Russell Crowe was a musical artist for several years before turning to acting in 1990. He has maintained that interest, in various forms to this day. His current band, Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, known to fans as TOFOG, has been together for about 5 years, but his lead guitarist, Billy Dean Cochran, has been with Crowe since they were teens in New Zealand. This documentary, narrated by Cochran and produced by Crowe, allows us an insiders look at the folk rock band as it gets together for a short tour in London and Austin, Texas in the summer of 2000.
Crowe is lead singer, growling out his own lyrics to an enthusiastic largely female audience. We see the guys, Cochran, Crowe, Dave Wilkens, Dave Kelly, Garth Adams and Stewart Kirwin as they perform, but most importantly, we see the off the wall comraderie of Australian based mates behind the scene. Crowe's "day job" has opened doors, increased interest and ticket sales, but also brought change. No longer able to freely mingle with fans without setting off a frenzy, he tries to remain just one of the guys. We see them kidding around in rehearsals, preparing for performance and trying to work around the demands of Crowe's movie making schedule.
This is a rude and unvarnished documentary, but great fun to watch. A tidbit of note; in the original limited release DVD, sold only at TOFOG shows in August of 2001 while on another tour, there was a glimpse of Crowe mussing the hair of Meg Ryan in London. That 2 second bit has since been removed in the Miramax release.
Crowe is lead singer, growling out his own lyrics to an enthusiastic largely female audience. We see the guys, Cochran, Crowe, Dave Wilkens, Dave Kelly, Garth Adams and Stewart Kirwin as they perform, but most importantly, we see the off the wall comraderie of Australian based mates behind the scene. Crowe's "day job" has opened doors, increased interest and ticket sales, but also brought change. No longer able to freely mingle with fans without setting off a frenzy, he tries to remain just one of the guys. We see them kidding around in rehearsals, preparing for performance and trying to work around the demands of Crowe's movie making schedule.
This is a rude and unvarnished documentary, but great fun to watch. A tidbit of note; in the original limited release DVD, sold only at TOFOG shows in August of 2001 while on another tour, there was a glimpse of Crowe mussing the hair of Meg Ryan in London. That 2 second bit has since been removed in the Miramax release.