The Donnas Hitch Their Wagon to Some Clydesdales

With their last album, 2001’s “Turn 21,” Bay Area punk-metal revivalists the Donnas reached the age when they could drink beer, at least legally. In conjunction with the Oct. 22 release of a new album, “Spend the Night,” they’ll be selling beer.

The quartet will be featured in a radio ad as part of Budweiser’s “True Music” promotion. The spot will have excerpts from the band’s new single, “Take It Off,” and group members chatting about what music means to them.

“I would much rather have them use our song and have models, or guys jumping around at a party or something,” says guitarist Allison Robertson, a.k.a. Donna R.

She may be a bit sheepish about it, but it all comes with the official music-business maturing of the band.

The four Donnas started at 14 with music and stance that took equally from the Ramones and Motley Crue. With four albums since 1998 on small, Berkeley-based Lookout Records, the Donnas are now on major Atlantic Records with the goal of widening their exposure and audience.

They’ve been in commercials before. Two songs have been used in TV ads for Target stores and another is in a current Sprite TV campaign. But Atlantic, part of AOL Time Warner, is setting their sights higher now.

“We sat with the band and talked about our ability to co-opt all the relationships we have at every level of the business, from AOL to the Budweiser deal to an Urban Outfitters tie-in to securing them a consistent run of major tours,” Atlantic Co-President Craig Kallman says.

Robertson, though, stresses that Atlantic is imposing nothing on the band. “We had four albums on Lookout, a trillion songs before that,” she says. “We’ve been a band for nine years. It really was about waiting until we had power before signing with a major. We care about every detail. But you might have power, but your album might not make it to the stores or you won’t have [financial] tour support. Labels like Lookout can’t afford it.”

The decision to make the beer connection may well come under scrutiny because the band was first known as a teen group and because it’s still four young women--not the usual spokespeople for beer.

“We don’t have a lot of kids at our shows, and it’s not like they don’t know [beer] exists,” Robertson says. “It’s not like kids coming to our shows are going, ‘Oh my God! They drink Budweiser?’ It’s different if you’re telling kids to get drunk. But they know [beer] exists.”

STAR POWER: Would you say no to Melanie Griffith and Penelope Cruz? Elton John, Bob Dylan, Sting, Alanis Morissette and Ricky Martin didn’t. They’re among the artists who contributed songs to an upcoming album organized by the actresses to benefit the Sabera Foundation.

The charity works to rescue abandoned girls in Calcutta and improve the health, education and status of women suffering from deep poverty and cultural hostility.

At the request of Griffith and Cruz, honorary presidents of the effort’s U.S. wing, Morissette delivered a new song, “Offer,” while Antonio Banderas, Griffith’s husband, teamed with Spanish music stars Alejandro Sanz and Vicente Amigo also recorded a new song, “La Aurora de Nueva York.” John, Dylan, Martin and others donated existing tracks.

On many of the songs, a chorus made up of girls who are receiving health care and education from the foundation was added. Griffith and her sister, Tracy, also sing a new song, “Cross Our Hearts,” with the chorus.

Miles Copeland, chairman of Ark 21 Records, also couldn’t say no to Griffith, and is releasing the album in the U.S. on Nov. 19.

“Melanie called and gave me the whole story, and it’s up my street in that it’s a part of the world I’m interested in,” says Copeland, who grew up in the Middle East and managed the Police when they became the first major Western group to perform in India.

“Unlike many charity albums, the artists have had some level of proactive participation,” says Copeland. “A lot of artists did new songs or donated unused tracks or allowed the tracks to be altered with the girls to make it special. Ricky Martin went all the way to Calcutta to see the need for himself.”

SMALL FACES: John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls has written and recorded two new songs for “Treasure Planet,” Disney’s animated retelling of “Treasure Island” in space. Rzeznik’s songs “I’m Still Here” and “Always Know Where You Are” will be heard in the movie, while versions by British band BBMak (which records for Disney’s Hollywood Records label) will be on the soundtrack album due Nov. 17. Meanwhile, the Goo Goo Dolls are filming an appearance on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” playing themselves and performing the song “Big Machine” for an episode tentatively scheduled to air Nov. 1 ....

In what Warner Bros. executives are calling a labor of love, the company has taken over distribution of “1 Giant Leap,” an album and documentary project of cross-cultural collaborations. Among the tracks on the collection, originally released earlier this year by Chris Blackwell’s Palm Pictures, are a song pairing R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe with Indian film vocalist Asha Bhosle and another with Robbie Williams and Maxi Jazz. Other featured singers include Baaba Maal, Michael Franti, Speech and Neneh Cherry. Plans are being developed to give the project a new promotional push.

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Steve Hochman is a regular contributor to Calendar.