----- Original Message -----
From: Glyn Tucker
To: 'Mark Loveys'
Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 12:34 PM
Subject: RE: Infringement of a Registered Trademark

Mark

I cannot believe that Deane Sutherland has been able to hi-jack the name of your band in this manner.

I know that you have from time to time expressed your concern, since you found out that he had registered the name Satellite Spies, and I tended to laugh it off as a short-lived episode that would run out of steam whenever Sutherland decided to get on with his life and leave your band, and the songs you wrote in his past. Everybody in the NZ music industry knows full well that Mark Loveys is Satellite Spies. So I thought there was nothing to fear. How were we to know that Sutherland was never going to get a life (or a band) of his own, and would stoop to any lengths to steal yours; even to the point of claiming writers credits on songs I recorded with you many months before he joined the “band”.

It is unfortunate that as time has passed and the worldwide trend for nostalgic music of around 25 years ago has become a desirable commodity, my record company and your band are unable to re-release this historic NZ music.

My input into your band was quite substantial; and for the record (no pun intended) I should tell the story from my viewpoint.

The origins of Satellite Spies, thus:

We first met in 1983 when your band, called Blasé booked my studio to record demos of some of your songs.

I was impressed, and invited you back to do more recording at my expense in the hope we might develop a hit single, and ultimately a hit album.

We spent many a long night at Mandrill Studios recording in that manner, and released a single under the name Blasé. “Rock Solid” was released on my Reaction Records label.

Many of the songs we recorded over the next two years ended up on the Destiny in Motion album in 1985, including Blasé’s version of the song “Destiny in Motion”.

Mark, you assigned your songs to my music publishing company Mandrill Music. (now GTM Ltd)

In Jan 1984 I took all the Mark Loveys’ songs as recorded by Blasé to MIDEM. (the annual music industry festival held at Cannes) At MIDEM I was promoting the songs, and the band, and looking for international interest.

I met UK record producer Tim Palmer’s manager Sandy Roberton who liked the tapes and we communicated over the ensuing months with a view to getting Tim to produce some tracks for a debut Blasé album.

The only sticking point was that nobody liked the name Blasé. A second negative was that the band did not really have a rock-star image.

Mark, you and I had several discussions about how to tackle these problems, particularly since music videos were becoming as important as the music itself.

One of these brain-storming sessions was at my house, Bungalore Place, Half Moon Bay, Auckland. We had all these band names floating around; that’s always a good laugh. After an hour or two and a few beers, we decided the new name would be Satellite Spies. That was the definitive birth of Mark Loveys’ new recording entity, “Satellite Spies”.

We decided to launch Satellite Spies as a two-man duo and Dean Sutherland was invited to join… because he looked like a rocker.

I finally concluded a deal with Tim Palmer to come to NZ and produce some tracks for the new album, and arranged finance to cover the production costs of recording and video production of the first two singles.

Tim produced a new version of your song, “Destiny in Motion” based on the same basic elements as the original Blasé version but added his own little synthesizer sequenced riff that gave it an extra spark.

Half of the songs on the “Destiny in Motion” album were based on the tracks recorded by Blasé, and include the original Blasé rhythm section. (…credited on the cover notes)

All lead vocals were sung by Mark Lovey’s. Sutherland’s contribution was playing guitar and providing some backing vocals. (…any session musician could have done)

The relationship with Deane became stressful over the next 18 months, due mainly to his aggressive persona and lack of tact when dealing with media people. Sutherland finally split from Satellite Spies in January 1987.

Mark recruited some new musicians, wrote some more great songs, and I began recording the new material, some tracks of which were released as singles.

Over the next 18 months Mark toured regularly as Satellite Spies until in 1988 the band eventually disbanded.

I had their new album, “Us Against The World”, ready for release but it never came to pass. The tapes still sit in a vault to this day.

Unbeknown to us, Sutherland had gone off and registered the name Satellite Spies as a trademark. (Which we had never bothered to do)

Ask The Dudes, Space Waltz, Hello Sailor, Dance Exponents, Streettalk, DD Smash, The Warratahs, Citizen Band, or even Split Enz, if they had registered their name as a trademark. I doubt if one in ten would have bothered. Once an artist/ group reaches a certain level of public acceptance only a complete jerk would try to pass themself off as the original.

And so it came to pass that Sutherland worked his band under the name Satellite Spies for several years. This annoyed you Mark, because you spoke to me about it on several occasions. I considered the problem would just die and go away; but it hasn’t.

What Sutherland has done would be akin to Bill Wyman (the Rolling Stones bass player for 20 years until he retired) going off and calling his new band the Rolling Stones, even though he wrote none of the songs and sang no lead vocal on any of the recordings. Ludicrous! The only difference is that this example would involve millions of dollars; whereas none of the material produced by any version of Satellite Spies has even recovered production costs.

This dispute is so petty! The only reason for arguing a case for fair control over the name born at my house all those years ago, is for the right to re-release on CD some great Kiwi music that was a part of many young peoples lives, back in the 80’s. At the same time to incorporate some unreleased gems from those recording sessions. It may not be financially viable, but the music should be out there. It is a part of NZ pop history.

Just as “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” was David Bowie’s band, Satellite Spies was Mark Loveys’ band. It always will be.

Yours truly

Glyn Tucker

Reaction Records