As musical journeys go, the one taken by 30 Seconds to Mars has been one long, strange trip. Since breaking through to new heights with the rock hit "The Kill," and then making history by shooting a music video in China, the band has been comparatively quiet for the past year, in part because it was tied up in business disputes with its record label. But despite the drama, 30STM singer and co-founder Jared Leto tells Buzznet that the band is ready to blast off once again.

In an exclusive interview with Buzznet, Leto revealed that the band has been recording songs "for a year," and that creatively, "we've undergone a transformation of sorts. There's an evolution that's happened. There's a place that we've arrived at that we've been looking for for quite some time. And it's a nice feeling to get there."

30STM also made a special effort to include their fans in the recording process, using a gathering of roughly 1,000 fans in Los Angeles last week to experiment with crowd sounds.

Check out pictures from the event — and photos of Leto's own evolution in recent years — in our special 30STM gallery.


30STM's new album, tentatively titled This Is War, is expected in the fall. When Leto called in the other day from the studio — and munching on tofu — he made it clear that though not all the songs are finished, the band has used it's unusually long break (August will mark four years since the band's last album) to explore the songwriting process even more deeply.

"Having this amount of time to work on a project is interesting because you go through a tremendous amount of growth throughout the recording process and things change from beginning to end," he said.

Listen to Part 1 of the interview, in which Leto discussed the recording process, working with famed producer Flood, and last week's fan summit, right here (the interview is on the web site)


It has also meant some unexpected explorations, including recording a song with Kanye West, titled "Hurricane." Leto said he and West had sought each other out (West wanted him to direct a video, while Leto said he'd long pursued West's contribution to 30STM's music). "It's nice to have a different voice on the album. I don't mean a literal voice, but ust a different perspective," Leto said. "It's really fascinating to hear other artists' take on your material and their contribution and I really enjoyed the process. And he's phenomenal on the song, it's great."

If the idea of Kanye working with 30STM comes at you like a curveball, don't worry: we threw a curveball right back at Leto. We asked him a...

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Jared Leto and company are plugging away at an album we might never hear, in Bigger Than the Sound.

Here is one thing you probably do not know about Jared Leto: He is a hugger.

I discovered this on Monday, when I spent the afternoon with 30 Seconds to Mars at Leto's rather amazing home in Los Angeles and was wrapped in his gentle embrace no less than a dozen times. In the upstairs sitting room, down by the pool, in the control room of his studio ... Leto was there for me, waiting with outstretched arms. Seriously, it was like visiting my grandma, if my grandma A) had a decidedly postmodern interior-design scheme and B) were friends with Kanye West.

To say that it was possibly the most surreal afternoon of my entire career would be an understatement of epic proportions. And that was before Leto sat me down, stared at me with those steely blue eyes of his, patted my knee and presented me with a gift: a box of steel-cut oatmeal (since I had joked in a blog post that he was killing us with all the cupcakes he had been sending to the MTV newsroom). Oh, and he filmed the exchange for a movie he's working on and made me sign a release form.

And this brings me to the point of this week's column: Not only is Jared Leto a tireless hugger and a thoughtful gift giver, he is also totally, completely crazy ... in the best way possible.

Because for the past year, despite the specter of a $30 million lawsuit hanging over his head (the suit was settled hours after this column was filed), Leto has been clocking 18-hour days in a bare-bones-yet-strangely-futuristic studio that he and his 30 Seconds to Mars bandmates — brother Shannon and guitarist Tomo Miličević — built and financed completely out of pocket, working on the ultra-ambitious, decidedly weird follow-up to 30STM's breakthrough 2005 album, A Beautiful Lie.

They brought in Flood (U2, Nine Inch Nails, Killers) to produce and advise them, even designing the studio to his exact specifications. (At one point, while giving me a tour, Leto stopped and pointed at a refrigerator-size synthesizer: "That's the same one [Flood] used on Depeche Mode's Violator," he beamed. "You have to be a scientist to play it.") They had Kanye sing and play on a song. They held an RSVP-only "audio experiment" designed to cull whispers and murmurs and shouts for backing tracks. And they are making (and editing at Leto's house) a film that will document the album's creation.

Until this week's settlement, this was all without the backing of a label — or a firm distribution plan, aside from Leto's steadfast insistence that people will hear the album "even if I have to...

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So here we are, after almost a year at war, and the time has come. The time to make peace, to move ahead, and to begin again. We are finally and thankfully at a place where we are excited and relieved to put behind us one of the most challenging battles of our entire careers.

For almost a year now we have been in Los Angeles, California, putting our hearts, hopes, and dreams into making a record that means absolutely everything to us. In addition to this incredible and creative adventure, we have had the added challenge of carrying the rather heavy burden of a 30 million dollar lawsuit filed against us by EMI records. Not the most ideal of conditions to make a record under but an integral part of our story nonetheless.

