By Christie Eliezer
SYDNEY (Billboard) - After spending two months in Australian clubs fronting his new band, the Ordinary Fear of God, Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe will face a much larger audience on January 25.
That day, Crowe and his band headline a nationally televised Australia Day concert on the lawns of Parliament House, Canberra, in front of 30,000 people. That means massive exposure for the Sydney-based actor’s music, which he says "allows me to interact with audiences in a way films don’t."
Crowe’s previous outfit, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, released three albums between 1998 and 2003. His current download-only album, "My Hand, My Heart," is on his own Gruntland label through iTunes internationally and sanity.com in Australia.
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Crowe’s self-published lyrics on the album have been widely praised. His favourite songwriter, Billy Bragg, described album track "Raewyn" in an e-mail to Crowe as "a beautiful, intimate song." That "brought my morning to a halt," the actor recalls.
Crowe, who will next be seen onscreen in the Ridley Scott-directed drama "A Good Year," says international shows with the Ordinary Fear of God are a possibility this year.
Reuters/Billboard
