MARS Interview of Memories 2005 ♥

“Goth At Heart”

by Jeffrey Sidelsky

I sat down with Jared Leto and Tomo Milicevic on their tour bus on a balmy July afternoon outside the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. The guys were excited about discussing their latest album and being several months into their tour. After selling 100,000 copies of A Beautiful Lie they are now headlining a tour which will bring them to your town real soon.

MORE THAN 30 SECONDS WITH TOMO AND JARED

Jeffrey: Hey, hi Tomo, how ya doing?

Tomo: Good, how are you? What’s your name again?

Jeffrey: I’m Jeffrey from Outrovert.com, a new online magazine. I’m here to talk to you about you about your new album. I listened to it, I like it a lot.

Tomo: Oh cool. Thank you. We like it, too.

Jeffrey: Yeah, yeah. I was thinking about how it was recorded…on about three or four

different continents…..
Tomo: Five different countries, four different continents. South Africa, London, Morocco, Thailand…

Jeffrey: How did that work for you?

Tomo: It was incredible. It’s really the only way to do it, I think. You gotta get out of your element. We could have stayed in LA and did it, you know, but by leaving that element it really helped us to focus on what we were doing. And it definitely made a better sounding record.

Jeffrey: Cos it sounds really smooth. When I was listening to it, it plays like an old time album; it plays from beginning to end….

Tomo: That took a lot of time. Just figuring out the sequence. Once you have the songs, just deciding what order to put them in…but I think we did a good job.

Jeffrey: Yeah, I think so, too. Now I was gonna ask about comparing the first and the second album…

Tomo: Well, obviously I wasn’t around for the first album. Jared did that one all by himself. The first record was very tight, and this record is much more emotionally available. The first record, also I think Jared was trying to see how much he could do. As far as what kind of layers he could provide. And this one we really, really wanted to strip it down because he was coming up with such good vocal lines and melodies and lyrics that we wanted to support that. And we wanted to make it as simple as possible. Because simple, sometimes is a lot more interesting. It’s much more difficult to do…

Jeffrey: It’s almost paradoxical. You have to strip everything away to get to the core of things and what an interesting concept. 

Tomo: Yeah yeah absolutely. I mean, like I said just a second ago it’s very easy to fill it with stuff and make it sound cool. So you can constantly add stuff, so like to prove that it’s absurdly difficult to play one note. Yet to make it very simple and still have that work, well… yeah.

Jeffrey: So how many shows have you done so far?

Tomo: We started May 8th. (it is now late July).

Jeffrey: That’s a lot so far. 

Jared: Three months!

Tomo: We started this leg July 9th.

Jeffrey: Well the spring part must have been nice, but these last two days have been like a heat wave…. Philly in the summer can be killer.

Jared: Crazy, right?

Jeffrey: Oh, horrible. So you actually spent some time in Philly, right Jared? How does it feel to be back?

Jared: It feels great. One thing I really miss is the great architecture. Such great buildings. To be so close to New York City and see these buildings that people would shoot each other for….I like Philly. I lived on 13th , 13th and Spruce. Is this a local magazine?

Jeffrey: Well I’m local but the magazine is based out of Jersey.

Jared: Oh I see. I worked too at a place in Philadelphia, at a place called Afterwords.

Jeffrey: Oh did you work there? The bookstore?

Jared: Yeah. Which is kind of a gay bookstore. But I like to call it alternative.

Jeffrey: Wow, I lived right up the street from there years ago. I don’t remember seeing you ringing me up.

Jared: I ran into one of the owners this past New Years in Rio. I went up to him and had to remind him, “hey it’s me Jared I used to work for you at Afterwords”.

Jeffrey: So you studied at University of the Arts. What did you study?

Jared: I studied film. Also pottery classes, light drawing, art history. An art fag.

Jeffrey: Well there you go. So I was talking to Tomo about comparing the first and second album and how the intention was to go the simple route. Pull away the layers.

Jared: Well I think to change directions completely was the only option.

Jeffrey: Also, looking at some of the titles of the songs, The Fantasy, A Modern Myth, Was It a Dream? a theme seems to emerge. Could you comment on that?

Jared: About what, specifically?

Jeffrey: Well I think there’s a pre-occupation with time, not necessarily the present, but words like Myth, Dream, and Fantasy suggest segments of time that one is blurring with reality. And then you go and call the album A Beautiful Lie.

