Guest Post & Giveaway: Boys in the Band Blog Tour

Here at Pants Off Reviews we're pleased to be the latest stop on the Boys in the Band blog tour, with authors L.A. Witt, Rowan Speedwell, Cecilia Tan, and Paula Coots! Each of these writers has brought a rock star to life in a recent romance release, so they got together to talk about music, musicians, love, and good old "sex, drugs, and rock and roll."

Today they answer the question: What music did you listen to while writing your book (if any), and is that the music you'd like readers to listen to while reading it? What song or songs would go on the "soundtrack album" for your book?

L.A. Witt: I listen to pretty much the same music with each book, which is mostly a mix of 30 Seconds to Mars (obviously), horrible pop music, country music (everything from Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins to Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert), dance music, trance, classical, rap... Seriously, I have such a bizarre mix of music, it's not even funny. I do distinctly remember writing a lot of WITH THE BAND while under the influence of a Garth Brooks binge, which is ridiculous since the book is about a hard rock band. While working on the book with Cat Grant, I listen to a lot of... brace yourselves for a shock... I know, this is going to be a HUGE SURPRISE... 30 Seconds to Mars.

Rowan Speedwell: I don’t listen to music when I write: I need absolute focus, so the most noise I can deal with is a fan going for white noise (and to keep me breathing). I can’t write anywhere but in my office. I’ve never been one who could multi-focus. But when I wasn’t writing, the following were what I was listening to, to get my brain in the mood: Paul Simon: Graceland. It is the perfect album, where I love every single song on it. There are songs on there that are so primal and true, and songs that are so complex and true, and songs that are so funny and true. I just love it completely. U2: Joshua Tree and Rattle & Hum. Bono’s voice is what I imagine Adam sounds like, rough and sweet at the same time, unless he (Adam) is singing show tunes. Then his voice is just pure and perfect. Speaking of show tunes: The movie cast soundtrack album of Cabaret, of course.

Cecilia Tan: I needed to be in a "guitar" mood for Daron. But while I wanted to listen to a lot of guitar, while I'm actually writing I can't listen to words: it makes interference in my head. So I was looking for albums that really rocked but that didn't have a lot of lyrics. I love Apocalyptica's INQUISITION SYMPHONY. Four guys, four cellos, covering Metallica. These days it is hot for violinists, string quartets, etc... to cover rock and pop music but Apocalyptica really started it all. A great rocking guitar album is TRANSMUTATION by Praxis. (Bootsy Collins, Buckethead, Bill Laswell, and Bernie Worrell!) As for what the reader should hear? I titled every chapter with a song title from the 1980s, so that probably started some earworms for people, but I wanted to leave it a little open to interpretation what exactly Daron's band sounds like. I pictured them as something a little like Jane's Addiction, with touches of The Church and INXS.

Paula Coots: I rarely listen to music while I write, but I liked the soundtrack for The Social Network by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Because one of the main characters in ANOTHER ROCK STAR, Shane, loves The Cure, I listened to them quite a lot. Actually, most of the music referenced in the book got listened to at one time or another during the three years it took me to write it, and the list is extensive. A particular Bowie bootleg, called The Last Hero, probably got the most "spins." For the soundtrack? Here's a partial list: Bowie- Heroes, The Voyeur of Utter Destruction as Beauty, Rebel Rebel, Time, Wild is the Wind. The Cure- Underneath the Stars, Love Song, Just like Heaven, The Kiss. Porcupine Tree- Blackest Eyes, Trains. Queen-The Show Must Go On, Who Wants to Live Forever. NIN-Hurt, Closer to God. Adam Lambert- Broken Open, Running, Chokehold, Broken English, Nirvana. "The Gift" by Annie Lennox.

