30 Seconds to Mars' Tomo Milicevic and Jared Leto
Photo: MTV News

In keeping with the grand tradition of pretty much everything they do, 30 Seconds to Mars' upcoming This Is War album will feature — no lie — 2,000 different covers, each showing an image of a fan.

And, unbeknownst to them, Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta too.

Confused? Well, let us get you up to speed. Back in June, as they were putting the finishing touches on War, 30STM decided to involve their fans in the creation of the album artwork, asking them to submit pictures of themselves. The band would then select the 2,000 best images, which would be used as covers for the album itself and shipped randomly to stores around the world.

Seeing this as a relatively huge opportunity, 30 Seconds to Mars' fanbase sprung into action, inundating the band with all kinds of images. And, seeing this as a way to play a pretty amazing prank, so did Saporta. He sent in a photo of himself and sat back and waited, never expecting that he'd actually make the cut.

Only, he did. Of course, he didn't reveal this until Thursday, (November 12), when he was talking to MTV News about something else entirely (in this case, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo). During the interview, he randomly mentioned the 2,000 covers project, and then let it slip that he would be featured on one of them.

"I'm on one of the covers," Saporta laughed. "I made it."

We didn't believe him, but he insisted it was true. As luck would have it, we were due to sit down with Jared Leto and company later that afternoon. So, naturally, we had to ask them if Saporta had pulled a fast one. Were they aware that they had chosen the lead singer of Cobra Starship as one of their cover stars?

"That's a surprise. But there are all kinds of surprises out there with these album covers," Leto told MTV News. "We looked at each photo, and yeah, it was a royal pain in the ass, but worth it. I mean, 2,000 record covers is a lot ... to look at."

And, in 30 Seconds to Mars' defense, Saporta's grinning mug probably slipped through the cracks — after all, they were looking at a lot of images.

"All the images all amazed us. I mean, you have people that you would never think would submit. I mean, I think we might have had a few pictures submitted from prison," Leto laughed. "And then we got some from people on the opposite side of the spectrum too. And that was the best part of the experiment to me — you see this cross-section of people that's pretty beautiful."

So, aside from Saporta, who else made the cut? Well, Leto didn't want to give away all of his cover stars just yet — though from the sound of things, This Is War truly will feature everyone. Including Leto's mom.

"Everyone [is on a cover] from a stranger, to my mom, to Terry Richardson, to Gabe and on and on and on. And there are surprises. We're not going to release every name that we put out there," he said. "It will be totally random, and I'm hoping that stores don't just have all the same of one cover. ... But it is a giant experiment and it really rests upon all the people that participated. We're so thankful people did. It drove the record company crazy, but it's always good when you can do that."

• 30 Seconds To Mars
• Cobra Starship

30 Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto
Photo: MTV News

When 30 Seconds to Mars sat down to talk with MTV News on Wednesday evening about their upcoming album, This Is War, they were less than 12 hours away from the premiere of their much-anticipated "Kings and Queens" video. But there was a problem: They hadn't finished editing it yet.

"I'm not quite done with it, which is sort of worrying," frontman Jared Leto laughed. "I may look slightly tired, because I've been in the editing room late, late night finishing some of the post [production]. But yeah, right now, we're still not done."

Somehow, Leto — who directed the "Queens" video under the alias of Bartholomew Cubbins — managed to finish the final cut, and at around 3:30 Thursday morning (November 12), the clip made its world premiere on 30 STM's MySpace page. Clocking in at just under nine minutes, the video is officially dubbed "The Ride," and the opening credits call it, "A Bartholomew Cubbins film inspired by the song 'Kings and Queens.' " As it follows the band and an army of extras (creatively pierced bike messengers, fire-breathing mimes, etc.) on a triumphant critical mass bike ride through Los Angeles, the clip is every bit as epic as you'd expect from Leto and Co., who have previously gone to the ends of the Earth to make great videos — er, "short films."

"We've been to the People's Republic of China and made a 14-minute-long short film [for the song 'From Yesterday']," Leto noted. "And then we went to the Arctic, and sat on top of icebergs and glaciers that were crumbling beneath our feet [in the video for 'A Beautiful Lie']. So we figured to go to another destination, it would start to be like we're working for the Travel Channel or something, so it was time to turn the camera on our hometown, to basically make a love letter to Los Angeles and to celebrate that side of the world."

