Backstage this year at the 2023 Life Is Beautiful festival in Downtown Las Vegas, Audacy host Dallas spoke with Thirty Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto about the band's brand new album, the excitement around their recent live shows, and more.
LISTEN NOW: Jared Leto of Thirty Seconds To Mars at 'Life Is Beautiful'
Just a week into the release of their sixth studio album, It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day, Jared tells us that the biggest thrill for him this year has been finally getting the album out to fans after working so hard on it over the past few years with his brother, Shannon. "It was born into the early days of COVID," Leto explains. "It's just a representation of what we've been up to and the life we've been livin' the past four or five years since we've put an album out. But it feels really good to get music back out there and to be starting thinking about being on the road and touring again."
Taking their time in between albums, he says, just happens to be how the band operates, although he admits, "The thing that happens is you change so much, it's inevitable that your music is gonna change. Five years is a long time, there's a lot of experience that happens," Jared says of the band's sonic choices. "But there are some songs on this album that I feel could like been on the very first album... It still has that core Thirty Seconds To Mars thing; maybe a little less screaming because I'm an old man now. A little less of that, a little more singing. Overall, I think my brother and I at this age are just struck with gratitude to still be able to do what we're doing."
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Although attending the Life Is Beautiful festival this year with his mom as a simple Vegas native and music fan, Thirty Seconds To Mars will be returning in just a few weeks for the When We Were Young festival scheduled for Saturday, October 21, at the Las Vegas Fairgrounds. Now a 25-year veteran after releasing his first record in 1998, he says he's looking forward to being part of the wild nostalgia. "It's fun to play with those bands," Jared says. "It's great to be asked to play anywhere, honestly, so we're happy to be a part of it."
That nostalgic feeling has even begun seeping into the band's bones as they've started to brush off songs like 2009's "Night of the Hunter," and 2005's "Attack," which over time had become a little mundane for the brothers. "What's interesting about 'Attack' is, we were so bored of playing that f***ing song and it was really hard for me to sing at that time for whatever reason. But we started playing it again recently and it's just a blast... we love it now! We've come full circle where we were like 'Oh God, I don't want to play that song again,' to it being a highlight in the set."
"That's a nice thing... It's almost like playing a new song," Jared explains, after just performing the track for a crowd in Germany the night before. "Because I don't think we've really played that song for ten years. But songs like 'Attack,' 'Beautiful Lie,' 'This Is War,' 'Kings and Queens,' 'Closer to the Edge' -- we're playing those songs and it feels really good."
Thirty Seconds To Mars' 2023 album It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day is out now. Listen to the full interview with Dallas above and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.