The Guitar Hero series on Jemsite features interviews with guitarists and musicians who may not have star status YET, but their current situations have shaped them to be who they are--determined, fond of their craft, and heroes in their own right. Perhaps you'll see in these upcoming entries the next Jimi Hendrix, Melissa Etheridge, or Duane Allman. Or perhaps they'll become household names by doing what they do best--ripping a mean riff!
A funny thing happened to Mark Lee on the way to being a rock star. He and singer-friend Mac got serious about their faith. And so the buddies had no qualms about putting two and two together and coming up with their own organic Christian rock band--the kind where faith raises prominently in the lyrics--but the good ol' rock & roll beat never dies.
And so, Third Day was formed, and with it, a highly entertaining pack of faith-based Christian guys who have done so well for themselves that they've even won a Grammy while spreading their message of commitment to God.
Mark doesn't only add lead guitarist to his list of talents. He's also the head of Six String Lounge, an online guitar community, which gives members the chance to post their own blogs, videos, and photos while interacting with others in the highly popular guitar forum. (Sounds familiar Jemsite members, doesn't it?)
But besides all that fun stuff, Mark's biggest goal may just be similar to other bands who are looking to do the same. Third Day wants to mentor new artists in the same way many bigwigs have mentored them.
And so, besides the whole guitar playing, faith creating, music blogging thing--that may be the biggest reason Mark Lee is this week's Guitar Hero.
How did you start playing the guitar?
I played violin from when I was six up until the beginning of high school. My dad surprised me and got me a guitar for my 15th birthday, and the rest is history :)
Who are your musical influences?
Being from Georgia, the southern rock thing is kind of in the water here. Bands like The Black Crowes, R.E.M. and drivin n cryin were big influences when we first started out. As a guitarist I've always gravitated to guys like Mike Campbell and Peter Buck who come up with simple yet extremely memorable parts. Lately I've also been into guys like Steve Morse and Jimmy Herring who come out of that southern rock tradition but really take playing and their musicianship to another level.
You are the lead guitarist and founding member of Third Day. Most people have asked, “Why a Christian rock band?”
Mac (our singer) and myself played in cover bands together in high school. But a funny thing happened - we got serious about our faith at the same time that we got serious about our music. Then when we first started writing our own songs, including our faith in our lyrics happened organically.
How did the founding of the group come about?
If I remember right, I was over at Mac's house in about July of '91. We had just been at a show and were kicking around ideas about what to do musically. I asked him if he wanted to start a Christian band. I don't think either one of us even knew what that meant! We quickly discovered that there was a whole Christian music scene with Christian radio and press and retail. We started taking opportunities to play wherever we could. 18 years later, here we are :)
Describe Third Day’s sound and if there is a message behind the music.
Like I said before, being from Georgia has really influenced our sound. People try to call us a "southern rock" band, but I don't think it's quite that. Our songs run the gamut from mellow pop ballads to heavier rock. But you hear us play and hear Mac's voice and it's pretty obvious we're from the South. I think message wise we really just want to encourage people, and let them know that whatever they're going through, God loves them. We've heard a lot of stories from people about how our songs helped them get through the loss of a loved one or a problems in their marriage.
What are the group’s successes and upcoming projects? Where are you looking to go with the group?
I think our biggest success is our longevity. We've been together for almost 18 years and still have the same core guys in the band. Along the way we've won three Grammys, had several albums go gold, and one go platinum. We've had the chance to play The Tonight Show, share the stage with a couple of presidents, even the Pope. So it's been a lot of fun. We just put out an album called Revelation that we're really proud of. We recorded it with Howard Benson, who's produced a lot of big rock records we're all fans of. We've had a lot of people tell us it's our best album to date. Not bad considering we've been kicking it as long as we have.
What you’ve done beyond other band members is not only helped to create an official webpage for the band but also started an entire guitar community (Six String Lounge.) Why are you going this far to promote guitars in this capacity?
I've been blogging for several years and really enjoy it. Pretty much everybody I talk to after one of our shows wants to talk about guitar. Setting up an online community centered around a blog seemed to be a natural progression. Because mastering the guitar is such a long process, the internet is just flooded with sites trying to offer some kind of shortcut to playing great. By talking about playing guitar from my perspective - from a guy who's doing it professionally - I hope to encourage people that playing guitar is not the easiest thing, but with a lot of hard work it can be a very rewarding pursuit. And so many guitar sites are just swimming in ads. I hope to combat that with a simple, cool looking blog site.
Where are you looking to go with all your sites?
For the Third Day Blog, just keeping it going is a success in itself. With everything else we do in a show day, it's really challenging to try to update people on how the show went and what we've been up to. Beyond that, I want to get better about including more photos and video. People really seem to respond to that.
For Six String Lounge, I really want to foster the community thing more. I just set up a ning group (sixstringlounge.ning.com) to give people a chance to post their own blogs, video and photos. I've got an interesting mix of novices and more advanced players on there. I'm hoping the advanced players can help out the newbies.
Tell me what you felt like when you heard that Third Day had won a Grammy?
Funny story: the last time we won a Grammy back in '07, I was literally in the bathroom when they announced we had won. Someone had mistakenly told me that our category was in 45 minutes. I figured I'd stop by the restroom - those awards shows go on forever! I come out about 30 seconds later to find the rest of the band onstage accepting the award. Doing what any reasonable person would do, I started sprinting for the stage. As I'm running, I see guys like Vince Gill, Steve Vai, Carlos Santana, all sitting there in the crowd. Nothing like making a fool of yourself in front of your guitar heroes. What's funny though is that the newswire picked up on the story. So for that one year, Third Day winning a Grammy was newsworthy in the Philippines. If I can embarrass myself and get a little publicity out of it, and nobody gets hurt, I'll take it!
What kinds of things are you looking to do in all areas in the future (songwriting, blogging, guitar playing...)?
We in Third Day wouldn't be here if artists like Newsboys, dc talk, Steven Curtis Chapman and others hadn't taken us under their wing when we first started out. So we really want to return the favor and mentor new artists. Mac produced a band called Revive and we've taken them on tour, and we really want to take the mentoring thing to another level in the years to come.
The 
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