Thirty Seconds to Mars: The Google Play Mini-Doc

JARED LETO: Simple things
like sharing a dream.

Creativity.

Belief.

Faith.

Love.

A little bit of lust.

We have found things that have
tied all of us together.

When my brother and I started
thinking about this, we were

always intent not just
on making music, but

what is this thing?

What can we do?

Are there other opportunities
here to make film, to make

art, to make live performances,

to create in general?

Whether art, and design, and
performance, it's all kind of

in this container that is Thirty
Seconds to Mars, and a

big part of that is community
too, I think.

TOMO MILICEVIC: We have
interesting interactions with

our fans on the daily, almost,
it seems like.

JARED LETO: We really do.

TOMO MILICEVIC: The conversation
is a two-way

thing for sure, and that's
a fun way to have things.

JARED LETO: It's never ending.

I mean, I think too the
technology is related to our

community always.

It seems to be that we find
really inventive, fun things

to do that involve people around
the world, because we

like interactivity.

We like to break down
that fourth

wall as much as possible.

We like to listen and learn and
really have a conversation

with people, not
just at people.

Not just standing on a soapbox,
but actually, on

common ground listening and
absorbing and learning and

having a deeper, richer
experience.

Really, the echelon is a
name for a community.

It's like there's this family
around the world that's really

a part of this of which
we were part of.

TOMO MILICEVIC: That's right.

JARED LETO: And our--

TOMO MILICEVIC: Proud members.

JARED LETO: --have joined us
in this journey and really

made this a really I think
wonderful and richer

experience because of it.

I've admired people that
take a great amount of

responsibility for
what they do.

I think probably our
parents number one.

We always felt like if you can
participate in the solution

rather than a problem,
then that's great.

It started around 2007 when we
went 200 miles north of the

Arctic Circle and made this
incredible little film that

was shot on icebergs
and glaciers.

And shortly before that, Shannon
got the buses powered

by vegetable oil, and
we did some really

fun things like that.

Of course, nothing's perfect
and if you're going on tour

and you're buying green
tags, it's great.

It's not a perfect solution but
there is some ways that

you can offset.

And we've always tried to keep
a focus on that whether it's

working on projects for Haiti,
relief for Haiti, like the

photo book that we
just put out.

TOMO MILICEVIC: Which is a great
photo book by the way.

JARED LETO: There's a lot
of photo in that book.

TOMO MILICEVIC: I
love that book.

[MUSIC - Thirty SECONDS TO
MARS, "CONQUISTADOR"]

JARED LETO: We're here
in rehearsal land.

TOMO MILICEVIC: The
final days.

JARED LETO: You try to rehearse
for as long as you

can because when you go off the
road it's really, there's

a physical part of it, then
there's all the other parts of

it, learning new songs, that
kind of technical, strategic

schematic--

TOMO MILICEVIC: Exactly.

The logistics of presenting
a live show with

Thirty Seconds to Mars.

JARED LETO: Yeah.

TOMO MILICEVIC: You can make
a series about it.

JARED LETO: It's a lot.

Here we have Shannon's
drum set.

It's a small drum set.

You know, he doesn't want
to get in anybody's way.

SHANNON LETO: I only use
about three drums.

I just like three drums.

JARED LETO: And his name
is actually here.

If you can see it, you can
get a shot of this.

It's on the Roland sound module,
which gives all kinds

of interesting sounds.

And he can play with these
electronic drums.

But his name is on it because
he's a drummer and oftentimes,

by the time he's finished,
he forgets his name.

So he has to be reminded
what his name is.

TOMO MILICEVIC: You definitely
learn how to travel and how to

live life as a vagabond.

JARED LETO: We inadvertently
broke the Guinness record for

the world's longest tour.

TOMO MILICEVIC: 309, 311.

JARED LETO: It's 309
technically.

TOMO MILICEVIC: Technically,
yeah.

JARED LETO: I think we
played closer to--

TOMO MILICEVIC: 7,543.

JARED LETO: Probably.

Because you have to fit
certain criteria

and things like that.

And you know what's interesting
is there is a

journalist who wrote a book on
Metallica recently or is

writing one.

And he's like, you know, I saw
that, and I sort of did some

research because I thought
there's no way.

Metallica.

TOMO MILICEVIC: That's what
everyone always says. "The

Black Album" had to be more.

JARED LETO: Had to be longer.

And he looked it up and he
says, no, he was wrong.

By a lot.

TOMO MILICEVIC: Hey,
the Guinness

people don't mess around.

They do their due diligence.

JARED LETO: They don't wear
those green coats for nothing.

TOMO MILICEVIC: They
do the research.

JARED LETO: But it is a beatdown
no matter how well

you take care yourself.

Bodies aren't meant to be thrown
around, and tossed up

in the air, and pushed all
of the world so quickly.

So you get a little beat up
whether you want to or not.

