Jared Leto: From Hollywood To Mars
Monday April 01, 2002 @ 05:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

30 Seconds To Mars

I�ve just popped Jared Leto�s cherry� uh, band interview cherry, that is.

"You�re the first, ya know," says the 30-year-old actor turned singer with one of his many wide-eyed and intense blue-eyed glares. His baby, his project, his band, 30 Seconds To Mars, has just participated in their first ever interview.

And all I can think about saying is "Was it good for you too, baby?"

But I don�t. There�s no need to get down and dirty with interview virgins during their first time out. Anyhow, that saucy stuff is saved for the second meeting. This first time is all about introducing people to a little-known band that hopes to make a pretty big stink in the world of music. But let me throw out some names for you first before we get into the introduction: Dogstar, Phantom Planet, 300 Odd Foot Grunts � three mediocre bands that include big-time actors as members (Keanu Reeves, Jason Schwartzman and Russell Crowe, respectively). It�s been more of a curse often times rather than a blessing to have a famous member attached to the band�s name. A perfect way to lay your "serious" band on the chopping block for critics and fans alike, non? Can the same be said for 30 Seconds To Mars?

"It�s a shame that people are that close-minded," says Leto as we (along with drummer and blood brother Shannon Leto) talk over some soy milk in their comfy tour bus before a show opening for Puddle Of Mudd in Toronto last week. "Yet it�s understandable that those bands have been given a hard time since the stuff they�ve put out hasn�t been the best. But we�ve got as much in common with those other bands as we do with Liberace."

Case in point that the band�s sound can�t be compared to that of a diamonds-obsessed queen pianist: Just listen to the focused range and strong wails that Leto lets rip through "Capricorn," the first single off of 30 Seconds To Mars� self-titled debut. Or the chunky, hollow guitars, bass and drum sounds that hit you right in the middle of your chest. Describing their music as "oblique," "atmospheric" and filled with "metaphors," Shannon and Jared both make it pretty clear that this isn�t easily digestible pop pabulum � try intensified rock � la A Perfect Circle. Intense might just be the right word for these dudes who�ve got their foot on the accelerator and aren�t letting up anytime soon.

The actual band 30 Seconds To Mars (frontman Leto, drummer Shannon, guitarists Solon Bixter and Kevin Drake, bassist Matt Wachter) had been in the works for a couple of years, with Jared writing the majority of their songs and finally securing a major label, Virgin Music, who backed them to spit out their debut (released sometime this summer). But what of the expectation of this debut, or the simple fact that the band�s singer is doing pretty damn well in that other job of his, cracking out the sort of memorable characters like Harry Goldfarb in Requiem For A Dream or Jordan Catalano in My So-Called Life? Is this a flash in the pan band?

"This is not a hobby," says Leto matter-of-factly. His brother concurs with a furrowed expression and a firm shake of the head. "We�re putting our lives into this. We�re committed to this. We want to do the best job that we can do. I�m a lucky motherfucker to be able to do this."

"But that doesn�t mean� If I want to go to Afghanistan and be a war crimes photographer then I will. There�s that freedom in what I do."

And what�s more important for Jared and the band � an Oscar or a Grammy?

With another one of those intense glares that makes it clear the rocking and the rolling is alive and well in the band, Jared replies flatly: "I couldn�t really give a shit for either one really."

�Debbie Bento