30 Seconds to Mars (album)

Studio Album

***30 Seconds to Mars*** is the debut studio album by Thirty Seconds to Mars. It was first released on August 27, 2002, by Immortal Records and distributed by Virgin Records. The album was produced by Bob Ezrin, Brian Virtue, and Thirty Seconds to Mars, and was recorded in rural Wyoming during 2001 and early 2002. It had been in the works for a couple of years, with lead vocalist Jared Leto writing the majority of the songs.

The album debuted at number 107 on the *Billboard* 200 and number one on the US Top Heatseekers. It was a slow-burning success that eventually sold two million copies worldwide. It produced two singles, "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" and "Edge of the Earth". Thirty Seconds to Mars promoted the album by opening concerts for bands such as Puddle of Mudd, Incubus, Sevendust, and Chevelle.

## Background

By 1998, Thirty Seconds to Mars was performing gigs at small American venues and clubs. When they first started, lead vocalist Jared Leto did not allow his vocation as a Hollywood actor to be used in promotion of the band. They played their 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. During this period, the band recorded demo tracks such as "Valhalla" and "Revolution", or "Jupiter" and "Hero", which later appeared on the 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.

The work of Thirty Seconds to Mars generated the interest of record producer Bob Ezrin, who had previously worked on several groundbreaking projects, including *The Wall* by Pink Floyd, *Love It to Death* by Alice Cooper, and *Destroyer* by Kiss. Thirty Seconds to Mars contacted Ezrin because they felt that he had the ability to help them achieve their own vision and create a distinct sound; moreover, the band's members grew up listing to his work with Pink Floyd, Kiss and Alice Cooper. Brian Virtue, who had previously worked with Jane's Addiction, joined the band and Ezrin in producing the record.

Thirty Seconds to Mars retreated to the isolation of Wyoming's countryside in 2001 to record the album, tentatively titled *Welcome to the Universe*. The band and Ezrin chose an empty warehouse lot on 15,000 acres, starting an intense period of preproduction focused on fifty songs. The isolation allowed the band to work at a different pace. Jared Leto said that while recording in Wyoming, "there was an interesting dichotomy, a kind of contradiction with the technology and the organic world that we were surrounded [...] It's something that I think ended up in the music". Ezrin helped the band to understand the importance of an album's structure and how to create a progression, rather than a simple series of singles. "We really wanted to create something that had depth," Leto explained. He described the process of working with Ezrin as tumultuous but also fulfilling, having its own dynamics. He also stated that Virtue was a key element in helping the band define their sound.

The track "Fallen", originally titled "Jupiter", was the first to be produced for the album. Thirty Seconds to Mars initially thought to exclude the track from the record since they were not satisfied with it, but then they decided to rework the song because there were people who had strong feelings about it. The track features programming by Danny Lohner and background vocals by Maynard James Keenan. Several musicians, including Elijah Blue Allman, Renn Hawkey, as well as producers Ezrin and Virtue, contributed on selected tracks.

## Personnel

(Credits adapted from *30 Seconds to Mars* album liner notes.)

**Thirty Seconds to Mars**

* Jared Leto – guitar; vocals; bass guitar on tracks 1–5, 7–11; synthesizer on tracks 1–6, 8–11; programming on tracks 1–2, 4, 6, 8–9
* Shannon Leto – drums; guitar and vocals on "The Struggle"
* Solon Bixler – guitar on track 4; additional guitar on tracks 2, 9–11; bass guitar on track 6; additional synthesizer on track 10

**Additional musicians**

* Elijah Blue Allman – additional guitar on track 7; additional bass on track 7
* Joe Bishara – additional programming on track 4
* Bob Ezrin – piano on track 8
* Renn Hawkey – additional synthesizer on track 1
* Jeffrey Jaeger – additional guitar on track 9; additional bass on tracks 5, 9–10
* Maynard James Keenan – background vocals on track 3
* Danny Lohner – programming on track 3
* Brian Virtue – synthesizer on track 6 **Production**
	+ Bob Ezrin – production
	+ Brian Virtue – production; engineering
	+ Thirty Seconds to Mars – production; art direction, concepts and iconography
	+ Ben Grosse – mixing
	+ Tom Baker – mastering
	+ Shannon Leto – photography
	+ Ken Schles – additional photography
	+ Mary Fagot – creative direction
	+ Eric Roinestad – design
	+ Eric Greenspan – legal
	+ Arthur Spivak – management
	+ Dian Vaughn – business management
	+ Mark Walker Assante – business management