NEW YORK 鈥� You could have called Friday 鈥淎ctors Releasing Albums Day.鈥� Kevin Bacon, Scarlett Johannsson and Erza Miller were among the famous faces dropping new music.
But releasing music for those well-known for their roles in movies haven鈥檛 always been accepting or a breeze.
鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy how actors bring out some kind of hostility from a rock music crowd: 鈥榃e have our idols and we don鈥檛 want you to try to share that.鈥� That kind of hero worship drives me crazy. I just find it such nonsense,鈥� Michael Bacon, Kevin鈥檚 older brother and bandmate, said in an interview this week.
鈥淚 will say though that resistance to that idea comes from rock press and rock radio, but not from rock musicians. In my experience, when we play with musicians, musicians are incredibly welcoming of us. That鈥檚 not just studio guys, guys we鈥檙e paying, it鈥檚 like big musicians,鈥� Kevin, 59, added.
鈥淎nd the other thing is you鈥檝e been accepted as a professional musician,鈥� Michael, 68, said looking to his brother. 鈥淚t takes a while to do that.鈥�
鈥淚t takes 25 years,鈥� Kevin said with a laugh.
The Bacon Brothers have been on the music scene for more than two decades, releasing their debut album, Forosoco, in 1997. Their latest, a self-titled 10-track set, came out on Friday, the same day they launched a three-month U.S. tour.
Also on Friday, Johannsson released an EP with Pete Yorn, and Miller鈥檚 band, Sons of an Illustrious Father, dropped its sophomore album.
Kevin and Michael recalled years ago using another name for their band when releasing music to see what attention they would get. 鈥淲hat happened is they started distributing the record to FM radio and didn鈥檛 say who it was and people really were playing it,鈥� Michael said. 鈥淲e got a little traction from it, but it鈥檚 a lot of work to do that, too.鈥�
The Bacon Brothers was produced by G.E. Smith, the former Saturday Night Live music director and guitarist of Hall & Oates. It starts off with Tom Petty
T-shirt, written shortly after the rock icon died.
Kevin said he wrote the song based on wanting to fix a problem in marriage, relationship or friendship.
鈥淵ou want to make it better. You want to step in and make everything right. Sometimes that鈥檚 a little out of your skill set, at least I find for myself when it comes to me and my relationship with my wife, or even with my relationship with my kids,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 always say the right thing and do the right things exactly, to fix whatever that situation is. So it鈥檚 a little bit like: 鈥榃ell, I don鈥檛 know if I can help, but here鈥檚 my Tom Petty T-shirt.鈥� 鈥�
The album doesn鈥檛 only feature the Bacon brothers. Kevin鈥檚 wife and daughter 鈥� actresses Kyra Sedgwick and Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why) 鈥� sing on the album.
The Philadelphia boys say because the band isn鈥檛 their first priority 鈥� Kevin has been a successful actor since his 20s and Michael is an Emmy-winning composer and teacher 鈥� they can flourish as a musical group.
鈥淚t works out better that way then if we said: 鈥楾his is the only thing that we鈥檙e going to do.鈥� When we started the band, it was a very small thing,鈥� Michael said. 鈥淭he band was originally put together for one gig in Philadelphia.鈥� The duo鈥檚 tour started in Rocky Mount, Virginia. They wrap on Aug. 11 in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 unique about our band is most bands that have been around playing for 25 years are playing off hit singles from 20 years ago. We don鈥檛 have anything. We have never had a record come off. It鈥檚 a little different dynamic,鈥� Michael said.
鈥淲hen we鈥檙e playing a gig most people have never heard any of the songs. In a funny way that gives us a little more creative freedom to go where we want the band to go, rather than if we had five hits.鈥�
鈥淵eah, what a drag,鈥� Kevin, laughing, said.
