Joaquin Phoenix Rides his Ducati

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Phoenix (31) recently helped a bad in Great Britain called The Hype Machine by directing their latest music video. How cool is that! The rest of the story plus pictures of Joaquin leaving a NYC hotel last weekend, and Joaquin riding his Ducati motorcycle back in California. Total of 12 pictures in the gallery after the jump… Technorati Tags: Joaquin Phoenix, The Hype Machine, Ducati

The Hype Machine, especially in Great Britain, trots out new musical sensations like Detroit rolls out new cars. Every year, there’s another group dubbed and charged with making rock ’n’ roll meaningful and important again. Bands such as Blur and Oasis have worn the Next-Big-Thing mantle; more recently Kasabian, the Arctic Monkeys and the Kaiser Chiefs have been anointed as nominal saviors.

Then there is People in Planes, a Welsh band that is, no pun intended, flying under the radar of the press.

The band recently received a boost when actor Joaquin Phoenix heard the band, and was so impressed he directed the band’s video for “If You Talk Too Much My Head Will Explode.”

“It was amazing that someone so famous could be so humble,” guitarist Peter Roberts says. “We were getting so much respect from him, it didn’t feel like he was this huge star. He was just essentially passionate about the music, the art that he was creating.”