Starwood interview with Marten Andersson
By Megametal

Mega Metal: Tell us a little about your band or current project? (When you formed, Name, Members, Etc.) Marten: We played around with the idea of putting together this band for a while, it finally happened late 2003. In addition to me, its fronted by Lizzy on vocals/guitars, Joey Scott on drums and Joe Steals on guitar. We are like brothers, we have a lot of fun and a great chemistry together and you can tell when you hear the CD or see us play live. Mega Metal: Let's talk about your current CD, Where did you record it? Marten: It's a balls out rock n' roll album with alot of influences from Cheep Trick/Kiss but played in a modern style with some great vocals. The recording and the pre-production process for If It Aint Broke, Break It! was put together around November/December of 2003, at The Zanzibar studios in North Hollywood, CA. Mega Metal: Who produced the CD? Marten: We were all very active in the recording process which made things a ton of fun but the mixing/producing was done by Lizzy and Joey. Mega Metal: How long did you spend recording the new CD? How did that compare to the last CD(If applicable)? Marten: The whole process took about 5 months from beginning to end, counting pre-production, recording, mixing and mastering.

Mega Metal: Were you happy with the final product?

Marten: Love it, we are all very proud of it. The response have been awesome from everybody that heard the CD. The popularity of it was kind of a shock to tell you the truth, all of sudden people start telling us things like "one day you'd never heard of Starwood, and the next day, boom! You are going to be everywhere!" I hope they are right.

Mega Metal: After listening to it after the final mix, what went through your head?

Marten: I thought it sounded awesome. We all looked at each other and said, we are onto something here. I believe with the current music scene of bands such ! as Brides, Darkness, Velvet Revolver, and Jets the timing for this release is perfect. We cant wait to start filming the first video and getting out to the people.

Mega Metal: Do you have a favorite song off your new CD?

Marten: Yeah I got a ton of favorites, some are from a playing perspective others are great dynamic songs I love listing to driving in my car. "Subculture", "All My Girlfriends Have Boyfriends" and What's Your Damage are songs that are a ton of fun to play and listening to.

Mega Metal: What are your current tour plans, if any?

Marten: We are starting out by playing around the Los Angeles area. Since this is a debut album and a fresh band our management are looking for a major tour to be a support act on. There is a lot in the works but nothing confirmed yet. Looks like 2005 can turn out to be a great year for us.

Mega Metal: Describe your live performance?

Marten: High octane, High intense rock n' Roll with great backing vocals. Some of these songs were made to play live, they are even stronger live. We debuted our show at the House of Blues a month ago and we got a great response. The live show is driven by a lot of emotions, and about having fun, feeding off the crowd and putting on a great show in return.

Mega Metal: Do you have a personal favorite song to play live?

Marten: Overall I enjoy the entire set. If I were to pick a couple I would say "What's Your Damage", Sub Culture or "If It Ain't Broke, Break It!",  Those are some songs that the crowd really gets into.

Mega Metal: Have you ever had any mishaps or crazy things happen while on stage?

Well yeah there has been a million of those. I feel off stage into a hole one time, the crew had to lift me up. I blew out my shoulder but I finished the show. We have had Amps blowing up on stage unexpectedly, knocking out teeth of the singer by accident, people have sex right in front of us while playing. The list goes on and on.

Mega Metal: What has been the highlight of your career thus far?

There has been so many, I look at it as "It's not the destination its the Journey" The best is yet to come. Ask me again in a year.

Mega Metal: Who are your influences?

Marten: I listen to Kiss to Elvis and everything in between.

Mega Metal: If we looked at your CD collection, what CDs would we see?

Marten: Audioslave, Black Label Society, Kiss, Evanescence, Deep Purple

Mega Metal: Are there any new bands out there that you see potential in?

Marten: There is some great bands out there these days, I am listening to the latest Evanescence CD right now, that's a great CD. Unfortunately I see alot of bands where the bass player or guitar player is awesome but the songs/band sucks. Also, alot of the CD's has 2 or 3 good songs on them, the rest is crap.

Mega Metal: What are your feelings about downloading and file sharing?

Marten: In limited quantities I guess it's ok, come on we have all done it. However, I don't think people realize how much work (an! d money) goes into making this work. Hell, you don't have a construction worker working his ass off moving rocks in your backyard for 6 months and then go, Naaa I don't feel like paying for this. As I see it, if you don't have a receipt in one hand and the CD in the other you are steeling.

Mega Metal: If you had the chance to jam on stage with anyone, who would it be?

Marten: Elvis, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Aerosmith

Mega Metal: Do you have a website or email address our readers can contact you at?

Marten: The website is www.starwood-band.com. It has contact info, a guestbook and the ability to sign up for the Starwood newsletter, which always gives you the latest news and tour info.

Mega Metal: Do you have a street team?

Marten: Not yet but we hope as we grow and we get the CD out there we will have one soon.

Mega Metal: What can we expect to see from your band over the next year?

Marten: Keep your eyes open because we are going to do a video then tour, tour, tour, and another album.

Mega Metal: Any last comments?

Check out the CD and the website at www.starwood-band.com. Thanks I had fun!

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