Dear Mark A.,

Smart move not to bother with HOL - definitely a prestige thing but nothing any (European) label will ever make a profit on if the band ask for stupid money like The Storm. 75k? Ah, the delusions of grandeur some 80's rock stars have... I'm not so sure HOL will be able to pull down major bucks in Japan either given the fact that Deep Purple bankrupted Teichiku, Judas Priest did the same to Zero and the Survivor - 'Empires' fiasco made Avex pull the plug on Bareknuckle - and the market share for hard rock has declined even further since. I think the Japanese aren't as 'dumb' as they used to be, especially when never-were-to-begin-with acts like HOL come looking for that big check. That whole thing does have 'let's raid the bank and split' written all over it and any A&R guy with half a brain knows it. It will be interesting to watch this whole thing unfold over the next few months...