Tru Thoughts Blog

My name is Paul Jonas, I am co-owner of Tru Thoughts alongside Rob Luis. This is my first blog on this here blog site and is suitably exciting. Nice to be writing about the label at this stage nearing the end of the year and while we look over the albums of the year and our plans for next. It is our 10^th birthday in 2009 (technically in September, but we are going to celebrate all year) so a big year for us. We already have the following people delivering albums for release in 2009; Quantic and his Combo Barbaro (the new name and format of the Quantic Soul Orchestra), Kylie Auldist, Nostalgia 77, Natural Self, Lizzy Parks, Domu (a One Offs, Remixes and B Sides album from this quality producer, who we are very pleased to have on board), Stonephace, Azaxx, Nostalgia 77 Sessions feat Keith and Julie Tippett and we expect new music from Belleruche, Hint, Saravah Soul and Lance Ferguson (Lanu/The Bamboos). A pretty big year we reckon!! Plus we are doing a special birthday three CD package with new and classic tunes.

The biggest news at the moment for us in the office is the unfortunate demise of Pinnacle Distribution in the UK. This has made for a bad few weeks for us here, and the artists affected by the loss of income and sales. We also have friends at Pinnacle and it is a horrible time to lose your job, so we send our regards to them – and will happily give references to all of them. There will be a lot of record labels that won’t be able to continue to exist after this, and it is always upsetting when that happens. We are all music fans here and the more independent labels the better we feel. As for us, we are able to survive this situation, but it has been a big financial slap.

But overall we have had a fantastic year. We have really enjoyed working with the new signings as we debuted several new acts this year (Lizzy, Unforscene, Saravah Soul, Milez Benjiman etc…) and did some great deals in the transfer market. The acts who have been playing live have stepped up their game hugely this year. Natural Self debuted live, Saravah Soul rocked everywhere they played, The Bamboos and Kylie Auldist did some amazing gigs in Australia, Lizzy Parks did a bunch of festivals and Belleruche, quite frankly, took over the world.

In the office, we have had a brilliant staff working here, which has helped us push the music further afield, and made beer-Friday a dangerous weekly occurrence. Here are the people who work here…

Rob Luis – A&R man, picks all the tunes, keeps smiling throughout!!

Joe Seward – runs the office and has t-shirts that say “Ask Joe” because we all turn to him for help.

Rosie Hughes – our only lady, but what a brilliant lady – press officer extraordinaire.

Trevor Heath – publishing and licensing and according to Kinny “funnier than Paul”.

Theo Cooper – runs the booking agency. Likes a drink. Gets paid for drinking cider.

Roo Currier – deals with worldwide sales. Everyone loves Roo, if you want to find out who is engaged, or pregnant then ask Roo as everyone tells him first.

Plus…

Rob Lynam – works out of the office, makes my life easier. Brilliantly dark sense of humour.

Andrew Garnett – Trevor’s assistant. The most creative facial hair in the room.

Fabs – far too good looking. Roo’s assistant.

We all want to thank everyone for their support this year, and we hope you have enjoyed the music. Keep an eye on the site and the blog for new news.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Love Paul, Rob, Joe, Trev, Roo, Rosie, Theo, Rob, Andrew and Fabs xxx

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