Despite the long nights and days lost in the editing bay, 30 Seconds to Mars had a blast making "The Ride." But next time, perhaps someone needs to remind Leto that there are deadlines involved in these things.

"This video was actually a lot of fun to make ... it was really hard work, but we got to be home, and we showed a part of Los Angeles most people don't get to see," 30 STM guitarist Tomo Milicevic said. "And, as a director, Jared knows how to make things look really beautiful. He's got a good eye for it ... I just hope he can finish the thing now."

• 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds to Mars' Jared Leto
Photo: Matt Harper/MTV News

By their own admission, 30 Seconds to Mars went to hell and back to make their new album, This Is War, so you can't blame them for being a little hesitant to talk about the process. Sometimes, words aren't enough.

"I don't know what to say. We spent two years of our lives working on that record, and it was us against the world. We didn't have outside influence or help, we didn't have a label, we had us, betting the farm, and pushing ourselves," frontman Jared Leto sighed. "There were times that it was overwhelming. Everything that was going on was brutal, but there were beautiful moments as well. There was so many outside influences that were in conflict that working on the record was actually quite peaceful. It was a case of survival, to tell the truth."

The two-year battle that surrounded War has been as well-documented as the album itself, and now, with the December 8 release date quickly approaching, 30 Seconds to Mars are ready to put the past behind them and start talking about the future.

"It's terrifying that the album is so close. There's so much going on in my head," Leto laughed. "One thing that I know is that this record is really the best that we can do. It's everything that we have inside of us. It's our complete commitment, it's our complete abandonment, our blood and our bones and our heart and our soul, and everything. Everything we have is in this record, so that's what we have to say. ... Regardless of what anyone thinks of the record, we made the record we set out to make. ... Who knows if anyone in the world will like it or not? That's to be determined."

And while there's plenty of time to talk about the somber, icy songs on War, the important thing to mention right now is that the record is done, there's a video due to premiere and 30 Seconds to Mars made it out alive. It's time to celebrate, really.

"We were literally having to kill ourselves at times. I had it written on the wall: 'Kill yourself to finish.' There were no other options," Leto said. "So we did that. It was a time to redefine, rediscover, reinvent, reinvest in each other. We thought about this record in a very deep way, and it means a lot to us. ... Music can just be fun, but it can also do more, mean more, and that's just what it is for us, I suppose."

• 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds to Mars
Photo: EMI Music

Here is the best way I can describe 30 Seconds To Mars' This Is War, an album born out of rather intense struggles and big ideas, one loaded with icy synths and screaming falcons, epic chorales and windswept sonic expanses (and the occasional Tibetan Monk): Listening to it is like being inside a gigantic silver weather balloon, one ascending into the upper reaches of the stratosphere. It is massive and shiny and beautiful, but also cold and empty.

That's not meant to be a slight — actually the opposite. War is a shimmering epic of an album, to be certain, but as is often the case when big rock bands strive to go even bigger with their sound (the most obvious example I can think of here is Angels & Airwaves), they often create these kinds of shiny balloons: big, lustrous things filled with oddly chilly space.

In 30 Seconds to Mars' case, they up the empty by coating every song in icy, mercury-slick synthesizers. Sure, there's the occasional guitar line lifted from the U2 songbook, too (the Edge is quickly becoming the patron saint of these kinds of projects, it would seem), but War is, on the whole, a very icy listen, which seems odd considering that more than half its tracks also feature group vocals, a sundry of chants and "Whoa-Oh-Oh"s and "Fight! Fight! Fight!"s recorded at various fan-only "summits" the band held around the globe.

It's an idea that would seem to invigorate the album, instilled it with a beating heart and pumping blood — but, strangely, it doesn't. For all the humans and emotions involved in its creation, War remains an alien-feeling thing, like its veins are filled with liquid nitrogen.

And it's quite possible bandleader Jared Leto wanted the album to feel this way. After all, he went to hell and back to get it made — staring down a $30 million lawsuit from Virgin Records, shouldering the load (and the majority of the recording expenses) himself. One can imagine that there were stretches where he felt totally, completely alone in his struggle, like he was living life in lunar solitude.

And that's what comes across in the album. A feeling of isolation is certainly present in War's finest moments — the bleak, ominous "Hurricane," on which Leto screams "Where is your God?" and asks the listener "Do you really love me?" or "Alibi," which starts with a somber piano line and builds on a constantly twisting guitar helix or, most notably, "Stranger in a Strange Land," a dark, sadistic song that stretches to seven minutes, pulses along on churning beats and chiming tubular bells, and features Leto breathing "Enemy of mine/ I'll f--- you like the devil."

