Created in 1998 by Jared Leto and his brother, Shannon, 30 Seconds to Mars began as a small family project. Things began to speed up quickly, and Matt Wachter later joined the band as bassist and keyboard player. After a small revolving door 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 expediential 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."

30 Seconds to Mars' first, self-titled album, produced by Bob Ezrin, was released in 2002 to mixed reviews and achieved sales of just over 100,000. The band's second album, A Beautiful Lie, was released on August 30, 2005. For this effort, the band traveled (during the course of three years) to four different continents, including five different countries, to perfect their sound and also to allow for Jared's film career. The album was produced by Josh Abraham, whose producing credits also include Orgy, Velvet Revolver, and Linkin Park.

Because A Beautiful Lie 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 Bjork song of the same name). To further promote the album, the band also enclosed "golden tickets" in 12 copies, which grant 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 1,000,000 albums.

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, and several other bands including Street Drum Corps. 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.[2] 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, and Download. Following other commitments, they will begin working on their third album.

On March 1, 2007, bassist Matt Wachter announced his departure from the band live on stage during the band's El Paso, Texas "Taste of Chaos" set. This was confirmed the following day with a statement on the band's website.He has since been replaced by Tim Kelleher (not the actor of the same name), who has been seen playing at the band's concerts. It is unknown if this is a temporary or permanent change. Wachter has also since joined Angels and Airwaves.

Following the release of "From Yesterday" as a single, the band posted a link on their MySpace blog to vote for the next single from A Beautiful Lie. The choices available were "A Beautiful Lie", "The Fantasy", "Savior", and "The Story". Another vote was done later between the top two songs, "A Beautiful Lie" and "The Fantasy". On May 2, 2007, the band has announced that "A Beautiful Lie" had won and would be the next single.

On July 21, 2007, it was announced that 30 Seconds To Mars had won second place in the Jabra Music Best Band in the World contest, based on votings around the world.[citation needed]

On August 8th, 2007, Kerrang! announced that 30 Seconds to Mars has been nominated for two categories of the Kerrang! Awards 2007 - Best International Newcomer and Best Single - The Kill. On August 24th, they had only won the award for 'Best Single,' which was The Kill. The other award was lost to Madina Lake.

Due to their success in the UK at the Kerrang! Awards, the band is re-releasing the single, "The Kill" on the 24th September 2007 on CD and 7" to try and improve on it's current best UK Chart position of #64.

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THE ROCKERZ OF DA YEAR By fred-fred

Genre: Rock Summary: The momentum is there and if 30 Seconds to Mars could catch it at the right time, this could be the next big thing.

First off, let's get the whole actor-wannabe-musician thing out of the way. Yes, Jordan Catalano from My So Called Life or better yet that kid that got his "Angel Face" smashed in by Tyler Durden, is indeed the front man of 30 Seconds to Mars. The actor/singer takes breaks from the day job to play rock star with his band mates and has done so since 2002 when they released their impressive but highly ignored self-titled debut. Actors turned musicians just don't have as much credibility as musicians turned actors, and Jared Leto has had to overcome his own name before 30 Seconds to Mars can be fully recognized. An actor's brand may be the spark that gets a band noticed, but at the same time, it can create a bigger hurdle to clear. Not even "Anti-Hollywood" Johnny Depp has been able to get P known as anything else than the first letter of my name.

So now that we have unloaded some of the baggage...30 Seconds to Mars is clearly a band to be reckoned with. Their latest, A Beautiful Lie is a leaner meaner step up from their spastic debut and begs to be front and center. 30 Seconds is deserving of their destined 15 minutes and should be on your to do list.

Their self-titled debut had so much fat that it weighed an otherwise solid effort by this up and coming band. You could almost hear it in Jared Leto's voice as he, at times, tries too hard to shed his celebrity skin and prove that he really can rock it out with the big boys. A Beautiful Lie trims some of the fat and brings forth a more composed and secure singer comfortable in his own skin. With his brother Shannon behind the drums, Matt Wachter on the Bass and Tomo Milicivitch's guitar work, 30 Seconds to Mars hopes to rocket to stardom and cement their place in the music landscape.

The album's lead off and current single, "Attack" is the best representation of what this band can do. It's not the music but the voice that really grabs your attention. It begins with an echo-y synthesized guitar riff as Leto's voice slips in only to pause the music so that he can pop a vein in his neck as he yelps, "AND I AM FINALLY FREE!" It's an aggressive breakup song "like a back that hides a knife," and it'll leave her in the dust.

Notables like "The Kill," "Was it a Dream" and "From Yesterday" keep the pity party going and are radio friendly ditties that could surely get constant airplay. Just as the whole album is, they are not extraordinary, but do prove that this is a band on the move.

One of the more intriguing numbers is "A Modern Myth." It slows the pace of the album quite nicely, but once "the secret it out," it waves goodbye and goes silent for an eternity. Once the eyeliner has been reapplied, the boys reappear with what seems like a hidden track in the middle of the album! You think the record is over until you notice that there are still two more songs on the play list. Silence is golden but not when it randomly breaks up an album and causes more annoyance than anything else. Instead of redemption, 30 Seconds ends on the lowest of low notes. I've never been a big fan of remakes, especially with tracks that are fairly new. Joss Stone did it with style and grace with her remake of The White Stripes', "Fell in Love with a Girl" and the Postal Service created one of the best remakes ever covering Phil Collins' "Against All Odds." Unfortunately, Leto and the bunch neglected to take notes and missed a valuable lessen: "A remake is not a redo. Add some originality that is a reflection of you and the song will take on a whole new life." 30 Seconds' cover of Bjork's "Hunter" is just painful and you begin to twitch when Leto mismatches his voice over Bjork's recognizable thump in percussions. Only Bjork can do Bjork and 30 Seconds To Mars let us all down with this one.

A Beautiful Lie really is a solid album full of hard-edged aggression over soaring melodies. Leto's talent does extend beyond the big screen and a transition from film to stage might not be a bad thing. The momentum is there, and if 30 Seconds to Mars could catch it at the right time, this could be the next big thing. Just think twice about doing another remake.

THANKS FOR READING REGARDS fred-fred

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