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History
2000
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What should have been a happy communal
celebration of the new millennium, turned out to be a sullen get together,
paying respects to Kermit le Freak and The Quiff. The funeral was
held on the 5th of January at Portchester Crematorium, and - to No One
Knows We're Dead's credit - was attended by an admirable number of famous
Frostbyte luminaries. During the wake (held at the nearby Seagull
Pub) Fat Cat Benjamin, distraught at the loss of such a profitable signing,
confronted The Ayatollah Of Rock 'n' Rollah about him apparently
letting The Quiff use his car when the band were killed. A passing
reference was made by Fat Cat Ben to the Ayatollah’s "psychological problem",
which perplexed Rollah. When he questioned Benjamin about this, the
Fat Cat replied "Oh, it's obvious, everyone knows you're schizophrenic
apart from you!" This revelation panicked the usually serene Ayatollah,
and after "flipping him off", and making a crude comment about Benjamin's
former wife, a fight ensued in which The Ayatollah, backed by Fußgängerzone,
took out many of the guests, before Rock 'n' Rollah stormed out of the
pub - leaving Big Bad Fat Cat Benjamin standing alone.
A heated argument followed, with many words
being said that were later regretted; Fußgängerzone reportedly
claimed that they "wanted nothing more to do with BBFCB". The band
later apologised to Benjamin, but nevertheless decided to release a brand
new track (which was originally intended to be on the next Fußgängerzone
LP) as a free "downloadable" track from their recently
launched website in the new mp3 audio format.
In April, The
Ayatollah Of Rock 'n' Rollah's own official website went live, and
featured some archive tracks originally released with No One Knows We're
Dead under the name of "The Saint". This hinted that Rollah had finally
begun to accept his schizophrenia, and was coming to terms with being both
The Saint and The Ayatollah. He decided that all material recorded
under both of his names (and with the late No One Knows We're Dead) should
henceforth be reclassified as The Ayatollah Of Rock 'n' Rollah's own work,
to bring all of his previous output together under the one moniker.
During the summer, rumours abounded of a further breakdown in the relationship
between Frostbyte and Fußgängerzone. These reports were
strenuously denied by the management of Frostbyte Records, but that didn't
prevent the band placing more back catalogue songs and mixes online at their
website.
It was revealed in June that the long and eventful story of Frostbyte Records
would be featured on the ITV arts programme 'The South Bank Show'. Many
exclusive and revealing interviews of Frostbyte's influential figureheads by
presenter Melvin Bragg had been specially recorded for this broadcast, which
eventually aired in September.
The few months before the broadcast of this celebratory documentary were
tainted by perhaps the most nerve-wracking period in Frostbyte's history.
After many long weeks of rumours and denials, it was finally announced that
relations between Frostbyte Records and their most fruitful signings
Fußgängerzone had finally broken down. On the 4th July the
band were presented with a writ for an "alleged breach of contract" regarding
Fußgängerzone's apparent setting up of a new media empire in Sutton,
"Goodbye To Berlin", which encompassed a new record label.
The following tense months saw a flurry of legal activity from representatives
of both parties, climaxing with a highly publicized court case on the 4th August
- the specific details of which can be found in the news archive of this site.
(The famous "head to head" picture which has
featured in over one hundred national newspapers world wide.)
This dramatic, and sometimes farcical legal case resulted in humiliation for
Big Bad Fat Cat Ben, after it emerged that the contracts signed by Ludwig and
Birgitte back in 1992 were only for an initial six month period, and had never
been renewed in the intervening years. The case was actually thrown out
of Portsmouth county court by Judge Jewels,
and Birgitte Möchtehaben (who had personally represented the band in court)
received a severe reprimanding for wasting court time and tax-payers' money,
adding that Fußgängerzone must have known all along about these
contracts, and that this information should have been shared during the
discovery process.
Having suffered an almost equal amount of embarrasment, both parties quickly
buried their pride, and came to a unique and unprecidented arrangement.
In losing Fußgängerzone, Frostbyte Records were to be losing their
biggest money spinners. In acknowledgement of Frostbyte being the main
factor in Fußgängerzone's success, the band allowed their original
label to continue promoting the band, and also to reissue the band's back
catalogue as the label saw fit. Fußgängerzone, meanwhile, were to
have equal access to their old tracks, allowing the band to place mp3 audio
files of rare and critically acclaimed songs on their website.
From this deal, Fußgängerzone arranged to keep a larger cut of any
Frostbyte Records royalties from the sales of their back catalogue, and Frostbyte
Records would manage to keep financially afloat, thanks to the mammoth sales
that any Fußgängerzone release can obtain.
As 2000 came to a close, The Ayatollah Of Rock 'n' Rollah used his annual
Christmas Day speech to announce his intention to film a Hollywood blockbuster.
A screenplay was already being written, he said, for what would be a "multi-million
pound" production, partly financed by Fußgängerzone. An offer of
some £21 million to P&O Ferries, to use the luxury ocean liner
Orianna, for one scene of the film was reported in several tabloid newspapers.
Rumours abounded of possible stars for the movie, with speculation abounding after
Fußgängerzone's Ludwig von Schießhoffen was spotted leaving
a London nightclub with Claudia Schiffer and Patsy Palmer on each arm.
Although the year 2000 saw no new music from Frostbyte Records, a "significant"
album release was planned for the beginning of 2001. Many Frostbyte artists
were in the studio or scheduling releases as the year drew to an end, and Ludwig von
Schießhoffen revealed plans for a low-key solo project on Frostbyte Records.
Fußgängerzone themselves were busy setting up the "Goodbye To Berlin" media
empire, and emerged as one of the main financial backers in Portsmouth's new Gunwharf
project - sponsoring one of the many nightclubs due to be opened in this complex.
Commenting on this, and explaining that the band thought it was time to give the city
of Portsmouth something back in return for its years of support and goodwill, Birgitte
said that he "couldn't wait to be seeing the pretty girls hanging about in our groovy
love clubs, for sure!"
| 1999 | 2001 |
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