We've been meaning to have a compilation album for years, almost since we began AAS in fact. Part of the point of all this (apart from, obviously, an excuse to go to the pub and show off, something at which it has succeeded ADMIRABLY) was to give bands and music fans a chance to meet, to share new music, and to get on all pally.

BUT as ever the problem was money - it's hard enough for one band to get it together enough to find the money for a release, but TEN? And who'd want to risk it anyway, I know I'd have to be AWASH with cash myself to risk a tenner on a bunch of unknown quantities, so how could we expect other people to do so?

And as so often in recent years, the answer lay in the Internet. While corporations bleat about their "losses" due to people realising they didn't have to pay 14 quid for something which costs LESS THAN A POUND to manufacture, smaller labels like ourselves find that it makes life MUCH much easier - when our manufacturing and promotion costs are NIL, we can put anything out, and when your "profit margin" usually comes with a big minus in front of it, that's pretty handy. Also, the whole IDEA of a compilation comes into its own - we want you to hear the bands we like, you're interested in hearing bands that YOU might like, so let's Get It On, shall we?

On this compilation you'll hear tracks that represent our GRATE bands. You'll hear tracks that should have been on albums, were going to be singles, or were an idea for something a bit different, but most of all you'll hear people playing and writing because they WANT to (because they WANT to), and not because some coke addled twat has told them it'll shift units.

Isn't the Future BRILLIANT?