been failed by the factory's OWN Quality Control Department (who must have been on holiday last time this happened...) and would need to be repressed.

Oh blimey. It also said that they "couldn't say when the new ones would be ready", which was a bit annoying - surely if they'd buggered it up for a SECOND time they'd just put it straight through AGANE, rather than waiting around any longer? Still, I get the impression that the factory itself is a different organisation from the CD BROKERS I'm dealing with, who were EXTREMELY apologetic and offered me a full refund. I thought about it for a little while - I'm not MASSIVELY keen on going right back to square one again, but then again I'm not exactly CONFIDENT that this lot would EVER get it right. Also, if they can't say when the THIRD attempt would be done we would be missing our release dates ANYWAY so in the end I decided that a clean break would be best, and agreed to the refund.

To be fair to the brokers the money was back in my account the next day, and they apologised once more saying they'd be having an enquiry into it, but really I'd've preferred it if it had been done right the FIRST time - they've been good on the last two albums which we've done with them, but suffice to say I shall not be getting them to do anything else in future!

The result of all this is that the album will now NOT be coming out on December 5th as promised, which is VERY UPSETTING INDEED, but can't be helped. Our lovely distributors, Proper Distribution, have been very nice about it and have even offered to find someone ELSE to do it for us, so I'm hoping we WILL get proper copies done in the next 3 or 4 weeks, and as SOON as I've got them in my hand they'll be available to buy in our online shop. The Official Release date will probably now be in January.

It's a right bugger but, as ever, I'm trying to see the positives in all this. The REVISED PLAN means that now the Dinosaur Planet Christmas Cards (which I'm going to order later today) will be coming out BEFORE the album (almost like some sort of Promotional Item! Imagine!) and I'll have a bit more LEAD TIME before sending CDs to journalists and it being Officially Released. In addition it'll come out in the traditional Quiet Time of January, so we might be able to get a bit more coverage, and the Launch Gig i've booked for January 26th at The Wilmington Arms in That London will now be a lot nearer to the actual launch!

So yes, it will probably work out for the best and we should get product to be PROUD of. Still, I can't help thinking it's my own fault. The day the first lot went wrong I'd seen a penny on my way in to work and picked it up, tempting FATE by thinking "I'll need some luck today!". I was due to head out of town for a Moon Horse gig that day too, just as I was on Wednesday when I once again saw a penny, coming out of the GYM, and thought "I'll need some luck today!" If anyone sees me picking pennies up on November 28th, when I'm later off to Brighton, for goodness sake STOP me!

posted 18/11/2011 by MJ Hibbett

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Comments:

You should have called them "LIMITED EDITION, STOMPED ON MY DINOSAURS"
posted 18/11/2011 by Pete

By not My, obv.
posted 18/11/2011 by Pete

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