Russell Crowe Finds Other Ways Of Grunting

Actors turned rock stars usually make us go "ugh." But it seems that Hollywood's finest just can't stay away from the rock and the roll: Jared Leto recently scored a hit with his band 30 Seconds To Mars, Billy Bob Thornton and Vincent Gallo have both put out solo albums, and who can forget the glory that was Keanu Reeves' Dogstar.

Hot-tempered Academy Award winner Russell Crowe has been fronting his band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts for over a decade now, but the band's popularity has yet to come even close to Crowe's success as an actor. 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts have already released a handful of discs and they'll have a new one out this spring. Other Ways Of Speaking will come out on the Artemis label on April 8.

The album follows The Grunts' 2001 album, Bastard Life Of Clarity. The album features 13 original songs plus a cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues."

Crowe also managed to rope Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde into singing with him on a song called "Never Be Alone Again."

30 Odd Foot Of Grunts got their official start in 1992, although Crowe and guitarist Billy-Dean Cochran have been playing together since they were teenagers. Although Crowe has the most high-profile day job of the lot, all of the Grunts keep themselves busy with other endeavors while their singer is off playing Gladiator. Cochrane spends his time working for a variety of charities, bass player Garth Adams is a stock broker and drummer Dave Kelley owns a video editing studio. Guitarist Dave Wilkins and trumpet player Stewart Kirwin pass their time by playing in other bands.

Here's a track list for Other Ways Of Speaking:

"Painted Veil"
"Never Be Alone Again"
"Mission Beat"
"What's Her Name?"
"Inside Her Eyes"
"The Same Person"
"Other Ways Of Speaking"
"Full Length Of The River"
"Afraid"
"All The White Circles"
"Unfaithful Man"
"Charlie's Song"
"Swallow My Gift"
"Farm Noises"
"Folsom Prison Blues"