30 Seconds to Mars may not be tearing up the radio charts and MTV just yet,
but there's no denying they've generated a huge buzz in the music community.
Fronted by Hollywood actor Jared Leto, 30 Seconds to Mars released their
self-titled debut in 2002. Not too many actors have the talent and ability
to release a follow-up. Dogstar and 40 Odd Foot of
Grunts come to mind. With their latest release A Beautiful Lie (read
CD review), the group establishes themselves as more than just
another Hollywood vanity project,
with their intricate prog-rock arrangements and powerful melodic vocals.
Backing Jared up in the band are guitarist Tomo Milicevic, bassist Matt
Wachter, and brother Shannon Leto on drums. Shannon took some time to speak
with me as the group was in the early stages of their latest tour.
Rock Is Life would like to thank Balfie Cat, Amanda, Tasha, Dai, Danie,
K.C., Jenni, Footfyters, Dean, Beautifulsoul, Nathalie, Michael, Janelle,
Spiftakulan, Delphine, and Jennie from the 30 Seconds to Mars Message Boards
for helping with the questions.
RIL: If I knew absolutely nothing about 30 Seconds to Mars, how would you
describe the group's music to me?
SL: 30 Seconds to Mars is the grandiosity of Pink Floyd
and the energy of The Sex Pistols
RIL: Where did the band name come from?
SL: It came from...It's more of a conceptual kind of
thing. It drives the music. Atmospheric.
RIL: You’re running a golden ticket promotion with the sale
of your new album...
SL: Yeah hold on I’m going to walk outside were
doing a sound check right now...(long pause). The golden ticket;
I can’t tell
you everything, but one of the things are like
a back stage pass for several shows.
RIL: Is there something special that you get too?
SL: Yeah there’s a little something else there.
RIL: What’s your favorite song on the new album?
SL: You know it changes from day to day; I like "The
Fantasy".
"Fantasy" is really hot and has a lot of energy to it.
RIL: Are you playing a lot of songs from the new album on the current tour?
SL: Yeah, we’re playing about three to
fou new and three to four old ones.
RIL: What has been the most memorable part of touring?
SL: Connecting with the fans. You know, getting a
relationship with them. Actually,
the most memorable thing is when we played one of our first shows. We had
just released our first single on the internet, and when we played the show,
everyone was
singing it. That was pretty amazing.
RIL: Does it bother you at all if you read something negative about
your music?
SL: Not really. They're either going to like it
or hate it, and I can’t waste the energy on people that dislike it
and why. It's not for everybody, so I really don’t waste
my time.
RIL: When did you decide that you wanted to be a drummer?
SL: Well, my brother and I grew up with lots of instruments around us. I
come from a pretty artistic family. Tthere were canvases and paint
everywhere, instruments, and all sorts of stuff. Iit just kind
of made sense. I started playing on pots and pans at a very early age, so
I just
kind of
flowed into it. It was just a natural progression.
RIL: Do you ever want to get out from behind the kit and play something
else?
SL: I do play a little guitar and piano, but I
like it back there man. I have a good time. Being a drummer, it's definitely
expressive and I get
to do kind of what I want. I don’t have to play the exact same thing
every night.
RIL: Your fans seem to think you’re the hardest band member
to track down before or after the show, do you think that's true?
SL: I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it. I mean,
we do the signing and we hang out with them afterwards. I don’t know,
maybe sometimes I get a little quiet. Peace time after the storm.
RIL: Do you plan on touring Europe at all?
SL: We do, but we're not sure when. We are going to conquer America and then
were going to go over to Europe and conquer them. We're just going to
focus
all our
energy now on America. Maybe the summer of next year we'll be in Europe.
RIL: You have a lot of European fans believe it or not.
SL: Yeah I know. We have people coming over from Sweden and Germany and
places like that. There was actually four Swedish girls that were somewhat
following us from tour
stop to tour stop. They just rented a car and followed us around. Some
Japanese fans, up to three at a time, would come over and rent a
car and follow us around, go back, and three more would come over and do
the
same. It's pretty awesome man.
RIL: Do you see yourselves headlining more shows in order to support smaller
bands or would you rather open up a show for a bigger band.
SL: I would love to headline. Actually,
we just found out that were going to be opening up for Audioslave, so we
are
really excited about that. Eventually we want to headline. We want it to
be our show. There’s more control of it that way. You can
mess with the songs the way you like, make them longer or shorter...you
know.
RIL: Your fans have been dubbed the Echelon, how did that come
about?
SL: The Echelon are the hardcore fans that have been with us from the
beginning. They get show privileges on our website and they get great shirts
to wear...it's just the top ranking people for our fan base.
