Thirty Seconds to Mars (also commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards), Shannon Leto (drums, percussion) and Tomo Miličević (lead guitar, bass, strings, keyboards, other instruments).
The band's debut album, 30 Seconds to Mars (2002), was produced by Bob Ezrin and released to critical acclaim but only to limited success. The band achieved worldwide fame with the release of their second album A Beautiful Lie (2005), which received multiple certifications all over the world, including platinum in the United States.Their next release, This Is War (2009), reached the top ten of several national album charts and earned numerous music awards. In 2013, Thirty Seconds to Mars left EMI for Universal Music, and released the fourth album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013), to critical and commercial success. As of May 2013, the band has sold over 10 million albums worldwide.
Thirty Seconds to Mars has consistently enjoyed sold-out tours and numerous headlining festival slots. The band is noted for its energetic live performances and its fusion of many music genres. They have been compared to the sounds of artists such as Pink Floyd, The Cure, Tool, and U2, because of their philosophical and spiritual lyrics, concept albums and their use of experimental music.
History[]
Thirty Seconds to Mars started in 1998 in Los Angeles, California, as a collaboration between brothers Jared Leto and Shannon Leto, which had been playing music together since their childhood. The duo later expanded to a four piece when they added guitarist Solon Bixler and bassist Matt Wachter to the line-up. Additional guitarist Kevin Drake, who first auditioned for the part of bassist, also joined the band as a touring musician. The band played its first concerts under different names, before finally settling on the name "Thirty Seconds to Mars", which was taken from a rare manuscript titled Argus Apocraphex. Jared Leto spoke of the name as "a reference, a rough translation from the book. I think the idea is interesting, it's a metaphor for the future," he explained. "Thirty seconds to Mars—the fact that we're so close to something that's not a tangible idea. Also Mars being the God of War makes it really interesting, as well. You could substitute that in there, but what's important for my brother and I, is that it be imaginative and really represent the sound of our music in as unique a way as possible." He described it as a name that "works on several different levels, a phrase that is lyrical, suggestive, cinematic, and filled with immediacy." When Thirty Seconds to Mars first started, Jared Leto refused to let his position of Hollywood actor be used to promote the band.
By 1998, the group performed gigs at small American venues and clubs. Thirty Seconds to Mars had been in the works for a couple of years, with Leto writing the majority of their songs. During this period, the band recorded demo tracks such as "Valhalla" and "Revolution", or "Jupiter" and "Hero", which later appeared on the band's debut album as "Fallen" and "Year Zero" respectively, but also "Buddha for Mary". Their work led to a number of record labels being interested in signing Thirty Seconds to Mars, which eventually signed to Immortal Records. In 1999, Virgin Records entered into the contract.
A Beautiful Lie (2004–08)[]
Thirty Seconds to Mars returned to the studio in March 2004 to begin work on their second album A Beautiful Lie, with Josh Abraham producing.The band travelled to four different continents to accommodate Jared Leto's acting career. A Beautiful Lie differed notably from the band's debut album, both musically and lyrically. "On the first record I created a world, then hid behind it," Leto said. "With A Beautiful Lie, it was time to take a more personal and less cerebral approach. Although this record is still full of conceptual elements and thematic ideas it is ultimately much more wrapped around the heart than the head. It's about brutal honesty, growth, change. It's an incredibly intimate look into a life that is in the crossroads. A raw emotional journey. A story of life, love, death, pain, joy, and passion. Of what it is to be human."
A Beautiful Lie was released on August 30, 2005 in the United States. It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has reached platinum and gold status in several countries, with a sales total of over four million.It was led by "Attack", which made its radio debut on June 6, 2005 and became the most added track on American modern rock radio during its first week of release.During 2005, Thirty Seconds to Mars went on tour with Chevelle, Audioslave and The Used. The group embarked on their first headlining tour Forever Night, Never Day in March 2006. At the same time, the band released the album's second single, "The Kill", which set a record for the longest-running hit in the history of the US Modern Rock chart when it remained on the national chart for more than 50 weeks, following its number three peak in 2006.Its music video, directed by Jared Leto under the pseudonym of Bartholomew Cubbins, received a largely positive response and numerous accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award.In October 2006, the band began their Welcome to the Universe Tour, sponsored by MTV2, and were supported by Head Automatica, The Receiving End of Sirens, Cobra Starship, and several other bands including Street Drum Corps. The third single from the album, "From Yesterday", was released in November 2006 and became the band's first number one on the Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks.Jared Leto directed a short film for the single, which became the first ever American music video shot in the People's Republic of China in its entirety.A Beautiful Lie was released in Europe in February 2007. During the year, Thirty Seconds to Mars toured extensively throughout Europe and played at several major festivals, including Roskilde, Pinkpop, Rock am Ring, and Download. In March 2007, Matt Wachter left the group to spend more time with his family and was replaced by Tim Kelleher, performing live only.
