By Kate Drexel;
Arts and Entertainment Editor–
(Main Story Photo Obtained from Sal Costa’s Facebook Page)
Media Credit: Kate Drexel
On October 29, Sal Costa of Canadian rock band My Darkest Days released his clothing line, in support of the non-profit organization, Trevor Project.
The Trevor Project is the leading national organization fixated on suicide prevention efforts among the youth of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ). It was founded in 1988 in West Hollywood by the creators of the Academy Award-winning short film, Trevor, a “dramedy” about a gay thirteen-year-old boy, who after being rejected by his friends, attempts suicide. Before the film was set to air on HBO, the creators realized that some of the young viewers could be facing a similar crisis and they began to search for a helpline for those in need of it. After discovering that no such helpline existed at that time, they decided to dedicate their lives to form an organization that would promote acceptance of LGBTQ youth and to help in crisis and suicide prevention.
The Trevor Project has been supported by various celebrities, such as Ellen DeGeneres, Daniel Radcliffe, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Colfer, Dianna Agron, and now Sal Costa.
While on tour with My Darkest Days, Costa has never failed to reach out to fans with loving video messages and inspirational “Thought of the Day” blurbs. In early October, the band’s lead guitarist announced that his clothing line would be released on an online store. The clothing line consisted of T-shirts for men, women and children.
All of the proceeds go straight towards The Trevor Project.
On the release day, technical difficulties arose when swarms of fans visited the site around the same time. Due to the popularity of the clothes, the store ran out of stock very quickly.
Thankfully, amidst all the hoopla, Costa found time to take a break from his hectic schedule and chat with Mosaic’s Arts & Entertainment Editor Kate Drexel about his line, his life, and what he hopes to accomplish with The Trevor Project.
Q: How did you come up with the idea to do a clothing line?
A: I’ve always really been into art, like no matter what avenue it took, whether it’d be like painting or playing an instrument, or writing songs, or creating clothes. I was always just an artistic person, and for years and years and years, I would make all my own clothes. And I still do, like now, I’ll buy an old pair of pants and I’ll just stitch them and do weird things to them, and I wanted a way to raise money for a charity but still be creative, and still be able to put out a clothing line, and that’s the whole idea of how the clothing line came together and I kind of went from there, to be honest.
Q: Why, out of the various organizations, did you choose the Trevor Project?
A: Well, to be honest, when I was a kid in high school, I was never really bullied. I was friends with everybody because I was so involved in so many different aspects of the community. I was always the athlete but at the same time, I was always into nerdy things. I had all of my geeky friends, I had all of my friends that were jocks, and then I was a musician at the same time, as well, so I had all of the music kids. So I was, kind of, friends with everybody, which gave me this objective point of view of the relationship between a bully and a victim, and I always saw it differently than everybody else. I think everybody saw it as the person being victimized as the only person who was really hurting. And I found that a lot of times the people who were bullying were actually people who had been really hurt on the inside because that’s the reason why they have to power-trip on other people, and I was always the outsider and see both perspectives (sic). I learned that both people were victims at one point. And I really sort of put an end to bullying because there were a lot of kids who commit suicide because of this, even bullies, themselves, were so tormented that they end up committing suicide as well in some cases. I just don’t think anybody should live with hate. And a lot of times, when people become bullies because they want a way of control and that’s where bullies stem from, just people bullying them and they turn into bullies, and I think the cycle just needs to stop. It just seems to be getting worse throughout the years with cyber-bullying and all that kind of stuff. I just thought it [Trevor Project] was a good cause, and I’m also all about different walks of life. Whether you are black, or white, or you’re gay or lesbian, or transgender or you have religious beliefs or you don’t, I think people should be able to live however they want. The Trevor Project was a really good organization because it’s really about being bullied for many different reasons, mainly for being gay or bisexual or lesbian or transgender. I just thought it was a really good organization to start off with. Eventually, every few months, I’m thinking of changing the organization-just so I can give more to different charities-but I thought this was a good start.
Q: If you could choose a different organization, what would it be?
A: I’m not sure yet. But I asked people on my page to give me a bunch of different ideas because there are so many great ones out there that I looked into, so when the time comes to choose another one, I’m going to go through everything all over again. But I really do love animals, too, so I was thinking maybe some type of animal charity or…I don’t know, I’m going to have to look into it again, and see what the next one will be.
Q: What do you hope to benefit from this line?
A: It’s just another artistic avenue that I can take and the more creative I am, the more whole I feel. And when you put on top of the fact that money is going to be raised for a good cause, that just makes me feel even better, more whole as a person. That is what I truly benefit from it.
Q: What was the first piece of clothing you ever fell in love with?
