30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds To Mars biography

30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Shannon Leto (drums, percussion) and Tomo Miličević (lead guitar, keyboards). Following the departure of Matt Wachter (now of Angels & Airwaves) in 2007, Tim Kelleher became the bassist for the group, performing live only with both Jared and Miličević recording bass for studio recordings, while Braxton Olita (keyboards) was added to the touring lineup in 2009. Previously, the group also featured guitarists Solon Bixler (now of Great Northern) and Kevin Drake (now of Polaroid Kiss).

To date, 30 Seconds to Mars have released three studio albums - 30 Seconds to Mars (2002), A Beautiful Lie (2005), This Is War (2009) and three extended plays - AOL Sessions Undercover (2007), To the Edge of the Earth (2008), and MTV Unplugged: 30 Seconds to Mars (2011).

30 Seconds to Mars' music has been associated mostly with neo-prog, progressive metal (who were an influence on their work) and Tool because of their use of philosophical and spiritual lyrics, concept albums and their use of experimental music.

Formation (1998-2002)

thumb Founded in 1998 by brothers Shannon Leto and Jared Leto, 30 Seconds to Mars began as a small family project. Matt Wachter later joined the band as bassist and keyboard player. After working with a number of guitarists (as the band's first two guitarists, Kevin Drake and Solon Bixler, left the band due to issues primarily related to touring), the three auditioned Tomo Miličević to round out the band's roster.

Jared Leto said the following in an interview regarding the name of the band: "For us, the name 30 Seconds To Mars has little to do with space, the universe or anything like that. It is a name that works on several different levels. Most importantly, it is a good representation of our sound. It's a phrase that is lyrical, suggestive, cinematic, and filled with immediacy. It has some sense of otherness to it. The concept of space is so overwhelming and all encompassing I doubt there is a song written that doesn't fall within it."

Shannon Leto said the following in an interview regarding the name of the band: ""It represents a lot of things. This professor had a thesis. It was talking about where technology was going; the evolution of man and how that plays a role. A sub-category was 30 Seconds to Mars. It was like the exponential growth of humans. We are literally 30 seconds away from Mars. Everything is right here and right now; everything is just so crazy and fast."

According to an interview from Virgin Records, former member Matt Wachter said: "The band's name actually comes from a thesis that the band found online that was written by a former Harvard professor. And one of the subsections of the thesis was titled 'thirty seconds to mars' and he goes on to talk about the exponential growth of technology that relates to humans and saying that we are quite literally thirty seconds to mars. What it means to us is, we thought it best described our music, in short."

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