First, a little background: You probably know the band below. It’s Weezer. Notably, the lineup for their 1994 debut album featured hits such as “Buddy Holly” and “Undone (The Sweater Song).”
Before recording Weezer’s second album, bassist Matt Sharp started a side project called The Rentals, which went on to score its own MTV hit, “Friends of P.” This is where Maya Rudolph comes into play. Shortly after graduating from college, and before Rudolph had even received a single acting credit, she joined The Rentals on tour for their first album.
“Work after college was really fun,” Maya told The New Yorker. “I ended up living on the road for six months. I opened for Blur and Alanis Morissette, spent Thanksgiving with her, played hacky sack with her band, and went bowling.”
2.
Late ’60s comedy legend Chevy Chase attended Bard College in New York, where he studied English and played drums in a band called The Leather Canary. The interesting part? Other members of the band were Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.
You know… Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo Steely Dan!
3.
Academy Award-winning actress Brie Larson (Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) also had a surprising and brief music career while her acting career was in its infancy.
Larson began playing guitar at age 11 and soon began writing, recording, and uploading songs to his website. This led to her song “Invisible Girl”. peter pan) You are listening to a broadcast from a Los Angeles radio station. Things continued to get better for 16-year-old Larson when she signed a major label deal and released her debut album. Finally out of PE
4.
Do you know Stephen Toborowsky? The actor played insurance agent Ned Ryerson in the 1993 classic. groundhog day with bill murray?
Well, before he appeared in over 200 movies. strange friday) and TV shows (e.g. delight), he grew up in Dallas, where he and some high school friends formed a band called Cast of Thousands. “We were a terrible folk rock band,” Tobolowsky said. lone star plate Podcast. “We were really bad.” Terrible or not, they were chosen to record two songs on the Garage Band compilation in 1970. To fill out their sound, band member Bobby Forman invited a neighborhood kid to play lead guitar. Future blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Tobolowsky said: “It’s the first time we’ve seen a genius. And when you see it in action, you can never come back. First, you realize it exists, and that’s good news. Then you realize how far you are. You’re that kind of person, and that’s kind of bad news.” But it’s true that Stevie made it seem like we knew what we were doing.”
5.
You probably know Jason Schwartzman as director Wes Anderson’s favorite actor. rushmore and Grand Budapest Hotel), but four years before his professional acting debut, 14-year-old Schwartzman joined the Los Angeles-based band Phantom Planet as a drummer.
Phantom Planet’s 1998 debut album failed to make much of an impression, but around the time Schwarzman’s acting career took off, the band had a huge hit with the song “California,” which became the theme song for the TV series. OC Schwartzman even co-wrote this song!
6.
Long before Rashida Jones made us laugh office and parks and recreationShe worked as a professional singer in the late 90s and early 2000s.
This may not be all that surprising, considering her father was 28-time Grammy Award-winning record producer Quincy Jones. But you may not know that she sang on The High & Mighty’s 1999 album. home field advantage, Tupac Shakur tribute album roses growing from concreteIt was released in 2000 and, perhaps most surprisingly, Maroon 5’s debut album, 2002’s. a song about jane.
7.
These days, Peter Dinklage is known as a movie star. game of thrones and elfBut back in the ’90s, the 20-something future Emmy winner was the frontman of a punk band called Whizzy.
Whizzy released a four-song demo tape in 1995 and played New York clubs such as the famous CBGB.
Dinklage told the New Yorker: “We had a following, but our following was like progressive rock. It was all men. For some reason, only dudes came to our shows. I kind of felt like, what are you doing in a rock band without the women?”
8.
Do you have a photo for you? It is the work of comedian Ricky Gervais, known as the founder and star of the UK. office He is also the host of the controversial Golden Globes.
But before his comedy career took off, Gervais and his friend Bill Macrae formed the new wave duo Seona Dancing (I promise this is real, LOL). On the right is young Ricky.
9.
as it were office Star Ed Helms fell in love with bluegrass music as a child and later met like-minded musicians Ian Riggs and Jacob Tilove at Oberlin College. Called The Lonesome Trio, they played backyard and basement keg parties before moving to New York after college and becoming regulars in the NYC bluegrass scene.
Helms, of course, was most focused on becoming a comedian/actor, and after achieving major success, he used his star power to help the group score their self-titled debut in 2013. They also performed at the prestigious Bonnaroo Festival and in LA. The Bluegrass Situation is a festival that Helms helped put together.
10.
And finally, Harrison Ford may not have been a famous musician, but he had a deep connection to music history.
In 1970, while Ford was beginning his career as a carpenter, he took on the enormous task of building a recording studio for Brazilian bossa nova music legend Sérgio Mendes.
