A few years ago, I was passed along a CD from a friend whose musical predilections I greatly respected. “Listen and thank me later,” he said. So I threw it on in my office, aka my 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon, for musical reflection and criticism.
Tales from The Phantom Planet
A few years ago, I was passed along a CD from a friend whose musical predilections I greatly respected. “Listen and thank me later,” he said. So I threw it on in my office, aka my 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon, for musical reflection and criticism.
The album was The Guest by Phantom Planet, a band most well known for their song “California” or “that song from The OC.”
I do admit I was impressed. I must also concede that after viewing their music video for “California” and seeing drummer Jason Schwartzman rinse his mouth out with Jack Daniels after brushing his teeth, I was relieved that I wasn’t the only one.
Now five albums and three lineup changes into their career, the band sets just as strong an impression for listeners as they did back in 2002 when The Guest was released.
Phantom Planet formed back in 1994, originally composed of Alex Greenwald on guitar and vocals, Sam Farrar playing bass, Jason Schwartzman (yes, the actor from all those kick-ass movies) on drums, and Jacques Brautbar on guitar.
Plucking their moniker from a 1961 sci-fi flick of the same name, they started playing their unique brand of indie-pop, which eventually led to the release of their first album, Phantom Planet is Missing, on Geffen Records in 1999.
Over the years since Phantom Planet’s birth, the members began to get their faces known outside of the band. Greenwald became known as that guy from the GAP ads, though back in the day he also provided his voice for the timeless Halloween seasonal cartoon The Halloween Tree (if you haven’t seen it on network TV, just wait until October rolls around).
Brautbar left the band in 2004 to pursue a career in photography.
Drummer Jason Schwartzman, the nephew of famed director Francis Ford Coppola, perhaps carved his way most notably outside of the band, netting starring roles in movies such as Rushmore, I Heart Huckabees and The Darjeeling Limited. He eventually left the band after the release of The Guest.
Despite the loss of half of its founding members, the band went on strong. Picking up Darren Robinson and Jeff Conrad to fill up the spots left by Brautbar and Schwartzman.
Phantom Planet is currently touring on the heels of their latest release, Raise the Dead, out since last April. It’s a bit darker than some fans may be used to, but still with the same rock drive that the band has delivered in years past, assuring that steady Phantom Planet listeners will get what they came for.
On their Web site, Greenwald noted that with The Guest he used the history of cult leaders, such as Manson or Jim Jones, as a sort of muse for the album’s songs. Doing this was a way to avoid “falling back on familiar lyrical themes.”
Regardless of what thematic liberties Greenwald takes, his songs are sure to once again be in heavy rotation in my 1985 Volkswagon Vanagon, setting the soundtrack to yet another summer.
Phantom Planet
Hawthorne Theatre
July 9, 7 p.m.
$15
All ages
