where does 30 seconds to mars name come from
Thirty Seconds to Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars started in 1998 in Los Angeles, California, as a collaboration between brothers Jared Leto and Shannon Leto, who had been playing music together since their childhood.[4] The duo later expanded to a four-piece when they added guitarist Solon Bixler and bassist Matt Wachter to the line-up. Additional guitarist Kevin Drake, who first auditioned for the position of bassist, also joined the band as a touring musician. The band played its 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.[5] Jared Leto described the name as "a reference, a rough translation from the book. I think the idea is interesting, it's a metaphor for the future," he explained. "Thirty seconds to Marsâ€”the fact that we're so close to something that's not a tangible idea. Also Mars being the God of War makes it really interesting, as well. You could substitute that in there, but what's important for my brother and I, is that it be imaginative and really represent the sound of our music in as unique a way as possible."[6] He described it as a name that "works on several different levels, a phrase that is lyrical, suggestive, cinematic, and filled with immediacy."[7] When Thirty Seconds to Mars first started, Jared Leto did not allow his vocation as a Hollywood actor to be used in promotion of the band.[8]