30 Seconds To Mars talk ahead of Birmingham show

Jared Leto, Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević are on the road with their Monolith Tour in support of their fifth studio album, Monolith.

They are playing 41 European arenas and 32 in North America and it is their first tour since Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams in 2013-15.

Singer Jared Leto made the Monolith announcement on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, giving each lucky member of the audience a ticket to an upcoming show.

In addition, the group announced their highly-anticipated fifth studio album will be available in April.

Fans can expect live performances of songs from the new album, and fan favourites including City of Angels and Up in the Air.

The band most recently released Dangerous Night, the follow up to their highly successful first single off the upcoming album. Walk On Water spent five weeks at number 10 on Billboard’s Rock Airplay Chart, four weeks at number one on radio’s Mediabase Alternative Chart and also hit the top 40 charts.

Walk On Water was also used in collaboration with ESPN’s college football programming for the 2017 season across a variety of platforms. The official music video for the single is a sneak peek into the upcoming documentary film, A Day in the Life of America. Filmed on a single day, July 4, 2017, in all 50 States plus Washington DC. and Puerto Rico, the documentary includes footage from 92 professional film crews, 10,000 fan submissions, and news and social media content.

Directed by Jared Leto, the film presents a unique and historic portrait of America on a single day.

Jared combines his rock band with an Oscar Award-winning career as an actor. He won an Oscar for his work in the film Dallas Buyers Club and is known for undergoing dramatic physical transformations for his film work, including losing 30lbs for his part in that movie. His favourite part, however, is fronting 30 Seconds To Mars. “You’ll never know me until you come to a show. That’s the place where I reveal the most because there is no character, there is no part, it’s me.”

He started 30 Seconds To Mars with his brother, Shannon, and they hit it big with the song The Kill.

Then, just as his acting career was taking off, he took a six-year sabbatical from it.

“Usually, the kiss of death, yeah.

“I mean, it was worth every single second. It was the best thing I ever did.”

He enjoys taking breaks.

“Irving Azoff, who’s my manager, always says, ‘How can they miss you if you never go away?’ “So, sometimes you gotta go away, at least for a while.

“I think the difference with music is that it’s a very intimate and personal process. When you make a film, you work with really a large group of people and it is very collaborative. When you make music, it’s a much smaller team.

“Over the years it’s been mostly my brother and I – we’ve done this since we were kids – so sharing that with family makes it different right from the get-go. It’s just special; it’s hard to compare it to anything else.

“Writing music starts from the most simple, most humble beginning and can turn into something that really connects in such a powerful way around the globe, so it’s a very beautiful process that a thought, an idea, can in turn end up touching so many people and in such a deep way. It certainly has for me in my life; music has changed me. It has been my soundtrack, it has been my companion, it has been my inspiration, and so many artists have taught me about life and the world through their writing.

“Music is meant to be consumed, just like . . . I guess it’s kinda like cooking; if you’re at home and you’ve made a big dinner and you put all the food out on the table, it’s certainly a lot nicer when people show up and consume the meal. In order for that, you need to invite people to do it, so I think I look at this as like the invitation process.”