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With quotes from Sun-Tzu’s The Art of War murmuring on
a “hidden track” in 30 Seconds To Mars’ self-titled
debut CD, you might think the enigmatic musicians take themselves
a bit too seriously. Yet in a Toronto radio interview last year,
the lead singer/composer/guitarist declared, “We’ve
been frequently compared to Menudo, and we love that.”
In fact, critics have compared them more often to Tool and Pink
Floyd, with perhaps a mix of Smashing Pumpkins, but who’s
keeping track?
Their wry humor aside, they are very passionate about what they
do and frustrated with the current music scene (“There’s
hope for LA yet,” Jared joked at a recent show in California)
-- so they offer up their own blend of street-operatic vocals,
primal-driven drums, and heavy guitar-synth to a public looking
for an alternative to the mundane. This four-man, California-based
band (Jared, Matt, Shannon and Tomo, the latter of whom replaced
previous guitarist Solon in 2003) has been touring aggressively
since their kickoff in early 2002, sharing stages with the likes
of Incubus, Sevendust, Puddle of Mudd, and recently with Chevelle,
in addition to appearing on The Tonight Show and Craig Kilborn.
They take their music seriously and have already gained a reputation
for energetic live performances and reciprocal generosity to
their dedicated fans, who the band call the Mars Army (with the
core street team known as the Echelon). Yet this infiltration
of the mediocre cock-rock and pop diva proliferation has been
a long time in gestation — since childhood, you can say,
as Jared and Shannon are brothers and grew up with a love of
music.
They spent years in the studio, wrote over a hundred songs, and
set out a mandate early on to do something dynamic and atmospheric.
At the top of the band’s collaboration wish list was none
other than producer Bob Ezrin, the guru behind Pink Floyd, Alice
Cooper and KISS. 30 Seconds To Mars got their wish. What came
out of those sessions is a sound and vision reminiscent of their
concept-styled forbears (and contemporaries such as Bjork, whose
song Hunter was recently covered in a live show), but uniquely
owned for a 21st century audience. They have said on many occasions
that enough people are writing about their fathers and girlfriends
(and doing it well); 30 Seconds To Mars turn to other sources
for inspiration.
With a name like 30 Seconds To Mars you might think they’re
freaks for science fiction or space exploration in general. While
some influences might come by way of Dune (one of the band’s
favorite books) and the like, the space theme is meant as a metaphor
for the human experience. Admittedly interested in things otherwordly
and their relationship to (sub)cultures, lyricist Jared allows
the listener to draw his or her own conclusions to the songs’
meanings. This makes the music especially personal, as whatever
images you conjure from the sound and words can be interpreted
by your own inner language. Fans of their music attempt to decipher
the band’s first release, Capricorn (A Brand New Name),
with the same fervor in which they discuss the pervasive glyphs
that dot the CD sleeve, website, and merch. While futuristic
themes may permeate the sound and look of the band, imbuing their
lyrics with imagery and symbolism hearkens more to Jung’s
idea of the collective unconscious. Myth, music, and modern media
collide.
Their album lends itself to an overall impression, with no one-trick-pony
singles that might overshadow the rest — a book of soundscapes
that tell a complete story when taken as a whole instead of judged
on individual chapters. Listening to it from the beginning track,
Capricorn, to the final offering of Year Zero, you get the distinct
sense that for the duration (11 songs at almost an hour) you
are in a decidedly different world, whether physical or inner.
The layered vocals range from intimate whispers to soaring screams,
lyrically blindsiding with lines like these from Buddha For Mary:
“He said, Can you hear me are you sleeping? / She said,
Will you rape me now? ... He said, Leave the politics to madmen
/ She said, I believe your lies...”
In Edge of the Earth, the second released single, consonant rhyme
gives way to fluid assonance: “You know enough to know the
way / Six billion people just one name / I found tomorrow in
today / Apocalyptic and insane, my dreams will never change...”
Dream-driven abstract concepts rooted in precise vocabulary saturate
the songs, like in 93 Million Miles: “Where does your garden
grow? / Tell me the secrets that you know /
Another time, another place / Where are the holy ones? / Selling
the secret to the sun / Welcome to the universe...” And
in The End of the Beginning: “It's the end here today /
But I will build a new beginning / Take some time, find a place
/ And I will start my own religion / As the day divides the night
/ Here we are searching for a sign...”
Combine these words with an infusion of pounding bass, sensory
guitars, ambient synths and complicated drum work (electronic
or no), and it takes quite a few turns before you think you’ve
heard most of what is actually there. Even then, I suggest experiencing
the music through headphones because you might yet be pleasantly
surprised. And with the enhanced CD (containing a Capricorn full
song flash ecard, label information and behind-the-stage footage
— these guys take their handycams everywhere they go) priced
under $12, it’s a definite steal.
While radio-easy, generic rock music plods along with whiplash
from the grunge era, fronting singers that sound too much like
Eddie Vedder with a head cold or Layne Staley resurrected, 30
Seconds To Mars defies the trend by stepping out ahead of it
and into the future, giving music fans something original to
enjoy right now.
-Karin Lowachee
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