On "100 Suns," he proclaims "I believe in nothing/ Not the earth and not the stars," while on "Search and Destroy" he rasps "Found my faith/ Living in sin/ I'm not Jesus/ Neither are you my friend."

So yeah, it sounds like Leto was going through some things, which is why talking about This Is War's empty feeling is more of a compliment than a slight. Working alongside noted space-maker Flood (U2, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins), Leto has created a sonic void to match the songs' lyrics — which makes the feel of album even more admirable, especially if you like challenging, fearless art.

And that's really what War is — a conceptual piece, a great open expanse where Leto can bury his deepest secrets, can scream his fears into the void. That he's chosen to include his massive fanbase in his isolation was bold, brave, potentially crazy and potentially disastrous (there's a lot riding on this album, after all). You can debate that point endlessly, but here's one you can't: it's also an incredibly human thing to do. Because we're all alone, even if we don't realize it just yet — it's our most unifying trait, really.

Which is what makes This Is War a rather brilliant, bracing listen. It's the soundtrack to cold, empty hearts, to the lunar landscapes inside us all. Is it the work of a sadist? A genius? A lonely man? Possibly all of the above. If only all big rock albums had this much nerve.

Questions? Concerns? BTTS@MTVStaff.com

• 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds to Mars
Photo: Myriam Santos-Kayda

Thirty Seconds To Mars have already gone to great lengths to make sure that their "Kings and Queens" video is a thoroughly epic production. They've filmed in and around some of Los Angeles' most iconic landmarks, recruited scores of extras and all manner of surrealist street performers to make cameos. So naturally, they want to roll the thing out in an equally epic manner.

Last week, they unveiled a 30-second teaser trailer for the clip, one that features a fire-breathing clown and an army of gas mask-wearing bicycle messengers patrolling the streets of L.A. And now, they're unveiling a second teaser video: right here, right now.

On Monday (November 9), Jared Leto sent MTV News a 30-second clip — called, appropriately enough, "The Horse" — that shows a majestic white stallion galloping in slow motion down a deserted city street. It's a startling, eye-popping image, one only amplified by the soundtrack: a chorus of young voices, chanting in unison (we can assume it was recorded earlier this year at 30STM's fan "summit" in Hollywood.) At the end of the video, we are told that the video for "Kings and Queens" is "coming soon."

It's not known if the horse — or the clown from the earlier teaser trailer — will actually appear in the final version of the "Kings" video, but we're pretty sure the bike messengers will ... mostly because we were on hand last month when 30STM filmed the segment.

"We're doing all-night shoots. That was my big, dumb idea, to shoot at night," Leto told MTV News. "But I think this city is a beautiful place at night, and we have these empty streets, and it's kind of a haunting, forgotten landscape. It's been an incredible adventure, but it's also been really difficult, because there are so many people, and we're shutting down streets of Los Angeles."

• 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds to Mars
Photo: MTV News

30 Seconds to Mars are not exactly what you'd call a subtle rock band. Their This Is War album (due December 8) features songs written in Berlin and recorded in Hawaii (with Kanye West), guest vocals from fans recorded at so-called "summits" around the globe, and appearances by Tibetan monks and Iranian Twitterers, to name just a few.

So, it's not surprising to learn that the video for War's first single, "Kings and Queens," has become a gigantic event too. In fact, 30STM were no longer even referring to it as a video. It's a short film now.

"Our rule as a band is, when we do videos — which, I don't often think of them as videos, more as short films — let's make sure the experience is amazing," frontman Jared Leto explained. "We've been to China in the past. We've been to the Arctic, so really, to do this video, in one way, was much simpler ... but it's also been more of a challenge. It's still equally huge in its own way."

No, "Kings and Queens" wasn't shot in China (like their "From Yesterday" clip was) or on the polar ice caps (like "A Beautiful Lie"), but it's no less of an epic undertaking. They have been filming over the course of several nights in and around some of Los Angeles' most iconic landmarks, recruiting scores of extras and all manner of surrealist street performers. On Monday night, for example, 30STM had taken over the famed Santa Monica Pier and, along with an army of fixed-gear bikers, were filming a segment called "The Ride," which is just a portion of the "Kings and Queens" short film, a spokesperson for the band explained later.

