30 Seconds to Mars in Pre-Production Stage of 3rd Album

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Jared Leto-fronted rock band 30 Seconds to Mars have begun the pre-production of their third effort. They will follow up the 2005 released 'A Beautiful Lie' that peaked at #36 on Billboard Hot 200.

"We are actually doing pre production," drummer Shannon Leto said to Ultimate-Guitar.com at the 2008 Guitar Center Drum Off. "I've recorded a bunch of beats, some guitar parts. My brother has probably written twenty or thirty songs already. We're going to go tour England and part of Europe right now, come back, record about five songs and see what happens."

On the changes they made in the new album Shannon said, "We're always going to change, always going to grow, always going to evolve so it's going to sound different from the last album. We always want to change. That's important to us, so."

The album will be the first release from the band without bassist Matt Wachter who left in March 2007 to devote time for his family. No replacement for Wachter has been made official.

The band will headline a two-days festival called 'Give It a Name' in Sheffield and London on May 10 and 11 respectively. But before that, they will embark on a European tour on January 24 in Newcastle, U.K. and wind it down February 15 in Lisbon.