We are now nearly finished with our new record and have found ourselves in a place ready to accept an end to the arduous conflict with our former label. There are many reasons that have contributed to this decision but overall the willingness and enthusiasm by EMI to address our major concerns and issues, the opportunity to return to work with a team so committed and passionate about Thirty Seconds to Mars, and the company's dedication to changing the status quo of the business of recorded music made this choice possible. We have decided it best for the music, for the fans, and for Thirty Seconds to Mars to accept a resolution with EMI.

Throughout, we always looked for opportunities to make peace, and stayed open to compromise and resolution. But not at any cost. We were prepared to continue down this path as long as we needed to. This was a fight we believed in wholeheartedly. A fight about art. A fight about truth. A fight about fairness. And a fight about freedom.

This was the first time we had to defend ourselves in litigation and hopefully our last. It was never for a single moment something we wanted, something we enjoyed, or something we treated lightly. A 30 million dollar lawsuit is serious business and we always respected the trepidatious path we were walking down. But we knew this was an important and worthy fight, and unfortunately unavoidable.

In case anyone is wondering, litigation is not fun. At all. My suggestion; avoid it at all costs. We tried. And tried, and tried again. Unfortunately, we eventually arrived at a place where it was impossible to continue working with EMI and necessary to terminate our contract. Citing a California labor law that protects the individual against unfair contractual obligations we gave notice to EMI of our intention. ( http://en.wikipedia.orgwikiOlivia_de_Havilland#Career )

A little back story…

All of this started once we had finally, and thankfully, achieved some success around the w...

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The sign-up form for "The Summit" is now live at www.thirtysecondstomars.com

Head over to the site to register for the event and receive further information.



"The Summit"

Sunday, April 26th, 2009 2PM Doors

The Avalon Hollywood

1735 Vine St

Los Angeles, CA 90028

Capacity is limited so RSVP today!

You can read more about "The Summit" and our new album in Rolling Stone here.

We look forward to sharing more with you this Sunday.

Provehito In Altum

-MARS

Jared Leto Is Going To Kill Us With These Cupcakes

Late last year, Jared Leto surprised pretty much everyone here in the MTV Newsroom by sending us a box of cupcakes from NYC bakery Sugar Sweet Sunshine.

It was his way of saying ‘thanks’ for a story we had done about his band, 30 Seconds To Mars, and their ongoing lawsuit with their former label, Virgin/EMI, and, to be honest, it was pretty amazing … and not just because he included some red velvet cupckaes (those things rule). No, it was because, as one MTV Staffer put it — “Jordan-freaking-Catalano sent us cupcakes!”

Needless to say, it was the kind of thing that doesn’t happen every day … or at least, that’s what we thought. Because, at around lunchtime Thursday, Leto sent us even more cupcakes. Why? Well, read on .

See, on Wednesday, I broke the news that Leto and 30STM would be working with Kanye West on a song for their upcoming album. Jared read it, and must’ve been pleased, because, well … he sent over another dozen Sugar Sweet cupcakes.

There was also another handwritten note (we like to pretend Jared wrote it … you know, as we slowly trace our fingers over the penstrokes), thanking us for the “love” and promising to “see [us] soon.”

(Apologies for the blurry photo. I had just downed two chocolate-frosted cupcakes … was sort of jittery.)

And once again, we were thankful. But, at this rate, covering 30 Seconds To Mars is going to give me Type II Diabetes. So Jared … while the cupcakes are much loved here in the Newsroom, perhaps for our health — and the sake of our blooodpressure — maybe next time, you could send over some bran muffins or steel-cut oatmeal or something?

Jared Leto Is Going To Kill siamo Con queste Cupcakes

Fine dello scorso anno, Jared Leto molto sorpreso tutti i presenti in MTV News inviandoci una scatola di Cupcakes from NYC panetteria Sugar Sweet Sunshine.

E 'stato il suo modo di dire' grazie 'per una storia che ha fatto la sua band, i 30 Seconds To Mars, e la loro causa in corso con i loro ex-etichetta, la Virgin / EMI, e, a essere onesti, è piuttosto sorprendente e non ... solo perché ha incluso alcuni velluto rosso cupckaes (quelle cose regola). No, non è stato perché, come uno MTV Staffer metterla - "Giordania-freaking-Catalano ci ha inviato Cupcakes!"

Inutile dire che era il genere di cosa che non succede tutti i giorni ... o almeno, questo è quello che pensavamo. Perché, a mezzogiorno circa Giovedi, Leto ci ha inviato anche più Cupcakes. Perché? Ebbene, a leggere.

