TOMO MILICEVIC

Tomislav Miličević aka Tomo ([ˈtoːmo miˈlitʃevitɕ]) (born September 3, 1979, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina), the younger brother of model/actress Ivana Miličević, is currently the lead guitarist in the L.A.-based alternative rock band 30 Seconds to Mars. He is an ethnic Bosnian Croat. He lives in Los Angeles.

Family
His parents, Tonka and Damirarmy by 16, fighting in the front lines by age 17”. By the time Tomo was 18 years of age, his parents had opened a restaurant in Los Angeles. In his teenage years, Miličević was standing outside his father's Dunkin Donuts in Michigan when an errant bullet hit him in the leg. He's quoted by saying "I didn't feel it, I just looked down and saw I was bleeding and I laughed." He wanted to keep the bullet, but the hospital wouldn't let him.

Musical history
Tomo practiced to become a concert violinist; he started to play when he was 3 years old until he turned 19. Then he discovered heavy metal. He told his father that he wanted to play the guitar, so they made one together. His uncle, Željko "Bill" Miličević, is a virtuoso violinist and orchestra teacher at Farmington High School in Farmington, Michigan and he has got the Ph.D. Tomo has been playing guitar professionally for years. He started writing his own music by the age of 17.

Miličević describes his music as rock, and his influences include Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Metallica at the time of Kill 'Em All , The Who, Alice in Chains and Slayer.

He went to culinary school and finally graduated as an executive and pastry chef, but music stayed his true passion. He played for a time with a local band from Michigan, called Morphic.

He decided then to definitively leave the music business and to sell all his instruments. It is at that time that Shannon Leto, told him about an audition for 30 Seconds to Mars, because Solon Bixler left the band. Tomo was already one of their biggest fans since the beginning. He was selected amongst 200 musicians, first for his talent, but also for his kindness and personality. Five days later, February 3 2003, he played with Jared Leto, Shannon Leto and Matt Wachter on the The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.

The guitar that he made with his father was used on the 30 Seconds to Mars second album, titled A Beautiful Lie, in the song "A Modern Myth". He said in an interview that after recording, he called his father to tell him that he had used the guitar.

While 30 Seconds to Mars have just finished their Welcome To the Universe Tour, they are scheduled to be on the Taste of Chaos tour co-headlining with The Used, scheduled to start the 15 February 2007. On January 28 2007, the band began their World Tour, playing in Europe, Australia and Asia, until the 1 December 2007. In 2008, 30 Seconds to Mars began their European Tour, where, at the end, announced that they began working on the third album studio of the band. The band released their third album This Is War, on December 4, 2009.For the recording of This Is War, Tomo also tracked the bass, alternating with Jared Leto.

Instruments
Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Custom Ebony, Fender Jaguar
Pickups: 490R Alnico magnet humbucker, 498T Alnico magnet humbucker
Tuners: Grover Keystone

Discography
2005 - A Beautiful Lie
2009 - This Is War