I think what a big part of 30 Seconds to Mars is, it's not only music, it's not only art, it's a community. It's a sense of having a place to belong. And not everybody will understand it, and that's ok, it's just for the people that do.
There are always going to be people that are judgmental that are going to say, 'Well, he was an actor first, so he doesn't have the right to be a musician,' or, 'I know him as this, so therefore I will never accept him as that.' I can't change those people. I can only be myself. And I can only keep making art. I can only do the best that I can. I am not going to spend my life trying to silence the critics. I'm going to do what I'm passionate about and follow my dreams.
It's not only music. It's not only art. It's a community. It's a sense of having a place to belong.
As we breathe and live, have a conversation, and you look in someone's eyes, and you see a sunset or have an argument or read a book or see a painting or whatever you do, it influences you. And as you live your art, it changes and grows just like you and your soul or whatever you want to call it. For me, it's never-ending, I call it "the organizer of chaos." That's what I do with this and I present it in a way that I dream. So basically, I'm just sharing my dreams with all of you.
When advertising is great, it's transcendent. It's art.
I was raised around a lot of artists, musicians, photographers, painters and people that were in theater. Just having the art-communal hippie experience as a child, there wasn't a clear line that was drawn. We celebrated creative experience and creative expression. We didn't try and curtail it and stunt any of that kind of growth.
No one has to give you permission to make music or make art.
Art is really predicated upon the experiences that you've had in your life. You only have to share what you've consumed.