Jared: There’s unreality and reality and change and choosing to believe a myth or a lie or a fantasy, which are all kind of a similar idea. One is real life and the other is fantasy. A lot of it is about choosing to believe. About how it affects you. Coming to terms with immortality as you get older.

Jeffrey: Well I was looking in this current issue of the Metro….

Jared: Oh is that in Philly, too?

Jeffrey: Yeah, you could pick it up at a bus stop.

Jared: I haven’t seen it.

Jeffrey: I didn’t bring it with me; you could pick it up on the 47 bus.

Jared: Or maybe at Afterwords.

Jeffrey: Oh no not anymore. It’s a house design shop.

Jared: Oh no.

Jeffrey: Well anyway you were quoted as saying that you’d like 30 Seconds to Mars to be a cross between Pink Floyd and the Sex Pistols. The live shows, anyway. I found that so interesting because the Sex Pistols were intended to destroy the old dinosaur bands like Pink Floyd. It’s an interesting combination to name check.

Jared: These are really great questions and thoughts. You’re making me think a lot, too, which I like. I thought the collision of those two worlds, especially since they might have hated each other, would be the ultimate experience to witness in a band. The hybrid that these two opposites would represent, in my imagination, is obvious. And you can see it in our live show, it’s what we’re going for. I definitely have elements of the over the top front man.

Jeffrey: Yes.

Jared: And I like that

Jeffrey: I was on the website for the band and people want to know if they’re going see you and the guys. I mean, from really far away places.  
Jared: Definitely, we’re gonna be touring the rest of the year probably. We’re going to be all over the world.

Jeffrey: That’s gonna make a lot of your fans very happy. I was talking to Tomo about the continuity of the album, how seamless and polished and the sonic sheen it has. 
Jared: I’m happy to hear people say that. Every song is like a chapter to a book, we worked really hard to make that happen.

Jeffrey: Do you consider yourselves an LA band?
Jared: No I don’t. We’ve carried on as such nomads.

Tomo: For example, I came to LA from Detroit.

Jeffrey: Detroit’s a big music city.
Tomo: Oh yeah.

Jeffrey: You’re playing tonight. It’s Friday night in Philadelphia. You’re excited. But what do you do on your days off?
Jared: I work on catching up on everything. Staying healthy. Finding a really great baby spinach salad. You try to take care of yourself. But right now I don’t have any clean socks and I had to take time to buy a pack of socks which I won’t be able to wash before the show. 

Jeffrey: Oh, what color.
Jared: Black.

Jeffrey: Excellent.
Jared: Well I’m a Goth at heart.

Jeffrey: Well, I’m really surprised at the length of your hair. I expected to see the hair all long and bleached out. Maybe some splash of color.
Jared: I just shaved it and now it’s growing out. Goodbye chi chi hair.

Tomo: Can I interrupt? I don’t know why they take an entire side of a refrigerator on the tour bus and turn it into a freezer. I totally object to it, it’s absolutely retarded. But I guess I don’t have any say as to what goes on around here. The crew and the children decide what goes on around here and that’s rubbish. Rubbish!

Jared: That’s what happens when you’re a band of pirates. Gypsies. 

Jeffrey: Do you think you’re born that way?
Tomo: I was. My dad’s side of the family, my grandma, god rest her soul, came directly from a traveling band of gypsies. 

Jared: There’s nothing more exciting than finding vegan ginger snap cookies. Do you want a piece?

Jeffrey: How are they? 
Jared: They are the shit!

Jeffrey: So the album comes out on the 19th or the 30th ?
Jared: August 30th pushed from the 16th.

Jeffrey: Is that alright? Is there any story behind that?
Jared: What simply happened is we don’t have a video yet. It’s sorta not a big deal. Just a two week delay in which we will do a video for Attack.

Jeffrey: I have to say your singing style comes close to Kurt Cobain, the screaming, the loudness. We haven’t heard lungs tearing it up like that since Courtney’s solo album, I mean really powerful. Where do you draw that from, Jared?
Jared: Oh, wow. Everything is drawn from passion and conviction. Wanting to express yourself in a different way. Conveying the urgency. Getting across the desperation of a certain emotion when I’m singing it. 

Jeffrey: Would you want to be around for the end of the world?
Jared: What an interesting invitation. 

Tomo: I’d go to that party.

Jared: If it’s gonna happen…..

Tomo: It will happen.

Jared: If it’s gonna happen I want to be part of it.

Jeffrey: Andy Warhol once said about someone that she’d go to the opening of an envelope.
Jared: Oh my god, that’s genius.

Jeffrey: We’re about out of time, have a great show.

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