Ultimate guitar - Février 2010 (2)

Citation :

30 Seconds To Mars: 'We've Always Been Open And Engaged With Our Listeners'

date: 02/09/2010

On This Is War, 30 Seconds To Mars’ third release, vocalist/guitarist/composer Jared Leto
steps forward as a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who has truly
mastered his craft since the band first formed some dozen years ago.
From the dynamic and insistent thump of "Kings And Queens"
[first single] to the frantic and feverish gallop of the title track,
this new album that was four years in completing elevates Leto, brother Shannon on drums and guitarist Tomo Milicevic to the forefront of this melodic-meets-edge genre. Jared,
a successful actor, is a thoughtful speaker, controlled yet passionate,
and in talking about the new record and the unique place 30 Seconds To Mars
occupies, presented himself as someone who truly loved what he does and
who was truly pleased with the outcome of their newest album.

UG: You’ve always thought outside of
the box in terms of presenting 30 Seconds to Mars. Your marketing
projects and the different ways you’ve used the Internet really
represented new ways of promoting a band. Did you know from the
beginning that you were going to use these alternative avenues to
publicize the band?
Jared Leto: Yes; we tend
to look for things that have been tread upon just a little less than
others. I think that it’s exciting to do things that haven’t been done
so many times before or not at all. And it keeps it interesting for us
and I would hope the audience as well. And, uh, it’s a way to deepen
the conversation with our audience around the world and to have a
stronger connection as well.
Does this harken back to
your early days when you were listening to bands and hoping to somehow
meet your heroes? Did you ever think, “I’d love to go and meet Jimmy
Page or hang out with the Who?”
I think for me, some
of those bands – whether it was Zeppelin or Pink Floyd or the Who –
they certainly had an idea of community that went along with their
bands. And I always responded to that. I was always interested in a
very active participation from the audience and the bands. We’ve always
been really open and engaged with our listeners.
Does that give-and-take with your fans truly inform your music? Or is it more of a social networking type of situation?
It’s definitely informed us; it’s inspired us. And I think the
interactivity on This Is War is really a huge part of the album. The
Summit that we did, the very first one in Los Angeles, was so
encouraging that we ended up doing eight of them around the world. And
then eventually a digital version as well.

