“Echelon” by Erik Syntax which clocks in at 8:20.

What is this? It seems I’ve unwittingly come across a secret society….a secret society of over two million people apparently, but a clandestine order nonetheless.

Are you ready for this? What if I were to tell you this society was accruing influence and disseminating propaganda via the following potent cocktail: a popular “music” cable television station whose demographic is, say, ages 12-21, a hunky actor cum emo musician, and a sloppily applied Latin catchphrase/slogan. You wouldn’t believe me, would you? I know, I wouldn’t have believed it either, until I fell down the rabbit hole a few days ago….

You see, it all started this past Sunday afternoon when I came across one of the many news pieces about the absurd $30 million lawsuit Virgin had brought against 30 Seconds To Mars – quick catchup for those who don’t know: 30 Seconds To Mars = the crappy, pompous band fronted by Jared Leto - for allegedly failing to deliver a new record on time. Sure, the sheer lunacy of a giant record company suing a band for such an astounding sum of money is fodder for endless analysis, speculation, and commentary, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. What captured my attention was the lead photograph in this particular piece:

That my friend is 30 Seconds To Mars’ logo staring you in the face; a bit “involved”, yes? But lest the crop circle symbols orbiting the phoenix’s (or whatever winged creature that may be there) armpits distract you, take a gander at the Latin phrase on the underside of the logo.

Provehito In Altum.

Whoa. I found Leto’s arrogance in ascribing his vanity project its own Latin catchphrase captivating. I needed to know more and raced to find a translation to such pomposity. A quick Google search yielded the following: “reach for the heights,” or “launch forth into the deep.”

Meh. It seemed like a fairly hackneyed inspirational slogan, the kind you might find in your guidance counselor’s office hanging next to another poster of a cat hanging off the branch amidst the superimposed text “Hang in there!” Boring, right? I checked again to see if there were any alternate translations. And this is when I stumbled upon a conversational thread within the official 30 Seconds To Mars Forum (the “Pantheon” is what it’s haughtily called). A user named “Wake Up (!)” posted this message:

okay, so im getting a tattoo w/ “provehito in altum” on it and so i talked to a latin teacher today. he said that altum was correct and all, ya know to move foward (either heaven or hell/ up or down). anyways, he said that he didnt recognize “provehito”. it is a latin word, but it isnt the right ending

all in all, the meaning is correct, but the question is whther it is latin or not or if its either correct or not

Now, I’m not one to judge; in fact, I initially applauded “Wake Up (!)” for doing his/her research before eternally committing ink to skin. But then, after another user wrote back and said it must be okay since it’s the motto for “some university”, “Wake Up (!)” responded…

thanks. but i know what it means, i just thought it was weird that he said it wasn’t the right ending and that it was a command, not just a sentence.

but iehter way im getting it tomorrow at 1pm

Whaaa? Either (iehter) way you’re getting it? Meaning if it’s the correct translation you’re getting it, and if it means “Jared Leto sack gargle” you’re still going to get it? What’s going on here? These people were….committed. To Leto. To the Pantheon. To garbled Latin phrases.

Surely, there was some explanation. Delving further into the unwinding mystery, I found an MTV video interview with the dark sorceror himself, Jared Leto. If you have seven minutes to kill and have a high threshold for bullshit, watch below (if not, just skip over and keep reading):

Jesus he talks a lot, doesn’t he? I mean, he barely lets his bandmates get in a single word. Amidst all the grandiose self-love spewing from his eyeliner’d visage, did you catch that part in there around the 1:20 mark in which he spoke about the band’s fanbase? About how they’re a close-knit family who skulks across the country like Grateful Dead fans of yore? What was that name he just used for this “family”?

ECHELON.

Creepy. Nice try using benevolent associations with Jerry Garcia, but to me Echelon seemed less dancing bears and more MindHead from Bowfinger.

Want more proof? Hell, the internet’s full of proof. How about the YouTube video of another Echelon member (Echelonian? Echelonite?) getting the Provehito logo on her wrist?

Or what about this fiery response to a post on Best Week Ever comparing Clay Aiken fans (“Claymaniacs”) to Jared Leto fans (“Letotics”):

don’t bash the echelon…fuckfaces…. says:
August 11th, 2006 at 12:22 am
i am soooooooooo with the “letotics” as you put it. which is extremely lame by the way. i agree with anyone and everyone who says that clay aiken’s a homo. he can deny it all he wants…i think everyone knows he is but him. The Echelon, which i am proudly a member of, is not a bunch of “pseudo-goth” kids…if you saw me you probably wouldn’t even think that i went to their concerts and rocked out as hard as i fucking could.you shouldn’t be talking shit unless you go to a show and see how dedicated we really are. And don’t start talking shit on the Echelon because we are not crazy people who speak their own language. provehito in altum means march forth into the deep and maybe it means nothing to you, but it means something to me and the rest of the echelon. We are a family and we know that..we will support them as much as we possibly can whether you dumbshits like it or not.
PROVEHITO IN ALTUM
[ECHELON]

Hey, this is serious. 30 Seconds to Mars has sold over two million albums! Do you know how many potential Echelonianites that translates to (hint: over two million)? And it gets worse; it appears that 30 Seconds From Mars has just been nominated for a Video Music Award, which means that come September 7th, Leto’s going to have access to the master tweenage pulpit (MTV) from which to address his minions. Don’t be surprised when the audio broadcast cuts out and you hear the very Norwegian dance song contained within this 8+ pump through your television and brainwash you into becoming one of them. Echelon Echelon Echelon, say it fast and it even starts to sound like a techno beat.

So let me offer a bit of cautious advice to the folks at Virgin Records….back off, man! Stop that lawsuit now! If you keep it up, Leto is going to unleash the entire Echelon army upon you. In Fight Club, the secret society members had mangled faces and visible injuries that gave their identity away fairly obviously; in Echelon, it’s a bit more subtle. Look closely for the Provehito In Altum tattoo. And when you see it, run for the hills. Echelon Provehito In Altum!

Buy Prima Norsk 2: Groovy Norwegian House Music HERE

*above photo from HERE

EAR FARM’s 8+ is a weekly feature that showcases songs longer than 8 minutes. Click HERE to see the songs recently featured in EF’s 8+.