Rock group 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, featuring Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe, formed in 1992. Crowe and Billy-Dean Cochran had been playing music together since their teens in New Zealand (including a band called Roman Antix), and before that, Crowe had released solo singles. In 1987, the two moved to Australia and eventually met up with brothers Dave Kelly and Garth Adam. They became 30 Odd Foot of Grunts with the addition of drummer Don Brown and guitarist Mark Rosier. Brown and Rosier exited prior to 1998's Gaslight album. Stew Kirwan joined up that same year on trumpet, and singer Dave Wilkins made the group a sextet. Other Ways of Speaking, released on Artemis in 2003, followed 2001's Bastard Life or Clarity and 2002's Texas. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide www.answers.com 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts was actor Russell Crowe's musical band before he began a solo career in 2005. The name of the band comes from a phrase heard by Russell Crowe during post-production on the movie Virtuosity. Apparently, some additional voice recording was required for a fight scene; since time is sometimes measured by length of film in the movie industry, Crowe was asked to provide the eponymous "30-odd foot of grunt". [1] Another published story (Melbourne Herald Sun) of the name's origin, is that the combined height of the band members (literally 30 odd feet) and grunt referring to the 'grunt' in the band's music. The band has achieved neither critical nor popular success during its time. Perhaps their only claim to fame, other than Crowe's celebrity status, is the Frenzal Rhomb song "Russell Crowe's Band", in which it is described as "a fucking pile of shit". [2] In 2005, Crowe changed the band's name from "30 Odd Foot Of Grunts", to "The Ordinary Fear Of God" (still TOFOG, admittedly to save on costs of remaking the band's monogrammed items). en.wikipedia.org/ According to a message from Crowe on his band's web site, the group has "dissolved/evolved" and his music would take a new direction. He continued with a collaboration with Alan Doyle of the Canadian band, Great Big Sea, in early 2005. A new single, Raewyn, was released on April 19, 2005. Former members of his previous band have taken part in the new project. An album entitled My Hand, My Heart has been released for download on iTunes and includes a tribute song to the late actor, Richard Harris, who became a close friend when the two were making Gladiator. According to Russell, there is no 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts without his longtime musical partner, Dean Cochran, who was absent for the recording of My Hand, My Heart. Though Dean was present for a mid-2000s show in Le Thor, France. and took part in the filming of a music video for the song Weight of a Man, the band was billed as Russell Crowe and Friends. (en.wikipedia.org/)

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