"We tend to look for things that have been tread upon just a little less than others."
Can you explain what the Summit is?
For people who don’t know what the Summit is, it was just really a
collaboration between our audience and the band. And we invited people
to participate and record on the new album. It made a big impact on
This Is War.
Where did this Summit interactive material end up on the album?
Yeah, they appear on every single song except for two or three.
Another tactic you undertook was a live chat on MySpace. What were the results of that?
It was inspiring; it was exciting. We enjoyed it a lot and we’ve done
it now and I’m not so sure we would repeat that but maybe in a
different way we would build upon that idea. It was definitely an
interesting thing to do and we learned a lot from it.
If
the band had come out back in the days of vinyl, how do you think they
might have been perceived? Could 30 Seconds to Mars have created the
same musical profile in a pre-Internet world?
Uh, not
in the way that we’re doing now. We certainly utilize new technologies
and we’re able to further some of these ideas and make these projects
work in a way they wouldn’t have been able to in a different age. We’re
takin’ full advantage of the digital age here and it’s exciting to use
some of the new technologies to help implement creative ideas.
You’re
obviously a very environmentally-conscious and world-view type of
musician. Were you attracted at all to the ideals of the 1960’s
Woodstock Nation philosophy about getting back to the land and that
type of mentality?
Certainly this is a bit of a
populist album; it’s a bit of a Geminist experience. But at the end of
it, it’s creativity on creativity’s terms and you really follow your
muse and your inspiration. And for me, our family of fans and friends
around the world was certainly one of the inspiring aspects to making
this record.
Videos are a huge part of the creative
aspect of 30 Seconds to Mars. In some respects, is making a video the
best of both worlds for you where you can combine your acting chops and
your talents as a musician?
Well, it’s actually one
of the few areas where I can take some of what I’ve learned as an actor
on a film set and apply it to directly and tangibly to the task at
hand. So it serves me well. But when it comes time to being in them,
you’re not playing a part; you’re being yourself. So it is a complete
opposite of being an actor. You’re revealing more of yourself when
you’re making music and not building a character. At least we’re not in
this band. But you know, when I’m making these short films and working
as a director, I’m able to apply what I’ve learned from some of the
great directors I’ve worked with to making these short films for sure.
In
your mind, Jared, what is the purpose of a video? Obviously it’s a
marketing tool, but on a creative level what is a video supposed to
impart?
To tell a story; to further the idea of the
song. If you have the right image with the right sound, they can
elevate each other and arrive at a place that they wouldn’t be able to
separately. So I think the collision of image and sound ultimately is
even more powerful than either separately. So you look for this perfect
place for both to live. I’ve always taken the approach that these small
films that we make, these music videos, are as important as the songs
themselves. So they mean a lot to us and it’s an opportunity for us to
say something about us as individuals, about the song, and about the
band.
If you had to pick out a video that really does work, which one would you choose?
As far as other artists are concerned?
No, a 30 Seconds to Mars video.
I think the video for “A Beautiful Lie” where we went to the Arctic and
were on icebergs and glaciers said a lot about who we are as a band and
as individuals. It brought the song to a whole new place and I think
that it’s hard to think of that song without having a sense of that
space, that environment; the Arctic. So they kind of become one and the
same.
Every time “A Beautiful Lie” video was downloaded you donated a payment to an environmental program?
Yeah, and we started abeautifullie.org which is kind of our
environmental and social network, our website, and we kind of focus
some of our concerns and energies towards.
Touching on
the “From Yesterday” video, you shot that in the People’s Republic of
China? That must have been an extraordinary experience.
It was just the journey of a lifetime. It was really magical to be able
to go and I believe we were the first US band to ever shoot a video in
its entirety in the People’s Republic of China. So that was a pretty
cool thing to do. It was challenging to get there; to make it happen;
to pull it off. But what a magical thing to do. Unforgettable.

"We’re
takin’ full advantage of the digital age here and it’s exciting to use
some of the new technologies to help implement creative ideas."
Moving
onto the touring aspects of the band, 30 Seconds to Mars is about to
embark on another European tour. The band have been there before but
what do you anticipate? Do you try and shape the music to conform to
what a European audience might expect as opposed to, say, an American
audience?
Audiences are different everywhere;
there’s nothing like playing at home. But going abroad and seeing
different audiences out there, it’s interesting to see culturally how
different people react to different songs and to the shows in general.
We’re plotting and planning our first ever full-grown arena tour right
now. It’s pretty exciting. We sold out Wembley Arena already and we’re
still a month away. It’s a celebration and something we’re really proud
of and excited to do.
So the tours have changed since,
for example, the Welcome to the Universe tour back in 2006. Obviously
things have gotten bigger and more complex in terms of staging and
presentation?
Yeah. I mean sometimes the more money
you make, the more you spend. But you certainly grow with the shows and
you present things in a different way in an arena than you would in a
club. It’s an opportunity to have a bit more spectacle and then focus
on some of the visual and the production things that you weren’t able
to in a smaller space as well. So, that’s a lot of fun.
How
difficult is it staging the musical content of the band in a live
setting? There are a lot of elements happening on the various tracks
from This Is War.
They’re all difficult to pull off
live actually. For some reason we like to torture ourselves and make
quite a bit of work for us. But what’s really interesting is now
because of the interactivity on this record, the audience is actually
in the band. So there’s a lot of audience participation and that keeps
things really exciting.
Did you know early on that you
wanted a second guitar player in the band on a permanent basis? This
goes back to talking about how difficult it is to recreate the recorded
tracks live. On the first record, you’re playing guitars and bass and
keyboards though guitarist Solon Bixler does play on several cuts. Did
you realize that it would take two guitars to pull off the material
live?
The band started as a three-piece; the core of
the band is really Shannon [Leto; Jared’s brother on drums], Tomo
[Milicevic; lead guitar], and me. We have people come and help us on
the live show because there’s just too much to play now. The songs have
gotten too big. We didn’t want to put anything on tape or anything like
that so we have people playing things live.
As a musician in a trio, did you take your cues at all from three-piece bands that came before you? The Police? Hendrix?
Of course, the Police were a big influence and we listened to them
quite a bit. Rush was a band I listened to as a kid quite a bit. I’ve
always liked a good trio.
Where did your chops come from? You’re able to jump between guitar and bass and keyboards and vocals pretty effortlessly.
I’ve always been interested in many different instruments and piano and
guitar and bass and synthesizers and utilizing technology to create. I
guess I’m a bit of an autodidact [someone self-taught]. I’ve never
really taken any lessons; I really just liked to kind of get to know an
instrument myself and find a way to play it that’s specific to what I
want to get from it. I like to keep things simple. For me, music isn’t
so much about proficiency or technique; it’s about emotion and getting
the core of what you’re trying to say.
Are your compositions written mainly on guitar?
I would say guitar is my main instrument; I’ve written more songs on a
Martin acoustic than I’ve written on anything. And then I use a Les
Paul often as well.
The Les Paul is your main electric?
Yeah; I’ve been using an SG a bit live because it’s light and fun to play.
So you’re essentially a Gibson player. Have you ever experimented with Fender-styled instruments?
I utilized both but live I’ll play mostly a custom guitar [a pair of
Steve McSwain-designed guitars dubbed Pythagoras and Artemis] that I
had built years ago or a Gibson. I like the weight of it and the sound
that I get from it. But they’re both tools and it depends on the song
in the moment and what you’re goin’ for. But there’s nothing that beats
the direct, clean tone of a Strat; it’s hard to beat that if you’re
goin’ for something on the cleaner side of the world you know?

