Australia's great rock 'n' roll hope, Airbourne, have been dropped by their label Capitol Records in the USA following a reshuffle of their staff and company structure.
"We're quite happy about it," Manager Gregg Donovan told Undercover, "we've got all our rights back and we already have interest from other labels. Quite frankly we feel like we've jumped off a sinking ship. If you had asked me a week ago, I was banging my head against my desk, but we're quite happy now."Capitol have gone through a complete restructure when it merged with Virgin and basically everyone we were dealing with got the sack." Donovan explained.
The deal was rumoured to have been worth up to $US2m and industry and punter crowds had been talking the band up as the "next big thing".
They have spent recent times in Los Angeles recording an album with Bob Marlette (Black Sabbath, Alice in Chains) and have played showcase after showcase in the entertainment capital.
Thanks to excellent live shows and the hype machine operating at full capacity, the band's early shows in their adopted home of Melbourne were filled with A&R suity types from Australia and beyond.
Memorable hooks in songs like 'Stand Up For Rock 'n' Roll' and 'Women In Black' imbedded them in the psyche and they became one of the most sort after live bands.
Their deal with Capitol in their homeland of Australia was inked separately to their worldwide deal, and remains in tact. Their album will be released in Australia at the end of April, while the rest of the world will have to wait. (Hint - get it on import.)
