Russell Crowe and band busy on home turf

Russell Crowe

SYDNEY - After spending two months in Australian clubs fronting his new band, the Ordinary Fear of God, Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe will face a much larger audience on January 25.

That day, Crowe and his band headline a nationally televised Australia Day concert on the lawns of Parliament House, Canberra, in front of 30,000 people. That means massive exposure for the Sydney-based actor's music, which he says "allows me to interact with audiences in a way films don't."

Crowe's previous outfit, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, released three albums between 1998 and 2003. His current download-only album, "My Hand, My Heart," is on his own Gruntland label through iTunes internationally and sanity.com in Australia.

Crowe's self-published lyrics on the album have been widely praised. His favorite songwriter, Billy Bragg, described album track "Raewyn" in an email to Crowe as "a beautiful, intimate song." That "brought my morning to a halt," the actor recalls.

Crowe, who will next be seen onscreen in the Ridley Scott-directed drama "A Good Year," says international shows with the Ordinary Fear of God are a possibility this year.

- REUTERS/Billboard