Read their rock-themed romances:

WITH THE BAND by L.A. Witt
Hard rock band Schadenfreude is finally on the verge of the success that’s eluded them for the last several years. With Aaron McClure as their new lead singer, nothing’s going to stop them…except maybe a steamy, secret relationship between Aaron and bassist Bastian Koehler. Aaron knows all too well what can happen when band members get involved with each other. After all, his last band was a casualty of his last relationship, and Schadenfreude forbids band members from dating for that very reason. But Bastian is too hot to resist, and besides, it’s just sex, so what’s the harm? Their passion in the bedroom is rivaled only by their ambition as musicians, though, and pretty soon, it's going to tear them, and Schadenfreude apart, if they can't get back to playing with the band.
Amazon

ANOTHER ROCK STAR by Paula Coots
Music is the driving force in Reed Lang's life and he's hit the jackpot when it comes to signing a major label deal and scoring a hit single or two. It's never an easy task and certainly not for an out and proud gay man, even in this day and age. Now, it's time to hire the backing band, shoot the videos, do all the promotion work and get out on the road. But what happens onstage is only half the show. When the wild energy onstage can't be contained some become more than just hired hands. Friends. Mentors. Tormenters. Lovers. Surviving the circus of the music business, the rigors of the road, staying true to your art and discovering your heart show Reed that maybe there is more to life than being just another rock star.

Amazon

DARON'S GUITAR CHRONICLES by Cecilia Tan
It's the 1980s, the era of MTV, AIDS, and Just Say No. Daron Marks is trying to make it as a guitar player in an industry where the whole world is the closet. Keeping his sexuality a secret would be a lot easier if he hadn't developed a huge crush on his band's lead singer, Ziggy Ferias. In fact, everything would be a lot easier without his crush on Ziggy... except for fame itself. In the latest volume of Daron's Guitar Chronicles (volume 5), Moondog 3 are on the road. Is the tour bus the pressure cooker that will meld them together or will the pressure blow them apart? Vol. 5 on Amazon

(Vol. 1 free on Kindle right now: http://amzn.com/B004EHZUA0)

ILLUMINATION by Rowan Speedwell
Adam Craig is burned out. Lead singer of the hard rock band Black Varen, he’s tired of the empty life of groupies, paparazzi, and hotel rooms. Worse, a life in the closet. Miles Caldwell is a brilliant artist, tied by agoraphobia and social anxiety to his family’s lodge. Alone but for his parrot, he spends his days illuminating manuscripts and hiding from the complexities of life. Somehow, the man who’s never home and the man who never leaves it must find the strength to fight for a future together. Publisher website:

http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/illumination 

Amazon buy link:  http://amzn.com/B00FIO47PW

About the Authors:

Paula Coots: After seeing David Bowie and his lead guitarist, Mick Ronson, when she was eleven, Paula knew what she wanted to do with her life. Her plan was to play lead guitar in a band and hopefully make it big, and then after that focus on writing. Well, she didn't "make it big" as a rock star, but she has had her share of traveling band adventures as a lead guitarist over the past twenty five years. And now she writes! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulaCootsBooks Twitter: @PaulaRCoots

Rowan Speedwell lives in a tarpaper shack in the North Woods, without so much as cable TV to keep her warm. She is allergic to publicity and loathes marketing, so her books only sell one or two copies. If you have one, she thanks you, as your purchase enables her to buy cat food for her diabetic feline companion, Kimball O’Hara. Webite: www.rowanspeedwell.com Twitter: @RowanSpeedwell

Cecilia Tan mostly writes erotica and science fiction/fantasy, but she started writing Daron's Guitar Chronicles back in the eighties and is still writing it today. She is the author of Slow Surrender, The Prince's Boy, the Magic University books, and many other novels and stories. She was inducted into the Saints & Sinners GLBT Writers Hall of Fame in 2010 and is currently a nominee for the RT Magazine Career Achievement Award in erotic fiction. She lives in the fantasy utopia of Cambridge, Massachusetts with her three cats and her partner of 23 years. Daron serial website: http://daron.ceciliatan.com Blog: http://blog.ceciliatan.com Twitter: @ceciliatan Facebook: thececiliatan

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer currently living in the glamorous and ultra-futuristic metropolis of Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband, two cats, and a disembodied penguin brain that communicates with her telepathically. In addition to writing smut and disturbing the locals, L.A. is said to be working with the US government to perfect a genetic modification that will allow humans to survive indefinitely on Corn Pops and beef jerky. This is all a cover, though, as her primary leisure activity is hunting down her arch nemesis, erotica author Lauren Gallagher, who is also said to be lurking somewhere in Omaha. Website: http://www.loriawitt.com Blog: http://gallagherwitt.blogspot.com Twitter: @GallagherWitt

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