Juliette Lewis is most known for being a weird and cooky actress from movies like Dusk Till Dawn, Cape Fear, Kalifornia, Christmas Vacation, Strange Days, and Whats Eating Gilbert Grape. She is an actress turned rock singer, but don’t let that keep you away from seeing her shows because this rocker chick has refined and honed her craft in both area’s of her life. She is a talented actress and also a very talented singer.
She used to head a band called Juliette Lewis and the Licks and did a couple of solo CDs. She now has a new and more sonic band called the New Romantiques. They have just released a new CD called Terra Incognita and it shows how much this performer has grown from a girl that was afraid of crowds to a full blown rock star. Juliette risked her acting career to focus on her music for the last few years and its looks to be paying off.
Lewis described the new CD as heaven in a vat of lava thats about to explode and says the album is an attempt to pour her sonic soul out.. She also said about herself that “This new incarnation is more about disillusionment and hope. Determination and despair. Romance and tragedy. And truly creating music that comes from those conflicts. It is more about a sound and energy than a ‘band’.” I saw her with the Licks about two years ago in a very small club in Vegas and I wasn’t sure what I was in for at the time because I only knew her as an actress that I respected. She was still honing the craft and I really liked her show, but when I heard she was playing the Wasted Space at the Hard Rock Hotel, I needed to see how she was coming along in her musical journey.
She and her new band came out to a large and seemingly fanatical crowd, and they went wild. Juliette came out all bedecked in feathers and lace and purple spandex pants with boots that were so worn out they had tape wrapped around them. She looked really confident and cool and then the music started!!! One thing you can’t say about Julliette Lewis is that she is boring onstage, quite the contrary. She is all over the place gyrating, bouncing and dancing. She just doesn’t stop. She has so much energy and she just gets in your face with her all out rock-n-roll! She is a force to be reckoned with. She is fiercely aggressive and then at times, when she sings songs like “Hard Lovin Woman” which is a blues inspired song, she is pure emotion.
The slow songs made me think that this woman has soul and she feels the lyrics. That is really inspiring to me. Then on the rockers like “Terra Icoginta”, she just belts that shit out with all her might! She ended this incredible set with “Hot Kiss” after she jumped into the audience with her mic and had the crowd sing with her. The crowd absolutely loved this performer and they showed their affection with smiles and screams. Juliette and the New Romatiques put on a stellar set and I was just so glad to have witnessed her in all her fire, fury and emotion. Her haunting music and killer stage presence is something every fan of rock should see.
