P

While <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Johnny Depp</a> has developed a massive international fan following as an actor (especially since the release of the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl), he's also been a musician and a passionate music fan most of his life, and one of his best-known musical projects was the band P. <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> began playing guitar when he was 12, after his mother gave him a second-hand acoustic instrument as a present; he taught himself to play using a Mel Bay chord book, and by his late teens he was gigging with a number of band in his native Florida and dropped out of high school to devote his time to his music. <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a>'s most successful group during his days in the Sunshine State was the Kids, a hard-edged new wave band who developed a significant local following an opened for a number of national touring acts, most notably <a href="spotify:artist:33EUXrFKGjpUSGacqEHhU4">Iggy Pop</a>, who would work with <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> again years later, both as an actor and as composer of the score for <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a>'s directorial debut, The Brave. After recording a four-song demo, the Kids changed their name to Six Gun Method and moved to California in hopes of landing a record deal. Their big break didn't come and <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> quit the group, though bassist Bruce Witkin went on to play with <a href="spotify:artist:3QP0XPDwbvGivqDAaJ5f5G">Adam Ant</a> and currently fronts the group <a href="spotify:artist:0MSmkZx6xPH84TFM4pVXqx">Supremium</a>, while <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> met Lori Anne Allison, a makeup artist who would become his first wife, through Six Gun Method's drummer. <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> then joined the hard rock band <a href="spotify:artist:0tkfKWYVXg2OSzfbzspDz5">Rock City Angels</a>, though in 1984, on the advice of Nicholas Cage, a friend of Allison's, he landed a role in the film A Nightmare on Elm Street and left the band to pursue acting full-time, though a song he co-wrote for the group, "Mary," appeared on their debut album, released by Geffen in 1989. In 1993, while <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> was in Texas shooting the film What's Eating Gilbert Grape, he and Sal Jenco, a close friend and fellow musician turned actor, struck up a friendship with two Lone Star rockers, guitarist and songwriter <a href="spotify:artist:7mHG3fo9dPjrzTEwoV3UEM">Bill Carter</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:53zHmd1TV9gYuZW6iiI4gE">Gibby Haynes</a>, infamous lead vocalist with psychedelic punk firebrands <a href="spotify:artist:62BcWP4fzR8axESibNQEhs">the Butthole Surfers</a>. The four decided to form a band, and P was born, with <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7mHG3fo9dPjrzTEwoV3UEM">Carter</a> trading off on guitar and bass, Jenco playing drums, and <a href="spotify:artist:53zHmd1TV9gYuZW6iiI4gE">Haynes</a> handling the vocals. The band made their debut at the 1993 South by Southwest Music Festival and became the informal house band at the Viper Room, the Los Angeles rock club co-owned by <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a>. In 1995, Capitol Records, then home to <a href="spotify:artist:62BcWP4fzR8axESibNQEhs">the Butthole Surfers</a>, released P's self-titled debut album, which featured guest spots from <a href="spotify:artist:0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5">Red Hot Chili Peppers</a> bassist <a href="spotify:artist:0Xl5J6iOgiQHFqgri7TF8j">Flea</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1u7kkVrr14iBvrpYnZILJR">Sex Pistols</a> guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2s3VN6FjmyuvBZnABKaMyq">Steve Jones</a>, and pianist and L.A. scene fixture <a href="spotify:artist:6fONWULZRqhb1zmqHwkaIB">Chuck E. Weiss</a>. A song from the P album, "Michael Stipe," gained some alternative rock airplay, and sales were respectable if modest considering the fame of the participants. The group proved to be short-lived, as <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> and Jenco returned to acting, <a href="spotify:artist:53zHmd1TV9gYuZW6iiI4gE">Haynes</a> continued touring and recording with <a href="spotify:artist:62BcWP4fzR8axESibNQEhs">the Butthole Surfers</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7mHG3fo9dPjrzTEwoV3UEM">Carter</a> released solo albums and collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:2oAKV8mT3NB1hZbGbGcdYB">Howe Gelb</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:339qxEdD8z8okRAiTp1HKf">Giant Sand</a>. However, <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> still plays guitar in his spare time, popping up on some <a href="spotify:artist:2DaxqgrOhkeH0fpeiQq2f4">Oasis</a> sessions, guesting with his long-time paramour <a href="spotify:artist:1FmxE030Xe2H8Bn9bdv6Pd">Vanessa Paradis</a>, appearing on the first album by <a href="spotify:artist:2gRhYk5tJ3cGg63VmgUemN">Shane MacGowan & the Popes</a>, and playing a reunion show with the Kids in early 2007 at a memorial concert for Shelia Witkin, the group's manager and a longtime fixture on Miami's underground rock scene. <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Depp</a> has also told interviewers he remains friendly with his P bandmates and wouldn't rule out recording a second album with them. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi