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Adopted: October 26, 2008 Launched: November 9, 2008 Site Name: Jared Leto Fan Webmaster: Jen - Contact Staff: Val - Contact Version: 4 Layout by:Papercut Productions Hits: Online: Listed at:IMDB • CL • MC • CE
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While it seemed that struggles with their record label would lead to the end of 30 Seconds to Mars, the Los Angeles-based rock band made sure that this wouldn’t get them down and marched on to record and release ‘This Is War’ in 2009. Following 2005’s ‘A Beautiful Lie,’ the new album showed fans just how much the band has grown over the years and that they still had something to say.
“It’s an accurate depiction of the interests we have at this time in our life,” 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto told Spinner when the band stopped by our NYC studio. “It’s really what we wanted to say in musical terms, and that’s what’s great about making music — you have an opportunity to redefine, rediscover, to reinvent, and we’re really excited about the songs.”
Taking two years to record the album, the band didn’t only just lock themselves up in the Hollywood hills and write songs, but they also invited fans to sing on the album when the band hosted its “Summit” last year. With more than 701,000 MySpace friends and over 79,000 followers on Twitter, the band is more than thankful for the dedicated fanbase they’ve had over the years.
“I suppose, when you think about the fans, the audience around the world, it’s like this amazing dysfunctional family — just a sense of gratitude and awe, respect, pride, a lot of great people around the world that we’ve been able to share this journey with,” Leto said. “We’re very blessed.”
The band is currently on their world tour, ‘Into the Wild,’ which kicked off in the UK in February. However, there’s one city in particular that the Leto is very excited about. “It’s the biggest tour we’ve ever done,” he said. “We’ve sold out Wembley arena, and those milestones are really just a lot of fun. It’s surreal that we’re playing these legendary places.”
With three albums under their belt and sold-out shows all over the world, 30 Seconds to Mars aren’t doing too shabby. But there’s one still on thing they’d like to do. “I would really like to hear Barack Obama on a 30 Seconds to Mars song,” Leto says. “He’s got the voice. He’s got the timbre.”
Check out video from the exclusive interview below.
Hannah Lawrence posted a blog with photos of her 30 Seconds to Mars concert experience in Paris.
We watched as Jared Leto went to New York Fashion Week, got a mohawk at the end of fashion week, reunited with Claire Danes, and now we’ve followed him all the way to Paris to catch a glimpse of him and his band, “Thirty Seconds to Mars” on their tour. [photos via cobrasnake]
There are many phases to putting on a concert, as any musician will tell you. Phase one can simply be called, “prep.” This involves testing your earpiece, taking to the sound guy and gal, and making sure your whites are at their whitest and your reds are at their reddest.
Phase two is “introduction.” This is when Jared and his bandmates greet the fans and give a quick rundown of what they can expect to see during the show. But they’re careful to warn them they will not be served an in-flight meal. That’s just not part of the deal.
Make your way over to Guest of a Guest for more photos and more about Hannah’s experience!
I live in Los Angeles, the city of angels. This morning I was awakened by the sound of a hawk that lives above the house. The cry of the hawk is very interesting. After that I heard the trash truck backing up down the street — I suppose it’s a nice representation of the dichotomy of this planet.
My house is like a laboratory. We built and paid for our own recording studio, which is downstairs in the house. That’s where we’ve been working for the last couple of years to record our latest record, This is War. There are a lot of people who work out of the house, and we have several projects going all day long. My assistant is also in the house, working away and helping me to realise some of the other projects.
From the minute I get up it’s pretty full-on. I make a shake for myself with a bunch of fruit and berries. Am I a health freak? I’m a freak for sure, and healthy at times as well. I start my day by looking at some emails and things that were left over from yesterday. There might be a business meeting then.
I’ve been making music since I was a kid. It’s been a consistent part of my life since I was very young. I was born in Louisiana. I crawled out of the muddy banks of the Mississippi. There were always people around making music, be it on a piano or a rusty guitar. My brother Shannon, who is in the band, started playing the drums when he was five. But really, the more consistent creative expression was visual art. We were around a lot of visual artists — painters and sculptors. Even though music was kind of there, we didn’t know anybody who did it professionally. After some tumultuous years I ended up going to art school. Then I transferred my major to filmmaking with a view to being a director. Eventually, I ended up getting work as an actor, but really my plan was to get work as an actor to help with my directing aspirations. The whole time I was making music, and it just became a bigger and bigger part of our lives until it took over, as music can often do. So it’s been a pretty long, natural progression. Our first record deal was signed in 1998, but we’ve been together a lot longer than that.
In 30 Seconds to Mars, we really try to encourage each other to stay true to ourselves and to march to the beat of our own drum. We’re not interested in being someone else’s band, or someone else’s idea of what we should be. I’m very focused and driven. I’m grateful to have the work in front of me, and I enjoy the process. I enjoy the writing, the recording and the touring. It’s a great thing to be able to do, and we enjoy seeing the world but, on average, as far as the day goes, it’s a lot of hard graft, rehearsing and having meetings with our production team making sure that everything will work right. The hour and a half on stage is the magical experience; the rest of the day is designed to support that, because our biggest concern is for the audience and providing them with an evening that they won’t soon forget.
I’m fascinated and inspired by our audience. A big part of 30 Seconds to Mars is that open-ended conversation we have with our audience all around the world. This is War is a very interactive record. We invited 1,000 people from around the world to come to a summit in LA to participate in the recording. They showed up and sang and chanted and played percussion. And we used that group of people as an instrument on the album. We did that in eight other countries. Then I got a Twitter message from someone in Iran who was frustrated that he couldn’t join one of the physical summits, and that gave me the idea of launching a digital summit. Kings and Queens and some of the other songs on the album now have this summit contribution from thousands of people all over the world, including Dublin. So, in a small way, it’s an Irish record as well.
I still make films, and doing that enriches my life in music. I’m able to take what I’ve learnt from great directors and apply that to my role as a director of our music videos, which are more like short films.
The Last of the High Kings was my very first film. It was an Irish movie, and I played a young man from Howth. I’ve had a long love affair with Dublin, and to be able to come back and play a show with my band in the O2 recently meant a lot to me. It was a pretty amazing experience being in Ireland for the film in 1995, and coming back in 2010 was great.
On the evening of a concert, we go backstage and get our gear on. I’m generally working up until the last minute, making sure that everything is right for the show. I’ll take some moments to have a bit of solitude and then I’ll warm up my voice. The lights go down and we march onto the stage — it’s one of the most magical things you could ever imagine doing. We always leave the door open for a surprise; it’s quite an adventure. It’s like when you’re on a rollercoaster and it’s going up, up, to the tallest part of the ride and you know you’re about to come down very fast: it’s that moment.
After the show, we’ll go out and talk to people and sign some things. I don’t go clubbing afterwards. I stay focused. The best part of the night is being on stage, and after that it’s about winding down and taking care of yourself so you can go on and be focused for the next show.
Sometimes it’s difficult to wind down. I’ll read a book, or do some work that needs to be done, like editing one of our short films. It is a lot of hard work but it’s nothing we’d ever complain about. It’s wonderful work to be able to do and we’re glad to do it. It’s what dreams are made of.
Jared Leto thinks being a film star is more interesting than making music.
The ‘Fight Club’ actor – who also fronts rock band 30 Seconds to Mars – enjoys both aspects of his professional life but finds movie-making more “rewarding”.
He said: “Making a film is really the most interesting part for me. I love the research. I love the building of a character. I also don’t need to make five movies a year – I’m not after being the person who makes the most films. I want to have a rewarding, challenging experience, so I tend to do more art house type films, not big blockbuster movies. It’s interesting to be able to be a smaller piece of a bigger puzzle.”
