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How I started liking 30STM and how I met them :)

It all started when I was 10 and I had just heard From Yesterday on Kerrang TV when I went shopping in my local town with my dad. We were walking around when I asked him to go into HMV and I picked up A Beautiful Lie and kinda waved all in my dad's face saying 'Can I have this!?' and he said 'haha, fine...' and I have been an Echelon ever since :)

I met 30 Seconds To Mars on June 13th 2010 and it was the best day of my life! I hopped onto the train to London and got on the London Underground to Leicester Square and walked to the outside of the hotel where I met some of the UK Echelon who I'd met before and had known on twitter. We were sitting outside Starbucks for about 4-5 hours before Tomo came out at 3pm, after he'd just woken up, and we shouted 'IT'S TOMO!' and he looked and laughed at us. We all got a picture with him and a hug, and he also signed my [ECHELON] wristband. After he came out with 2 coffee's for him and Vicki, I got another picture with him. At about 4pm we could see Shannon inside the hotel talking to Emma and his mum Constance. He went to sit down on a chair which was directly opposite us but inside the hotel and we took pictures of him but he turned his chair round to talk to his mum. Shannon strolled outside to go shopping with Constance, and I was like 'Hey Shannon!' and he waved at me! :O. Jared came out an hour after that and my friend tapped me on the shoulder saying 'it's Jared!' so I turned around and said 'Hi Jared! :D' and he motioned 'come on' with his hand and all of us gave him a hug :D but he wouldn't have any pictures :(, he came back after some shopping though and pictures with all of us and he signed my wristband :D.. at 7pm Shannon finally came back and we had pictures with him too and he said 'Ok, you can have a hug' and I rushed in :L, and gave him a huge hug and the other Echelon hugged him too :) Shannon smells lush!! After that I got home and nearly died when I got home xD

I have let people set me aside, and trample on me as if it was a daily routine all my life. But throughout the past few years I have started on a voyage, and reached out of my hermit type personality. With some kind advice and words of wisdom I no longer struggle being weird and unusual. Alongside the songs by 30 Seconds to Mars I now applaud my sense of creativity, they may seem outer worldly. I have notice a lot of my own traits within the band, as the like to focus on bigger things than themselves, they are all very selfless, and cherish the simple things. I remember a time when I was a small child and my mother asked me what I wanted to be when I got older, and I replied “I want to be mother nature”, she than asked “Why”, I said “Because being surrounded my something that is bigger than yourself makes the world not so horrible”. I feel like I have lived by this philosophy my whole life, and have the impression that the band also lives this way. Knowing that their music is so much more than just a song, it’s a scripture of poetic words reciting are own feelings. Knowing that it’s bigger than the band, it’s a way of life for some people, and it’s a group of fellow companions who you can confide in. This maybe a cult, but who cares when it reaches into people and allows them to understand things they may have been afraid of once before. Jared, Shannon, and Tomo give you a sense of comfort in your own skin, and want to help you break down those walls and show people the real you. That is what I believe this band has done the most for me, knowing I can step back for myself and smile as well as feel happy for the things I have accomplished. No other band gives you that soft of impact on your life. Ill finish this story off with two of my favorite quotes, “Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix” by Christina Baldwin. “They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself” by Andy Warhol

By Brittany Adler

I discovered 30STM in 2005. LOST 250LBS! and noticing changes. I turned to Q101 FM Chicago, and "THE KILL" was playing. I called the station immediately after I heard the lyrics,"i tried to be someone else....this is who I really am. That was me. I was told 30SECONDSTOMARS. I said 30 Seconds to who baby? The DJ fell out laughing told me where to find their music & I saw them about 5 times. They launched a bigger tour in the US for about 2yrs. I saw them at least 30 times. Those were the great old days.

30SECONDSTOMARS changed my life in a simple way. I didn't know who I REALLY WAS. I knew who Angela Love was for many years. There was another side of me that I didn't know existed until I lost the weight. "THE KILL" helped me realize that.There were times I felt like the song "SAVIOR". There is a song on A Beautiful Lie for everyone. I always knew to follow my dreams, & that I could do anything with GOD. The band helped me by cementing all my hopes and dreams. If they could do it, I can too. I've always wanted to be an actress so I Have bit parts in MERCURY RISING with Bruce Willis, SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE with David Schwimmer. I have also met Morgan Freeman, Keanu Reeves, Richard Gere, Laurence Fishburn, Brad Renfro just to name a few. I've met a lot of Rock Bands, and I love to write and have tons of stories.When someone says no to me that makes me more determined to prove them wrong.
30SECONDSTOMARS has been a big part of my l'm thankful for the echelon.

-Angela Love

The face behind the pierrot mask

My name is Maria. I live in Tampa Florida. I was one of the luckiest to be picked to be interviewed by Jared.

At the concert in Orlando, on April 28th, I told him that 30 Seconds to Mars changed my life.

And that is true!

I depend on the band every day for some sort of smile, or happiness. I feel like part of a family that no one else understands but the members itself.

I could tell you my life story. I could tell you the events, the feelings, the anxiety, depression- all of that. But that isn't important. What is though, is that I have been taught to follow my own dreams and leave all of that behind. To launch forth.

The music: There is no way in hell that I could find any band similar to 30 Seconds to Mars. They are unique in every way- especially the sound. Every song has it's own meaning, it's own connections to your personal history, and they all just flow the right way. Every album has it's own purpose, and they are beautiful. This is War is probably most important to me, to teach me to fight against the hardships of life.

