LMYE Promotions - 30 Seconds to Mars interview

(slight laughter) I actually wasn�t on the Warped Tour. I was um�I had something I had to take care of, so I wasn�t with the band at the time, but I did play two shows of the Warped Tour with the band, and they were amazing. I think it was definitely meant to be. It just so happened that Underoath dropped off at that same time when our previous tour ended, so we were able to do it. It was an amazing experience,. I think we kind of played for a whole new audience which was pretty amazing.

Alright, so how do you feel that you�ve progressed as a band?

Well I think we�re more of a band now. The first record was Jared and Shannon: , the brothers, they wrote and recorded the entire record, and this, our latest album A Beautiful Lie, Tomo and I were onboard. It was more of a�You can tell on the record that you know Jared writes the songs, he brings the songs in, we flush them out as a band, and I think that reflects on the record. If you listen to it, you can tell there�s more of a band vibe, more of a live feel, as opposed to the first record. Which is still great, but its just different. Its more of a produced, kind of slick, polished album.

How is the �Welcome To the Universe' tour so far?

Its going amazing. We sold out almost every show on the tour.

Um, we just played Roseland, sold that out. We just played Avalon in Boston, sold that out. I think tonight is sold out, I�m not positive�.I�m gonna go with yes., but its been amazing. We�ve got a great line up: Head Automatica, Men Women and Children, Cobra Starship, Pink Spiders�it�s a great line up.

Yup, so were you a fan of the bands that you�re playing with before hand, or?

Yeah, I was definitely a fan of most of those bands. We�ve toured with Men Women and Children before, so we were already friend with those guys. Head Automatica, I�ve always been a fan of. Cobra Starship, I�m just getting familiar with, so um yeah they�re all great bands.

How do you feel about seeing yourself on TV?

I don�t know. Its weird sometimes. I try not to watch too many of our television performances because personally I tend to get over critical of myself. You know like, �What did I do that for?� I just don�t really think about it too much. I think if you over-analyze anything you�re gonna find flaws in everything.

What about weird fan encounters-You got anything to say about that?

(laughs) I wouldn�t call them so much as weird as just kind of very passionate. We have a very passionate fan base, we call them the Echelon. They�re here tonight. They�re here every night. We have fans come from Japan, follow us from show to show, for weeks at a time. A lot of these kids out here tonight we�ve seen at the past five shows. We like to call it similar to a Grateful Dead following, but our fans smell much better than Grateful Dead fans. They shower a little bit more.

(laughs) What about favorite venues or cities?

New York is a good one. (Matt: is interrupted when Nichole catches Caity: �s attention pointing out that Caity: �s favorite movie �Selena� is on.)

Its my favorite movie, that�s weird.

Jennifer Lopez. (in a weird, but funny voice.) Um, New York is always great. I don�t know we just have so many great cities. I feel like its hard to name them all. Dallas is great. Florida is great. L.A. is great, Boston, Providence we�ve always had great shows here.

Favorite food?-can�t leave that one out.

Alright, Alright (laughs)-30 Seconds to Mars, where�d the name come from?

No, it was actually�Jared came up with the name years ago when the band started, way before my time. I�ve been in the band for a little over five years, Tomo for four years. 30 Seconds to Mars has been going on for a really long time. I think a lot of people don�t realize that we�re not an overnight success. Just because �The Kill� just recently started being played on MTV and on the radio, that doesn�t mean we�ve only been a band for a few months. The band got signed in 98�, and Jared and Shannon: were doing this way before then. Its been a long road.

Do you find that your schedule ever gets messed up because Jared might have to go film a movie, or?

Nope. He�s the hardest working person in show business. He manages to do both, and one generally doesn�t have to suffer from the other. If anything, I�d say he probably is�he�s definitely spent more time focusing on the music lately, just kind of consuming, all consuming.

So uh, those ten dollar cds, they really autographed?

Those ten dollar cds inside-they really autographed?

We sat yesterday and autographed every single one of them.

Alright. (in a surprised voice)

Oh we do the work. We are the hardest working band in show business, hands down.

How long have you been playing the bass?

Um, probably since I was like 13, so do the math, long time.

Yeah I won�t make you answer that one. (laughs)

How do you like Massachusetts/ Rhode Island fans?

I lived in Boston for about nine years, so I love it. I love the northeast. I spend a lot of time here.

If you weren�t in the band, what do you think you would be doing?

That�s a tough one. This is kind of all I know. It�s all I�ve ever known. You know, I�ve never really had a plan B. My logic was, growing up, if I have a plan B that kind of sets myself up for failure because I�m already planning on failing because I gotta go to a plan B. My logic is, if you don�t have a plan B you can�t fail. There�s no room for failure.