While Jared prefers the challenge of the film industry, the 38-year-old hunk also enjoys the responsibility he has producing music, writing songs and coming up with ideas for the band – also consisting of Tomo Milicevic and Shannon Leto.
He explained: “With music you’re much more responsible for everything. As the songwriter, as a person who’s behind some of the creative ideas, you are the director, writer, editor, producer and the actor, so you have a much bigger contribution.”
30 Seconds To Mars recently stopped off in Dublin as part of their world tour for new album ‘This Is War’. Linda McGee chatted to lead singer Jared Leto about touring with his brother, balancing his acting and music careers, getting an “ass-kicking” and why he never looks back (sorry ladies, no reminiscing about his days as Jordan Catalano in ‘My So Called Life’!).
Linda McGee: How has touring the new album ‘This Is War’ been so far?
Jared Leto: It’s been wonderful. We’re five shows deep and it’s been the tour of a lifetime. It’s great.
LM: When you release new material are you always itching to go on tour with it and feel firsthand the crowd reaction to the songs?
JL: Yes, it’s the celebration part of the process. It really is. It’s the most fun, it’s the most visceral, it’s the most rewarding because you’re giving away every night, you know. It’s not so much about what you get. It’s about what you give away.
LM: In terms of the creative process, what type of headspace do you like to get in to? Do you open yourself up to lots of different influences or do you lock yourself away?
JL: I do lock myself away a bit. I’m influenced a lot by books, by paintings, by artists. I don’t listen to a lot of music while I’m working just because I’m making music all day, the last thing we kinda want to do is listen to music. So, we had an amazing time making this record. It took about two years. We were in a studio carved into the side of a house in Hollywood Hills and we had our quintessential California West-Coast experience making a rock album.
LM: In terms of experimentation, do you like to try something different every time you approach new work?
JL: I do. I enjoy doing things that haven’t been done too many times before. That’s exciting. To walk upon new earth, so to speak. It’s just taking the road less travelled. I like it.
In our continuing efforts to take you — the loyal music lover — deeper into the minds of today’s artists, MTV News presents “Frame by Frame.” Each week, we’ll get a musician to give you the inside scoop on their latest music video.
By Matt Harper
Last week, we showed you an inside look at the first half of 30 Seconds to Mars’ epic video for “Kings and Queens.” We now present the conclusion of the video with insight from band members Jared Leto and Tomo Milicevic.
The band’s other videos have taken us around the world, from China to the Arctic. And while “Kings and Queens” is certainly less international in scope, it is no less grand or cinematic.
“In the song, there’s a feeling of atmosphere. It’s a bit of a dream,” Leto says. Soon after he makes that observation, a lone horse appears in the video, running down a Los Angeles street in slow motion. Clearly we are dealing with a surreal and fantastic vision of downtown L.A.
Of course, Leto then goes on to explain that despite the horse doing a great job in the end, they were really worried about not being able to get the take right. “We only had three takes that we had time to do,” Leto recounted. “The first take it went sideways, second take it went the other way. Third take? Perfect.”
Despite the minor stress caused by the horse, it sounds like the video was fun to make, and that Leto (who directed under the pseudonym “Bartholomew Cubbins”) considers the project an accomplishment. “It was exciting to have ownership of these public spaces … to reclaim ownership, and to ride down both sides of the street.”
And as “Kings and Queens” comes to a close, we see the group of bikers make their way onto Santa Monica Pier as the sun rises — suitably epic conclusion to an impressive video.
‘This Is War’ is the second single and title track off 30 Seconds to Mars’ December-released album — an artistically progressive record which boasts the love for their fans. So much, that they included their fan base on an exclusive number of album covers (individual photos called “Faces of Mars”) as well as on some of the recordings, most noticeably the featured title track.
Opening with a group of fans’ screams that crescendo as the song begins, the track also includes back-up vocals by the fans throughout — as well as prominent drum percussion, marching-band beats in the bridge and anthem-heavy melodies carried by Jared Leto’s exquisite vocals that make us, in his own words, “feel a confidence and a celebration.”
