Alt-rockers 30 Seconds to Mars [ tickets ] have unveiled a slate of late-fall dates that coincide with the forthcoming release of their long-awaited new album, “This Is War.”

The 10-date outing, which begins Nov. 30 in Salt Lake City, kicks off a week before the record’s Dec. 8 release date. The Los Angeles-based band will celebrate the album’s drop with a show in Baton Rouge, LA, followed by three stops throughout the Midwest. The full schedule is shown below.

“This Is War” marks the group’s third studio set and first since 2005’s “A Beautiful Lie.” One of the new record’s tracks, “Kings and Queens,” is currently streaming at the band’s website.

Led by actor/singer/guitarist Jared Leto, 30 Seconds to Mars worked with producers Flood (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails) and Steve Lilywhite (The Rolling Stones, U2) on the new effort.

The band also mobilized their fan community, known as The Echelon, inviting them in April to Hollywood, CA’s Avalon Club for an impromptu recording session dubbed “The Summit.” Hundreds of fans enjoyed the opportunity to contribute vocals and percussion to the new record and, because the experience was so successful, the band decided to host, though not attend, eight more summits over the summer months in countries around the world, including Australia, Italy and Mexico, among others.

“There’s something magical that happens when a group of people come together, a group of strangers, and they share a public experience,” Leto said in an interview with Kerrang magazine. “We then harness that energy, that collective consciousness, and apply it in a musical way.”

“For me it’s impossible to think of these as videos ’cause I come from a film background, 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto tells Spinner while overlooking Los Angeles from Griffith Park. “It’s all I know, and I don’t know how to make a music video really.”

Leto’s brought that cinematic eye back for ‘Kings and Queens,’ the first clip from the band’s forthcoming ‘This Is War’ album. Unlike their previous efforts, this video isn’t very worldly. On their breakthrough album, ‘A Beautiful Lie,’ Leto and his bandmates became the first rock group ever to film a clip in China with the track ‘From Yesterday.’ They followed that up with a visit to the Arctic for the short film accompanying the title track, and this time they stayed home. “It’s a lyrical and slightly metaphorical surreal journey through the city of Angels, from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica Pier,” Leto says.

Despite all the groundbreaking travels of the last album, Leto wasn’t disappointed by not commanding a space station or filming in a submarine. “We like to create an adventure and this has been an adventure. It’s brought it to a place we haven’t been before, even in our own city,” he says. “It’s so great. This is what we were supposed to do. And I doubted the idea up until the very last minute, but the process has been phenomenal.”

And it’s been just as interesting as prior 30 Seconds videos, even if it’s more akin to Fellini than Jules Verne. From the scenic view of the city’s skyline, the cast, crew and other members wrapped up and headed to downtown L.A. for scenes involving a horse and a fire thrower, among others. The majority of the video, however, involves biking after dark. “It’s part Pied Piper, part chaotic circus and it rests upon the wonderful, beautiful individuals and amazing community of fixed-gear, masked night bike riders,” Leto says. “I do the rides as well. A friend of mine is doing Critical Mass and another friend is doing Crank Mob, these groups of riders that get together and kind of reclaim public spaces and take over the streets in several cities around America.”

The filming of the video comes a week after the single has hit radio, where it’s already getting great response. But after two years of working on the album, Leto is just glad there’s music out for fans. “I can’t believe the single’s out,” he says. “It’s kind of a magical time right now. There’s closure when you hear it on the radio ’cause you’re giving it away. You’re done.”

0 Seconds to Mars are not exactly what you’d call a subtle rock band. Their This Is War album (due December 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.”
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(RTTNews) – Jared Leto’s band 30 Seconds to Mars began a Twitter contest this week in which they will give away “30 Guitars in 30 Days” to the band’s Twitter followers. All the band’s followers have to do is post a single Tweet in order to qualify for the contest.

The contest is co-presented by Culture Jam and Michael Kelly Guitars, and fans can enter the contest by sending a single Tweet through Culture Jam’s custom application. The band will then select one winner daily and award them with 1 of 30 custom Nostalgia Series guitars.

The contest is a promotional vehicle for the band’s upcoming album This is War. The album is due out December 8, with the first single, “Kings + Queens” due out October 13.
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This Sunday night, October 11th and Monday night, October 12th we will be filming a one of a kind night time mass bicycle ride through the streets of
Los Angeles as part of the short film for
Thirty Seconds to Mars’ new single “KINGS + QUEENS”.

We would love to invite you to join us for The Ride.

Its a one of a kind adventure and we will be shutting down streets, tunnels, bridges, Santa Monica Pier and even Hollywood Blvd.

We start at shooting at 6pm. YOU WILL NEED YOUR OWN BIKE. If you’d like to come on this special ride with us please respond to this email ridenow123@Gmail.com with your name and photo by Friday October 9th @ 6pm so we can know who is coming and can get you details.

If you want to be featured prominently and/or have a specialty bike, we would like you to be there the full time for continuity purposes. If you just want to join the fun feel free to come and be a part of it all.

We shoot the big rides SUNDAY NIGHT 6PM onward and MONDAY 6PM onward.

Some info…

SUNDAY is DOWNTOWN
MONDAY we shut down HOLLYWOOD BLVD and SANTA MONICA PIER. Fun.
PLEASE specify if you can only come one of the days and which day that would be.
If you’ve never experienced a night ride with hundreds of people it is sure to be a night you will not soon forget!
Let’s take back the city for a night, or two.

YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: twitter.com/ridenow123

In case you didn’t hear it this morning on KROQ, you can stream the new single Kings & Queens online here! It is a great song!

The album cover has been released for This Is War. More info below!

One of the images that will be used on covers after the Faces of Mars campaign and in countries that we were unable to do Faces of Mars in.

This cover will be used in countries that are unable to participate in the Faces of Mars campaign and after the FoM campaign has ended.
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