The band: Tomo. Tomo, you are a sincere person that I just love to follow on twitter. You always have something good to say, and you're awesome with your fans. It must be an honor to be your friend. Someday I'll get to meet you for more than a couple seconds and it'll be such a cool experience.

Shannon. The way you treasure your family, and your brother, is amazing. I admire that about you, and I also admire how much life you bring to every song, recorded, or live. You will always be one (or the one) of the greatest drummers I've ever seen.

Jared. Oh, Jared. I'm actually writing a letter to you now, to give to you at the concert on October 15th. I really hope and pray you read it, because I've never written such a heartfelt letter to someone I don't know so personally before. I wrote,

"You are the one that put in perspective that living up to your dreams is a necessity in life. You woke up the dreamer side of me. Thank you Jared, for being my hero, and living up to the title. "

The Family: The Echelon is somewhere that I can finally fit in. I've met so many new people, had experiences, and everything. We are a group of people who have turned to music for comfort, who have gotten lost, and jumped into a sweaty crowd (by the way, Jared, thanks for telling everyone to push and squeeze in. I was in the center front of the crowd, and keep in mind that I am only just a small person) to just forget about everything for a night.

I can't even begin to express the amount of gratefulness I have for all of 30 Seconds to Mars. Without it, my life would be colorless.

Love, Maria.

What Mars means to me.

Hi there my fellow Echelon, I'm Keri from Massachusetts.

Everyone has good and bad days, it is a fact of life. On my bad days music is my escape. I know that I can just turn up the radio and dance and sing and that everything for that moment will be ok. Music talks to people; it is universal language like a math equation. From their first album I knew 30 Seconds to Mars was a great band. I knew that because they made music that spoke to me. Like Pink Floyd, The Beatles, U2, NIN, and Nirvana, they have been added to a lists of bands that, playing a song can bring me back to a moment in my life that makes me smile or cry or just remember. When I saw them at the Boston House of Blues in April it was a spiritual experience. I have been to a lot of concerts but none with the life and tenacity of this band. They interacted with the audience on a level I have never seen before and it comes from the fact that they really do love their fans. The fans are a whole other subject. During the show we all became one and looked out for each other. I am proud to be part of the Echelon; even though I am older then most of the fans I am glad to be a Mars Mother. I laugh at the fact the my 3 yr old son Damien thinks everyone with a Mohawk is a "Rock Star" and even sported a blue Marshawk himself for a while. He has started to play drums too. I love that I can share their music with my son like my father shared his music with me.

So 30 Seconds to Mars means just that; loving music I can share with the people I love.

In Defense of our Dreams

Dear 30 Seconds to Mars,

I think I should introduce myself first. Hi, my name is Jen.

I'm a 20 year old college student, my program being Tourism and Travel - Flight Service; I hope to be a flight attendant one day. I'm absolutely enamoured by life, and I savour every moment, cherish every breath, and live every second to the fullest. I live without regret, and I wake up every day with a smile, Kings and Queens blasting as my 6AM alarm clock. I look outside to see that I beat the sunrise again, and all I can say to the world is 'Carpe Diem, bitches' with a grin. There isn't any other place I want to be except here or any other life I want to live except mine.

And I have you three to thank.

So, thank you.

I would never expect to be like this 5 months ago. I didn't necessarily hate myself or was suicidal, but I was scared to live, scared to breathe, scared to even think of going somewhere in life. I didn't feel allowed to express myself, to be myself or to even accept myself. To put things simply, I had a life, but I wasn't inspired to live, and just ‘living’ didn’t feel like an accomplishment anymore. Existing wasn’t enough.

Ten or so months ago, I got it in my head to just do something with my life; So I applied to college, but mostly out of fear that 'living pointlessly' would give my mother a reason to hate me more. I made my decision on logical choices, such as what would bring me away from my mother fast enough and effectively enough. So I told her I wanted to be a flight attendant. When she heard that, she just scoffed; She asked me questions about it sarcastically, and would refer to the program as another embarrassment (it’s a college program and not a university program; there’s a difference in Canada), despite her friends being thoroughly impressed with me. I just think it wasn’t what she wanted of me.

I got a lot of encouragement from the rest of my family but really, behind closed doors, it was like walking into a minefield with a blindfold on; I was pretty scared. Was it the right thing to do? Would I disappoint myself this time, instead of disappointing my just mother? I had only begun to actually to accept myself as a person and not just a thing, a tool, to live out someone else’s dream. With my own teenage dreams of being a screenwriter, ones I had put all my love and energy into, thoroughly crushed, I didn’t know if I could put the same fragile confidence and hope into this new, relatively unknown dream I had.

During the winter holidays, as the date of first day of class drew near, my smiles got brighter and my nervous shaking could more easily be mistaken as jitters of excitement. I was afraid to fail again but in retrospect, I was more afraid of what would happen, anything that would happen. But one night, I was browsing through a friend's tumblr page and found her spazzing about This is War and the 'Kings & Queens' video; She had a youtube link up, I believe. Curious me, I clicked it and watched.

It was the most well-spent 5 minutes and 48 seconds of my life.

There's a line in the song, 'In Defense of our Dreams', that really spoke to me. For a time, dreams were all I had, and even those were taken away from me. Dreams are precious, and I learned the hard way that they are something to be protected, cherished, and pursued. Everything I already learned and knew, you confirmed and told me "Yes, that's true. We stand with you, and behind you."

Every day that I wake up and watch the sunrise from the window of a plane, I'll have no one else to thank, but you. You can see the sunrise, but unless you love life like how you've taught me, I would never have felt the sunrise.

Forever grateful,
Jen.

Toronto, Canada

Decadent.pastry@gmail.com // @decadent_pastry