30 seconds to mars on daily herald

Lots of bands talk about wanting their concerts to be a shared experience with an audience, where the fan feels connected to the band and as much a part of the show as the musicians on stage.

Few groups have achieved this goal as fully or as clearly as Thirty Seconds to Mars -- which will be looking to enjoy that symbiotic relationship Saturday at the UCCU Center arena at UVU.

Prior to recording its current hit CD, "This is War," the band's singer/guitarist Jared Leto invited about 1,000 fans from all over to Hollywood's Avalon Club, where he recorded them humming, shouting, screaming, clapping and otherwise making noise. That event prompted Leto to hold eight more of these "summits" in cities across the globe, and later invite fans to submit recorded sounds through the internet.

The results of this experiment can be heard throughout "This is War" as arena-size vocals from fans accent several songs.

Now concert audiences have been taking the cue from the "This is War" CD, chiming in with their hands, voices and feet at the points in songs where crowd sounds had been placed.

"They're like stomping, chanting and clapping, just like the recording," drummer Shannon Leto said during a late-August phone interview. "So it's definitely an experience that's exciting to be able to share."

As for the band's own performance and stage production, Leto (he's Jared's brother) likes how things have come together on stage as well.

"The show is really ... it's chaotic, it's energetic, it's madness," he said. "I mean, it's like my brother used to say, 'It has the energy of the Sex Pistols with the grandiosity of Pink Floyd.' I always liked that."

The Leto brothers and the other member of Thirty Seconds to Mars, Tomo Milicevic, deserve to be having fun these days.

The couple of years that preceded the release of "This is War" weren't always pleasant. One source of discontent involved the band's relationship with its label, EMI/Virgin Records.

The label sued Thirty Seconds to Mars for $30 million, alleging that the band had failed to fulfill its contractual requirement to deliver three CDs.

The suit was settled out of court in 2009, but not before both the band and the record label hunkered down for an all-out court battle. As part of the settlement, the band is forbidden from discussing details of the agreement or the issues that caused the two sides to rattle sabers. Leto did, however, deny that there was any dispute over royalties, saying that, "We just weren't being treated fairly" and "We just had to stand up for what we believed in."

In any event, it's clear the dispute took a toll on the three band members, and the "This is War" title of the latest CD relates in part to the lawsuit -- although its meanings go well beyond that for the band.

"We were being sued for $30 million. The world was melting down financially," Leto said. "There were a lot of changes going on and a lot of challenges, obstacles, and we were at war in a sense."

On top of the dispute with Virgin, the three band members were also attempting to essentially reinvent the Thirty Seconds to Mars sound. Working out exactly how the music was going to evolve was not an easy or entirely peaceful process.

"When you're trying to push yourself and trying to do something different, you know, there are emotions and feelings that pop up," Leto said. "And I think that during the making of 'This is War,' there was a lot of that going on. I mean, we were pushing each other all the time to try things new, and just life, on life's terms, period, there was a lot of that going on, a lot of life stuff, a lot of situations. But the record encapsulates everything that we went through. This record is a record that captures each of our personalities pretty well. And it gives a direction for where we're going to go with the music. Boy, what a crazy time."

That said, there were plenty of good times during the recording sessions as well, Leto said. And getting to work with the primary producer on the album, Flood, was another highlight for the band. Flood, as many know, has produced U2, as well as Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails.

Interestingly, the music on "This is War" has a more than a little of the anthemic U2 sound to it. But Leto was quick to say that the musical and sonic direction of the latest album was a full team effort, and not merely the influence Flood had on the project.

"We were all working together," Leto said. "We had a direction we wanted to go in. We had an idea of what we wanted. And Flood came in and he was a perfect match for what we wanted. We all had the same vision. We had all of the songs written and he came in and he did his mad scientist experimentation, if you will. Yeah, I can't give anything away. It's a Flood secret. But, yeah, we had the most amazing time working with him. It was a milestone. He's a genius."

The sound that Thirty Seconds to Mars and Flood crafted is a notable shift from what the band has presented earlier in its career.

The Leto brothers had been playing music together for years by the time Thirty Seconds to Mars was signed by Virgin Records in 1998. When the 2002 self-titled debut CD arrived, it featured a sound that blended edgy yet melodic guitar rock with electronics, resulting in a somewhat futuristic feel.

At that point, the band got much of its attention because of Jared Leto's success in another line of work -- acting. He had gained considerable attention for roles in such high-profile films as "The Panic Room," "Fight Club" and "Alexander," and some assumed 30 Seconds to Mars was mostly a vanity project for him.

But that talk died down as it has become apparent that Jared Leto was focusing his efforts on the band.

By the time the second CD, "A Beautiful Lie," arrived in 2005, Thirty Seconds to Mars had grown into a full-fledged band with the addition of Milicevic and since-departed bassist Matt Wachter.

"A Beautiful Lie" saw the group scale back on the use of electronics and employ a leaner guitar-centered, hard rock sound. The new sound connected in a big way as the CD topped a million copies sold in the United States and produced a chart-topping alternative rock single in "From Yesterday" and a top five alternative rock hit with "The Kill (Bury Me)."

Now with "This is War," Thirty Seconds to Mars has reinvented its sound once again, scaling back on the gritty guitars and aggressive beats, employing a good number of synthesizers and other electronic candy and going for a more spacious, anthemic -- and yes, U2-ish -- type of sound. The sound works well, and "This is War" is becoming the band's biggest CD yet, with "Kings and Queens" and the title song both having topped the alternative rock chart.

The emotional ups and downs that went into the album make the current success that much more sweet, Shannon Leto said.

"It feels really, really good because you never know what is going to happen," Leto said. " We were just kind of doing what we've done. And what's really nice is when you do that and it's successful, the feeling is something that it's special."

credit : daily herald