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The Real Crowe - Central Coast Express By Terry Collins December 1998 Crowe and his band, Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, will play at Central Coast Leagues Club on Thursday and Crowe is looking forward to the gig as a break from his "day job". "As an actor you have to get into someone else's life, consider their pressures and influences, but when I write and perform music I use my own experiences," he said. "It is the true expression of who I am and it is wonderful to be able to communicate that. "It breaks down a lot of barriers -- there's not much glamour involved in riding around in a beat-up Tarago that smells of other blokes' feet. "I'm just one part of a band whose members all have their own story to tell. "It's a real, full, deep experience." Crowe has always had the acting bug; he made his debut as an extra on TV when he was just 6. But for many of his formative years, the music took over. He has been playing with guitarist Dean Cochran since 1984; bass player Garth Adams joined them in 1987 and drummer Dave Kelly came on board only in 1995. Crowe has achieved great success as an actor, appearing first in some high-profile Australian movies, including The Sum Of Us with Jack Thompson, and launching into a Hollywood career with the movie L.A. Confidential opposite Kim Basinger. But he has always made time to work with the band. "Sometimes it's hard because of my schedule but I will always find time to play music," he said. This year the band has released its latest album, Gaslight, and midway through 1999 hopes to do a full tour of Australia. Meanwhile Crowe's latest film, Mystery Alaska, is due for release in April. He has just finished work on an as-yet-untitled film in which he plays a 54-year-old research scientist -- a role which he found a tremendous challenge. "Playing someone so opposite to myself was very interesting," he said. "It's wonderful to have had the opportunity to work with actors like Gene Hackman [in The Quick and the Dead] and Al Pacino." "I've always had a great respect for what I do and I think that has paid off." Russell starred in THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (his first American film) opposite
Sharon Stone. His love interest in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL was Kim Basinger.
The MYSTERY, ALASKA release date has now been pushed back to the fall
of 1999
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