30 Seconds To Mars Biography

Welcome to the universe. Exploding with atmosphere, power and melody, their songs are at once apocalyptic and uplifting, filled with characters who battle with alienation, paranoia and dark obsessions, while envisioning their own escape from this world.

30 Seconds To Mars is a captivating, imaginative new band from Southern California. They co-produced their self-titled Immortal/Virgin album with the legendary Bob Ezrin and newcomer Brian Virtue (Jane’s Addiction). They sought out Ezrin because they grew up listening to his groundbreaking work with Pink Floyd, KISS and Alice Cooper and they felt he was the only one who could help them capture the size and scope of what they wanted to accomplish on their debut recording. The band’s widescreen sound is adrenalized and nuanced, balancing huge guitars with anthemic vocal lines and organic synthesizers with electronic underpinnings.

Even before the album was released, the buzz was so strong Puddle of Mudd took the unusual step of inviting 30 Seconds To Mars to open a six-week tour for them in the spring of 2002, even though they were totally unknown and no one had yet heard their music on the radio.

Drawing on influences ranging from masters like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Rush to other important artists such as Brian Eno and The Cure, 30 Seconds To Mars transcends the chaos of the modern world by allowing listeners to imagine themselves away from it. The band’s very name implies the accelerated society we live in, suggesting that an escape may be as close as a few seconds away. Mars hovering above us has always been an iconographic image, not to mention being the God of War. But this is not science fiction. 30 Seconds To Mars’ songs are real stories and real moments that examine personal human experience. Lyrically, the songs are filled with metaphors and moments of fantasy that capture the imagination.

In songs such as the dynamic “Capricorn (a brand new name),” with its reference to a mysterious disappearance, and the foreboding “End Of The Beginning,” with its soaring vocals and intense driving rhythm, 30 Seconds To Mars draws a startlingly unique mood rather than a picture. Relishing the challenge of the artist’s duty, rather than simply representing the obvious, the band thrusts itself into the sonic atmosphere they’ve created, leaving their own indelible mark. In the provocative “Oblivion,” pulsating guitar and keyboards lead into the frantic warning, “Everybody run now, everybody run now.” Powerful vocals, potent guitars and a dramatic narration drive “Buddha For Mary,” the story of “a different girl” who “always liked to fly” and had “a thing for astronauts.” Living life on Mars, she is urged to, “leave the politics to madmen.”

30 Seconds To Mars retreated to the isolation of Wyoming’s big sky country to record the album. The band and Ezrin chose an empty warehouse lot on 15,000 acres, striving for the precise location that would enhance their sound. An intense period of preproduction began, starting with an almost obsessive examination of close to 50 songs. After an initial period of chaos, a fruitful relationship bloomed between the musicians and producer, leading to an artistically rewarding work atmosphere. The expansive frontier helped feed their imagination and their playing. Although the songs had already been written, nothing was left untouched as they massaged them frame-by-frame into distinguished guitar riffs and tones and sculpted every last note and detail to achieve their goal.

While the subjects of their songs are engaged in their own searches, 30 Seconds To Mars is involved in a search of their own to produce something unique in today’s world of disposable music--something with depth and substance, a work that is built to last.

- Bio courtesy of Virgin/Immortal Records

Initially known as an actor (most notably on the '90s TV drama My So-Called Life and in movies like Requiem for a Dream), Jared Leto also had musical ambitions. His band, 30 Seconds to Mars, debuted in 2002 with a self-titled effort featuring a post-grunge sound suggestive of groups like Chevelle or Incubus. 30 Seconds returned three years later with A Beautiful Lie, an emotional album thematically based around the concept of change. By that point the lineup had shifted a little, slotting in Tomo Milicevic at guitar alongside Leto's vocals and guitar, his brother Shannon Leto on drums, and bassist Matt Wachter. Constant touring and an expanding fan base set the stage for a nomination for MTV's 2006 Best Rock Video for "The Kill."

Johnny Loftus.