Si veda, su Mercoledì, ho...

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So, as you may have heard, I, along with a small contigency of studio tanned soldiers took a short expedition to Hawaii and spent a not so tropical but nontheless fun filled weekend locked down in the studio working with Mr. West.

Kanye sang on a song I wrote called HURRICANE for our new 30 SECONDS TO MARS record and we experimented and explored on some other ideas as well. It was great. And he sounds amazing on the song. We may not have brought back any island tans but we did bring back the final track and it was an unforgettable trip.

P.S. Brandon Flowers is the nicest guy on the planet and has a great sense of direction. We may not have found our way home that night without him. Thanks Brandon.

P.P.S. We hope to see you all on Sunday, April 26th in Hollywood, CA for "The Summit" at... THE AVALON More details coming.

We have many more secrets and surprises that we can't wait to share with you.....sooooooon

-jared



Here's a pic I took of Kanye working his MPC.

http://imposium.wordpress.com/files/2009/04/mail.jpeg



traduzione:

Quindi, come avrete già sentito, io, insieme a un gruppo di un piccolo studio di contingenza (??) ho fatto un breve viaggio alle Hawaii e ho trascorso, non divertendomi, un fine settimana tropicale bloccato in uno studio di lavoro con Mr West

Kanye ha cantato una canzone chiamata HURRICANE per il nuovo album dei 30 SECONDS TO MARS, abbiamo sperimentato ed esplorato altre buone idee. E 'stato grande. Ed egli suona benissimo la canzone. Forse non abbiamo portato alcun segno dell'isola, ma abbiamo riportato la traccia finita ed è stato un viaggio indimenticabile.

P.S. Brandon Flowers è il ragazzo più bello del pianeta ed ha un grande senso di direzione. Senza di lui non avremmo ritrovato la strada di casa di notte. Grazie Brandon.

P.P.S. Speriamo di vedervi tutti a Domenica, 26. Apr a Hollywood, CA per "Il vertice" a ... THE AVALON. maggiori dettagli arriveranno

Abbiamo molti più segreti e sorprese che non vediamo l'ora di condividere con voi ..... prestoooooooo

Jared -



Ecco una immagine che ho fatto durante il lavoro di Kanye MPC.

Jared Leto Gives More Than 30 Seconds to Rescued Kids.

By Natalie Finn
Fri Apr 10, 5:38 PM PDT

Jared Leto wants kids in need to have more than a so-called life.

The actor-musician and his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, on Friday opened up their recording session in the Hollywood Hills to boys and girls who were rescued from prostitution by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Children of the Night.
COTN, which counts Hugh Hefner and the Johnny Carson Foundation among its biggest contributors, has aided more than 10,000 youngsters between the ages of 11 and 17 since its founding 30 years ago by Dr. Lois Lee.
Leto recently visited the 24-bed facility/school/counseling center and, after sitting down with some of the residents, was compelled to give back.
"After meeting all of the wonderful people at COTN and hearing about their enthusiasm for art and music, I invited them to join us in the studio for a day while we make our next record," Leto said in a statement to E! News this week. "We are looking forward to sharing this creative time with them on Friday, April 10th."
30 Seconds to Mars is currently at work on its third album. Next up for Leto on the big screen is the sci-fi drama Mr. Nobody.

Jared Leto concede più di 30 secondi per Bambini salvati.

Con Natalie Finn
Venerdì 10 aprile, 5:38 PM PDT

Jared Leto vuole i bambini che hanno bisogno di avere più di una cosiddetta vita.

L'attore-musicista e la sua band, i 30 Seconds to Mars, il Venerdì aperto i loro sessione di registrazione in Hollywood Hills a ragazzi e ragazze che sono stati salvati dalla prostituzione da Los Angeles a base no-profit bambini della notte.
COTN, che conta Hugh Hefner e la Fondazione Johnny Carson tra i maggiori contribuenti, ha aiutato più di 10.000 giovani di età compresa tra i 11 e 17 dalla sua fondazione 30 anni fa dal Dr. Lois Lee.
Leto recentemente visitato la struttura di 24-letto / scuola / centro di consulenza e, dopo la seduta con una parte dei residenti, è stato costretto a dare indietro.
"Dopo un incontro con tutte le meravigliose persone COTN sentito parlare e il loro entusiasmo per l'arte e la musica, ho invitato a unirsi a noi in studio per un giorno, mentre facciamo il nostro prossimo disco," Leto ha detto in una dichiarazione a E! Novità di questa settimana. "Siamo lieti di condividere questo momento con la loro creatività su Venerdì, Aprile 10.."
30 Seconds to Mars è attualmente al lavoro sul suo terzo album. Avanti per Leto sul grande schermo è la sci-fi drama signor Nes...

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