Whatever you do, don't mistake the boys of Phantom Planet for men.
Even though they have a new album, The Guest, out on Epic Records, and their single "California" is garnering a lot of radio attention, the group seems content trying to out-clown each other and has a hard time being serious, especially during an interview with State Press Magazine.
"Can I just tell you the scene in this room," lead singer and guitarist Alex Greenwald says while laughing during a conference call. "There's five boys gathered around this weird triangle looking thing with microphones and a speaker and two of them are hitting each other. Jason (Schwartzmanm drums) and Darren (Robinson, guitar) are hitting each other, plus they're laughing. They're tearing up pieces of paper. It's a mess."
Time to get serious (yeah, right!)
The group, which is also comprised of Jacques Brautbar (guitar, vocals) and Sam Farrar (bass, vocals), has been rock and rolling for eight years. When asked how they differ from other rock bands, Robinson jokes, "We're the best rock band in the entire world."
Most of the band members knew they wanted to pursue music early on in life.
"My mom is a guitar teacher and she used to play me classical music like Harry Belafonte from her womb," Greenwald says.
"I used to pretend that I was playing to a huge sold-out stadium in my room when I was about four with a tennis racket," Brautbar adds.
The band — which is influenced by everything from Radiohead to the Roots to Pete Yorn — signed with Epic Records in 2000.
"We saw this artist named Mandy Moore and we decided that whatever label she was on, we would go over to for no real reason actually," Greenwald says laughing.
Truthfully, the band chose Epic "because they seemed like the kind of people we wanted to work with and they were really dedicated."
Greenwald says there hasn't been any regrets since signing.
"We made a great record. We're somewhere where we trust the people we work with. There's open dialogue between us as a band as people, and us as a band toward everyone that we work with. There's trust and love and peace."
The Guest
Greenwald says the band did a lot of experimenting on The Guest, which hit music stores Tuesday.
"We can kind of take any sort of direction now," he says. "There's a diversity in there that opens us up in the future to many possibilities."
"The last record was kind of too polished," Robinson adds. "On this one, we learned to appreciate the mistakes and the rough edges and just focus on the importance of letting your guard down."
Greenwald says that there's a story behind the album's title.
"I had this song called 'The Guest' that didn't make the record because we sort of had all forgotten about it," he explains. "It was like a demo. We started playing it at shows and doing it differently each time.
"It was sort of our experiment song and our gift to the audience as we played it differently each time. It just made the night unique for whoever we were playing it for. We were desperately in need of an album title. Someone suggested 'the Guest' and it was the first title that we all agreed on. It sounds like a classic record might have that title."
Acting or music?
Phantom Planet may just be gaining recognition thanks to their single, but two of the band's members — Greenwald and Schwartzman — are used to being in the spotlight due to their acting careers.
Schwartzman, who is most recognizable for his role in Rushmore, can currently be seen in Slackers as the not-so-cool kid who lusts after James King's character. Greenwald has been in a slew of commercials, most notably for Gap, and has a role in the upcoming indie flick Donnie Darko.
When asked which career he enjoys more, Greenwald says, "I definitely enjoy music more than acting. I think it's my forte. Acting is just an experiment of mine to try it out."
"I'm exactly the opposite," Schwartzman says. "I actually love both. I always say one's my little brother and one's my older brother. One's breathing in and one's breathing out."
Although there are a ton of actors in bands these days (i.e., Russell Crowe, Dennis Quaid, Kevin Bacon, Keanu Reeves and Billy Bob Thorton), Schwartzman says he isn't worried about being yet another actor in a band.
"I don't care. We were a band way before I was an actor so people should find out for themselves and come to the shows. … We just play the music we've been playing for all these years. If they like it, they come back and if they don't like it …"
"Then they'll see 'Rushmore' and they really don't give a shit," Greenwald says.
Bands on the run
The guys in Phantom Planet are no strangers to breaking the law. Brautbar recalls a visit to New York when they got into a bit of trouble.
"We broke into the Howard Stern studio and we all sat in his chair and pretended like we were doing his show," he says. "Darren sat on the couch and took his shirt off and pretended he was a girl."
"I wasn't pretending," Robinson interrupts.
"I weighed myself on the weigh-o-meter or whatever that thing is," Brautbar says.
"And I sat in his chair and made jokes," Schwartzman says.
"And then we got escorted out," Brautbar says.
Phantom Planet, who is in the middle of a college tour, will be cruising into ASU this week (peanut gallery intact) for a special performance in front of the Memorial Union.
"We're doing a bunch of campus tours to help promote the release of our record," Greenwald explains. "As of right now, we're doing two shows a day — a daytime show at a college and then a show sort of close by night. We're just trying to promote the band and get our name out there to our contemporaries, our peers, our fans."
The band members would like to encourage the female readers to throw their lingerie on stage.
"Jacques had a bra thrown at him on stage, so if all you ladies are out there reading this, keep them coming," Robinson says laughing.
After the tour wraps up, the band will embark on a trip to Europe to perform a few shows.
Greenwald says that they may jump on a tour with Remy Zero when they come back.
"Afterwards, we're going to do a graduate school tour," Schwartzman jokes.
"We're going to get more focused here," Greenwald says as the band erupts into laughter. "I apologize here if this is hard for you. We only want to provide entertainment."
Don't worry, guys. You did.
Reach Kelly Wilson at musicdiva@asu.edu.