"Our family of fans and friends around the world was certainly one of the inspiring aspects to making this record."
Is
there a lot of experimentation happening on record in terms of guitar
tones and textures and things? Flood and Steve Lillywhite who
co-produced This Is War are masters are creating ambient guitar sounds
and new-sounding tones. Are you pulling out different guitars and
different delays and echoes and mixing and matching?
Oh, yeah, we did all kinds of things. Hooked guitars through industrial
machinery and played guitars underground and in a church; we did all
kinds of crazy things for this album. Played in the middle of the
forest; it was experimental and we were definitely on a journey trying
to find unique sounds and do things in a different way. It’s a great
place to be at and exciting and a lot of fun as well.
You have your own studio at home?
Yeah, we built the studio in this house in the Hollywood Hills for this
record. And made the entire record ourselves in the house;
self-financed; and produced it alongside Flood and then Steve
Lillywhite came in at the end and helped finish.
How do you feel now that This Is War has been completed and is out there in the world?
It was something where we were holed up here for a couple of years and
made the very best record that we could. We reached inside of ourselves
and pushed each other to do the very best that we could. We’re happy
that the record is finally finished; it’s done; it’s out. And people
are hearing it and we’re out on the road and touring and very grateful
for that.
Interview by Steven Rosen
Ultimate-Guitar.Com 2010

Pas de traduction pour l'instant pas vraiment le temps en plus je n'ai pas fini l'autre.

début de l'interview traduite par mes soins :


