Evan Rachel Wood on How ‘Breakfast Club,’ Karaoke Habit Informed New Band
Evan Rachel Wood has made a name for herself in films like Thirteen and The Wrestler, and TV shows like True Blood and the miniseries Mildred Pierce. But those in the know are well aware that the actress is also a formidable singer: See her rendition of the Beatles’ “If I Fell” in the 2007 film Across the Universe, or her sultry take on “I’d Have You Anytime,” from the 2012 Bob Dylan tribute album Chimes of Freedom – or even, if you’re so inclined, the amateur-shot YouTube video of her exuberantly belting out Justin Bieber’s “U Smile” in the dark recesses of a Beijing karaoke bar.
Now, Wood is taking a deep dive into musical waters, teaming with actor and musician Zach Villa in the duo Rebel and a Basketcase. The pair, who met last year while performing together in a John Hughes-themed cabaret in L.A. (their band moniker is a reference to the characters played by Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson in the Hughes-directed The Breakfast Club), have just released their first song, a buoyant pop-rocker titled “Oh Yeah” whose synth-y, Eighties-esque sound tips the hat to the music heard in some of Hughes’ classic teen films. “It started as a one-off, just for fun,” Wood told Rolling Stone of the collaboration. Adds Villa, “I had had the music for ‘Oh Yeah’ in my back pocket for a year or so, and because the [Hughes] show was so ‘electro Eighties,’ I thought I should work on it. But I laid down some vocals and it was like, ‘God…that sounds like crap!’ Then after Evan and I were in rehearsals together, I knew she was what was needed on the track.”
When the two got together to work on “Oh Yeah,” continues Wood, “something just clicked. And at some point we said, ‘You know, we should maybe make this official, because it’s working.’ And so we just kept going.”
What resulted is Rebel and a Basketcase’s debut full-length album, which will see release this fall. Additionally, the duo is in the midst of scheduling live shows. “The idea,” Wood says with a laugh, “is that we just didn’t want to have to stop pretending to be in a John Hughes film.”
How did this project develop?
Evan Rachel Wood: It started with For the Record Live, which is a theater company that puts together these cabarets based around famous directors, where you act out the most famous scenes from their movies and sing songs off the soundtracks. I jumped into the John Hughes production [For the Record: Dear John Hughes] because I’m basically a huge fanatic of his movies. And Zach and I wound up onstage together playing a few different characters, including the Rebel and the Basket Case, and we just kind of connected.
Zach Villa: We had this chemistry. I remember the first scene we did together – we both sort of knew each other’s moves and it just felt right.