Monthly Archives: April 2010

Apr27

Author Sandy Lo Interviews 30 Seconds To Mars, Her Inspiration Behind Latest Book Dream Catchers!

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Author Sandy Lo Interviews 30 Seconds To Mars, Her Inspiration Behind Latest Book Dream Catchers!

April 27, 2010—New York, NY—Author and journalist SANDY LO had the opportunity to speak with the musical inspiration behind her latest novel, DREAM CATCHERS earlier this month. In an interview for StarShine Magazine, Lo spoke with Shannon Leto, founding member of the popular rock band, 30 SECONDS TO MARS. Upon discussing his latest tour, she was able to inform Leto of the impact his music has had on inspiring TORTURED, Lo’s band in the novel. Leto was grateful and thought it was “very cool”.

“I am so fortunate to be in the position I am in to speak with my musical muse for Dream Catchers”, explains Lo. “30 Seconds to Mars are really amazing.” Mars’ front man and actor, Jared Leto even inspired the main character, Jordan Walsh, a bit. “As a teenager, I was a fan of ‘My So-Called Life’ and fell in love with Jared’s character, Jordan Catalano, which is why I named my main character Jordan,” Lo shares.

Following her interview with Shannon Leto, Lo saw the band live for the first time on their “Into The Wild” tour to support their latest album This Is War. “I felt like my character, Haley, seeing Tortured perform for the first time,” she says with a smile. “30 Seconds to Mars really know how to put on a show.”

To read Sandy Lo’s interview with Shannon Leto and to see her review of the 30 Seconds to Mars show, go to: www.StarShineMag.com.

DREAM CATCHERS is available now through LuLu Press and is coming soon to other online retailers. Lo’s coming of age story of sheltered college student, Haley Foster, running off to New York City with the carefree musician, Jordan Walsh, has been receiving rave reviews from Amazon readers.

“I truly appreciate this realistic work of fiction that tells a personal story in an engaging way. Dream Catchers leaves you wanting more, well after you’ve read the last page!” gushes one reviewer.

Another reader commends SANDY LO on her characters: “Dream Catchers is told from the main character’s perspective, therefore allowing you to truly understand what she, Haley Foster, is thinking and feeling throughout the varied situations she is faced with. Many of the other characters are also fleshed out rather well, including Jordan Walsh, paragon of bad boy good looks and lead singer of the band Tortured. It appears that the author, Sandy Lo, wanted to tell a love story which was able to indulge the reader, while not coming across as overly predictable.”

To read an excerpt from DREAM CATCHERS and to order a copy, go to: www.sandy-lo.com or http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/dream-catchers/6137629.

Also, “Haley’s Letter”, the song written by SANDY LO for DREAM CATCHERS is now available on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/haleys-letter/id356084511! The song was also written, produced and performed by JAMES MANZELLO and co-produced by FRANS MERNICK.

For more on Sandy Lo: www.sandy-lo.com
Follow Sandy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/authorsandylo
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorsandylo

Apr25

30 Seconds to Mars Takes Philly Into the Wild!

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30 Seconds to Mars Takes Philly Into the Wild!

Philly’s Electric Factory was packed, but that was before 30 Seconds To Mars came on stage. This was only the beginning; the calm before the incredible thrashing storm of the Into The Wild tour.

Ticketbuyers sat through 3 opening acts that each played several songs. Let’s face it; most people aren’t excited for anyone but the headliner. However, the whole show was solid from the first act to the last.

Street Drum Corps was up first with their amazing, you guessed it, drumming abilities and catchy songs like their newly released single “Knock Me Out”. Next was Neon Trees, who are already a StarShine favorite, performing their hit single “Animal” as well as “1983″ and the title track off their album, Habits. This band is bound to blow up big soon.

MUTEMATH was the last of the openers. The band performed several songs off their album, Armstice, including “Chaos”, “Typical” and Twilight famed “Spotlight”, which got the crowd–well, the girls anyhow–singing along. Front man Paul Meany is fun to watch as he spazzes out on stage and jumps on top of his keyboard rambunctiously.

After MUTEMATH left the stage, a tarp was thrown up in order for 30 Seconds To Mars to make a big entrance. Minutes passed and the anticipation built. It was eleven now, and several hours earlier, it was announced on Twitter that the show the next night in Charlotte would be postponed due to Jared Leto’s illness. Slight worry filled the crowd wondering if the band would have to cancel that night at the last minute as well.

Then the lights dimmed and a shadow of a mohawk appeared behind the tarp. Worry vanished and the packed crowd compressed closer to the stage. Shannon Leto took to his drumset and lead guitarist Tomo Miličević took his post.

“Night of the Hunter” was a perfect opening song for the band. Although, Jared’s scratchy vocals were obvious at times, the pink-hawked, blue-eyed frontman still amazed the crowd with his insanely phoneomenal vocals.

