MCA Gets Way Cool Bands, Mike Jacobs Gets Cash

Way Cool Music, one of three Orange County-based record labels launched or reinvigorated with major-label funding over the past three years, has been dissolved by its parent company, MCA.

Mike Jacobs, who headed the Sunset Beach-based Way Cool, said that MCA bought out the last two years of a five-year joint-venture agreement.

Jacobs, who lives in Huntington Beach, said that MCA’s president, Jay Boberg, proposed the buyout when they conferred about Way Cool’s budget for the coming year.

“It worked out great,” he said. “I got a pile of dough, and they got the bands. The amount is confidential. Put it this way: I’m not unhappy.”

Boberg inherited the Way Cool deal from a previous administration at MCA.

Way Cool’s most prominent properties have been two albums by the Why Store, and a comeback release from English ska heroes the Specials; both bands remain with MCA. Jacobs also had a finder’s share of the profits from Blink 182, a San Diego punk band whose album, “Dude Ranch,” has gone gold as an MCA/Cargo release.

Jacobs made his name as an independent record promoter who helped win early airplay for such alterna-rock success stories as the Offspring, Green Day, Rancid and No Doubt.

The buyout became final early in July, he said, and he first thought he might “retire and do nothing for a few years.”

Instead, Jacobs is back in the record business, having taken a job as senior vice president of artist development at Trauma Records, the Sherman Oaks label that launched Bush and No Doubt.

Jacobs said that he and Rob Kahane, one of Trauma’s owners, have been friends for about 10 years.

In a press release announcing Jacobs’ hiring, Kahane said that Jacobs’ mid-’90s efforts as a record promoter “helped start the success of Trauma Records. . . . [He] deserves a lot of credit for breaking Bush and No Doubt in the early days. He has tremendous instincts regarding today’s music.”

Last year, the independently owned Trauma fell into legal wrangling with its partner, Interscope, over who had contractual rights to No Doubt. As part of the settlement, No Doubt will now be marketed by Interscope, while Bush remains with Trauma. Trauma subsequently allied itself with the BMG conglomerate for worldwide distribution.

Ironically, Trauma’s roster includes Mr. Mirainga, an Orange County alterna-rock band that was Jacobs’ first signing for Way Cool. Mr. Mirainga left Way Cool for Trauma after its 1996 debut album failed to sell well.

Trauma’s other O.C.-related act is the Flys, fronted by Adam and Joshua Paskowitz, part of a well-known surfing clan from San Clemente. The Flys’ first single, “Got You (Where I Want You),” is on the soundtrack of the film “Disturbing Behavior.”

The remaining O.C. record companies with major-label funding are the BMG-affiliated Time Bomb Recordings in Laguna Beach and Doctor Dream, which changed ownership last year and acquired financial backing from Mercury Records. Long based in Orange, Doctor Dream recently moved to a new office in Huntington Beach.

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THEY CAN SURF, BUT CAN THEY ROCK?: In the early ‘60s, O.C. surfer-musician Dick Dale defined surf rock as a zooming aural ride designed to capture the rushing excitement of catching a big wave.

The Surfers, a trio comprising professional surfing stars Kelly Slater and Rob Machado and MTV personality Peter King, have a different take on how surf and sound entwine. Their album, “Songs From the Pipe” is a mainly mellow and atmospheric affair produced by T-Bone Burnett.

Slater and Machado, both in O.C. to compete at the O.P. Pro tournament in Huntington Beach, will climb out of their wetsuits and onto the stage at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana tonight. Opening is Sunchild, the Orange County band whose guitarist, Donavon Frankenreiter, also is a notable from the pro surfing world. (714) 957-0600.

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THE ENVELOPE, PLEASE: Battling bands are dueling every Sunday night in August at the Rhino Room, part of the annual Los Angeles Music Awards Showcase. Notables on upcoming showdowns include All the Madmen (Aug. 9), Willoughby (Aug. 16) and Telecast (Aug. 30). Similar judged evenings will take place in Los Angeles, Ventura and Riverside counties, with eight finalists performing at the annual Los Angeles Music Awards ceremony Nov. 16 at the House of Blues.

* Rhino Room, 7979 Center Ave., Huntington Beach. 9 p.m. $5. (714) 892-3316.