BOC: Don't hold your breath, but...

[John A Swartz]

>The paper work now finished, we can announce the signing of BOC to SVP
Records, based in Germany.

This would seem to be good news - at least a step in some direction
(positive or negative).

> We hope to be recording during the Summer and
Fall of '96 , playing a few shows inbetween.

I thought that a good portion of the album was already recorded.  How
much more time do they need?

>Release date is hopefully 1st
quarter of '97.

Well, like Andy says, don't hold your breath - but perhaps it'll be better
than hearing Eric say "in the future" at BOC shows.

>As of now, SVP is releasing the record to everywhere in the
world, except the USA and Canada, so we are under discussion with American
companies for domestic distribution.

Well, now this is the kicker, isn't it?  They finally get a record deal,
and the company doesn't plan on releasing the album in North America --
boy this sounds more like the story of Spinal Tap every day.  I mean,
really - how big is BOC overseas?  And, if they ARE big overseas, you
sure wouldn't know it by BOC's current touring schedule.  So, if I assume
that most of BOC's fans are in the U.S., then I have to question the
wisdom of getting a record deal with a company that isn't going to
release the album there!  Sure, some of us fans over here will get
themselves copies (I'm sure Goldmine will have dealers that advertise
there that will get copies - note: I'm not talking about bootlegs), but
one of the main reasons for getting this CD out is to try to appeal to
the major BOC market, as well as potential new fans -- unless these guys
plan to tour Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and South
America extensively in the future, I don't see how the band is going
to win over any new fans.  Geez, if they were going to go this route,
you'd think they could've self-produced the thing and made it available
to the U.S. that way.

Well . . . we'll just have to wait and see what develops now I guess . . .

John