RIL: One of you're fans wanted to know, would ever or
have you ever hooked up with a member of the Echelon.
SL: No and no. We're family. We're like brothers
and sisters, that’s
incest (laughs).
RIL: What the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you to do?
SL: The weirdest thing...the weirdest thing…(long pause). There’s
been some weird things, but the weirdest thing has been; right after
a
show, this one fan wanted me to go to their house and meet their family.
They wanted me to spend the night and go to church with them in the morning.
She wanted me to go to church with the family. We seem to have a Christian
following
for
some
reason.
RIL: Does Jared’s acting career ever have a negative effect
on the band?
SL: It doesn’t. The
only people that have a problem with it seems to be the
press and media. The
fans
really
don’t care. They come to the show, yeah its great to meet you, love
you, and that’s it. A lot of our fans actually don’t know
who Jared is. A lot of people only know him from 30 Seconds to Mars.
RIL: Does his acting schedule ever conflict with doing something with the
band?
SL: No, it doesn’t. When he’s off working,
we're working. We're still writing away, trying different
sounds, and hashing
out songs.
Sometimes we get to go on location with him and record some music there
right there and then.
RIL: You have a tattoo on your upper left arm what exactly is it?
SL: Its just abstract art. In fact, this artist that
I use to live with used to incorporate a lot of this type of art in his
work, so I asked him to
send me some stuff and I just put it into this abstract piece of art.
RIL: Have you had to make any great sacrifices to become a musician?
SL: Sure. I mean, this is what
I want to do. There have been relationship
sacrifices of course.
This band is my life, this is what I do. Everything
else is kind of second. It's building a business, so I have to put all
my energy
into
it. Therefore, it does not leave much room for anything else. There
has definitely been some sacrifices over the years playing that I’m
not living to regret. I take pictures, I’m a photographer.
I’m
also a writer, so I’m pretty content you know. If anybody has sacrificed,
it's my brother. He has an amazing self career and a amazing music
career, and with the music he’s not getting paid a cent. He turns
down millions and millions of dollars in movies so he can live on twenty
five
dollars a day per diem. If anybody has been sacrificing, it’s
been Jared, and that’s commendable
RIL: You mentioned earlier Pink Floyd meets the Sex Pistols is kind of
the sound of 30 Seconds to Mars is influenced by, are there any other bands
that have influenced
you personally?
SL: I like The Cure, I like the first two albums from Metallica, Led
Zeppelin, The Who, early Police, and Steely Dan...just different
music. My mom use to listen to Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens
when I was young.
RIL: When the band was writing this album, or any album, where
did you look for inspiration?
SL: The inspiration comes from different experiences in our lives, and
they come out when they come out. It just kind of happens.
RIL: Do you have song writing session, or do you just write down
something that comes to mind whenever?
SL: Well, Jared was walking down the street several
years ago and he had a melody in his head. That’s how a
song started. Some songs you can be laying in bed and a beat comes.
The thing is, you just put it out, you take it
from your
head, and play it through your instrument to see if it works. Then you
put in other notes and melodies on top of it and see if it happens.
RIL: The next couple of questions are from fans, they're a little more
devirse than your standard interview fair. Describe each band member
using one word, including yourself?
SL: (Long pause) I would be "explosive", Jared
would be "relentless", Tomo would be "dedicated", and Matt would be "weirdo".
No, Matt would be "patient".
RIL: If you could be an animal for a day…
SL: Oh no...do I have too?
RIL: No, I didn't think that one was going to fly anyway. How about
your favorite food?
SL: I go for all types of food. I don’t have
just one favorite. I like sushi.
RIL: Cooked or raw sushi?
SL: Raw
RIL: There is a debate going on allegedly about what color your eyes
are, are they hazel or are they brown?
SL: They change colors there hazel, green, yellow.
RIL: If you could play with any band that’s currently in
existence, who would it be?
SL: U2 or Nine Inch Nails.
RIL: If you had never gotten the band together, what do you think
you would be doing today?
SL: I would probably be a photographer, a writer,
or something like that
RIL: You've done professional photography before, right?
SL: Yeah, Ive thought about getting back into it again.
RIL: What are the band's plans after the current tour?
SL: Were just going to keep touring.
RIL: If you could ask one thing of your fans what would it be?
SL: Just keep having an open mind. You know, over
time music
changes. We always like to consider ourselves changing, never
being stuck into doing the same thing as we always do. A lot of times
fans don’t
like that, but were not about doing the same thing. Life’s about
change, taking risks, and all that. You know who did it the greatest?
Radiohead. They did three
totally different albums. U2 stayed relevant too because they changed
with the times.
SHANNON
LETO