You just try to sleep as much
as possible and not have the

dreaded, the European jet
lag is the worst.

TOMO MILICEVIC: You get
on that night train.

JARED LETO: You sleep for four
hours and then you get on the

night train.

TOMO MILICEVIC: The
night train.

I had anxiety about the night
train this morning.

JARED LETO: We can quit.

TOMO MILICEVIC: No.

No, not at all.

JARED LETO: Stay home.

TOMO MILICEVIC: No, I don't
want to stay home.

[MUSIC - THIRTY SECONDS TO
MARS, "UP IN THE AIR"]

JARED LETO: We just sent a song
to space and that was

really incredible and
unforgettable.

And in a selfish way, I'm like
really glad and proud we did

that for us because it was a
way not just to launch a

single, but to mark this passage
of time and to mark

the beginning of a new chapter
of our lives, a new

album, a new tour.

TOMO MILICEVIC: It was
so cool though.

JARED LETO: And a
new beginning.

Did you get the CD from a little
band called Thirty

Seconds to Mars with a song
called "Up in the Air"?

Did you get that?

Did it make it up there?

Oh my god.

Oh, that's great.

MALE SPEAKER: You
mean this CD?

JARED LETO: It was written
record all over the world.

I started writing "Love, Lust,
Faith and Dreams" in April

2011 when we were
still on tour.

We were already about almost
two years into a tour.

I started early because I didn't
want to get off the

road and have the pressure of
having to follow up the

previous album.

And I'm really glad that I did
that because by the time we

got of the road,
I had 14 songs.

And then I went to India.

India was the very first post
tour recording experience, and

it was unforgettable.

I went over there with a
small team of people.

We had a portable recording
studio set up where we could

literally be driving down a dirt
road and just jump out

and record in a small village
somewhere, or as was the case

one time, on a cliff overlooking
Jodhpur which is

the Blue City.

All the buildings are painted
blue with a thousand-year-old

fortress behind us with
the sun setting.

And we had external speakers,
so in that particular

instance, all the kids started
to hear us play and rushed out

on the rooftops and
then started to

climb up this mountain.

And soon we were surrounded by
dozens of kids dancing to the

beat of the song.

And it's the way that you wish
every song could be written.

I think that song ended up being
the record called "Pyres

of Varanasi."

Although the album doesn't
sound like it's an Indian

album, it certainly has
the influence of

new and fresh ideas.

And India is this country that's
an explosion of color

and sight and sound
and smells.

it's really wild.

It's beautiful.

I fell in love with it.

Can't wait for you
guys to see it.

TOMO MILICEVIC: I can't
wait to go as well.

JARED LETO: It's absolutely
amazing.

After about two years, we
finished an album called

"Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams"
that I think is the best thing

that we've ever done.

[MUSIC - THIRTY SECONDS TO
MARS, "UP IN THE AIR"]

MALE SPEAKER 2: What inspires
the imagery for "Up In the

Air?"

JARED LETO: I was inspired by
all the things that I love

about art and design.

I thought about the piece as
really a three-dimensional art

show in motion where we can
celebrate modern and

contemporary art and thinking
about these performances, the

movement of the human body as
in a really contains way

almost like you were walking
through a living museum.

It's just a celebration of sight
and sound and color.

And I talk a lot about an
examination of aesthetics and

what's our relationship to
objects of beauty and desire.

[MUSIC - THIRTY SECONDS TO
MARS, "UP IN THE AIR"]

I developed about five
ideas simultaneously.

One was a Richard
Simmons-inspired

roller skate contest.

SHANNON LETO: God, that
would have been great.

JARED LETO: Which would
have been fun.

SHANNON LETO: Oh, well.

It

[MUSIC - THIRTY SECONDS TO
MARS, "UP IN THE AIR"]

JARED LETO: I really had a hard
time committing to which

one be the right one, and in
some ways it was the simplest.

And it seemed to be the
least ambitious.

And of course, it turned into
this really ambitious four-day

shoot at this million-square
foot hangar in Long Beach and

its collection of people
and things that was

just wild and bizarre.

Damien Hirst has been a big
inspiration for me.

I have always enjoyed his work,
and he's a provocateur

and a maverick, and someone who
really makes you think.

And it was an honor to be able
to use some of Mr. Hirst's

artwork in the video and then
have an album cover courtesy

of Mr. Hirst, and not
only the album

cover, but the CD itself.

So I like the idea of the
celebration of color and the

seemingly random component
there as well.

And I just thought it was in
line with where we're at

musically and made
a lot of sense.

I think really what NASA or
Damien Hirst and what Thirty

Seconds to Mars have in common
is we are kind of in the

business of making reality
out of our dreams.

We're dreamers and it's
a wonderful thing to

be able to do that.

[MUSIC - THIRTY SECONDS TO
MARS, "UP IN THE AIR"]