Fans help 30 Seconds to Mars build "War" machine

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Plenty of artists pay lip service to loving their fans, but they usually limit their interaction to meet-and-greets, tweets and shout-outs from the stage. But 30 Seconds to Mars, which is about to release its third album, "This Is War," goes far beyond the usual platitudes and gestures.

The band involved its fans, known as "the Echelon," in a number of aspects of the new album, including them in choruses and putting their pictures on the album cover.

Lead singer Jared Leto says the group spent two years writing and recording the album, which Virgin will release December 8, working in the studio with producers Flood and Steve Lillywhite. "The album is a quantum leap forward," Leto says. "I describe it as a metamorphosis, nothing short of a complete rediscovery."

30 Seconds to Mars' previous album, "A Beautiful Lie," which was released in 2005, has sold 1.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

While the new album represents an artistic step forward for the band, it hasn't given up its melodic, hard rock leanings. "I don't ever wonder about what people will think when we get in the studio," Leto says. "I have to follow my heart and my gut and not worry about outside influences."

The group uses strings in some of the arrangements and includes choirs on almost every track. Leto explains that members of the choruses are fans from around the world.

"We were intent on turning the mic toward the audience," he says. "We started to hold events we called 'the Summit'; we did one in L.A. at the Avalon, and the place was full. We wound up doing eight of them in different cities, and then we started getting requests from fans that couldn't make it to the summits to participate. We launched a digital version, and we used the material to create the choruses."

Fans also were able to submit photos of themselves online, and Leto says the pictures were used to design several album covers that fans can choose from. "We know that retail is shifting from physical to digital," he says. "We wanted to celebrate the transition and make the physical release really important."

The band plans to play 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.

Because of Leto's acting career, some people perceive 30 Seconds to Mars as the side project of a celebrity, But Greg Thompson, EMI executive vice president of promotion and marketing, says that "This Is War" should dispel any lingering notions that the singer is a dilettante.

"It's a harder journey for someone who acts to break into music than the other way around," he says. "But Jared is totally committed to making it all about the band. At this point, fans see him as the lead singer who just happens to act."

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)