Kevin Costner’s bandmates in rock band Modern West learned that having a movie star as a frontman has added benefits, after he landed them roles in his new film.

The actor helped fund new movie Swing Vote and so had no problem casting his band in the picture.

He says, “It was not originally scripted to have my band in the film but the guys all worked for scale and they were cheap, and they didn’t give you any lip or talk about how big their trailer was. It was great for me – I suddenly had the band right where I wanted them doing what I wanted, and they’re my friends. When you’re on location for three months it’s nice to have friends there with you. They were only around for a week or so. They all wanted love scenes. I just told then ‘No’.”

Costner and his band perform in the film, as well as writing and recording a tune for the soundtrack.”

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Thousands of NASCAR fans who turned up for Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 were shocked to realize that the lively country-rock band playing featured a familiar face: Kevin Costner on lead vocals.

“There were double-takes,” he said after the show at the Daytona International Speedway. “They get into the music without knowing.”

The actor – dressed in faded jeans, sunglasses and white button-down with rolled-up sleeves – and his band Modern West played a 50-minute set of mostly original songs, capped off by a lively rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

Making the night even more special? The actor’s wife, Christine, was in the audience with the couple’s 14-month-old son, Cayden, who watched his dad perform live for the first time. “It was magic,” he said.

Still Costner – who stars in and produced the upcoming Swing Vote, featuring a cameo from racing icon Richard Petty – said he’s happy to leave racing to the professionals.

“I ride bareback with buffalo and do my own stunts in movies that maybe some people wouldn’t do at all, but I’ve never had the penchant for speed,” said the actor, who still owns the Mustang convertible his character drove in Bull Durham. “In high school … nobody wanted to go with me. I was Twenty-Mile-An-Hour Costner.”

Modern West will continue to tour and will release a CD in October. (For more info, check out their Web site.) In the meantime, he’s focused on his youngest son.

“I can’t take my eyes off of him,” he said. “I’m anxious to see what kind of a person he can grow into.”

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Actor-turned-movie maker Kevin Costner has vowed never to star in a movie sequel, insisting they are a waste of time and money. The Oscar-winning star has frequently been linked with follow-ups to his films, including The Bodyguard and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, but the 52-year old claims making sure-fire box office hits would take the excitement out of his work.

He says, “Unlike many people in Hollywood, I haven’t made sequels to my movies because I think that would be too easy.”

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It’s a boy for Kevin Costner and his wife, Christine.

Cayden Wyatt Costner was born at 10:30 p.m. Sunday at a Los Angeles area hospital, the 52-year-old actor-director’s publicist, Paul Bloch, said Monday. The baby weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces.

“Both mother and son are doing well,” said Bloch, adding that the baby has dark hair. He is the couple’s first child. There were no other details.