Flash in the Pan Records presents
Live on stage
The flash is real. The sass is non-negotiable.
Skate night, south side, 1991. The label people were in the back. Flash was pointing at them.
Featuring
Tasha Merriweather · Kendrick Holloway (dj, turntables) · Monique Battle (bass) · Andre Sims (drums) · Lorraine Pugh (keyboards, backing vocals)
Side A · The amount
Atlanta, 1990. Four albums. One request, declined.
Sass Master Flash formed in Atlanta in 1990 around Tasha "Flash" Merriweather, who wrote the words, ran the rehearsals and set the terms. The band played live funk under her: Kendrick Holloway on turntables, Monique Battle on bass, Andre Sims on drums and Lorraine Pugh on keyboards and backing vocals.
They released four albums on Flash in the Pan Records between 1991 and 1996. In 1992 a label press release described the band's self-assurance as "possibly too much." The band reviewed the description and considered it the correct amount. In 1997 Ms. Merriweather was asked to dial back the sass. She declined. The band disbanded the same year.
“The flash is real. The sass is non-negotiable.”
— Band statement, inner sleeve of Flash Forward (1991)
Side B · The lineup
One leader. Four musicians who did not need to be told twice. Every ticket is good for the whole run, 1990 to 1997.
Leader · Admit one · No. 01
“Flash”
Lead MC, vocals
Wrote every lyric the band released. Counted in every song herself.
Valid 1990–1997
Tasha “Flash” Merriweather. Sleeve session for Flash Forward, 1991.
Admit one
DJ, turntables
Valid 1990–1997
Kendrick Holloway, cueing. He cut sparingly and exactly.
Admit one
Bass
Valid 1990–1997
“The bass line is the floor. Nobody dials back a floor.”
Monique Battle, Edgewood Avenue, 1992. Sound check was optional. She did it anyway.
Admit one
Drums
Valid 1990–1997
Admit one
Keyboards, backing vocals
Valid 1990–1997
Catalogue
Every sleeve was printed in gold. Every record runs at the speed it was cut. Open a sleeve for the full running order.
1993 · No Response
In 1992 a radio programmer described the band as “too much.” Ms. Merriweather wrote to him. The letter is reproduced on the left. The reply is reproduced on the right, as received.
Tasha Merriweather · Sass Master Flash · Atlanta, Georgia
November 9, 1992
To the program director
Thank you for listening to our record. We understand you described it on air as “too much.”
We have reviewed the record. It is the correct amount.
We are writing so that you have the opportunity to respond. Any response will be printed in full.
Respectfully,
T. Merriweather
for the band
Confirmation
ReceivedLiner notes, No Response (1993). Reproduced in full.
The file
Chapter1
Tasha Merriweather put the band together in the spring of 1990. She had a notebook of lyrics and a list of five names. Kendrick Holloway was the DJ at a Saturday skate night on the south side. Monique Battle played bass in a church band and in two cover bands at once. Andre Sims and Lorraine Pugh came as a pair from a wedding band that did not need them as much as they needed it to.
The first rehearsal was in a borrowed basement in West End. Ms. Merriweather handed out typed lyric sheets and a running order. Nobody asked who was in charge.
Chapter2
Flash in the Pan Records signed the band after a single skate-night set in early 1991. Flash Forward was recorded live to tape in eleven days. Ms. Merriweather took one take on every vocal. The engineer asked for a second take on "The Sass Is Non-Negotiable." The song is the answer.
The record sold steadily in Atlanta and across the Southeast. Reviewers called it "extremely confident." The band agreed with the reviewers.
Chapter3
Some critics said Flash Forward had too much sass. The band made More Sass in 1992 as a response. In March of that year a label press release described the band's self-assurance as "possibly too much." The band asked for a copy, read it at rehearsal and filed it.
Ms. Merriweather wrote "The Correct Amount" the same week. Lorraine Pugh arranged the backing vocals. Monique Battle's bass line on the track is still used to test club sound systems in Atlanta.
Chapter4
In 1996 the label asked the band to dial it back for a single. Ms. Merriweather listened to the full request. Then the band recorded Non-Negotiable, their fourth album. It was not dialed back.
In 1997 the request was made again, in writing, as a condition. Ms. Merriweather declined. The band played its last show that summer in Atlanta. All five members left on the same day. None of them has described the decision as difficult.
Item 1 · 1992
Where: Flash in the Pan Records, Atlanta
A label press release described the band's self-assurance as "possibly too much." The band considered it the correct amount.
The release announced More Sass and was sent to radio and print in March 1992. The phrase "possibly too much" appeared in the second paragraph. The band did not ask for it to be changed. Ms. Merriweather asked for twenty copies and had one framed for the rehearsal room.
Item 2 · 1993
Where: A radio station in the Southeast
A radio programmer called the band "too much." Ms. Merriweather wrote to him. He did not reply.
The letter was one page, typed, and polite. It thanked the programmer for listening, stated that the band had reviewed the amount and found it correct, and invited a reply. None came. The band waited six weeks, then named its third album No Response and printed the reply in the liner notes as "Confirmation." The page is blank.
Item 3 · 1997
Where: Flash in the Pan Records, Atlanta
Ms. Merriweather was told to dial back the sass. She declined. The band disbanded.
The request was made in a meeting at the label office and confirmed in a memo. It was the second such request; the first, in 1996, had produced Non-Negotiable. Ms. Merriweather read the memo, initialed it as received, and wrote one word beside the request. The band announced its last show the following week.
Flash in the Pan Records — press release · March 1992
Second album due this spring
Atlanta's Sass Master Flash return this spring with More Sass, the follow-up to their 1991 debut. The band's self-assurance, which some listeners have found possibly too much, is again present throughout. The label is pleased to support the band's vision.
Flash in the Pan Records publicity
Southeast Groove Weekly · October 1996
Sass Master Flash's fourth album keeps the terms
Tasha Merriweather does not raise her voice on Non-Negotiable. She does not need to. The band behind her is the tightest live funk unit in the city, and the record sounds like five people who have stopped taking notes from outside the room. Monique Battle's bass and Andre Sims's drums lock in on the title track and do not let go. Kendrick Holloway cuts sparingly and exactly. Lorraine Pugh's keys hold the whole thing up. Asked whether the label's request to dial it back had affected the record, Ms. Merriweather said she had considered it.
Staff
On the road
Ten nights across the Southeast. Same set every night. Same amount every night.
Non-Negotiable Tour · 1996
★★★★★
I was at the skate night in 1991 when the label people came. Flash told the room what was going to happen next. Then it happened.
Denise W., College Park, GA
★★★★★
I play bass. I have been trying to learn Monique Battle's line on "The Correct Amount" since 1992. I am close.
Marcus T., Decatur, GA
★★★★★
I own the liner notes for No Response. I have read the Confirmation page many times. It says everything it needs to.
Renee P., Macon, GA
After the show
The Sideband Label list gets new recordings, merch and anything the archive confirms about Sass Master Flash. Nothing is dialed back.
One list. No second take.