Phantom Planet

Phantom Planet is an alternative rock band from Southern California. The band is most widely known in popular culture for bearing former member, actor and drummer, Jason Schwartzman and its track "California", which became the theme song for the popular Fox TV series, The O.C..

History

Phantom Planet played their first show in 1995 at The butterfly in Hollywood. Most of their friends could not attend because they were still in high school, while the Dragonfly only serves customers that are 21 and over. Two of the songs they played are featured on the bonus material of the Chicago, Chicagogoing, Chicagogone DVD. Among the songs performed were "My Friend Liz's Dad" (misprinted as "My Friend Liz Is Dead" on the DVD) and a cover of the Beastie Boys 1994 song "Sabotage".

The band is named after the theme song of a 1961 B-movie called The Phantom Planet. They decided on the name in 1994 in a Pizza Hut.

Phantom Planet released their debut album, Phantom Planet is Missing in 1997. It is largely a collection of surf-rock inspired tunes reminiscent of The Beach Boys. It was after the band's second album, The Guest in 2002 that the band found mainstream success. It produced the highly popular song, "California". The Guest continued to forge the pop-rock sound the band introduced in their debut.

The band's eponymous third album in 2004 marked a significant change in both the band's sound and lineup. Ditching their radio-friendly pop-rock, the band moved towards a more garage rock sound that was popular at the time. Lead singer Alex Greenwald has been very clear that he wants the band to change their sound on almost every record. "I love rock 'n' roll music," Greenwald said. "I especially loved bands, like The Beatles, that changed with every single record they made. That's been our plan from the get-go. We want our records to be like experiments. We want to have fun with the music. People can hear when you're not having fun. They discover you're bored and you're boring." However, in the middle of recording the album, founding member and drummer Jason Schwartzman abruptly left the band to focus on his acting career. He was replaced by Jeff Conrad, who helped record the remainder of the album. Phantom Planet was released to mixed reviews from critics. Shortly after the album's release, guitarist Jacques Brautbar left the band to pursue a career in photography.


Upcoming album
Phantom Planet have completed the recording process. They have so far released two teaser trailers made by Travis Schneider, with the first one ending with "Spring 2007" and the second one with "Summer 2007".

On August 10, 2007, guitarist Darren Robinson provided an explanation for the delays to the release of the band's fourth album with a post on their Myspace blog:

In the music industry, the most fun part is of course the music. The "business side" of things is necessary if you want your bands' music to be heard- and we do. But the "business side" is, well, a big pain in the ass. This is the (slightly vague) reason for the huge delay in our record being put out.

Phantom Planet has stated in an interview with RaggedMag that they thought a band should be like a "cult", because each band has a group of followers that are totally devoted to them. They wanted to take the fan/band connection to a new level, so they created a logo that appears to be a circular piano which morphs into a sleeve with a pointing hand protruding from the cuff, with the idea that they will sell a lot of hoodies featuring this logo, so that everyone at the shows (including Phantom Planet) will be wearing them. The new record is about singer Alex's fictional experience with a cult, but they have stated that the word "cult" can have many different meanings and interpretations.


Other appearances
The band has opened for many well-known artists, including Guns N' Roses, Sting, Elvis Costello, Incubus, Guided by Voices, The Zombies, The Hives, American Hi-Fi, Maroon 5, and Ludacris.

Phantom Planet has appeared on the television programs Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, performing "So I Fall Again", and "American Dreams", playing British rock band The Zombies. They have appeared in the 2005 remake Bad News Bears, playing a band called The Bloodfarts. In 2005, they covered the CSNY track "Our House" for the movie The Chumscrubber. Phantom Planet also performed a cover of Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby" for Not Another Teen Movie. "Big Brat" was also introduced in the soundtrack to the video game Driv3r. Alex Greenwald, the band's vocalist, sang a fusion jazz cover of Radiohead's "Just" for the 2006 compilation Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads.

**wikipedia.org