11/22/2010

Interview with 30 Seconds to Mars



I have to boast. Shannon Leto likes my hair. He told me when I sat down next to him for a photo during our interview yesterday. He also likes my black harem pants (in fact, he and 30 Seconds to Mars guitarist Tomo were both wearing versions of the harem themselves. So stylish. So hot). And, frankly, the rest of our interview doesn’t really matter.

Only joking.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to meet Jared Leto (he was busy editing a new music video for their single ‘Hurricane’), but his brother Shannon and bandmate Tomo were both awesome. Saturday night’s concert in Cape Town was out of this world, so meeting the guys in person was unbelievable. We asked them about their latest album, This is War, and how they feel about some of the criticism they’ve received about it being more commercial than their earlier work. Here’s what they said:
Thirty Seconds to Mars: Commercial? What does that mean really?
Marie Claire: Well actually that’s what we wanted to ask you! But I think that means ‘more accessible to mainstream audiences’.
Thirty Second to Mars: Well if it means more people are listening then great. Although we think this album is the least commercial in that it has so many layers to uncover. But honestly, we never even think about the commercial aspect of an album, we’re just focused on the music.

So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth.
We also asked Shannon what it’s like working with his brother (he said it’s amazing to share this experience with Jared and that they have been playing music together since they were little) and what it is about South Africa that they’ve fallen in love with (Jared spoke a lot about this during the concert and said he wrote some of This is War‘s songs when they were last here). So they love our country, they love my hair… What more could we ask for? Oh, we did ask for one more thing – a shout out to our readers (see video clip above).
(Look out for more from the interview in an upcoming issue of Marie Claire.)

PS. We have one special edition This is War CD (includes a DVD) to give away. The first Marie Claire reader to e-mail annemarie@assocmags.co.za with your name, phone number and answer to the question below will win.
Question: What are the names of the first two 30 Seconds to Mars albums?

marieclairvoyant
Source

Followers