this week's feature 30 Seconds To Mars’s Jared Leto Talks Business

Want to know a little bit more than you may already know about 30 Seconds To Mars lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and sole songwriter Jared Leto? Well, here is your chance…
Cheeky: Do you feel that you’re recognized more for one talent over another when it comes to your songwriting, singing, and guitar playing?
Jared Leto: “I love the process of songwriting,” Leto admits. “I love creating, writing, and touring. I love being in the studio, playing the guitar, bass, synthesizer, and programming.”
Cheeky: What is the writing process like for you and how does it begin? Acoustic guitar? Piano? Lyrics first? Tough/easy?
JL:“Every song has its own rules; a beginning, middle, and end,” explains Leto. “Quite often, I write most of our songs sitting in front of the piano, which was the first instrument I ever learned to play.” Leto goes on to say that, “I will hear a melody and work on it in my head for weeks and weeks.” A few of the songs that Leto has written for 30 Seconds To Mars were composed with the lead singer sitting in front of a computer. Leto says that “Stranger In A Strange Land” was written entirely in front of a computer.
Cheeky: How did you first learn to play the guitar and piano?
JL: “We had a beat up old piano in our house,” recalls Leto while reminiscing about his childhood with drummer brother Shannon Leto. “It was rescued from a junkyard, or some place like that. It was an upright piano that had broken keys and was completely out of tune.” Leto says that he remembers “constantly hammering away on the piano” to the point where he could play familiar tunes and write his own songs with the skills he had acquired.
Cheeky: What do you sing and/or play around the house? Any under-the-radar artists that you’re listening to who people should hear and know about?
JL: “Right now I am listening to Jónsi from Sigur Rós,” says Leto. Doing a little research on Jónsi, I discovered that he is the guitarist and vocalist for Sigur Rós, a band from Iceland now taking “an indefinite hiatus.” In addition to his recently released solo album Go, Jónsi performs together with his boyfriend/partner Alex Somers as an art collaboration called Jónsi & Alex. “I’m really into Fever Ray’s new album [Fever Ray] and have been playing a lot of M83,” Leto says.
Cheeky: How involved are you in the decision-making process of licensing your songs to films, television shows, and commercials?
JL: “It is unbelievable. People just use it [any song of the group's]. That’s not even licensing!” exclaims a frustrated Leto. “We have to email them [those who use the band's songs without permission] and ask, ‘Why didn’t you ask us?’ It recently happened to us,” says Leto regrettably. “But people make mistakes,” Leto says reluctantly. “Depending on the country, we don’t even have a choice in the matter,” Leto tells me.

credit: jared leto online