That�s a good theory.

I don�t know what I�d be doing.

Does your family support you in what you do?

Absolutely. They�ve supported me every step of the way. I owe a lot to them.

How long have you known the other members? (Shannon walks onto the bus, little did we know that we would get to interview both of them!)

(sarcastically) All my life. An eternity filled with love, passion, wisdom.

(interrupting) Did you come in�.Oh sorry are you done?

No, I�m done, thanks.

(laughs and feels like a fool) Did you come into the band knowing that this is what you wanted to do and that it felt right?

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah I think with anything, you have a strong sense of, you know what you want out of a situation. I think�(laughs at Shannon: )

Alright, um, lets see. Life of the road, any disagreements or?

Life on the road, oh we�re one happy family.

Right now we�re about 12 people deep. That�s the maximum capacity of a bus. Considering, I don�t know if you�ve ever lived in such close quarters with people. Our beds are stacked three high, one on top of each other. It gets tight, but I think we give each other our mental and physical boundaries.

Where are you headed next, and are you looking forward to it?

(sarcastically) No and No. No, we�re going to Tom�s River, New Jersey and yes. Because I also grew up in Jersey, so looking forward to that.

Oh, you�ve been all around huh?

Goddamn I�m looking forward to that.

Are you happy with your life right now, like is there anything you definitely want to accomplish in the future?

(laughs) Um yes I�m happy, but I think there�s always something else. I think if�trying to push..(to Shannon) Dude you�re freaking me out! (laughs) You�re making me so uncomfortable.

I think what Matt�s trying to say is..

cough: Suck It: cough

Besides that, um is that, is he happy with his life that was the question?

Yeah like is he happy with what he�s doing right now.

Yes, yes there�s lots to do with his life. He�s a very busy boy, and he�s very content at the moment. But at this moment�

I�m not content because content leads to complacency, so we�re always pushing and pushing and pushing.

(whispers to Caity) That�s what I was trying to get him to say because he always says that. For the record.

There�s you know, especially lately we�ve been getting lots of accolades. You know, we�ve been winning some awards.

Not Altoids, accolades. You know we won the MTV2 VMA. We won some FUSE awards. We won an MTV Woodie the other day., and there�s always something else. We�re on to the next, so its not like we sell 500,000 records and we�re happy with that. We�re on to the next. You know, we�re pushing for platinum then multi-platinum.

The thing is this. We keep going.

The thing is this, there�s always something to do. You have to think outside of the box if you want to continue in this career of being a musician and being in a band, so there�s always something to do. There�s always work to be involved in, and you can�t really just settle, you know. No Matter how bad you want to sometimes. No Matter how bad you might want to chill out and stuff like that, you really can�t at the end of the day. At the end of the day, after doing all the work and following through with everything, you can put your head on the pillow and you know, sleep pretty good at night, because you�ve done everything you could possibly do to succeed is what umm, Matt is basically trying to say.

So what do you guys usually do after a show, celebrate , go out to eat?

We celebrate every night, yes.

One big party out here on the road. Actually its not.

The celebration is this...

We�re busy doing something. Jared�s editing the video right now, so he gets off stage and he goes straight to editing the video.

(Gets up) Sorry guys.

Here�s a typical night for 30 Seconds to Mars, we play our show. During the day we�re doing something, you saw me and Shannon setting up the merch, just like you said there�s always something to be done. After we�re done playing we get off stage, we rest for about ten minutes then we go do an autograph signing. Autograph signings generally take 45 minutes to an hour. Then we get done with that, we go change out of sweaty clothes, maybe take a shower, then we come outside, then we take photos with the fans for 45 minutes to an hour. By then we�re clocking in by about, oh lets say 3 A.M.

Bus calls 4 A.M, we got an hour left. Let�s go on the bus. And uh...

Kind of wind down, but he�s not winding down cause he�s counting merch, he�s doing merch stuff and all that stuff.

And Shannon�s out there taking photos of all the fans.

Shirts and the things that people make.

There�s always something we�re doing. It�s not like, �Oh, we�re on vacation. This is awesome.� It is awesome, but this isn�t a vacation.

It�s a job. It is a job at the end of the day. Depending how much work you put into it is ..What am I trying to say, the work you put into it the thing you get out, Matt?

What you put in you get out.

Alright I got ya. How do you pump yourselves up before a show?

Well there�s weights. Um there�s a full gym here that�s right, there�s the uh bow flex.

(sarcastically) Oh yeah?

How much do you bench?

(jokingly) 85 um pounds but um.

We all kind of get. You know, everyone has their own warm up routine. There�s nothing specific.

