Here’s my second post tagged “Actors in bands”. This time I’ve chosen an actress – Juliette Lewis – who used to lead a bad-ass rock band which actually broke up in 2009… Yeah, well, I thought about writing something introducing her new band The New Romantiques but I haven’t heard anything from their latest album Terra Incognita yet.
Lewis is best known for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she received an Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. But I think her best film is Natural Born Killers ,where she shared the big screen with Woody Harrelson (a w e s o m e actor BTW).
Also she’s got some major roles in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape , The Evening Star and Robert Rodriguez‘s From Dusk Till Dawn. She also appeared in TV series such as Dharma & Greg, My Name Is Earl and Memphis Beat .
To date, Lewis has worked with some of the best directors in the industry, including Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Lasse Hallström, Oliver Stone, and Garry Marshall. She has been recognized as one of Hollywood’s most talented and versatile actors of her generation.
Juliette and the Licks
So, here’s where I stop writing about Juliette Lewis and begin my music band recommendation. Juliette and the Licks was an American rock band formed by lead singer Juliette Lewis, guitarist Craig Fairbaugh and guitarist Emilio Cueto, bassist Jason Womack and drummer Ed Davis.
They released their first EP … Like a Bold of Lightning in 2004, which was shortly followed by the release of their debut album You’re Speaking My Language in 2005. 
After listening to You’re Speaking My Language, you can tell Juliette Lewis was born to front a rock ‘n’ roll band -just like Axl, Patti Smith , Chris Robinson, Courtney Love or PJ Harvey-. Nothing here sounds forced and that’s definitely a good thing when it comes to actors-turned-rockers. This album includes two hits: “You’re Speaking My Language” and “Got Love to Kill”.
Juliette and The Licks released their second album Four on the Floor in 2006. I really enjoyed this one, specially the second track “Hot Kiss” which was one of the Licks’ most successful singles.
“Hot Kiss” is probably the best work this band has ever done: the song’s insane shrieking, wacky riff and joyful “Your little girl wants to ffffff…” breakdown definitely makes the tune memorable.
With the release of their second album, the band went on tour in late 2006 in America and many parts of Europe.
In a 2009 Myspace blog, lead singer Juliette Lewis announced Juliette and the Licks was at the “end of its run”. Explaining that she needed a change to grow as an artist and after that she formed a new band called The New Romantiques.
Lewis also did a cover of PJ Harvey‘s “Hardly Wait” and “Rid of Me” in the film Strange Days before forming Juliette and the Licks. Here’s her cover of “Hardly Wait”:
Juliette and the Licks MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/julietteandthelicks