Sur This Is War, 30 Seconds To Mars«Troisième sortie, / chanteur guitariste / compositeur Jared Leto
pas en avant en tant que multi-instrumentiste et compositeur qui a vraiment
maîtrise son métier depuis le premier groupe formé il ya une douzaine d'années. (très approximatif, si quelqu'un fait mieux..)
Du coup de poing dynamique et insistant de "Kings And Queens"
[premier single] pour le galop frénétique et fébrile de la chanson titre,
ce nouvel album qui était de quatre ans dans la réalisation Leto, Mon frère Shannon à la batterie et le guitariste Tomo Milicevic à la pointe de ce mélodiques-meets-genre de pointe. Jared,
un acteur à succès, est un haut-parleur réfléchie et contrôlé, mais passionné,
Et en parlant du nouvel enregistrement et la place unique 30 Seconds To Mars
, lui-même présenté comme quelqu'un qui a vraiment aimé ce qu'il fait et
qui était vraiment heureux de l'issue de leur plus récent album.
UG: Vous avez toujours pensé en dehors de
la zone en termes de présentation de 30 Seconds to Mars. Votre marketing
les projets et les différentes façons dont vous avez utilisé Internet vraiment
représentée nouvelles façons de promouvoir le groupe. Saviez-vous dès le début que vous utiliserez différentes voies pour promouvoir 30 seconds to mars?
Jared Leto: Oui, nous avons tendance
chercher des choses qui fatigue (?) un peu moins de
autres. Je pense que c'est excitant de faire des choses qui n'ont pas encore été faites
tant de fois avant ou pas du tout. Et elle ne cesse d'être intéressant pour nous
et j'espère que le public aussi. Et, euh, c'est une façon d'approfondir
la conversation avec notre public à travers le monde et d'avoir une
forte connexion ainsi.
UG : Est-ce au retour d'Harken à
vos débuts quand vous étiez en écoutant les groupes et espérant en quelque sorte
répondre à vos héros? Avez-vous jamais pensé, "J'adorerais aller à la rencontre Jimmy
Page ou à traîner avec les Who? "
Je pense que pour moi, certains
de ces groupes - s'il était Zeppelin ou Pink Floyd ou The Who --
ils avaient certainement une idée de communauté qui allaient de pair avec leur
groupe. Et j'ai toujours répondu à cette question. J'ai toujours été intéressé par une
Participation très active de l'auditoire et les bandes. Nous avons toujours
été réellement ouverts et engagés avec nos auditeurs.
Ne donne que-et-prend avec vos fans informe vraiment votre musique? Ou est-ce plus d'un type de réseau social de situation?
C'est définitivement une source d'information elle nous a inspiré. Et je pense que
l'interactivité sur cette guerre, est également une énorme partie de l'album. Le
Summit que nous avons fait, que le premier festival à Los Angeles, était si
encourageant de constater que nous avons fini par faire huit d'entre eux à travers le monde. Et
puis éventuellement une version numérique aussi.
UG :"Nous avons tendance à chercher des choses qui ont été cherchés un peu moins que d'autres."
Pouvez-vous expliquer ce que le summit est?
J :Pour les personnes qui ne savent pas ce que le Summi est, il était juste vraiment une
collaboration entre notre public et le groupe. Et nous avons invité les gens
à participer et à enregistrer sur le nouvel album. Il a fait un grand impact sur TIW
UG: Est-ce que les résultats du summit apparaissent dans tout l'album ? (approximatif quand tu nous tiens!)
J :Ouais, ils apparaissent sur chaque chanson, sauf pour deux ou trois.
UG :Une autre tactique que vous avez entrepris c'est un chat en direct sur MySpace. Quels sont les résultats de tout cela?
J :C'était inspirant, c'était excitant. Nous l'avons beaucoup apprécié et nous l'avons fait maintenant ! et je ne suis pas si sûr que nous répèterons cette expérience mais peut-être d'une
différente manière, on pourra tirer parti de cette idée. Il a été certainement une
chose intéressante à faire et nous avons beaucoup appris de lui.
Si le groupe était sorti à l'époque du vinyle, comment pensez-vous qu'il
aurait pu être perçu? Pensez-vous que TSTM aurait créé le
même profil de musique dans un monde pré-Internet?
UG :Euh, non
J : dans la façon dont nous faisons maintenant. Nous utilisons de nouvelles technologies
et nous sommes en mesure d'approfondir certaines de ces idées et de rendre ces projets
travaillés d'une manière qu'ils n'auraient pas pu dans une époque différente. Nous
profitons pleinement 'de l'ère numérique et il est agréable à utiliser.





a SUIVRE

Merci les filles!

De rien je mets la fin dès ce soir, mais si quelqu'un a une meilleure version (donc un meilleur anglais ) qu'il m'envoie un MP j'éditerais mon post!

Merci beaucoup pour l'article et la traduction.