Just the energy itself, knowing that we�re going to share an experience with an audience, that�s something that is pretty amazing. Also its something that we created, that came from our heads, and then we recorded onto this plastic thing people listen to, and then they interpret it themselves, whatever they�re getting out of it, and then they come to these shows to listen to what we have to say, that�s a pump right there. You know, knowing that we�re going to be involved in that is pretty crazy and that can be interpreted as being anxious just before you go on, a little nervous before you go on, or really excited and thrilled before you go on, but you know its all about that moment. Its all about, Wow I�m gonna be playing in front of all these people. You know what I mean? Plus, there�s so many technical aspects to it, you know we have all these electronics going on, we have lots of like in between stuff. You know, there�s just a lot going on. It�s really exciting. Alright, that�s what he was trying to say.

This can go for both of you actually um, did you use to want to be in a band when you were younger?

Always. Its what I always wanted to do growing up.

(looking at Shannon: ) Alright, How about you?

You know, I don�t know. Did I use to want to be� you know what? No, but I always played music. I didn�t know what I wanted to do. Until I started playing with a Brazilian Congo Tribe. I don�t even know how to say, you know? There�s a name for that, I don�t even, you know, I was there for three years, I don�t know.

Its not funny. It was a very trying time in my life.

Oh, alright alright, has the fact that you�ve gotten awards, and are very successful hit you yet?

Well, I do still have a bruise. Hey, and its never gonna heal.

All of us growing up, I think its safe to say we never really got the�.We weren�t really involved in like after school activities, didn�t win awards, didn�t win trophies, so you know. To get these awards, its uh.what the hell am I trying to say, I just spaced. Its nice to have all of our hard work be recognized, but these awards are not what we do this for. We would be doing this whether we won no awards or got nominated for nothing, or sold only a few records, we�d still be doing this. Its not what we do it for, because I think ultimately if that�s the reason you do it for, you�re going to be let down at the end of the day. A piece of plastic, or metal, or wood doesn�t is not what you should base success on.

Do you feel that you�ve changed as a person at all as a result?

As a result of what?

As a result of where you are right now, your position.

Sure. I think being in a band touring all the time, it�s a very strange life style. It�s not for everyone, but its something we love to do, and I think you have to love it to do it. Just like anything else.

There�s always work.

Do any friends of yours treat you differently as a result?

No, because if they do then they�re not friends anymore. I mean all the people that I consider friends still treat me�we still have the same relationship it hasn�t changed.

You definitely know who your friends are. Definitely, there�s been some times where people have just turned weird. You know what I mean, they show �.its just weird.

Ya, like they don�t know how to act you around you?

They don�t know how to act. They�re either envious or jealous and they put it in a weird way of anger, its so weird. It gets weird sometimes. There is a reality to that, but we just kick those motherfuckers to the curb. You know what I�m saying?

(laughs hysterically)

We got that thing Matt.

That was thirty [questions]?

Yeah, I actually made a little note that I noticed there�s a mistake in your video for �The Kill�.

In the beginning Jared says he�s gonna be there for three days, you guys are gonna be there for three days, right?

And then in another scene, the screen goes black and it says one week later.

That�s right. Easy. (to Matt) Wanna go?

No you go Matt, you want me to go?

Alright. Repeat what you just said and listen to yourself.

Alright so he says you guys are going to be there for three days.

Then there�s a black screen that comes up that says one week later.

Yeah. (to Caity: ) Look at me, Look at me when I say this. Guess it took longer didn�t it.

making sure Caity is still looking) Hey, hey, imagination. See in this day and age too many people are spoon fed. All this information, and its like its so easy, so expected so you don�t have to think for yourself. You have this internet, everything�s so fast, everything�s so fast, so its like what we try to do in our music and with everything in our art, is to have people interpret things for themselves, and to have people think for themselves and have their imagination just get carried away with them when they�re at the show, and when they�re not at the show. When they�re looking at our cd, when they�re looking at everything, you know what I mean? So that�s a great example.

That was beautiful. Come here, god come here. (hugs Caity)

I like that you pay attention to those little details.

Yeah, that�s a good song, but it did take longer because there�s a lot of things that we went through in that house. It was very freaky.

How was the house anyway?

Yes, there were lots of ghosts. I actually saw a ghost. Yeah it was like an old priest�s home.

There were four different locations where we shot that video.

It was weird you know.

Stay tuned for our next video. Its gonna be pretty amazing. Its for �From Yesterday�. We went to a place far away. I don�t want to say where because it�s a surprise, but just check out our website 30secondstomars.com to get any updates. Should be coming soon. Taste of Chaos in the fall.