30 SECONDS TO MARS GO IN COMPLETELY NEW DIRECTION WITH THIS IS WAR

Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars talks about the new direction that might surprise some fans the band took on “This is War.”

30 Seconds to Mars have released their highly anticipated first album since 2005’s “A Beautiful Lie” and the album, “This is War,” has already seen the first single “Kings and Queens” do well at radio, debuting at #3 on the Alternative Rock Chart and #8 on The Billboard Rock Chart. “This is War” also features the track “Hurricane” which features guest collaborations with Kanye West as well as keyboards from Brandon Flowers of The Killers. “This is War” also finds the band back with the original label, Virgin Records, after the two resolved the $30 Million dollar lawsuit brought on by Virgin Records, who sued the band after claiming they failed to deliver the three albums required by their contract.

Lead vocalist Jared Leto talked about the new direction 30 Seconds to Mars is going on the new album and why some fans might be surprised.

“It’s completely different. I think a lot of people are going to be pretty surprised by the record. It’s quite a departure. It’s a lot of fun. It’s exciting to get something like this out. It’s great to share your music with people. The response has been phenominal. I never thought we’d be #2 on iTunes or #1 on Amazon or some of these crazy things. You don’t think of that. At least we don’t. So it’s great.”

“This is War” also features “Faces of Mars” with 2,000 different album covers featuring individual photos of fans, family members and celebrities from around the world that are used as covers for the album itself and shipped randomly to stores around the world. Just a few of the covers that were chosen includes photos for music exec Irving Azoff, Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta as well as Bam Margera, Kat Von D, Conan O’Brien, members of the bands Chevelle and Street Drum Corps along with Jared and Shannon Leto’s mom. The band is planning on playing a number of European shows in November before returning to the United States to play holiday radio shows. A full U.S. tour is planned for 2010.