Thirty Seconds to Mars coming for album promo

MANILA, Philippines - Music Management International (MMI) is bringing Thirty Seconds to Mars to the Philippines to promote the group’s album This Is War on July 29, 8 p.m. at the Trinoma Mall (Mindanao Parking). MMI is the same company behind the recent Bruno Mars concert and the concerts of Justin Bieber on May 10 at the SM Mall Of Asia (MOA) Concert Grounds and Miley Cyrus on June 17 in the same venue.

This Is War is more than a just a reference to the band’s personal battles, a commentary on global crises and economic turmoil and homage to their now infamous $30,000,000 lawsuit with Virgin Records. This Is War also represents the result of an 18-month creative battle, fought ferociously, but privately, inside a studio built into the side of a house tucked away in the Hollywood Hills. The result: a triumphant, sonically epic game-changer that builds on the vision laid out in their 2002 self-titled debut and 2005’s multi-platinum A Beautiful Lie.

This Is War is a major leap forward for Thirty Seconds to Mars, one that cements the trio (lead singer and guitarist Jared Leto, drummer Shannon Leto and guitarist Tomo Milicevic) as a world-class arena-crushing rock band. The L.A. Times calls This Is War “combative…sinister…the most confident-sounding thing the band has done.” Alternative Press echoes the sentiment, giving it four stars and hailing the album as “an artistic triumph for Thirty Seconds To Mars” and Kerrang! Magazine agrees, calling it the band’s “strongest and most accomplished work to date.”

Jared Leto comments: “It took two years, we went to hell and back. At one point, I thought it was going to be the death of us, but it became a transformative experience. It’s not so much an evolution as it is a revolution. It’s a coming of age.”

To guide their journey, Thirty Seconds to Mars enlisted two of the most influential producers in the world: Flood (U2, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Smashing Pumpkins) and Steve Lillywhite (U2, The Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel).

“Flood has a karmic ability to work with bands in these intense transformational periods of their creative lives,” Jared says. “We knew we were ready for something new, something different, something unexpected. Flood was the perfect person to help guide us down this path.”

“Sonically it’s a new beginning, a rebirth,” Tomo says. “And as a songwriter, Jared was relentless. He went to a place that I’d never seen before. We went to war alongside each of them and came out with love and respect for both.”

In addition to Jared’s searing, no-holds-barred vocals, propulsive and melodious bass, guitar and keyboards, Shannon’s huge and inventive percussion, and Tomo’s searing six-string, This Is War buzzes with dozens of imaginative effects and indomitable layers of vintage synths. Authentic Tibetan monks chant to begin the album on Escape and close the album on L490, the voice of a French girl narrates Night of the Hunter, and the cry of a wild hawk screams to introduce the first single, Kings and Queens, which the band wrote in the same house in South Africa where they recorded their smash Modern Rock single The Kill. And that hawk scream is no studio trickery. “The hawk lived above the house,” explains Jared. “We spent hours waiting for him to appear so we could climb up on the roof and record him live.”