It’s attempted several times to contact 30 Seconds To Mars guitarist Tomo Milicevic for our interview, while on the other end the epic sound of This Is War being rehearsed for a run of live shows completely drowns the ringing.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” he finally apologises. “I left my phone on the top of my amp and with how loud we are, it made it impossible to hear it. I even set an alarm for myself.”

30 Seconds to Mars have a hell of a challenge in front of them. “We don’t make live albums; we make studio albums and then we play them live,” Milicevic laughs. “This record we really went for it. To play it live, it’s going to be a lot of work. But that’s okay, we’re not afraid of that. We haven’t played live in years. So we’re rehearsing like crazy now and getting back into that rhythm.”

With a talent like Jared Leto fronting the band, there really is nothing to fear. Or is there? “I didn’t really want to release this information…but he’s actually an alien,” Milicevic laughs. “That’s why he’s so damn good at everything! He’s not a human being!”

The short-film like clip for lead single From Yesterday saw 30 Seconds to Mars become the first ever American band to make a music video-clip in the People’s Republic of China.

“I don’t want to sound like a cocky prick but our videos really are beautiful,” says Milicevic. “I love watching them. That’s hats off to Jared and his big thinking and ability to pull that stuff off. He’s obviously very talented on the film side of things, does really great work and doesn’t do bullshit movies. I think that’s a testament to his artistic side. He has so many opportunities to make so much money and he passes that up for art.”

But what fans might not know is Jared’s brother and bandmate Shannon, according to Milicevic, is just as gifted in making melody.

“He’s the drummer, so people never think about the drummer being a melodic person. But those two guys have this unbelievable knack for creative melody. When you’re writing a song, everything, everything comes second to the melody.

“There’s a song on the album called L490 that Shannon wrote and played all the instruments on. A lot of people don’t know that he can do that. We don’t really showcase that stuff live. The good think about 30 Seconds to Mars is that nobody will fight for ego. The best piece of music wins.”

And that music has been reaching far and wide. “We’re building this family of friends and weirdos that come to our shows. We have the coolest and equally weirdest audience. So we wanted to capture that spirit and energy that we have at our performances on the album.”

Enter – œThe Summit’ – another idea made possible by Leto. “We booked this venue in LA called the Avalon Club – which is a 12,000-14,000 seat venue – and we decided to turn that place into a giant recording studio. People turned up from all over the world. Jared was basically conducting the crowd like an orchestra. It was a pretty magical experience to be a part of.”

They then went on to conduct global summits around the world, which still wasn’t enough. “People from countries who didn’t get to participate were Twittering. I think Jared got this Twitter from a guy in Iran. He was like, – œMan, I really wish I could have participated in The Summit but I live in Iran and there wasn’t a way for me to do it.’ That’s when the digital summit came to life.”

“The thing that is really cool is every single piece of audio that was submitted, literally every single piece, is on the album,” he continues. “So to anyone who participated in any form of The Summit, just know that you are on the album.”

Not many artists can boast the voice of the world as their instrument. It sounds well worth the effort. “We work 20 hours a day, seven days a week. I personally believe that’s the only way that you can achieve anything that’s great. Again, I don’t want to sound like I’m tooting my own horn or our own horn, but I know we’ve put a lot of time into this and I hope that it shows in the music.”

This Is War is out 4 December through EMI. Watch the video for lead single Kings & Queens in the FL Videos section.