JULIETTE LEWIS, ROCK STAR, WONDER WOMAN

Something happened to me at a recent Juliette Lewis and the New Romantiques show in London that I can safely say was a first: a woman grabbed me by both shoulders and forcefully moved me away from the small section of the bar on which I was leaning. “Sorry mate," she said without flinching, "don’t mean to be rude, but I need drinks.”

At first I was put off. But the more I thought about it, the more impressed I was with her bullish–yet somewhat polite–determination. I was in the way and she sorted it out; simple as that. Five minutes later, Juliette Lewis, with her band the New Romantiques, took the stage with the same bracing bravado.

Lewis, best-known for her roles in big-screen films such as "Cape Fear" (the remake), "Kalifornia" and "Natural Born Killers", joins a motley crew of actors who have tried their hands at music: Scarlett Johansson, Keanu Reeves, Terrence Howard, Johnny Depp, Billy Bob Thornton, River Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Zoey Deschanel, Jared Leto, Adrian Grenier, Lindsay Lohan, Bruce Willis (Return of Bruno, anyone?), Kevin Bacon, Jada Pinkett-Smith (fronts a metal band), Jena Malone and all too many others have done the same.

But Lewis's resume as a rock star is shaping up. After reportedly being inspired to start a band during a Blondie show, she’s since released an EP and two albums with her first band, the Licks, who recorded with Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). She’s performed on the Warped Tour, opened for Chris Cornell and is opening for the Killers June 8th during her European tour. Omar Rodriguez Lopez, guitarist for Mars Volta, is producing her new album.

She delivers an energetic performance. Lewis was covered in sweat by the time she finished her first song at East London’s Hoxton Bar and Grill, and dove off-stage half-way through the second. Her band (drums, two guitars and bass) is super-tight, but almost too tight. The group is a well-oiled machine that sticks to the script and plays polished songs designed to showcase Lewis, who wastes no notes, no syllables and no breaths. The band is more 1980s than 2000s, more mainstream than alternative, and more straight-forward than ironic. They’re a rock band from Los Angeles, more geared for the Sunset Strip than the hipster enclave of Silverlake. Lewis’s glam-rock "Wonder Woman" nickname isn’t far off the mark.

Aside from a few swan songs, the band’s hulking drummer powered the band through more than an hour’s worth of loud material, while Lewis ravaged through cocky, bluesy lyrics and a stage swagger that recalled Robert Plant, '80s-era Perry Farell and Mick Jagger.

“I can’t quite figure you guys out,” she said in between songs early in the set, as a fairly quiet crowd seemed to be just sort of staring at her, waiting to see what she’d do or say next. She remains a celebrity, and it's hard not to fixate on her, like this is just another well-played role. Later, in between two particularly fast songs, she urged the crowd to drop their preconceptions and get into it: “Come on people, this isn’t a fucking movie! Let’s rock!”

~ GARY MOSKOWITZ

Picture credit: [niv] (via Flickr)