SPIRIT OF THE AGE - LETS MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

[Dave Law]

Appologies for those who've already read this elsewhere, the delay was
purely because i ran out of time, anyway for those who have read it stop
now, for the others please read on -


Hi all

long time no communication from myself, but lets ignore that and move on to
more pressing matters, namely Hawkwind's new single, Spirit of the Age
that's due out at the end of August.

As you know I was heading up the "Chart Trek" campaign and that's still the
case, there is various snippets at the Hawkwind Museum website that I've
added recently but underneath here are a few ideas that you might want to
persue in relation to attempting to Make SOTA the most successful Hawkwind
single since Silver Machine over 30 years ago.

One thing before we go any further, i would advise that all overseas fans
who've not yet ordered the single to hold off until i get clarification as
to wether by you ordering direct will count towards a UK chart placing, if
this is not the case we will have to try and find a way around this. we've
still got five weeks as i write this so there's no need to panic, or should
i say "DO NOT PANIC" ;-)

anyway here's a few ideas that you might like to follow up -

1 - a mate of mine who's not a member of the list but is a huge Hawkwind fan
is producing his own DIY flyers that he's put up on his notice board at work
and he's already managed to convince a few of his colleagues to buy the
single. Why not do the same, keep it simple making sure you include the
following -
a) the bands name - Hawkwind
b) the name of the single - Spirit Of The Age
c) release date - 30th August 2005
d) ordering details - Amazon.co.uk
e) one or all of the following web sites for more details - www.hawkwind.com
 www.hawkwindmuseum.co.uk  www.starfarer.net
you might also want to add that it features Channel 5 daytime star Matthew
Wright and anything else you feel is relevant. please get permission from
the owner if you intend to use any logos or graphics, but i would say that
bold and simple is your best approach anyway.

2 - get talking to serious music fans when you're at work, out socializing
or anywhere for that matter, explain what we're trying to do and ask that
for less than a tenner they fancy lending their weight to the project. this
is proper music in a chart that is predominantly filled with processed, over
produced rubbish so I'm sure some true music fans would be happy to get
behind us even if it's "not their particular bag (baby)". it might also be
an idea to loan out copies of albums, be it originals or back up copies that
feature the song SOTA so these folks can see what they're buying into, well
at least roughly how the song sounds. remember to many casuals observers
Hawkwind will get tagged as "Heavy Metal" something they are clearly not
especially where SOTA is concerned. i am in no way condoning the copying of
these albums or any other for that matter but i believe it's not illegal (or
morally wrong for that matter) to lend something! alternatively you can
always direct them to www.hawkwnd.com where of course there are samples of
SOTA and the rest of the new album, but we always have to remember that not
everyones online.

3 - start hounding local, national, Internet, well any bl**dy radio station
you can think of. start by simply trying to get Hawkwind played so at this
point Silver Machine has to be the favorite for this, but this need not be a
problem. what you must do however is inform us (this group, Chart Trek,
Hawkwind Museum, Starfarer) of any success you have, we can then attempt to
"mobilize troops" (that's the rest of you) to follow up with further
communication - "blimey that was brilliant hearing Hawkwind on the radio,
lets have some more please!" - "can't belive i just heard Hawkwind on the
radio, did you know they are releasing a new single soon!" that sort of
thing, this can only help in promoting the bands name, there are literally
1000's of people out there who love this band but are simply not aware they
exist anymore! many of these same people are listening to radio stations all
over the world - SPREAD THE WORD, so get phoning, e-mailing or whatever
other means you see fit to employ but please let us know.

4 - as far as i am aware at this point it looks as though it's going to be
an Internet only release, i.e - you're not going to be able to stroll into
you're local HMV, Virgin etc and pick it "off the shelf". remember that
although most folks now have access to the www in some shape or form many
still don't, so again talk to people, let then know and if need be, order
the single on there behalf, IMO those people have as much right to purchase
this single as the rest of us so this can in no way be deemed as chart rigging.

right, I'm going to call it a halt there as you're probably all bored
senseless by now anyway but in summing up i must reiterate that these are
merely ideas, it's up to you what you do, also remember that i have no
official connection with the band so although I'm sure that they would have
no objection to any of these ideas being carried out they do not have
official sanctioning. also feel free to come up with your own suggestions
for further publicity, either via this list or to me via personal e-mail at
dl006a5789 at blueyonder.co.uk

thanks for your time and patience with this and look forward to your thoughts.

regards

Dave