Friday night’s headliner, Thirty Seconds To Mars gave an interview to all the curious journalists this afternoon. We sat down with the band’s guitarist, Tomo Miličević who turned out to have a little Hungarian blood in him and he grabbed the guitar for the first time because of Metallica.
If I’m right, we were arriving from Japan: which was the best place you’ve ever been to?
TM: Whoa, this is a very hard question because I always try to find the best places in every country I’m in. Tonight it’s Budapest and the Sziget.
You were born in Szarajevo. You’ve never been to Hungary?
TM: I haven’t been here before but I know a lot about the country. Plus I have a little Hungarian blood in my veins, my grandma was half Hungarian so a little bit I am, too.
You had quite a big break before the release of This Is War, why is it?
TM: We were making this record for two years, before that we’ve been touring for three whole years so we just had to take a little break. Then Jared wrote a few songs and we started the recordings.
We’ll have to wait that much for the next one, as well?
TM: I hope not, but it’s hard to tell because we will work on it until it’s compeletely done and you can’t know how long that will take.
What happened to the more than 100 songs you didn’t put on the record?
TM: They’re gone forever, disappeared somewhere in the universe. We recorded a few acoustic songs with Jared but we don’t know what we’re gonna do with them, if we release them at all. We probably come out with a collection but it would be too early to talk about that.
You learned to play the violin, are you still practising these days?
TM: I’ve been playing it for long long years, but lately I practise less and less. Although sometimes when I’m on stage I pick it up.
How did it happen that you fell in love with heavy metal?
TM: This is a good story. Actually I’ve played the violin in a good part of my life and once when I was hanging out with a friend, he asked if I know Metallica. I said, I have no idea what it is. Then, he grabbed his guitar and played a few songs. He gave me the instrument and I played the very first chord of my life. What I felt right then is indescribable.
Right now, who are your favorites?
TM: These days I don’t have favorite bands at all. I’m listening to electronic music, like DJ Shadow and Deadmau5. Of course there are the classics, it’s impossible to exist without them, like Led Zeppelin, the Pink Floyed and the Beatles.
You’ve never felt like you just assist Jared so he can try himself out as a musician?
TM: No, not at all, never. I mean, in some ways, yes, because he writes the songs and I play guitar for him and we’re making music together.
You had a little showing from your documentary, Artifact which was interrupted by a man with a weird box.
TM: We were showing a 20 minutes long part from it when this guy showed up who scared everyone with this box which we thought is a bomb. But fortunately nothing serious happened, it could have been much worse.
When will be the whole film finished?
TM: Probably by the end of this year, at the latest the beginning of next year. Those who are gonna watch it can take a look into the band’s life, there will be everything: how we were making the album, the lawsuit, the shows, the people who surrended us and helped our work.
How did you deal with the stress coming with the lawsuit?
TM: It was very hard and I can’t even describe how happy I am that it’s over. I don’t mind that it happened cuz it just inspired us even more with our latest record, all those barriers we had to fight gave us even more strenght.
What are you expecting from this show?
TM: I don’t have any expectations, we’re just gonna play and hope we can break the audience out of reality for a moment and they can forget about all their problems.