On November 1, 2007, Thirty Seconds to Mars won an MTV Europe Music Award in the category of Best Rock.The band also received the Kerrang! Award for Best Single in two consecutive years for "The Kill" and "From Yesterday" in 2007 and 2008 respectively.The album's title track, "A Beautiful Lie", was released as the fourth single in selected territories. Its music video was shot 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland, and proceeds from the sales benefited the Natural Resources Defense Council.At the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards in November, Thirty Seconds to Mars earned their second Best Rock and Best Video for "A Beautiful Lie".
This Is War (2008-11)[]
30 STM began to work on their 3. studio album This Is War in August 2008.To produce the record, the band worked with Flood and Steve Lillywhite,During the recording process they found themselves in the war with their label, Virgin Records.The band had attempted to sign with a new label after the A Beautiful Lie tour, prompting EMI (the parent label of Virgin) to file a lawsuit for $30 million, claiming that the band had failed to produce three of the five records they were obligated to deliver under their 1999 contract, which Virgin entered into with the now-defunct Immortal Records. Jared Leto responded to some of the claims in the suit stating "under California law, where we live and signed our deal, one cannot be bound to a contract for more than seven years." Thirty Seconds to Mars had been contracted for nine years, so the band decided to exercise their "legal right to terminate our old, out-of-date contract, which, according to the law is null and void." After nearly a year of the lawsuit battle, the band announced on April 28, 2009, that the case had been settled. The suit was resolved following a defence based on a contract case involving actress Olivia de Havilland decades before. Leto explained, "The California Appeals Court ruled that no service contract in California is valid after seven years, and it became known as the De Havilland Law after she used it to get out of her contract with Warner Bros."Thirty Seconds to Mars then signed a new contract with EMI. Leto said the band had "resolved our differences with EMI" and the decision had been made because of "the willingness and enthusiasm by EMI to address our major concerns and issues, [and] the opportunity to return to work with a team so committed and passionate about Thirty Seconds to Mars."
In a bid to involve their fans for This Is War, Thirty Seconds to Mars held an event, called The Summit, at the Avalon Club in Los Angeles, where they invited fans to provide backing vocals and percussion. After the success of the initial Summit, the group repeated the event in eight countries and extended it digitally.The band also invited fans to submit close-up shots of their faces in order to make 2,000 different individual covers for the album.Leto described This Is War as a record about survival: "It was a two-year creative battle that was ferocious and tough but creatively rewarding, and all of those adverse elements, in hindsight, made us stronger and made the record stronger."
Although the release dates were changed many times, This Is War was eventually released in December 2009. The album reached the top ten of several national album charts and entered the Billboard 200 at number 18, with first-week sales of 67,000 in the United States. Its first two singles, "Kings and Queens" and "This Is War", reached the number-one spot on the US Alternative Songs. After a promotional tour in winter 2009, Thirty Seconds to Mars embarked on their Into the Wild Tour in February 2010.
At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, "Kings and Queens" received four nominations, including Video of the Year and Best Direction, and went on to win Best Rock Video. The album's third single, "Closer to the Edge", was the 2010 best-selling rock single in the United Kingdom, topping the UK Rock Chart for eight consecutive weeks. Thirty Seconds to Mars collaborated with rapper Kanye West on the song "Hurricane", which was released on the deluxe edition of This Is War and became the album's fourth single in some territories. On November 7, Thirty Seconds to Mars and West performed "Hurricane" at the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards at the Puerta de Alcalá in Madrid, where the band also received their third Best Rock. On May 13, 2011, Thirty Seconds to Mars recorded a performance for the television program MTV Unplugged.] They performed with musicians from the Vitamin String Quartet and invited a gospel choir to join the group for a rendition of U2's song "Where the Streets Have No Name".
Thirty Seconds to Mars was among the hardest-working touring artists in 2010.On October 16, 2011, it was announced that the band would enter the Guinness World Records for most live shows during a single album cycle, with 300 shows.The 300th show, called Tribus Centum Numerarae, took place on December 7, 2011 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and was followed by a special series of shows which marked the end of the Into the Wild Tour.
Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2012–present)[]
Thirty Seconds to Mars spent most of 2012 recording their fourth album, entitled Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, taking a break from touring.The album was produced by Jared Leto with previous collaborator Steve Lillywhite. Leto described Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams as a new direction for Thirty Seconds to Mars; he said that the album "is more than an evolution, it's a brand new beginning. Creatively, we've gone to an entirely new place, which is exciting, unexpected, and incredibly inspiring." In September 2012, Artifact, a documentary about the band's legal battle against the record label EMI and the making of This Is War, premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and won the People's Choice Documentary Award.
