15 September 2023
Newsdesk
Five years after their previous album, Thirty Seconds To Mars returns with their sixth album, ‘It’s the End of the World But It’s a Beautiful Day’ tomorrow. Jared Leto, one-half of the duo of brothers that forms the core of Thirty Seconds To Mars joins Zane Lowe in studio on Apple Music 1 to share insights into the band's journey and their latest record, which promises to redefine their musical landscape. As he settles in for a candid conversation, Jared discusses the band's musical evolution over time, his influences, and his experience growing up with and working with his brother. He also shares the story behind the creation of the album cover, growing up around drugs but choosing a different path, and his thoughts on the future of Earth.
Jared Leto Tells Apple Music 30 Seconds To Mars Has Always Been Him and His Brother At Its Core…
It really wasn't at all. I mean, because that's how it started. That's how it always was. And the reality of the band, and just in case anyone was ever confused out there, it's always been me and my brother. We've had incredible contributors, collaborators, but the core, the heart of 30 Seconds To Mars has been that bond that we share as brothers. And anybody that's ever been part of the band will tell you that. But I think a lot of people are not aware of that part of it. And they're probably not aware also that I produced every album we've ever made, that I wrote virtually every single song. No, and I play the guitar and the bass and the keyboard or the thing, and the thing. But on this, sharing this with my brother and other collaborators, contributors, that's a beautiful thing. I mean, that's a beautiful thing. And once you get old enough to realise okay, I have enough built up credit inside myself to feel confident enough to work with another architect, another designer… Yeah, and it's okay. It's a beautiful thing. I love to be surprised and challenged. And that only happens when you step outside your comfort zone.
Jared Leto On Why This Chapter Feels Like a New Beginning For 30 Seconds To Mars…
Jared Leto: …it does feel like a new beginning for us. It's important as you continue to be an artist, to be willing to destroy a bit of yourself, let go of the past in order to move forward. And my brother and I, a lot of people think about us as a hard rock band, which is always pretty surprising to me because if you look at even the first record, there's in my mind a lot of diversity. There's electronics, there's strings, there's different kinds of arrangements. I think for us, it was the bravest thing to do is to make an album like this. I could have gone back and made a 12-minute prog rock song or do something really esoteric. That is actually pretty natural for me. And it's more in line with the music that I've listened to in my life…
Zane Lowe: More Depeche Mode to me than you are alternative rock. I mean, if I was going to draw any comparison, strangely.
Jared Leto: I appreciate that, they're one of my favorite, and we've learned a lot from that band over the years, but the Cure, Depeche Mode, bands that weren't afraid to... I always loved The Cure because they could write the darkest, a song, a funeral ballad, and then they get “Friday I'm in Love”, “Boys Don't Cry”. And that's pretty brave. And how incredible that the audience goes on that journey with Robert Smith and the band.
Jared Leto On The Origin of 30 Seconds To Mars’ New Album ‘It’s The End of the World But It’s A Beautiful Day’…
…my brother has been, like I said, at the end of that song, "Why don't we just try to go left field?" And I sent some just bold s**t idea. It was nothing. And he sent that back and he kept doing that this album. I'd send him something, he had sent something back and he really grew as a producer. Just outgrew me, really. So that's been a beautiful thing. And now we have that secret weapon in the band now. It's great.
Jared Leto on Chasing Creative Freedom...
We never wanted to be locked into any kind of box where we were unable to explore different types of music. And you know what? You will get people that complain, people that are disappointed, people that only want you to scream and want heavy music, but there's no price too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. And you've got to find those things that excite you. You've got to break your own rules. I can go make another This Is War. And in fact, I have an album that I've been working on in the background of things that's kind of a rock record for the ages, hopefully. And maybe like one part f**k you, one part goodbye, one part let's just celebrate this other thing that we do.
Jared Leto on His Creative Bond With His Brother...
My brother and I, we moved around a lot as kids. We were always in a new town, the new face, a new school. So it was natural. We had a very young mother as well, and still have a young mom. And it was just the three of us. So it did feel, in a sense, it was us against the world and we had each other, but always felt like the black sheep, the dark horse, for sure. … we grew up around a lot of artists, so that creative path, for us as kids, it was completely normal to be a sculptor, be a painter, be a performance artist, be a photographer. And that was a blessing. We didn't have a real traditional upbringing, so we wouldn't be here obviously if we didn't have that exposure to the arts and creativity and the drugs.
