30 Seconds to Mars Stay Home for 'Kings and Queens' Video

Posted on Oct 19th 2009 4:00PM by Steve Baltin
Comments

"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."