Interview . 30 Seconds To Mars . w/ Shannon Leto (drums) .

Interviewer: Marc . 15/06/2010 . Westfalenhalle . Dortmund . Germany .

Punk76: Hey Shannon, how're you doing?
Shannon: Doing well!
Punk76: How was your day so far?
Shannon: It was good man. We were in Cologne and spend the night there and met some friends. Today we had some dinner and walked around. We were at the Dom which is such beautiful.
Punk76: So it's your second part in Europe for the 'Into the Wild' tour, are you satisfied with it?
Shannon: This is been an amazing experience for us. I mean to travel around the globe and express ourselves to so many people out there is just unbelievable. It took several years to the record so to finally share that with people is so amazing.
Punk76: Before you played at 'Rock am Ring' and 'Rock im Park' you did two small shows in Frankfurt. Which are the pros & cons of playing big shows like today or doing the small ones?
Shannon: We played 200 shows, we played in front of 80.000 people at 'Rock am Ring' and then we playing maybe 3000 here. They are all really fun and they are all very different. On a show with 200 people the energy is more condensed, it's more like 'in your face' because it's all right in front of you. It reminds you when you just started out. The bigger places like 'Rock am Ring' for example gives you the chance to play in front of people that you wouldn't normally play for because there are lots of bands and different types of music. So that is just amazing, too. We played there right before Muse and it was just epic. And tonight is cool because it's a little bigger than our shows in Frankfurt but it's intimate as well.
Punk76: After Europe your next stops will be Japan, New Zealand and Australia to playing some festivals over there. So what do you expect of this journey?
Shannon: I love travelling, I love going to different countries and getting lost in the culture. So I think to able to play music on places like Japan, New Zealand, Australia or Russia is a great opportunity. It's something very very special and I want to keep going and I want to keep spreading the Mars virus everywhere.
Punk76: Your current record 'This is war' was released last December and you have been on tour with it for half a year now. So would you say this is the ultimate sound of 30 Seconds to Mars?
Shannon: We're always going to change and we never want to repeat ourselves. We're always going to try keep pushing each other to try and do different things. But this album today is the most us as a band that you would able to see. It captures each of our personalities more than the previous albums. We have grown a lot as people and as musicians and the album reflects that. It took a couple of years to make
it and this record captured this years. So it's like a photograph and what happened in that time. It's a musical photograph which I'm very proud of.
Punk76: The new single is called 'Closer to the edge' and you did an awesome video for it which gives a great impression of your shows. There are two statements in that video which awoke my attention. The first one is 'Into the wild' when Jared runs through the forest which reminds me of your video for 'A beautiful lie' and the advert to the climate chance.
Shannon: It's interesting that you bring that up because if it makes you think of that and when that's your experience when you seeing Jared running that's great. Our intention was to capture us in the video and there are many things that we like to do. But that's very interesting that you said that because automatically we did our job. If you think Jared running through the trees and the forest makes you think of 'A beautiful lie' and then you start thinking about the environment that's pretty cool. So to answer your question it's a left up to the each own individual interpretation of it. So that was yours and it's pretty cool!
Punk76: The other statement is 'Yes this is a cult' where the people are singing to Jared. So it is like a special connection between you guys and your fans. What is your view of that 'cult'?
Shannon: It's really a community and it's a large family. It's not even a place or a destination; it's just really a state of mind. It allows everybody to express themselves and our fans do it in many ways as we do as a band, too. From making shirts to getting tattooed to getting involved in habitat for humanity because we are involved in it. There are so many things that we have done and that they have done so that's a big active group where it all comes together. And we are very thankful for having them as fans and as a community.
Punk76: There's a song on the record which is called 'Stranger in a strange land'. It's a kind of industrial music and it reminds me on your very first record. What's the story behind that song?
Shannon: We've always been fans of electronics, keyboards sounds and stuff like that so it's just a natural progression. We want to put everything that we love and everything that we like to do in our lives into the recording process. There's that song which is industrial to say it in your words and kind of like up-tempo and then there is the complete opposite where there is just a microphone and a room, Jared is on the piano, I'm on the drums, Tomo is on guitar and we just press record. It's called 'Alibi'. You can hear dishes being washed in the background when you pay attention and that's how live it was. We want to do everything which is on our minds and so 'Stranger in a strange land' is just another form of expression.
Punk76: That last song on the record, 'L490', was written by your own. So is it your own little one?
Shannon: It was just a moment that I captured and we decided to put it on the album. I play the guitar and the piano in it and we had real Buddhas in the studio to record their voices.
Punk76: You had released a trailer for the short film of 'This is war' a few weeks before the video for 'Closer to the edge' was released. The full short film isn't out at the moment, so what will it be about?
Shannon: It's a surprise. It's really different and something that we've never done before. My brother is editing it actually and it will be released soon.
Punk76: After touring the world a few times and putting out successful records - what can we expect of 30 Seconds to Mars in the future?
Shannon: There are so many ideas. But right now we're just focusing on 'This is war' and on touring. We want to get out there and share the experience of that record with the people. So everything else is too far away at the moment.
Punk76: You did a lot of so called 'short film videos'. There was 'From yesterday', 'Kings and queens', 'A beautiful lie' and so on. May you tell us about the ideas for that videos and how they grown up?
Shannon: We want always to have an experience and we always want to have an experience with the experience. My brother has great ideas, for 'From yesterday' he had that idea of making a video in China and getting involved in the culture. Each of those short films takes a lot of work and I think that every video that we've done people has said 'No, you can't do that!' Right from the start likes 'No!' - We want to do China - 'No!' But we keep pushing and finally we got it and it's been a journey. We did 'A beautiful lie' and they thought we're crazy going on to an iceberg and a glacier. So basically it was like a guerilla documentary style with just a couple of camera guys and us and we all carrying our own stuff. It was just a small team and we get on the boat. Then there was this huge icebergs, it's like you're in another world. We had no guide or no expert, we had someone who lives in the town and kind of knows. It was an experience and something we will never forget. We try to translate that experience into the video process and I think my brother has done an amazing job. Even for our last video 'Kings and queens' he did that. We shot it in California and closed down the streets and that made you feel something. There were all the bikers and this community and Jared has a real sense of making a great document of it.
Punk76: So thank you for your time. I really appreciate it!
Shannon: Thanks too! Enjoy the show!

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