Jared Leto On Being Introduced To Drugs at a Young Age and Choosing To Take a Different Path...
Zane Lowe: What introduces you to drugs at a young age and how hard was it to get, I'll put it all in one question. How hard was it to find a pathway outside of that distraction?
Jared Leto: I grew up in an environment where there were drugs around. I mean, I knew what the smell of weed is, as a very, very young kid. I remember walking by some trees, like bushes or something as a young kid, very young kid, maybe, I don't know, fourth grade or something. And saying to the other kids, "Oh, someone's smoking pot there." They're like, "What do you mean? What's pot?" They didn't know what that certain spice was. But for us it was pretty normal. And I never had a “No” for any of that stuff. I was always interested in that. I was always interested in drugs, I was always interested in an experience. I always interested in taking some risk. And I think that's probably common for people that like to experiment or explore probably some common things. And then sometimes times addiction is a whole another part of it. Of course, that taking drugs is one thing, but does it start taking you? And in my experience, was certainly one that I took it for a ride and then it took me for a ride for sure.
Zane Lowe: I don't know how you got off it. I mean, it's not common people get off the ride.
Jared Leto: Yeah, it's not. And I really had an epiphany. I had an epiphany. I had a moment of clarity is what they call it. And I knew that I wanted to hopefully accomplish things in my life that I was proud of, to do something special with my life. And I had a moment of clarity. I had an epiphany. There were two paths that I could take in life… a sudden moment of clarity to say for the third time, I guess is the only way I can describe it. And I took that path and I've had very close friends that didn't. And they're not here anymore. Many.
Jared Leto On Recording an Unreleased Song with Chino From The Deftones…
I recorded a song with Chino from the Deftones 10 years ago and I never released it. I just remembered it. It's called “Artifact”, which is the same name of the documentary. It was a wild time. But yeah, maybe I'll look at that. Look for that song if I can find it. It's a rock song for sure. But I remember he showed up, he's like, "Yeah, I'm down. Let's do this." Which was great because I'm a huge fan of his and Deftones. I mean incredible, incredible band. Great, great, great band.
Jared Leto On The Actors Who Influenced Him…
Ethan Hawke… And River [Phoenix] was incredible. He was incredible. My God. Yeah, I don't know if I'd be an actor if it wasn't for him. He really showed us all what authenticity was, what truth is. His work is so, so beautiful. Yeah, what an era. That time for me, Sean Penn, Daniel Day Lewis, I loved people like Christopher Walken, of course, Al Pacino, De Niro, those folks. Denzel has always been like, Denzel's never given a bad performance.
Jared Leto On Being Involved in All Elements of the Creative Process…
I love taking the photos. I love making the vinyl. I love to write a song. I love to rehearse the music. I love to perform the music. So I'm really compelled to do that stuff. And I always say, if you're out there and you're thinking about being an artist, make sure you're compelled beyond a reasonable doubt. That it's not a debate. There's a voice. There's something inside where you have to do this…
Jared Leto On His Concerns For The Environment…
Whether you believe in this stuff or not, it's getting pretty damn hot out there. Whatever your thoughts on it politically, but, you know… my brother and I were talking yesterday. It's like when we were kids, the catch word was “pollution”. Polluting and pollution. That's what we talked about a lot, was pollution. “Don't kill the whales” and this thing and whatever. I think if you compare the earth to a single person, people don't often change until they have to. Until you're bloodied and beaten, until you've hit your absolute bottom. And sometimes it's too late. And maybe we are going to cross that line. We may have already. But it's pretty clear, interplanetary species, we're going to get into space. We're going to start to maybe once... God, we're going to get deep in on this, but once we find the ability to harness new sources of energy, that's going to probably answer a lot of these questions. But the way we're going right now, it's pretty horrible. I mean, if you look at the oceans, that's the thing that just crushes me. The large land mammals and the endangered species. It's like it's pretty wild. Like the black rhino, I used to work with some folks trying to do something to help raise awareness about this, but these species go extinct all the time, and it doesn't get a footnote. They're discovering things in space right now that are absolutely mind-blowing. Well, just with the technology that's out there and the ability to take information and to devour it, the James Webb Telescope, it's absolutely astounding, but it doesn't really capture anyone's attention. It's a strange thing.
