Warriors of Thirty Seconds to Mars

just who are these gorgeous men of the band called 30 seconds to mars? read on.

More than fifteen years ago a band was born. Brothers Shannon and Jared Leto were its first warriors. Fast forward to 2011--after three million records sold and over 500 sold out shows worldwide, they are deemed as the next most influential band that is set to rock the worlds of Filipinos in their one night only concert invasion on the 29th of July at the Trinoma Mindanao Open Parking. Musicians-nomadic warriors of American rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars are drummer Shannon Leto, lead guitarist-bassist-keyboardist Tomo Miličević and rhythm guitarist-vocalist Jared Leto.

Just a little trivia here: One would think this world class arena-crashing rock band’s name is derived from the planet Mars but the truth be told, it absolutely has nothing to do with space or galaxies. One of the band’s name origin came from a thesis written by a former Harvard professor which was entitled ‘Thirty Seconds to Mars.’ Lead vocalist Jared Leto came across the thesis which detailed impending advancement of technology and he thought it best described their band’s music. How members got to read about their name in books and in a fortune cookie is quite a long tale to tell but they have revealed that more than space and the universe, ‘Mars’ from their name has more connection with Mars--the Roman god of war. The band’s third album is entitled ‘This is War’ and it’s title track of the same name is one of the Echelon’s anthem. The Echelon is a street support team for the band.



Now unto the warriors of the band. Shannon, the eldest member of the band is also known as the older brother of front man Jared Leto. He has been playing drums since he was only 5 years old and today, he is known for extremely fast style of playing. Furthermore, he is praised as an inventive musician and electrifying performer which mesmerizes audiences every time. Shannon describes his band's music as having the grandiosity of Pink Floyd and the energy of The Sex Pistols. Besides being occasional actor, he is practicing photography.

Before rocking the stage, Tomo rocked the kitchen because besides being a certified rocker, Tomo is essentially a certified executive chef. He specializes in wedding cake decorating. He even became head chef a couple of times! He says that besides being in a band, the next hardest job is being a head chef. That’s not all for Tomo, you may know him as a guitarist nowadays, but Tomo was a practicing concert violinist since he was 3 years old and this lasted for about 16 years! After graduating from culinary school, Tomo sold all of his musical instruments and decided to leave the music industry for good. Fortunately, he was informed about the audition for Thirty Seconds to Mars by Shannon Leto. Being a fan of the group, he decided to audition. And you know what they say, the rest is history.

Last but certainly not the least-one of the most admired and talented American actor-musicians of our generation--Jared Joseph Leto. Jared has been a familiar face since he played the role of Jordan Catalano in the TV show My So-Called Life, in which he played opposite Claire Danes in 1992-1995. He continued to amaze the world with various roles and he won and got nominated several times for his talent. Besides his Hollywood career, Jared has also proven himself as lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and sole songwriter of the band.

Jared, who is naturally inclined to the film and the arts, directed the videos for the bands’ songs such as "The Kill", "From Yesterday", "Closer to the Edge", "Kings and Queens" and "Hurricane" under the alias of Bartholomew Cubbins, and also "A Beautiful Lie" under the alias of Angakok Panipaq. “From Yesterday” was the first American music video ever shot in the People’s Republic of China while “Kings and Queens” was MTV Video Music Award’s ‘Best Rock Video’ for 2010. All of his videos have garnered positive reviews and responses worldwide and this has become one the unique strengths of the band.

The Kings and Queens of Manila has a lot of anticipate from the band’s music and from the three nomadic warriors. Rest assured the Thirty Seconds to Mars will win that war. Thirty Seconds to Mars Live in Manila is presented by SMART, Music Management International and Futuretainment. GOLD (Php4,212) and SILVER (Php2,025) tickets are available at TicketWorld 891.9999 and SM Tickets 470.2222. For inquiries, call Futuretainement at 577.3265 • 586.7275.

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