30 Seconds To Mars (album) - Writing and Development

Writing and Development

On May 23, 2001, 30 Seconds to Mars announced that they are working with Bob Ezrin on the debut album, tentatively titled Welcome to the Universe, and they wrote over fifty songs before paring it down to only ten. 30 Seconds to Mars retreated to the isolation of Wyoming to record the album. The band and Ezrin chose an empty warehouse lot on 15,000 acres. Brian Virtue joined to work with the band and Ezrin later. Leto described the 30 Seconds to Mars experience of working with Ezrin and Virtue:

"Bob Ezrin is one of the world's greatest producers. He was at the top of our list from the very beginning, literally. We felt he had the ability to help us bring the size and scope of what we wanted to this album, and he did. Brian Virtue is an amazing new producer and was with us every step of the way and was a key element in helping us define our sound."

Studio musicians Renn Hawkey, Elijah Blue Allman, Maynard James Keenan, Danny Lohner, and producer Bob Ezrin also contributed performances on select tracks. Some of the songs had different names before the album was finalized and demo versions were also slightly different. "Fallen" was previously called "Jupiter," "Oblivion" was called "The Reckoning" and "Year Zero" was called "Hero." Demo versions of "Fallen," "Buddha for Mary" and "93 Million Miles" floating around. The band has also recorded a few other tracks as "Valhalla" and "Occam's Razor," that were released on an early 1999 demo, and "Phase 1: Fortification," that was released on a promotional single for "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" in the United Kingdom. "Revolution" was not included in the track listing because its lyrics could be misinterpreted; the band chose not to include the song in light of the September 11, 2001 attacks. "Anarchy in Tokyo" was included as a bonus track on the Japanese release of the album. The lyrics of the hidden track, "The Struggle," were taken from Sun Tzu's The Art of War.