KC: Very cool. And if you make the decision to buy tickets for this, people are already lining up now at 8:30. And they don't go on sale until 1:00. You can get them at Stubb's, because you've moved from the inside stage out to the big stage outside.

RC: Uh-huh.

KC: We'll give you the chance to win some tickets in just a minute.

RC: Where's Junior Brown at the moment? What's going on with him?

KC: Junior's probably on the road. He hits the road extensively now. And I think he's kind of based in Tulsa more than anything. Oklahoma. We don't see him around very much. But if you need some extra guitar help, we've got a few other guys around town who can pick.

RC: All right. And if anybody listening knows Harry Knowles, tell him to get in touch with me, will you?

KC: Ain't-It-Cool-News Harry Knowles?

RC: Yeah. I want to have a little chat with the old mate, have another beer, some Shiner Bock. Me and Shiner Bock have just reestablished a great old friendship.

KC: We have Harry's number somewhere around here. We'll find that for you.

RC: Cool.

KC: Let's play something off Gaslight. This is your last release.

RC: This song "David” is -- basically, I was in Guatemala one day and a bloke came up to me with Life Magazine. You know how they do that one day in the world sort of photoplay? And the photograph from Australia -- from Sydney, Australia, was this Russell Crowe, age 13, ballroom dancer. And this bloke said to me, "Is that you?” "No, that's not me.” And then I was on a plane and a bloke came up to me with a copy of USA Today and it said, "Russell Crowe, age 42 from Pensacola, Florida, snake trainer, was today arrested and charged with abusing his snake.” And the bloke said to me, "Is that you?” And I had to think about that one. (laughter) It ended up it wasn't me. And this got sort of thinking about the fact that, you know, you've got all these people and what really does a name mean? I mean, there's two blokes called David in the band. And I've got an uncle called David and all that sort of stuff. So it's sort of -- it's funny how much emphasis we put on a name and in reality it's a far more internal process whether you like somebody or whether you connect with them and all that sort of stuff.

KC: All right. Let's check it out, David. 107.1 KGSR, with -30-Odd Foot of Grunts.

(Song: "David”.)

KC: 107.1 KGSR, 30-Odd Foot of Grunts. The last studio album, Gaslight and "David.” There's a little country thing going on there.

RC: Yeah, just sort of seemed to suit the mood of the song. I know when we do that live, it gets kind of pretty wild.

KC: Oh yeah?

RC: We've got a specific line dance we teach people as they come in the door. It's on the back of the tickets, you'll see. It's all written out.

KC: And people are calling about the tickets. There are some available only in person, 1:00 today, in front of Stubb's, 8th and Red River. And there are actually people lining up already for this. Not over the phone for these, sorry. I want to mention that all the money raised for the ticket sales will be going to a charity here in Austin, The People's Community Clinic, so thank you very much for that.

RC: Cool. Well, we -- you know, the costs of us being down here, were already sort of covered, you know.

KC: By whom?

RC: By me, actually! (laughter) So it was already sort of put in place and it was already a done deal, you know, that we were going to be here. The show is like a secondary thing. We didn't realize people were going to go so crazy. So that leaves us with a whole bunch of money that, you know, we thought we'd just leave in the community, rather than hang it in the saddlebags.

KC: When was the last time you played with the band?

RC: The last official sort of gig -- I mean, the last year and a half, the time that we've had together, we've spent writing. And also sort of reconfiguring what we do, because we tend to -- when we tour in Australia we play in pubs in front of 1,000 or 2,000 people. And they've all been on the sauce. All been on the joy juice. So you tend to sort of play to that audience at a certain point in the tour. And that simplifies a lot of the songs. What we've done for the last year and a half is sort of, you know, just write in the grooves that we want to move towards. And what's tended to happen is the songs are a little softer at the moment, not as cranked as they used to be. But we still venture into that area, when we too have been on the joy juice. So the last gig was actually -- apart from playing in London last week, was at the Viper Room, I think, in '99. We finished a tour in Los Angeles.

KC: So you must hear the comparisons, people say, "Oh, it's another movie star with a band.” You know, you've got Kevin Bacon with this band. Johnny Depp had a band, actually kind of based out of here for a while, P. And there's Keanu Reeves and a few others.

RC: He plays bass.

KC: So you get lumped in with these other guys even though you've been doing this for what, 15, 16 years or something like that?

RC: Well, my first record came out in 1982. Because I did three records before I met Dean. Yeah, so, man, there's no credibility for me in doing this. In fact, it works the other way. But the thing is, I'm not doing it for other people anyway. I write songs for myself. For me, a three-minute pop song is a completely incredible medium for me to be expressive in. I can zero in on things that have happened in my life and stuff like that. This is my version of therapy. I mean, some blokes go and lie on a couch. Other people sit on mountains and go ohm...

KC: You play rock and roll and drink joy juice!

RC: Absolutely!

KC: So how much time are you going to get to devote to this before you have to go back to the movie stuff?

RC: I think we've got about six weeks.

