It’s hard to tell if James Intveld would rather be making movies or playing music until you realize it’s all the same to the California native. Getting a chance to be heard and be seen is all part of forging a life in the unpredictable entertainment world.
“It’s been 25 years of struggling and I’m still getting there,” he says. “But I’m willing to do that because it’s super important to me. It’s the life I’ve chosen.”
Recent excursions into film include a starring role in Chrystal, a soon-to-be-released movie with Billy Bob Thornton; directing the Western Miracle at Sage Creek with David Carradine; and singing for Applebee’s radio and TV ads. Some of his acting and film credits are tied to his music abilities. He was the singing voice of Johnny Depp in John Waters’ Cry-Baby and most recently sang a duet with Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line, an upcoming biopic about Johnny Cash.
Before getting into film work, Intveld, a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, was all about the music. He was a lead guitarist for the Blasters, played standup bass for Dwight Yoakum, and sang backup on a Bob Dylan album. He has released two critically acclaimed albums with a third one scheduled to arrive later this year.
“The acting work has kept me busy the last few years,” he says, “but I’m ready to get back into the music.”
His style is firmly rooted in rockabilly roots rock — a world he visited often with his father, a part-time professional singer trying to get a break in the music industry.
“I remember him working at night and going to auditions during the day,” he says. “He sang on ‘Cal’s Corral,’ a popular radio show on KFOX [Long Beach, Calif.], and tried to get signed to Capitol Records. It was too much to do while trying to support a family.”
Intveld has none of those restrictions and intentionally keeps it that way for now. “It’s part of the sacrifices you make to have a career,” he says. “If I had kids, I would want to be with them. I’m a lifer in this business.”
James Intveld plays the Underground City Tavern (700 E. Adams St., 789-1530) on Saturday, Aug. 20, with a five-piece band including a pedal steel guitar player. St. Louis area rockabilly artists Scott Kay and the Continentals open at 9 p.m.
HOPE RETURNS
Since their appearance at the 2004 Illinois State Fair, 56 Hope Road has logged over 200 shows on the road. The Chicago-based band wanted to get out there and do it, and that’s what they’ve done.
The members of the six-piece band, originally from various towns around central Illinois, met while studying music at Milliken University in Decatur.
“We’ve all known each other for about 10 years,” says Greg Fundis, the group’s drummer. “Our two main songwriters and lead vocalists really created the concept for the band years ago in college. Then we all met again in Chicago seven years ago and started 56 Hope Road.”
Because the band’s name is based on the late Bob Marley’s street address in Jamaica, you might think the group plays reggae, but you would be wrong.
“We took the name to honor Marley’s tradition of positively changing the world,” Fundis says. “He embodied a real positive thing that changed people’s lives through music.”
The sound of 56 Hope Road starts with an all-acoustic instrumentation of two guitars, bass, and drums, adds three-part vocal harmony (one-part female, two-part male), and wraps it up in a funky danceable rhythm, often with various guest soloists topping it all off. Sometimes they get tossed into the jam band realm, but Fundis deflects that categorization without disparaging it.
“ ‘Jam band’ is a broad term, but we concentrate on the songs and jam within them,” he says. “We play for the songs.”
Fundis, a Springfield native, likes coming back and playing for the hometown audience. “It’s a great scene to grow up in and be a part of,” he says. “It’s diverse and that makes it more of a community than a competition.”
The group, with guest saxophonist Casey Fitzpatrick, plays Jazz Central Station in the Hilton Springfield from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 19, and on the Corona Stage at the Illinois State Fair from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 21.
Here’s a heads up for you fans of honky-tonk done right: Dallas Wayne, the best singer of country classics ever to come out of San Francisco and drop in Springfield, stops by the Underground City Tavern on Thursday, Aug. 25.