A: Oh, man, there were so many! I was in Vancouver, BC a few years ago and I was walking down the street after a studio session and I saw a mannequin in a window. This mannequin was wearing newspaper pants I have never seen before. It had JFK on them and I thought they were the coolest pants I’ve ever seen. I walked in and asked, “Are these things for sale? Do you guys have anymore of them?” And they said, “They are only on the mannequin. We don’t sell them here.” And I was like, “You HAVE to sell me these pants!” And they said, “Well, do you want to try them on and see if they fit?” They actually fit me perfectly, and I bought them, and I wear them all the time now. They are just starting to die because I’ve worn them so much but I thought it was the coolest things I’ve ever seen. And when we were shooting the video for “Casual Sex”, (sic) we were working with a stylist named Tony Sartino. He’s this awesome, awesome stylist, and he worked with Aerosmith and Bon Jovi, and all of theses awesome artists. He gave me a gift, it was this box and when I opened the box, it was a necklace that had been in Vogue magazine like years ago, it was the original piece. It was this awesome, weird necklace. I don’t think I have pictures of me wearing it, or of it…I don’t think I’ve ever worn it, to be honest. It’s just such a cool piece that I keep on my dresser because I don’t see myself wearing it. It’s a really cool looking piece.
Q: Do you plan on expanding your line to include jewelry?
A: Eventually, definitely. I wanted to start off with something really small to see if people were receptive and its kind of like a band, you start off small and you just grow, and grow, and grow. It’s what I want to do with this. I just want it to grow naturally, and as it gets bigger and more in demand, I will have more things available. I really do love jewelry. I’ve made the necklace on my neck, the skull necklace, years ago. Someone came up to me and was like, “Aw, man, where did you get that necklace?” And I said, “To be honest, it’s two identical bracelets that I really liked, and I found this giant pendant, the skull, and I kind of put it all together and made a necklace out of it.” And I’ve always been really good at doing that kind of stuff, making jewelry. So I think I eventually will get into that as well.
Q: What inspired your fashion choices for the line?
A: Well, I worked with a really cool artist named Tony Holiday and he comes from the same school as me, like he’s into old punk, hard rock and rock ‘n’ roll, and he’s a really great artist. I really wanted the first set of shirts to be something the fans can connect to and I always saw myself as a leader. Somebody who sets trends, and somebody who other people can trust in and look up to, and that’s why I have the face shirt, kind of in the style of Che Guevara and that whole imagery behind that classic Che Guevara picture that everybody sees. They paint Che as a leader and I just wanted one of those shirts to show that side of me, to let people know that I’m there forefront and I will always be a leader for good cause. So that’s where that idea came from…and the other shirt with the pin-up, it’s kind of a bunch of different elements of me as well in the shirt. If you look, there’s a bunch of my tattoos on the pin-up girl and there’s also my guitar. If you just look at a bunch of little subtle things, you’ll just see different little pieces of me within that image. And I always just loved icons like Marilyn Monroe, Jessica Rabbit, and Betty Boop, like I loved that old style pin-up look and I just thought it would be cool to have an element like that in a shirt design. Then there was the kids-wear…it was weird, being in a rock ‘n’ roll band, like the bands that I’ve been in, and as an artist myself, I have never thought that so many young people would end up being fans of what I do, and it just turned out that way, so I wanted to have something there for moms and for young people as well, and that’s how the children’s clothing idea came in.
Q: What did you do before My Darkest Days?
A: I’ve always been an artist on my own. I’ve written music, and fronted many bands. It’s weird; I’ve always been my own thing, like no matter if it’s a band situation, or if I’m singing as a lead singer of a band or playing guitar for a band, I’ve always been my own entity. And I’ve always just seen myself in that way, so I’ve done many projects, I’ve played in so many different bands. I played in a band called Three Star Seed, a trio, that was me and two other guys, and I was the lead singer and lead guitarist in that band. Actually, that band and My Darkest Days toured together and played shows together, and that’s how we ended up meeting, in kind of fusing our bands together. But, in My Darkest Days, I wanted to be Jerry Cantrell [Alice in Chains], or the Joe Perry [Aerosmith] not the Steven Tyler, or like in Guns N’ Roses, I always wanted to be like Slash, not Axl. And I always felt comfortable playing that role in a band, being the creative mind, and that’s the role I’ve generally gravitated to and before I was in bands, because I could sing and I was a guitar player, and everyone was pushing me to be the lead singer, and I love singing. I’ll probably do it again in another project, but I like being that person that doesn’t need to be singing lead vocal all the time. So that’s when I joined up with My Darkest Days and I’m just doing so many other things on the side as well, helping out other bands or artists. And that’s pretty much it.
Be sure to check out Sal Costa’s Facebook page, like it for more information on the clothing line and feel free to suggest organizations!