Be sure to listen to the new single, currently rocking on AOL Radio’s Top Alternative station.
Readers of a certain age (e.g., me) will fondly recall the short-lived teen dramedy My So-Called Life, centering on then 15-year-old Claire Danes’ character Angela Chase and her foibles in high school, up to and including a crush on monosyllabic Jordan Catalano.
Flash forward to Feb. 22, 2010, when the two actors — whose careers, frankly, haven’t quite lived up to expectations — ran into each other at London’s Elle Style Awards. In a discombobulating real-life twist on what it’s like to go to your 15th high-school reunion, they don’t look much like they used to.
Danes, who’s pulled in some decent reviews for her HBO movie Temple Grandin, now weighs less than she did on Life. Leto, frontman for the ludicrous rock act 30 Seconds to Mars, is sporting a Mohawk, which somehow figures.
Multi-platinum rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars has announced U.S. dates of their Into The Wild world tour starting April 9th at the Pearl Theater in Las Vegas, NV through May 13th at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA (full schedule below).
The Into The Wild tour is the band’s first tour in 3 years and is in support of their new album ‘This Is War.’ The tour kicked off last week in Nottingham, England where they played to sold out crowd of 10,000 screaming fans. Thirty Seconds to Mars will continue to play arenas throughout Europe including stops at London’s Wembley Arena and the Paris’ Bercy stadium. Mute Math and Neon Trees will open the U.S. leg of Into The Wild. Pre-sale ticket and special fan packages through American Express, I Love All Access and musictoday begin 10am February 24th through 10pm February 26th in most markets, New York and Chicago pre-sale starts Saturday February 27th. Traditional on sale through Ticketmaster begin February 26th in select markets (complete on sale schedule below).
“This Is War,” the albums’ title track and second single will impact alternative radio on March 1st. It is the follow up to the hugely successful “Kings & Queens” which recently spent 3 weeks at #1 and is currently in the top 5 on the alternative playlist charts. “Kings & Queens” is the band’s second #1 single and third top 5 hit. The platinum selling A Beautiful Lie’s “From Yesterday” reached #1 in 2007 and “The Kill” which was voted the #1 song of the decade by AOL Radio listeners peaked at #3 in 2006 before becoming the first song in alternative radio history to be retired from the Billboard chart after a 52-week run. The video for “Kings & Queens, a short film entitled The Ride was one of the most downloaded iTunes video of the weeks ever to be featured and received airplay on Fuse, MTV, MTV2, MTVu, VH1 and Music Choice. “Kings & Queens” will be featured in the trailer for the upcoming Warner Bros. animated film “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” and album opener “Escape” is currently featured in promos for the A&E Network show Fugitive Chronicles.
‘This is War’ which was declared an “artistic triumph” by Alternative Press and as “epic rock at its most affecting” by Billboard debuted at #2 on the alternative album and digital album chart, selling nearly 71,000 albums in the first week. The album 2000 different album covers, as friends, fans, musicians, artists and many other notable persons submitted their own photos to be used on individual covers as part of the band’s innovative Faces of Mars campaign. Not only are fans on the album’s different covers but thousands of fans from around the world can be heard singing on tracks throughout the album. The band invited fans to attend summits in 8 different countries and online, where they recorded a variety of sounds, choruses and versus for the album.
Formed by brothers Jared Leto and Shannon Leto, Thirty Seconds to Mars have over 100 million views on YouTube, 40 million plays on MySpace and more than one million fans on iLike/Facebook. The band have won numerous awards and accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, three MTV EMA’s, an MTV Latin and Asia Award, a Fuse Award, and three Kerrang! Awards. Thirty Seconds to Mars’ sophomore record, A Beautiful Lie hit multi-platinum status after two years of heavy touring and winning fans over, one-by-one, garnering the band a growing and loyal fan base.
