An Interview with Matt Watcher of 30 Seconds to Mars

Even 30 Seconds to Mars frontman, Jared Leto, has asked the question, "what's with the fascination with the Echelon?" Being a proud member of the band's extremely loyal fan base myself, I can assure you there is much to be fascinated by. If you were to look up the definition for the word 'fan' you would probably find this (courtesy of Wikipedia): "The word fan refers to someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking of a sporting club, person, group of persons, work of art, idea, or trend." That sounds simple enough, and in most cases true. I don't know, however, if that definition alone could come close to describing the passion the Echelon has for their men of 30 Seconds to Mars.

On December 11, 2006, I had an opportunity to do something that any member of the Echelon would be honored to do. I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Wachter, the massively talented bassist (and all around nice guy) for 30 Seconds to Mars. We talked about 30's many successes over the past year, the Echelon, what's coming next for the band, and billy goats (yes, billy goats). For anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Matt in person and talked with him for five minutes, it is no surprise that he can be as funny as he is intelligent and talented. We'll get to Mr. Wachter's amusing and thought-provoking insights in just a moment.

The casual reader of this article might take a look at it and say, "what's the big deal? Every major rock group in history has had their share of loyal fans." I could understand that statement if, in fact, the Echelon were like any other group of fans dedicated to their band of choice. It might be even easier to understand that statement if the band itself treated their fans the same way all the other "major rock bands in history" treated theirs. Having seen the relationship between members of the Echelon and our men from Mars first hand, I can say there is definitely something greater at work here.....something far greater.