Lots of musicians dip their feet into writing, producing and directing. But only a select few are brave enough to move in front of the camera to act. Personally, I admire anyone that can make that jump and still be involved with music in one way or another. Also – who did I miss?
Iggy Pop
Iggy and John Waters together in one movie, 1990’s Crybaby. It doesn’t get any better than this. Waters and Pop both use a “keep things in motion” approach to their respective directing and singing as well as in their personal lives. This allows them to both be successful businessmen and to have a generally fucking awesome lifestyle. I’m not sure how Universal feels about the whole movie being on YouTube, but if for some reason you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.
Fred Armisen
SNL favorite Fred Armisen recorded 5 LP’s, 2 EP’s and 2 split 7”‘s with Trenchmouth, a percussion driven post-rock band that formed in Chicago in 1988. They are a sort of bizarro Nation of Ulysses that also valued aesthetics and creative performance but shed the trappings of the verse chorus verse rock guitar. Needless to say, all of their records are worth picking up. This is Trenchmouth live in Texas, playing the first song from their 1991 Construction Of A New Action! Volume One: First There Was Movement LP.
Nick Cave
Clip from Ghosts… of the Civil Dead (1989). When he’s not recording music with one of his projects, he somehow finds the time to write screenplays, act and do voice-over work.
Carrie Brownstein
As it turns out, Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein is not only an incredible song writer but also a talented comedian. Her show Portlandia (with co-star Fred Armisen) is currently airing on IFC. If this show doesn’t kill off the the hipster archetype, I’m afraid that nothing will.
Henry Rollins
Rollins in Johnny Mnemonic with Keanu Reeves (1995). Henry currently has a reoccurring role on FX’s Sons of Anarchy as a white supremacist. Speaking as a guy who can’t stand biker culture or motorcycles in the least bit, I have to admit that it is well written and highly addictive.
Debbie Harry
Screen test for Union City (1979). One of my personal favorites, Debbie has appeared in over 50 TV shows and films. In 2003 she played a strung out working class mother in My Life Without Me, which was a total downer of a movie, but a great example of how she can steal the show.
Eric Wareheim
As a teenager growing up near Philadelphia and playing in bands, it was hard to avoid Frail, Prema and Sean McCabe. Not that I wanted to, but their brand of straight edge emo-core was everywhere. Eric played guitar in I Am Heaven and did stints in Elements of Need and the first incarnation of Ink & Dagger. These days, Eric co-hosts Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, a comedy sketch show that tries and succeeds at deconstructing consumerism and marketing (among other things) through absurd video clips. As someone pointed out in a YouTube comment, “Eric Wareheim is amazing for being the first mainstream, like, emo kid.”
Kerri Kenney-Silver
Deputy Trudy Wiegel! Kerri played bass in Cake Like with Jody Seifert and Nina Hellman during the 1990’s. They released 3 LP’s and a handful of EP’s before calling it quits in 1999.
Flea
Great scene with Flea from Penelope Spheeris’ 1984 classic, Suburbia, which was recently reissued on DVD. Flea also appears in Back To The Future II, My Own Private Idaho and as a nihilist in The Big Lebowski.
Shannyn Sossamon
Shannyn is an up and coming film star and was the first drummer for Warpaint. After playing drums on their 2009 Exquisite Corpse EP she quit the band to focus on her acting. So I guess she is the oddball out here on this top ten. But. Warpaint rules so I had to include them.
