It's not every day that a song comes along and is instantly adopted as a battle cry. But that's just what This Is War has done. From being used at anti-legislation protests in the US and anti-government rallies in Iran and home-made protest videos on YouTube, the song, written by 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto, has attained anthemic proportions.
"To the right, to the left, we will fight till the death; To the edge of the Earth; It's a brave new world," Leto screams in the song, also the title of their third album.
That war is coming to Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Shannon Leto, the band's drummer and a founding member, tells tabloid! it's quite poignant to be coming to the region at this time. The band, he says, was going through its own transformation when his brother Jared wrote the song two years ago.
"We were going through major changes," he says. "We were being sued for $30 million [Dh110.18 million] by our former label and had to finance our own album, a new president was being sworn in in the US and the financial world was having a melt-down.
"I think if we weren't going through those experiences, we wouldn't have the album we have today. It wouldn't sound like it does and it wouldn't have been called This Is War.
"But sometimes you have to go to war and fight for what you believe in and fight for what is fair. And here we are today," he adds.
Released in December 2009, This Is War is 30 Seconds to Mars' third studio album. Since its release, it has earned Gold status in multiple countries and the singles Kings And Queens, This Is War and Closer To The Edge have since hit No 1 across many global charts.
‘Very excited'
Currently on a world tour, the band, in Australia when the interview was conducted, will touch down in the capital tomorrow for their first Middle Eastern performance, before jetting off to countries across Europe and Latin America.
Fans in the UAE can expect the unexpected, promises Leto. "We have the grandiosity of Pink Floyd and the energy of the Sex Pistols. So it's going to be pretty exciting, and I can't wait to experience the energy the crowd will have.
"We are very excited to come to Abu Dhabi and also hopefully Dubai. It's a very mysterious place to me and I've heard it's a beautiful, traditionally enriched country and I cannot wait to go and experience it myself."
Formed in 1998 as a small project by the Leto brothers, 30 Seconds to Mars released their first major studio album in 2002. Claiming their name off a chapter of a Harvard University professor's thesis, in a vague reference to how technology has made our lives faster, the band insists the reference for them is to the far-reaching nature of their music and songs.
And quite rightly so.
"I remember while we were making This Is War, we held a summit," recalls Leto. "We had about 2,000 different fans from all over the world come to Los Angeles and help us in the creative process. There was a lot of chanting, a lot of stomping and screaming. Then, someone caught the video in Iran and wrote to us telling us how desperately they wanted to join us.
"So Jared came up with an idea of a digital summit. The end result was we had thousands and thousands of people singing in our record. It's kind of Earth's record, really."
Involving fans in the creative process has always been an important part of the band's existence, says Leto. In return, a group of cult-like fans, which calls itself The Echelon, has also been formed. The fanbase encourage each other to attend the band's shows, phone local stations to request songs, create online forums and vote for the band in official nominations.
"They are our family out there," says Leto. "The Echelon are a group of committed loyal soldiers. They are the mechanics of 30 Seconds to Mars, the inner workings."
Even Tomo Milicevic, the band's lead guitar and keyboard player, was a fan before being officially roped in.
"We were having auditions about eight years ago and he came up, looked at us and said, ‘You don't have to look any further, I am your guitarist.' We thought it was pretty funny," Leto recalls. "He is a genius, and a lovely, lovely guy."
Most of the band's videos have been directed by frontman Jared under the alias Bartholomew Cubbins. The singer, also a Hollywood actor, has starred in critically acclaimed films such as Darren Aronofsky's Requiem For a Dream, the Brad Pitt-starrer Fight Club and the James Mangold film Girl, Interrupted.
‘We do what we do'
Mostly credited as an "alternative band", 30 Seconds has been called everything from "emo" to "punk" to just "rock". "We don't really put ourselves in any genre. We do what we do, perform what we perform and I think it's left to each individual."
Perhaps that's why they haven't shied away from performing an acoustic version of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance or collaborating with hip-hop's bad boy Kanye West? "Those two are great artists, they are unique and they are individuals in their own right. That's what intrigued us and we thought it would just be fun to work with them."
Has 30 Seconds to Mars experienced Bieber Fever, then? "I think he is talented," says Leto.
"We were playing at the same festival in Europe and I happened to walk by where he was playing and he's very good. He's good at what he does.
"Not many people know this, but it takes a lot of work to do what we do. It's not very easy. There's a lot of thought and conversation that takes place to make these things happen."
From Lady Gaga to Kanye West and Justin Bieber, the most important thing is to continue to grow, says Leto.
"We need to evolve and change and never repeat ourselves, whether it's in our music, our videos, our CDs and our live performances. That's what we want to keep doing and I think we've done a pretty good job so far."
Did you know?
30 Seconds To Mars's latest video, Hurricane, directed by Jared Leto under the pseudonym Bartholomew Cummins, has been banned from American television networks because of its content.
The band have in the past won a number of awards for their videos, including an MTV Award for Kings and Queens last year. "It's a form of expression," says Shannon Leto, the band's drummer.
"It is amazing to me that people are more comfortable seeing violence than they are seeing sexual expression. That is just very odd to me, very, very odd."
Sold out
Tickets to the concert at the Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, have completely sold out, organisers said. Doors to the venue open at 7pm but a special free pre-event featuring freestyle motocoss demos starts at 5.30pm at the parking lot.
