Since this week is an important one for the musicians in my stories, I thought I'd sit down and talk a little with the two who are stealing the spotlight. Some quick back history: Van Marshall is the guitarist, singer and songwriter of the Gothic metal band, Bleeding Passion. Zane Blake is the keyboardist for the metal band, Shadows Rising.
B: It's great to have both of you guys here today. Why don't you start off by telling us which books you two are part of?
V: I am actually seen throughout the Serendipity Series, but the main bulk of my story takes place in the book, Better Than Chocolate.
Z: I have a little snippet of a story in the One Touch, One Glance romance anthology. It's entitled Musician's Monsoon and tells how I first met my beautiful girl, Sophie.
B: Both of you have very special ladies in your lives. Tell us about them. Being rock stars must mean that you don't have a shortage of prospects. What was it about these women that caught your attention?
Z: Mine is easy. I was suffering from the worst writer's block ever and was completely burned out. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to write any music again. One night at a show in
V: For me it had only ever been one girl. I met Kat in high school. She was one of the few people who accepted me for who I was, and I was a real piece of work back then. No one talked to me, all thought I was some kind of freak. I was awkward and shy and eccentric to a fault. She saw me. The real me. She never judged me. I loved her almost instantly. She had the most beautiful heart.
B: But you lost track of her, didn't you? You didn't stay with the same girl?
V: No, we lost touch after we graduated and I never got up the courage to tell her how I felt about her. I regretted it every day of my life. No one I met or tried to get close to even held a candle to her. We were brought back together by blind chance.
B: Being part of the music industry must come with its share of interesting stories. What is something memorable that has happened to you?
Z: Shadows Rising won a Grammy. That was pretty memorable.
V: That is memorable! *chuckle* But to avoid saying the same thing as Zane, I'm going to go with the time our tour bus broke down in this little, hick town in the middle of nowhere, Arizona. Our bassist thought we'd wandered into a bad horror movie. We ended up putting on this bizarre makeshift show on the bed of a semi. We were stuck there and the townspeople had been really hospitable. We wanted to repay them in some way. It ended up being a really cool experience.
B: What is something that sucks about being in the music industry?
Z: Sometimes the schedules are grueling. Like when we're on tour. There are times when all I want is to roll over, put my pillow over my head and call in sick. That's hard to do when you're an entertainer. It's that whole "The show must go on" thing. You go on when you're sick, when you're hung over, whatever. People paid money to see you. You don't want to disappoint them. They're basically the ones signing your paycheck. Sometimes I also get really sick of my own music. *laugh*
V: I think the thing that sucks the most for me is the lack of privacy. Even though I love my fans, there are times when I really just wish I was a plumber or something. I got accosted once in an airport by some psycho-fan. No one would accost me if I was a plumber.
B: What is your idea of a perfect day?
Z: Hmmm, that's a tough one. I have a lot of interests. One example of a perfect day would be to spend the entire day hiking with Sophie. Head up into the mountains, get away from civilization for awhile, just enjoy nature and one another. Then, head back into town, hook up with my band and all have a fun dinner together. Then go play the perfect show.
V: For me, any day with Kat is perfect…but I'll try not to get all sappy on you and make the readers nauseous. *bashful smile* One of the things I love doing with her is exploring the wine country. I would love to spend a whole day wine tasting, then have dinner down on the beach while I play music for her on my acoustic.
B: Tell us a random fact.
Z: My socks are blue.
V: That was random.
Z: *chuckle* Sorry, that just flew out. Let me think of something better…. Apparently being a musician was my calling from birth. My mother tells me that when I was a toddler I would pull out all the pots and pans in the kitchen and bang the crap out of them with a wooden spoon. She claims that, even then, it sounded like music. I personally think she's biased.
V: I am a hopeless romantic through and through. Sometimes so much I can't even stand myself. * laugh*
B: Being a hopeless romantic is never a bad thing! Ok, one more question. Give us a teaser of your favorite scene from your story and tell us where we can find it.
Z: My favorite has to be the boobs of death scene, but I'm fond of the antenna ball attack too. It still makes me laugh to remember those things. You can read all about it in my story, Musician's Monsoon, found in the One Touch, One Glance Anthology available at www.freyasbower.com.
V: My favorite scene is where Kat finally lets her guard down with me after this nightmarish episode in the airport where I was accosted by said psycho-fan and had a horrendous panic attack. It was the first time she'd let me kiss her since high school. My whole world made sense in that moment.
You can read it for yourself in my book, Better Than Chocolate. It's Book
B: Van, in what other books can we find you in?
V: I also make appearances in Book 1: The Road Less Traveled and Book 4: Paladin, coming in ebook this January.
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