Leto was lucky enough to have such a devout cult following who picked up where he left off on vocals when he couldn’t

Jared Leto / Photo by: Sandy Lo

carry out a scream–though he still managed to carry out most of them!

30 Seconds to Mars performed for almost two hours and managed to pack as much fan-interaction as possible. Leto appeared in the crowd at one point, where he accoustically sang a rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and 30STM’s biggest hit “The Kill”. He then began to take requests from the audience as he bantered with them.

Leto was backed again by the band to perform the full version of “The Kill” while he crowd surfed his way back to the stage. 30 Seconds to Mars is all about fan participation and interaction. For the recording of their latest album, This Is War, the band had fans chanting, singing, stomping and clapping throughout the album. They also released the album featuring over 2, 000 different covers with fans’ faces on them, which they call the “Faces of Mars”.

Jared organizes the crowd on stage.

During the band’s latest hit, “Kings and Queens”, Jared handpicked people out of the crowd to come onstage, and not just two or three or ten people–there had to be at least twenty! Now, that experience is worth every dollar.

That is what’s so amazing about this band. It’s not just the music, full of depth and true artistry, but it’s about how the band chooses to share that music–so openly and generously.

Jared, Shannon and Tomo aren’t rock star snobs with “leave me the f*ck alone” attitudes, but a great band with a big heart, who really care about the art of it all. Now, that’s something you don’t see out there anymore.

Back to the setlist…every song pulled the audience member in, whether they were familar with it or not. “A Beautiful Lie”, “From Yesterday”, and “This Is War” had everyone singing along. There was such harmony in the diversely-aged audience–from twelve-year-olds to fifty-somethings. Just about everyone knew every note to be sang–which, as mentioned before, came in handy for the, as he put it, “sick as a dog” Jared Leto.

Photo by: Sandy Lo

He was full of complements and gratitude for the Philly crowd who did everything he asked them to from dancing spastically to forming a mosh pit and screaming loud enough so everyone had a sore throat just as bad as his.

Even though the concert didn’t end until almost 1am, there was not a dull moment. The Into The Wild tour had about four hours of great music, and afterward, 30 Seconds to Mars hung around to sign autographs. With a sick frontman and five straight shows in a row, that’s devotion.

After seeing 30 Seconds to Mars live, other bands should feel ashamed; this is how all bands should treat their audience. Major kudos to Jared and the boys for pulling off that show sickness and all!

For more on 30 Seconds to Mars: www.thirtysecondstomars.com
Follow 30 Seconds to Mars on Twitter: www.30secondstomars.com

Apr25

Interview with 30 Seconds To Mars' Shannon Leto

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Interview with 30 Seconds To Mars' Shannon Leto

Twelve years and three albums later, 30 Seconds To Mars has solidified themselves in the music industry as musically dynamic and a band that fans all over the world connect with on many levels.  StarShine’s editor-in-chief, Sandy Lo had the chance to speak with founding member Shannon Leto a couple of weeks ago to discuss the band’s message and their current Into The Wild Tour.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Hi Shannon. How are you today?
Shannon Leto (30 Seconds To Mars): Good. How are you Sandy?
Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): I’m doing very well. Thanks for speaking with me.
Shannon Leto: Of course.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): How’s everything going with the tour?
Shannon Leto: It’s going really good. It’s our third show with this tour. We haven’t played in America in three years. It’s exciting to be sharing this album with our country.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): How is it different playing for American fans than the rest of the world?
Shannon Leto: It feels like home, ya know? It just feels comfortable. First of all, we all speak the same language, but the energy is really amazing. There’s nothing like playing for your home country. It’s hard to explain. The energy is just different–more rowdier, just more excitement.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): I’m sure that gives you more adrenaline.
Shannon Leto: Absolutely, I feed off that–the energy of the crowd.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Is there a song that still remains a fan favorite when you guys perform?
Shannon Leto: “The Kill”. People love “The Kill”. “A Beautiful Lie”, “From Yesterday”. And this new album people are responding a lot to “This Is War”, our new single that’s out now. “Kings and Queens”. “The Kill” is always the crowd favorite, it will always be, you know?