KC: Really?

RC: Yeah, sort of being squished in there.

KC: Run down the itinerary again. While one of the records was playing, you told us what you did for Gladiator. Just to promote it.

RC: The movie that I've just finished is called Proof of Life. And that's with Meg Ryan.

KC: And how was that, working with her?

RC: She's great. She's a gorgeous woman and a great actress. We started off in England. We went to Poland, then we went to Ecuador. Then we went back to England. That was the shooting of that film. But every time that I had a break, when the character wasn't scheduled to be shooting, I had to go off and do Gladiator promotions. So I was pretty ragged actually. We only just finished last week and I'm just getting to that thing where I'm starting to feel a little bit normal. But one little jaunt there, we left Ecuador. This is over, I think, 11 days. We left and we were back on the 11th day. We went to Ecuador, Miami, Rome, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Auckland, New Zealand, Easter Island, back to Ecuador and I was working at 3:00 that day.

KC: You must have frequent flyer miles out the wazoo!

RC: I'm the King of the Frequent Flyers! (laughter)

KC: Russell Crowe is with us this morning. Let's play another song off the demo you've brought.

RC: Yeah, we can do that. Probably Track 1. We'll do that. It's pretty groovy.

KC: "Things Have Got to Change.”

RC: Yeah.

KC: 30-Odd Foot of Grunts. 107.1 KGSR.

# (Song: "Things Have Got to Change”)

KC: 107.1 KGSR, 30-Odd Foot of Grunts. I like this new stuff.

RC: Cool.

KC: I like the other stuff, but I really like the new stuff.
RC: Cool, thanks.

KC: Nice use of trumpet, and a great guitar.

RC: Yeah. We've tried to kind of meld the trumpet to the actual core or what we're doing, as opposed to just doing solos. And we're getting deeper and deeper in that. You know, coming to the third year he's been with us now. So it's kind of cool. But we use flugel horn as well.

KC: Oh, very cool. Russell Crowe, 30-Odd Foot of Grunts tomorrow night, Stubb's. And again, tickets go on sale at 1:00. And we've got to figure out a way to give away a pair or two right now, because some people are stuck at work. They can't go down and line up for tickets at Stubbs.

RC: Well, we've got ten doubles to give away, right?

KC: Yeah. We'll spread them out a little bit. Let's see. We said what the name of the last record was.

RC: Yeah, we did.

KC: If you were paying attention there when we played a song off the album, or you may have been on gruntland.com, the official Grunts' page – and you know it's just amazing how many different websites there are about you. There's some people that have websites that are coming to these Austin shows, right?

RC: Yeah. The principle website is one called Maximum Russell Crowe. And the two girls that run that have never met each other. They've been doing that website for three years. One of them lives in San Francisco, the other one lives in Tasmania. And they're about to meet. It could be a beautiful thing.

KC: Could be a cat fight. I mean, we don't know.

RC: We don't know. They could really hate each other's guts. That will be funny as hell. The thing is, we're going to have it on video, right?

KC: Yeah, right, because you've got these guys everywhere with the cameras. Okay. So what was the last Grunts' album? We'll take Caller 7 right now at 390-KGSR. And let's play another song off that album. Should we play No. 4?

RC: No. 4, "What's Her Name?”

KC: All right. Here we go.

(Song: What's Her Name?)

KC: 107.1 KGSR, 30-Odd Foot of Grunts. Live. Where were you live that time?

RC: That was Melbourne, Australia, the Esplanade Hotel. Very famous hotel right on the waterfront down there in Melbourne. It's a really stinky, skanky rock and roll venue that's called the Gershwin Room.

KC: Russell Crowe, thank you again for coming in. We really appreciate it. You're going to be here for a couple of weeks? RC: Yeah, we're here right through this month, anyway, and then it just depends. I'm going to try and eke a little time in September, but I've got another job I've got to get onto where I'm playing a beast in a freak show, which I think is incredibly appropriate. In a move being directed by Jodie Foster, actually.

KC: You're a beast in a freak show?

RC: Yeah, so I'm covered in hair. I've got sort of 12 weeks of putting a hair suit on, which is just going to be fabulous.

KC: Filming in some nice, warm climate?

RC: Orlando, Florida. It was going to film here, but they moved things around and we're in Orlando now. And I've got to try and get some time at home and sleep in my own bed and see my dogs and kiss my cows and do all that sort of stuff in between.

KC: No time for the Olympics in Sydney?

RC: Well, I've got tickets, but I may get maybe one day. It just depends on when I can get down there, which is a bit of a bummer, because that's the time you really want to be at home, when it's in your own backyard.

KC: Absolutely. Well, thanks for coming into our backyard.

RC: Cheers, mate.

KC: And we will be looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night at Stubb's. Again, if you want to line up for tickets, people are already doing it. 1:00 today at Stubb's, 8th and Red River, some more tickets will be sold. Four per person is the limit. No phone-ins for these. And they will go quick. Thanks for coming in. Appreciate it.

[End of interview]