30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles,
California, formed in 1998. The band features actor Jared Leto
as vocalist, rhythm guitarist and songwriter.
Founded in 1998 by Jared Leto's brother Shannon 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.
According to an interview from Virgin Records,
"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."
Even though Jared Leto is a Hollywood actor, he prefers not to
use this information to "sell" the band; in fact, he refuses to
play at venues if they have used his name to promote the band.
Self-titled debut album (2002–2005)
The band's debut self-titled album, produced by Bob Ezrin was
released in 2002 to mixed reviews. The album produced two
singles, Capricorn (A Brand New Name) and Edge of the Earth. The
former peaked at #31 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart.
A Beautiful Lie (2005–2008)
Their sophomore album, A Beautiful Lie, was released on August
30, 2005. Because the album was leaked five months before its
release, the band decided to include two bonus tracks: "Battle
of One" (an original song that was also set to be the album's
title track when it was first announced) and "Hunter" (a cover
of the Björk song). To further promote the album, the band also
enclosed "golden tickets" in 12 copies, which granted their
owners access to any 30 Seconds to Mars concert free of charge,
along with backstage access.
On August 31, 2006, the band won the MTV2 Award for "The Kill"
at the MTV Video Music Awards, one of their two nominations. The
second nomination was for Best Rock Video; however, they lost to
AFI's "Miss Murder". In the video, members of the band reenact
scenes from The Shining. A Beautiful Lie was certified platinum
by the RIAA in January for distribution of over one million
albums.
In 2006, while on the MTVu $2 Bill Tour, the band did a signing
with Music Saves Lives, drawing people to the importance of the
non-profit.
In October, the band began their "Welcome to the Universe" tour,
sponsored by MTV2. They were supported on this tour by Head
Automatica, The Receiving End of Sirens, Cobra Starship, Rock
Kills Kid, and several other bands including Street Drum Corps.
The tour was "environmentally sound" according to a 2006
interview with then-bassist Matt Wachter. "Jared and Shannon put
together this thing called Environmentour which is illustrating
ways—alternatives—to kind of clean up some of the mess we leave
behind. We fueled the bus with vegetable oil," he explains.[9]
On November 20, MTV2 premiered the video for "From Yesterday";
the video is the first American rock video ever shot in its
entirety in the People's Republic of China.[10] The music video
is loosely based on the film The Last Emperor.
On April 29, 2007, the band performed at the Australian MTV
Australia Video Music Awards, where they were nominated for
three awards, winning "Best Rock Video" and "Video of the Year"
for "The Kill".
As of Spring 2007, the band is supporting The Used as a part of
the "Taste of Chaos" tour and have scheduled a string of dates
in Europe supporting Linkin Park. They are also scheduled to
play Roskilde, Rock am Ring, Pinkpop, Give It A Name Festival
and Download. 30 Seconds to Mars were one of the hosts for the
MTV Europe Music Awards 2008. While on the 2007 Taste of Chaos
the band also did and interview with Music Saves Lives.
On March 21, 2008, 30 Seconds to Mars performed at 'My Coke
Fest' in South Africa, which saw the band back on South African
soil since the inception and recording of A Beautiful Lie. At a
Press Conference Leto describe the experience as deeply
personal, with the added hope that some new material may see the
light of day on African Soil. The band played to a sold-out
crowd in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Virgin Records lawsuit and This Is War (2008 onward)
Following other commitments, they will begin working on their
third album. As heard in the MTV Malaysia interview with Leto,
he announces they are currently in the middle of the new album.
Some of the songs seem to have been performed at their overseas
tour.
However, in August 2008, Virgin Records filed a $30 million
lawsuit, claiming the band refused to deliver three albums as
required by its contract. According to the lawsuit, the band
"repudiated" a 1999 contract in July.[11] In an early 2009
interview with MTV, Jared said that they hope to have their
third album out by summer 2009, and he also gave information
about the meaning behind the record saying, "I think this record
is about faith, about spiritual matters, and that just happens
to be what we're thinking about and talking about in our lives
right now. I said when the last album came out that I wanted to
destroy the first record, which I think we did. We took a
dramatic turn from the first to the second, and I think this new
record follows that path. It's exciting to us, and we're really
passionate about it."
In the February 11 issue of Kerrang! magazine, the working title
for the new album is said to be This Is War.30 Seconds to Mars
at TRL Italy.
Jared released a bit of information about his trip to Hawaii,
and recorded a song called "Hurricane" with Kanye West.
On April 28, they returned from EMI and the lawsuit was
annulled.
Soon after the announcement of the lawsuit settlement, Jared and
30 Seconds To Mars told MTV News that their third album has had
its release date pushed back from April 2009 to some time in
September 2009. Although these dates have been changed many
times, 30 Seconds to Mars have announced that This Is War will
be released December 8, 2009.
Catch
30 Seconds to Mars on Tour
Dec 10 2009 11:30P
The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien BURBANK, California
Dec 11 2009 6:00P Oracle Center Oakland, California
Dec 12 2009 8:00P Gibson Amphitheatre Los Angeles, California
Dec 13 2009 6:00P Viejas Arena San Diego, California
Dec 15 2009 7:00P WAMU Theater Seattle, Washington
Dec 16 2009 7:00P House of Blues Chicago, Illinois
Dec 17 2009 7:00P The Eagels Ballroom Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Dec 18 2009 7:00P The Fillmore Detroit, Michigan
Dec 19 2009 7:00P House of Blues Cleveland, Ohio
Feb 19 2010 8:00P Nottingham Arena Nottingham
Feb 20 2010 8:00P Manchester Arena Manchester
Feb 21 2010 8:00P Cardiff International Arena Cardiff
Feb 23 2010 8:00P Wembley Arena Wembley
Feb 26 2010 8:00P 02 Arena Dublin
Feb 27 2010 8:00P SECC Glasgow, Lanarkshire, UK
Mar 1 2010 8:00P Forest National Brussels
Mar 2 2010 8:00P Heineken Music Hall Amsterdam
Mar 4 2010 8:00P Lille Aeronef Lille
Mar 5 2010 8:00P Bercy Paris
Mar 6 2010 8:00P Philipshalle Dusseldorf
Mar 8 2010 8:00P Sportshalle Hamburg
Mar 9 2010 8:00P KB Hallen Cophenhagen
Mar 10 2010 8:00P Fryshuset- Arena Stockholm
Mar 12 2010 8:00P Old Ice Hall Helsinki
Mar 14 2010 8:00P SKK Arena St. Petersburgh
Mar 17 2010 8:00P Columbiahalle Berlin
Mar 18 2010 8:00P Prague Incheba Arena Prague
Mar 19 2010 8:00P Gasometer Vienna
Mar 21 2010 8:00P Zenith Munich
Mar 22 2010 8:00P Palasharp Milan
Mar 23 2010 8:00P Volkshaus Zurich
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