WHHELS & DEALS: POST-FOURTH BIZ

We hope you enjoyed the long Fourth of July holiday. Hopefully, you didn’t blow your hand off while lighting an M80—those things are dangerous. As we start the second half of 2007, the weasel community remains active, with none of the traditional hot-weather lethargy. But before we proceed with our report, we just want to share that we can’t stop playing the new Mark Ronson LP. RCA veteran music exec Ashley Newton gets big props for making a fantastic album. The Amy Winehouse cover of the Zutons’ song “Valerie” sounds like a big smash to us, while the Lily Allen and Daniel Merriweather tracks are standouts as well. Check it out… ON TO THE NEWS: Speaking of RCA, we hear that Ashley and A&R hitter Matt Marshall are finalizing a deal to upstream Immortal act Scary Kids Scaring Kids. The band’s upcoming album will initially be worked through Immortal/RED, and RCA will step in after sales hit a certain threshold, as usual for upstream deals. Kudos to Immortal players Happy Walters and Jason Markey for overseeing the band’s development… The deal for the Craig Averill-repped Airbourne has finalized as Roadrunner snags the act. The Aussie rockers also have a track on the Madden NFL 2008 soundtrack. Signing credit goes to A&R player Ron Burman, who also recently inked Scottish rock outfit Biffy Clyro… We hear U.K. act the Soulsavers have signed with The Bearded One and new Columbia A&R hitter Kevin Kusatsu… Former Third Eye Blind member Kevin Cadogan has signed a publishing deal for his TEB catalog share with Jake Wisely at Bicycle Music. Cadogan is managed by Pete Cohen, and barrister Jonathan Blaufarb mediated the deal… L.A. rock outfit War Tapes has some tour dates opening for the Smashing Pumpkins. The band has been getting specialty radio play from Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq at Radio 1 in the U.K., Live 105 in S.F., Indie 103 in L.A. and WFNX in Boston. See Buzz/Gigs for the band’s next show… Finally, here’s a small sampling of the panelists participating at Amplify in August: Bill Armstrong, co-owner of SideOneDummy (Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello), BMG Music Publishing’s Monti Olson (Maroon 5), ASCAP’s Tom DeSavia, Capitol Music Group’s Jeff Blue (Linkin Park, Macy Gray), Interscope’s Jeff Sosnow (All-American Rejects, Wolfmother), Viper Room booker Joe Rinaldi, artist manager Pete Galli (The Bravery, Andrew W.K.) and MySpace Records A&R guy Jon Pikus. For more info, log on to www.AmplifyMusicCompFest.com... BUZZIN’: Emma Burgess and Away Station… Hit me up: [email protected]

BUZZ & GIGS
MEIKO Sat., July 14, TBD, El Rey, L.A.
WAR TAPES Thurs., July 26, 8:00 P.M., Bowery Ballroom, N.Y.
AMPLIFY MUSIC FEST Aug. 7-10, TBD, Freemont St., Las Vegas