We know, we're confused too. Not to mention a tad bit overwhelmed. After all, music videos aren't usually shot on this kind of scope and scale anymore. But 30 Seconds to Mars aren't in the business of making music videos these days.

"We're doing all-night shoots. That was my big, dumb idea, to shoot at night," Leto said. "But I think this city is a beautiful place at night, and we have these empty streets, and it's kind of a haunting, forgotten landscape ... very serene. It's about reclaiming public spaces.

"It's been an incredible adventure, but it's also been really difficult, because there are so many people, and we're shutting down streets of Los Angeles," he continued. "Downtown, bridges, some tunnels, Hollywood Boulevard, Santa Monica Pier, we'll be up on Mulholland [Drive], overlooking the city. But the idea, the night rides, I just had some friends that were doing Critical Mass and Crank Mob and People's Ride in L.A. And it's that sort of serendipitous thing, where people started talking to me about it in my life, and then my friend got a fixed gear, and then another friend of mine got a fixed gear. I thought the world was really interesting, and I thought it would be a really beautiful backdrop for the video."

• 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds To Mars
Photo: Jeff Kravitz/ FilmMagic

30 Seconds To Mars have already landed Kanye West and the Killers' Brandon Flowers, shouting fans, Iranian Twitterers and Tibetan monks for their upcoming album, but they're still missing one key ingredient: a title.

Sure, for months, there have been reports that the album would be called This Is War — a reference, in part, to the lengthy (though now settled) legal battle they waged with their former label — but, as it turns out, that's still very much up in the air.

"[The title] hasn't been decided upon 100 percent yet, but I think when the record is done I'm going to sit down and either commit a thousand percent to This Is War, or move on," 30 STM frontman Jared Leto told MTV News last week. "I think it's appropriate in a lot of different ways; [it was] really reflective of this period of time we've been working on the record, in creative terms and personal terms as well."

The time to settle on a title might be coming soon: Leto said the band is "at the very, very very end" of the recording process, and the album will be in stores later this year. And in the rush to finish the record (and an accompanying documentary film), his Los Angeles home — or, as he calls it, "the lab" — has been transformed into a buzzing hive of activity, both musical and visual.

"There is always someone working in the lab," Leto said. "We're also shooting a film, so the film crew and the editors are at the house. I wake up and there are people that are working, and when I go to bed there are people who are working. And it's a factory and it's inspiring to be around all that energy. I love it."

And though there's still no title for the album, Leto said he and his bandmates have already picked the first single. Of course, he won't reveal just what the song is called, but, in keeping with 30 STM tradition, it's shaping up to be a very big affair.

"We're going to be making some announcements very, very soon, and obviously [there's going to be] a short film for the first single, and a tour to follow," he said. "I can't confirm [what the single is called], but I do know what the song is ... I had an idea that this could be a really special song when we first heard it. It's going to be massive."

• 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto
Photo: Charles Eshelman/ FilmMagic

When it comes to 30 Seconds to Mars, Jared Leto really only knows one way of operating: global.

He's written songs in Berlin, then recorded them in Hawaii (with Kanye West), held RSVP-only "summits" (basically fan-only recording sessions) in Australia, Italy, France and Japan (to name just a few), drew influence from German electronic act Tangerine Dream and had an entire project helmed by British producer Flood.

So it should come as no surprise that, as the sessions for 30 Seconds to Mars' new album enter the home stretch, he's still expanding borders — with a so-called "digital summit" and some very unorthodox guest stars.

"I actually ended up getting a Twitter from someone in Iran, saying that they wanted to be a part of our summits but couldn't make it to any of the worldwide summits," Leto told MTV News Thursday. "So the idea to do the digital summit was born out of that. ... We wanted to further the connection between the band and the audience, to use the collective conscious as an instrument on the record."

So 30STM put a request out to their fans: submit content through TwitVid.com, and it could end up on the new album. And just like that, the floodgates opened.

"People are sitting in front of their computers, either by themselves or with their friends and family, all around the world, and they're recording sounds and singing and answering interview questions. ... It's as simple as clapping or stomping, to singing a chorus on a song," Leto explained. "We're experimenting with what you can do with a group. It's wonderful to see that people are so excited for this. Eventually, we're going to have to call it off, since we've gotten so many submissions. It's going to take awhile to go through all of them."

