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Shawn Mars speaks with a hint of nostalgia in his voice: “We didn’t have a garage at my house... so it all started in the basement for me.” That nostalgia plays a part in his first solo CD, Fabulous Disaster, but there’s plenty of looking forward, too. Shawn combines tried-and-true styles in search of something new and strikes gold with songs like “Buried Alive”, “Happy Boy”, "Mudpies" and the heavy funk of the title track.

“I was in a lot of bands growin’ up, usually as the guitarist/songwriter, but then I decided to take center stage and start my own band. That’s when it began to happen for me.” In the mid 90s Shawn formed Mars Needs Women, whose hard-rocking debut, Sparking Ray Gun, was released through Warner Brothers. They toured nationally with Cheap Trick and received some airplay on MTV for the song “Superhero”. During a brief Mars Needs Women hiatus in 1998, Shawn joined three members of Skid Row in Ozone Monday. Shawn remembers “We played some shows on our own, but then we were given an opportunity to open for KISS and Motley Crue. To play the same stage as some of the guys I looked up to in my youth was just insane.” Ozone Monday recorded a full length album but it was never officially released, although one song from those sessions, “Born A Beggar”, which was co-written by Shawn, was featured on Skid Row’s Thickskin CD.

Finally, after years of conforming to what a traditional “rock band” was supposed to be, Shawn Mars felt it was about time to spread his wings a little and record a solo album. The “basement mentality” from his childhood would play a large part in the feel of Fabulous Disaster. To distance himself from the collaborative tendencies of a band, Shawn chose to write, perform and record every note on the CD himself. He says “The concept behind the disc was to challenge myself at every turn. I wanted to take a stab at genres I never would have dreamed of bringing to any of my previous projects.” The experiment paid off, with an astounding 23 songs written for his Main Man debut. Mixed in with Shawn’s usual golden-touch for power-pop (“Nasty Habit”, “Who Rules Your Planet?”, “All About You”), Fabulous Disaster includes takes on garage-rock (“Fabulous”, “Piss And Vinegar”), reggae (“Never Take Me Alive”), industrial-rock (“Automatic”), power-ballads (“Song For A Girl”, “Sparkle And Shine”), retro-rock (“Sucker”, “Stars On Mars”), dance (“Family Jewels”), arena rock (“Suicide”, “Control Freak”) and even cinematic rock (“Blood Into Wine”). What holds it all together, though, is Shawn’s ear for a great pop hook. Trust us when we say Fabulous Disaster is destined to be a classic.

©2008 Main Man Records

Shawn Mars CDs available from Main Man Records:
• Fabulous Disaster (2008)

Mars Needs Women CDs available from Main Man Records:
• Under The Hood (2007)