Kjwan is front act for 30 Seconds to Mars
By Karen Valeza
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia
"We're excited, anxious and crazy."
This was how Kjwan lead vocalist Marc Abaya summed up the band's sentiments about their front act gig for 30 Seconds to Mars' concert on July 29, 8 p.m., at Trinoma's Open Parking. It's the first time Kjwan will be performing for a major international band.
In an interview with Yahoo! OMG Philippines during the "30 Seconds to Mars Tribute" at Glorietta, Marc and the rest of Kjwan—Boogie Romero (lead guitar and vocals), Kelley Mangahas (bass guitar), Enrique de Dios (keyboards, synthesizers and percussion), and Paolo Santiago (drums)—revealed that they're big 30 Seconds to Mars fans.
"It's a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for us to showcase what we're all about. 30 Seconds to Mars, we respect them a lot and admire their music and what they try to do. We're grateful to the production for trusting in us," Marc said.
30 Seconds to Mars, composed of Jared Leto, Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević, was hailed as the "Best Rock Band" in the 2010 MTV Europe Award. They've sold millions of records and are known for the hit songs "Closer to the Edge' and 'Kings and Queens."
30 Seconds to Mars' Jared, though, first made his mark as an actor, appearing in TV's "My So-called Life" and the movie "Alexander."
"To be honest, we were more acquainted with Jared as an actor, so when we found out he has a band, we are musicians, so we wanted to learn from them," disclosed Marc, who's also an actor.
Kjwan finds the music of 30 Seconds to Mars very interesting and loves the fact that the band is influenced by other great artists.
"Our main goal is to front act, to put on a show. And second, we wanna use the opportunity because would like to showcase what we're good at. Because some of our music is similar, but still a bigger chunk is different," Marc said.
As for their own front act performance, Marc revealed: "We've been debating like do we complement the band or do we do our own thing. But, I think we'll just do our own thing."
Does the band Kjwan feel the pressure? "We do also. But at the same time, we have to keep in mind that we're setting the vibe for the concert. We're starting the party and were celebrating music. So, it's gonna be one fun night," Kelley quipped.
30 Seconds to Mars has been around since the late 1998, but, interestingly enough, they appeal to a much younger audience.
"It's an opportunity for us to see, how the younger generation, the fans of 30 Seconds to Mars will react to our music. Because again our goal, just like that of any other band, is to reach as many people as we can, and not just the niche," Marc said. "I think that's the death of music if we're stuck to one genre, stuck to one kind of audience."
A 30 Seconds to Mars pre-concert party is set at The Wild, Republiq in Resorts World.
