Ben Gibbard’s engagement to Zooey Deschanel was the real-life indie nerd equivalent of Brian Krakow dating Angela Chase on My So-Called Life. So it’s no wonder Gibbard and fellow Death Cab for Cutie member Nick Harmer are seizing the moment to talk some trash about Angela’s ex Jordan Catalano. I mean, Jared Leto.
“Jared Leto and his band 30 Seconds to Mars — he’s acting the part,” Harmer told The Big Takeover (via Spinner). Then Ben Gibbard chimed in with more specifics: “He’s a professional actor in music; so there’s no way to feel any sincerity about his position as a musician.”
Gibbard went on to say that Leto’s schtick as the guyliner-donning frontman of 30 Second to Mars could be boiled down to simply “acting what you think a rock star should act like.” Harmer adds that Leto’s fans then believe the stunt, saying to themselves, “Oh, that’s what rock stars do: they wear eyeliner.”
Don’t they realize that real rock stars ride their bicycles in circles and take pictures for the yearbook? Nick Harmer does end the rant with some praise for their pasty indie brethren: “I think Jack White — he’s savvy as all get out with the media. But he also just has this magic around him. Conor Oberst is another one for me. They’re able to kind of be one inside of the other.”
Anyway, at least a new Death Cab video/song dropped today amid these squabbles.