And while they cull through the video submissions, Leto and company are still putting the finishing touches on the new album (which Leto won't totally confirm is going to be called This Is War, despite several reports). The goal, Leto said, is to have the album in stores this year.

"We are literally in the death throes or about to give birth to this record," he said. "We're at the very, very, very end, wrapping things up, and it looks like the album will be coming out sooner rather than later."

And while fans already know that Kanye and Killers frontman Brandon Flowers make a cameo on a track called "Hurricane," there are some new guests that Leto personally invited to appear on the album: a group of Tibetan monks.

"There's a disparate nature to a lot of the songs. We explored a lot, and I think people are gonna be really surprised with this album," he said. "One really exciting thing we did a couple of weeks ago, we had been working on recording with some Tibetan monks for about a year, and we finally got them in the studio and recorded their voices chanting. We did some chanting with them. ... They were in [my] house, chanting and recording."

• 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds to Mars
Photo: MTV News

They've called it "one of the best things we've done as a band," but aside from that, 30 Seconds to Mars have remained tight-lipped about "The Summit," the fans-only gathering/recording session they held last month at Hollywood's Avalon club.

We know they used the audience as a sort of "musical instrument," recording their vocals — among other things — for use on their new album. But aside from that ... not much. The whole experiment is made even more compelling by the fact that — aside from a few snippets of video shot by fans and the band itself — no one has seen (or heard) anything that went on inside the Avalon.

Until now, that is. Earlier in the week, the band sent MTV News footage of the event, and after a few days of back-and-forth, we're finally able to show it to you.

The video shows Jared Leto and his bandmates leading the audience through a variety of audio experiments, including synchronized stomping, shouted "Heys!" and "Ooh-Ooh-Oohs!" and — most impressively — a rising, whisper-quiet-to-ear-splittingly-loud hum. We also see Leto's brother Shannon directing a drum exercise, with fans arranged around him in a circle banging on cardboard boxes (surely this is the "percussive expression" Jared told MTV News about a few weeks back).

It's not known just how much of the recordings will actually end up on the 30STM album — which will be hitting shelves in September on Virgin Records. It's also not clear if any of the footage the band shot during the Summit will end up on the long-gestating film Leto is editing in his L.A. home.

• 30 Seconds To Mars' Fans-Only 'Summit'

• 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds to Mars
Photo: MTV News

Earlier this month, Kanye West got people talking (and not about the whole "gay fish" thing) when he posted a photo of himself, Killers singer Brandon Flowers and 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto on his blog and wrote that the trio were working on a "dope-ass song" for 30STM's new album.

Aside from saying that he worked the MPC sampler while Flowers played some keyboard, West revealed very little else about the song (he did, however, add that the "sh-- was dope"). Leto wrote a post on 30STM's site a few days later — in which he revealed that the song was called "Hurricane" — but there's been no other updates on the collaboration.

Until now. On Monday, when MTV News went to Leto's Los Angeles home, we asked him about working with Kanye on the track, and here's what he had to say:

"I had actually brought up [the idea of working with West] some time ago, but it's pretty unbelievable that it actually happened," Leto said. "He came by here, he was here in the studio, and we did some initial kind of listening, and he did some singing, and we knew we needed to kind of follow up and finish things, so I went over to Hawaii [with] an engineer and a small crew, and we had a great time."

Leto said that "Hurricane" features West's voice, au naturel, a decision he made even though the rapper/producer has trafficked almost exclusively in Auto-Tune as of late (like last year's 808s & Heartbreak). And surprisingly, the notoriously headstrong West listened.

"This is Kanye singing. I happen to think he has a really great voice. I like his voice a lot," Leto said. "My favorite is when he sings, as opposed to rapping, and I told him that as well, that I really liked him as a singer. But the Auto-Tune thing doesn't really bug me."

But there is one similarity between "Hurricane" and West's 808s: the icy sentiment. Seems both come from the same cold, dark place, be it the recesses of West's love-torn heart or, you know, Berlin, where Leto wrote the track.

"I wanted to work with him before 808s, but ... there was something about the direction that he headed in that album that lent itself to the song," Leto said. "I wrote 'Hurricane' in Berlin in the winter in 2007. It was winter, it was getting dark at like 3:30 in the afternoon, and it could go either way. It could be incredibly comforting or incredibly depressing. Thankfully, it was a little bit of both. It was inspiring nonetheless."

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• Kanye West

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