Part-Time Rockers: Movie Stars With Rock And Roll Bands

Not too long ago, we did a rundown of our favorite music videos that contained cameos by movie stars. To take that one step further, we're back with a roundup of movie stars who have their own damn bands. What this proves is that everyone, even famous actors like Ryan Gosling, Keanu Reeves, and Kevin Bacon, wants to be a rock star. 1. Dead Man’s Bones Ryan Gosling and his friend Zach Shields are the driving forces behind this band. They released their first self-titled album on Anti in 2009. Two questionable facts listed about the band on its Wikipedia page are that the inspiration for it came from a mutual love for the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland and that Gosling performs under the alias "Baby Goose." 2. 30 Seconds to Mars Jared Leto and his brother Shannon have been keeping this band going since the late '90s. They've released four albums to date and are rumored to be a cult of some sort, though that rumor is based on very loose, unhinged "facts." 3. The Ordinary Fear of God This band is what emerged from the ashes of Russell Crowe's former band 30 Odd Foots of Grunts. The band released an album called My Hand, My Heart and played a series of sold-out dates in Australia in 2005. 4. Truth Movement Corey Feldman tries. I mean, he just really really tries. 5. The Bacon Brothers Kevin Bacon is still cutting loose. He's been performing in this band with his brother Michael since 1995. https://www.youtube.com/watch?vW8xXmeyVenI Click "Next" to see more of your favorite movie stars' bands. 6. The Boxmasters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v7sPUYwxSU1o Aside from the fact that he had this band, all you really need to know about Billy Bob Thornton is that he has repeatedly put his penis inside of Angelina Jolie. Like, it happened. No one will ever be able to take that away from him. 7. She & Him Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward have been recording as She & Him since 2006. Also, did you know that Deschanel's mom played Donna's mom on Twin Peaks? Not really related to what we're talking about here, but I like to bring that up whenever I can. 8. Dogstar Most of Keanu Reeves' acting roles are hilarious (whether intentionally or unintentionally) but this band is no laughing matter. 9. Wicked Wisdom Chances are you didn't know Jada Pinkett Smith is in a band. Well, she is, and it's pretty awesome. 10. Juliette and the Licks Juliette Lewis is, safe to say, one of the coolest women alive today. Her stage presence is electrifying and she brings just as much energy to her band as she does her film roles. Click "Next" to see more of your favorite movie stars' bands. 11. Phantom Planet This band, fronted by Jason Schwartzman, hasn't been active for awhile, but they're still fun to listen to. 12. Big Japan The coolest band Adam Brody's been involved with since Low Shoulder. (That's a Jennifer's Body joke.) 13. The Rock Bottom Remainders This is a band comprised of all famous writers, the most famous of them being Stephen King. Dave Barry, who's also in the band, has been quoted as saying "We play music, as well as Metallica." And yeah, while Stephen King is the only one in this list who isn't a movie star per se, he makes cameos in the majority of the films based on his novels, so that counts. 14. The Pizza Underground Macaulay Culkin is in a band that does pizza themed versions of Velvet Underground songs. Sure, why not? 15. Sons of an Illustrious Father https://www.youtube.com/watch?vlqzw6ooP_V8 Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) plays drums and sings in this New York-based band, and it's impressively good. Click "Next" to see more of your favorite movie stars' bands. 16. The Abiders https://www.youtube.com/watch?vbJWijmfFHC0 His friends weren’t surprised when Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for his portrayal of a flamed-out country singer in 2009’s Crazy Heart. Bridges was obsessed with music as a teen, but acting tugged, too. “I had success with acting, so I went that way,” explains Bridges, 64, shown headlining a gig in 2013. “But I always carried my guitar with me.” 17. Kevin Costner and Modern West https://www.youtube.com/watch?vXC12RafWfjo Costner started his country-rock group at the urging of his second wife, Christine. “I get a lot just from the camaraderie,” says Costner. “Some kind of bond comes with just being in the room together.” Between Costner’s movie shoots, Modern West tours worldwide, as in this 2013 gig in Russia. 18. The Copper Bottom Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?vYo_-716N3Y8 As a 10-year-old piano student in England, American blues and jazz hit Laurie “like an electric shock.” (Those genres are the focus of his second CD, Didn’t It Rain.) “There’s music in acting and there’s acting in music,” notes the 54-year-old “Dr. House” of blues, shown singing on stage in 2013. “ about storytelling and inhabiting a character.” 19. The Sharks https://www.youtube.com/watch?vFIJ0lBGxg2g Is that Dennis Quaid or guitar great Alvin Lee? The actor, 60, lobbied hard to do his own vocals in Great Balls of Fire!, the 1989 biopic in which he channeled rocking pianist Jerry Lee Lewis. The Killer nixed that notion, but Quaid still loves to front his party band. “I don’t really want a career in music,” he concedes. “But I’ve played since I was a kid, and I always will.” 20. The Accelerators https://www.youtube.com/watch?vQlFiVwzUR3w Willis (with bassist Tad Wadhams) belts out a blues tune at the Kennedy Space Center. The Die Hard star, 59, has played music since the 1980s and blows a mean blues harp. “I learned to dance to Motown in fifth grade,” he told an interviewer, “so that is my sensibility of music.” ...There is a bonus actor in this list, and his band simply goes by the name of: "P" https://www.youtube.com/watch?vUVKkWvNQzxE Johnny Depp primarily played bass in the short-lived alternative/psychedelic rock band "P", which featured Gibby Haynes from Butthole Surfers, as well as Bill Carter, Sal Jenco, and a rotating cast of contributors (including, again, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers). The band was in existence from 1993 to 1995 and recorded one self-titled full-length album. P regularly performed at The Viper Room, a small club on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood which Depp partly owned from its opening in 1993 until 2004. In fact, P was performing onstage while River Phoenix died on the sidewalk outside the club — rumor has it that they were in the middle of their song “Michael Stipe,” which includes the line, “I finally talked to Michael Stipe, but I didn’t get to see his car/Him and River Phoenix were leaving on the road tomorrow.” Can you think of any others? Tell us in the comments section below. Source: (Maxim, AARP, Verbicide)

6. The Boxmasters

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7. She & Him

8. Dogstar

9. Wicked Wisdom

10. Juliette and the Licks