In February 2013, it was announced that "Up in the Air" would be the first single from the fourth album.In partnership with NASA, Thirty Seconds to Mars launched the first copy of "Up in the Air" aboard the Dragon spacecraft on SpaceX CRS-2.The mission was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket on March 1, 2013, sending the first ever commercial copy of music into space. On March 18, 2013, the single premiered from the International Space Station, after a Q&A session with the band and Expedition 35 flight engineer Tom Marshburn, while Annise Parker, mayor of the city of Houston, proclaimed the Thirty Seconds to Mars Day."Up in the Air" made its radio debut on March 18 and became commercially available to download the following day.
Thirty Seconds to Mars released Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams on May 21, 2013 in the United States through Universal. The album received generally positive reviews and reached the top ten in more than fifteen countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States.The band began their Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams Tour in June, which included festival dates like Rock Werchter, Pinkpop, Rock in Rio, and Rock am Ring. At the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards on August 25, "Up in the Air" won the award for Best Rock Video.
Awards[]
On August 8, 2007, 30 Seconds to Mars was announced as being nominated for Best International Newcomer and Best Single (The Kill) in the Kerrang! Awards 2007. They won the award for best single, but lost out to Madina Lake on the other award. On November 1, 2007, the band won the MTV Europe Music Award for "Rock Out", one of the two categories they were nominated in.
30 Seconds to Mars beat korn, amassing over 7 million votes, to win Fuse's Best of 2007 Award on December 21, 2007. On March 22, 2008, the band was voted the second greatest band in Kerrang!'s 100 Best Rock Bands Ever.
On August 2, 2008, 30 Seconds to Mars won the Best Video Stars awards for "A Beautiful Lie" music video. On August 21 2008, 30 Seconds To Mars won two of the four Kerrang awards that they were nominated for. They won "Best International Band" and "Best Single - From Yesterday"
Thirty Second to Mars has won numerous music awards troughout their history,including seven MTV Europe Music Awards-winning Best Rock three times,six Kerrang! Awards,a NME Award and a Billboard Music Award from seven nominations.Thirty Seconds to Mars also achieved a place in Guinness World Records as Longest Concert Tour by Rock Band,playing a total of 311 concert shows in just over two years.
Members[]
- Jared Leto -lead vocals,guitar,bass guitar,keyboards (1998-present
- Tomo Miličević – lead guitar, violin, keyboard/synth (2003-present)
- Shannon Leto – drums, percussion (1998-present)
Former[]
- Matt Wachter – bass guitar, keyboard/synth (2001–2007)
- Solon Bixler – guitar (2001–2003)
Discography[]
Albums[]
- 30 Seconds to Mars (album) (2002)
- A Beautiful Lie (2005)
- This is war (2009)
- Love Lust Faith + Dreams (2013)
Singles[]
- "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)"
- "Edge of the Earth"
- "Attack"
- "From Yesterday"
- "The Kill"
- "A Beautiful Lie (song)" (2007)
- King and Queens (2009)
- This is war (2009)
- Closer to the edge (2010)
- Hurricane (2010)
- Up in the air (2013)
- Do or Die (2013)
- City of angels (2013)
EPs[]
- To the Edge of the Earth (2008)
Music videos[]
- "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" (2002, directed by Paul Fedor) from 30 Seconds to Mars
- "Edge of the Earth" (2002, directed by Kevin McCullough) from 30 Seconds to Mars
- "Attack" (2005, directed by Paul Fedor) from A Beautiful Lie
- "The Kill" (2006, directed by Jared Leto under the alias of Bartholomew Cubbins) from A Beautiful Lie
- "From Yesterday" (2006, directed by Jared Leto as Bartholomew Cubbins) from A Beautiful Lie
- "A Beautiful Lie" (2008, directed by Jared Leto as Angakok Panipaq) from A Beautiful Lie
- Kings and Queens (2009,directed by Jared Leto under the pseudonym of Bartholomew Cubbins) from This is war.
- This is war (2010,directed by Jared Leto ) from This is war
- Closer to the Edge (2010,directed by Jared Leto as Bartholomew Cubbins)from This Is War.
- Hurricane(2010,directed by Jared Leto) from This is war
- Do or DIE (2013,directed by Jared Leto) from Love Lust Faith +Dreams
- Up in the air (2013,directed by Jared Leto) from Love Lust Faith + Dreams
- City of angels (2013,directed by Jared Leto) from Love Lust Faith + Dreams
Concert Tours[]
- Forever Night,Never Day Tour (2006)
- Welcome to the Universe Tour (2006)
- A Beautiful Lie Tour (2007-08)
- Into the Wild Tour (2010-11)
- Love Lust Faith + Dreams Tour (2013-15)
- Canivores Tour (2014)
Videos[]
Grammys Red Carpet 2014