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Yeah. I put it on every mix CD that I make. [laughs]
Shannon Leto: [laughs] There you go.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): So you guys just finished filming the video for “This Is War”.
Shannon Leto: Yeah, we did. We just finished filming that a few days ago.
Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): I saw some of the pictures on MTV and obviously there’s a war theme. Could you tell us a little bit more about the video?
Shannon Leto: Nope! [laughs] It’ll come out soon and we’re trying to keep things under wraps, but it does definitely reflect a war time. It’s something we’ve never done before from the location to the content. I really can’t wait to see the finished product. The making of it was actually really, really cool. I got a chance to become a soldier. I BECAME a soldier. [laughs]

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Well, see now you’ve accomplished almost everything in life. [laughs]
Shannon Leto: You know what I mean? Except for maybe going to the moon or mars and hanging out, but yeah.
Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): That is something you should do as a band.
Shannon Leto: Maybe that’ll be our next video.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Now you guys took a long time over the past couple of years with this album because of the lawsuit and everything. What would you say the key to surviving in this music business is?
Shannon Leto: The music business has changed so much. You really have to look at the bigger picture and see where everything is falling into place, and then flow with that. There are other ways to go about making music. I think it’s not there yet, but it’s well on its way. I mean the internet is a huge, huge marketing tool. I think utilizing that helps. It’s a big question; it’s a really big question. Stick to what you believe in. Fight for what you believe in. Have people on your same team that are believing in what you believe in and just kind of go from there. But it’s a big question and it’s going to take some time for anything…I mean the record industry is collapsing. The old way of thinking is dying. People are going to have to start thinking about the new way of doing things, so…big question.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): How would you define Thirty Seconds To Mars’ message to the world?
Shannon Leto: Good questions!
Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Thank you!
Shannon Leto: Really good.  I think it’s more than just guys playing their instruments on stage. It’s more than just going in and recording your instruments and putting a CD out. It’s more about a shared experience. It’s more about everybody participating if they want to participate. It’s like a big art project. It’s about community. It’s about expressing yourself any way you see fit–through the arts, through visually. It’s like one big art project. That’s kind of like the way it’s been. We have this communal aspect about the band. We share the experience with our audience, with our fans and our families as much as we can. With this last album, This Is War, we had people flying to Los Angeles–thousands of people–they sang, they chanted, they stomped, they clapped, they beat on things, and we put that on the album. So you can hear that throughout the album. It went really well. Then we did it digitally as well. So we have eight or nine different countries singing and chanting on the album. And then we had 2,000 different album covers as well–with different [fan] faces–the faces of mars, we call it. It’s more about sharing an experience. I think these days it’s important to do that, especially when you have the internet and your BlackBerrys and your iPhones and you’re always glued to that. I think there’s some experiences that aren’t shared as much as they used to be–even though they’re being shared via internet and all that. Just the physical aspect is not there as much. We’re not doing that purposely, but I think that’s how it’s going naturally. We bring people on stage as well to help sing “Kings and Queens”.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): That’s great. I love when artists do that. I’m actually a big Thirty Seconds To Mars fan, and I’m a novelist. The last book I published, “Dream Catchers“–the whole time I was writing it, I listened to your music.
Shannon Leto: Oh!
Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): And there’s a band in the book and I kind of modeled them after Thirty Seconds To Mars.
Shannon Leto: Very cool, thanks! That’s VERY cool.
Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): No problem. I even put you guys in the acknowledgments for inspiring me.
Shannon Leto: Aw, thank you!
Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Thank you guys.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Has there been any really rewarding moments on this tour, so far? I know the American leg just started, but overall has there been one specific show where something amazing happened?
Shannon Leto: Well, I don’t think there’s one specific show. I think the whole thing has been rewarding. I think being able to make another album and finally having it come out. And booking the tour dates and being able to share the experience, I think that’s the overall reward. Something that comes from your soul and something that comes from, who knows where? Some celestrial place maybe…and to record that and to be able to express that to people and share that, it’s pretty amazing. It’s something that really can’t be put into words.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): What’s in Thirty Seconds To Mars’ future?
Shannon Leto: Who knows? We’re really concentrating on the tour right now. We’re really concentrating on reintroducing ourselves to America. We haven’t toured here in three years, so it’s really exciting to be able to be back home and tour again. We’re just really focusing on that and if we feel like we want to continue expressing ourselves through vehicles of music, we’ll continue to do so. If not, we’ll do something else. I think it will always be a form of expression through the arts in some way or not. Expressing yourself this way does something that conversation lacks. It does something that fulfills me personally. I’m compelled to do it so I think I will always be doing something like this.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): For my last question, if you could dedicate any song in the world to your fans–it doesn’t have to be your own, but can it be–which song would you pick and why?
Shannon Leto: I would dedicate [sings] we are the world, we are the–no. [laughs] You know what? We would make a song with the people. We would collaborate with the people so we could all have ownership in it. It would be special. I think that’s what we would do.

Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): Sounds good. Well, thank you so much Shannon for the interview. I look forward to seeing you guys in concert on the 24th in Philly.
Shannon Leto: Yeah! Come and say hi.
Sandy Lo (StarShine Magazine): I will, definitely.

Review of the Into The Wild tour coming soon!  For tour dates, ticket info + more on 30 Seconds To Mars, go to: www.thirtysecondstomars.com.

Follow Shannon Leto on Twitter: www.twitter.com/shannonleto.
Follow 30 Seconds To Mars on Twitter: www.twitter.com/30secondstomars.