Friday May 9, 2008
ym.com > stars > band of the month
•
Artist of the Month: Kelis Yeah, yeah, her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard (whatever that means) and she's engaged to Nas. But there's more to the 23-year-old Harlem native-behind Kelis' hot voice and fabulous body is one very strong woman.
•
Jonny Lang You've heard his music on shows like "One Tree Hill," now come find out more about the 22-year-old singer-songwriter.
•
Band of the Month Meet cool bands and listen to their music — free — here.
Band of the Month: Phantom Planet
Just because Phantom Planet made the bright and sunny song that we hear during the O.C.'s opening credits, doesn't mean that the guys spend all their time taking long walks on the beach. They actually spend most of it on the road performing, playing pranks on each other, and hanging out with "froupies." We'll let front man Alex Greenwald explain what they've been up to. Listen to Phantom Planet's new single Big Brat.
After releasing your last album, The Guest, you went on tour for a year and a half. That's a long time. Did you and the rest of the band ever get tired of each other?
Well the dynamic of the band changed a lot. The ties got tighter and it's more like family. I guess being on the road is like being at summer camp. You experience things, new places, and new things to do. I think we had a lot of fun and then all of a sudden, the first time at summer camp became, I don't know, maybe the last time at summer camp when you realize you're a little tired of it and you're ready to move on to other things. Or you're in high school and you want to go on other trips with other friends or something. When we got home we were exhausted and we just wanted to make another record to get away from touring. It was an escape.
Did you learn any unexpected things about each other?
Yeah, but they were little things. Like who only brushes his teeth once a day or who plays the most pranks. Darren is the big prankster. We would always hide food and junk in each other's bunks.
Did you ever prank each other onstage?
Actually, yeah. It's a band tradition that when bands play together during a show, they prank each other on the last night. We had this tour with Incubus where, the worst thing is that when you're opening for the band, they can totally just get you first. But maybe that's sort of a good thing, too, because you know that you can get them back better. They wound up coming onstage and taping our legs and carrying us off sideways. Then they took the drums apart so that Jason only had a kick and a snare drum and at one point it was just a kick. And this was right in the middle of our last song. But we got them back by putting baby powder in the high hat, so the second they hit it, it just exploded all over.
That's hilarious. It sounds like being on the road is a lot of fun. Would groupies follow you around from place to place?
Define groupies and I'll tell you. I've noticed a group of girls that follow us around but they're by no means groupies. And they have actually become very good friends with Jacques. As far as friendship goes, we have a lot of "froupies." Friendship groupies. But we don't want any of the kind of groupies who just want to sleep with the band.
So a lot of your music seems to stem from real-life experiences. Is there anything going on in your life right now that we might hear about on the next album?
Yeah, I think just me learning how to draw the line and knowing when to cross it. That's all I can say.
Hmm. Well, are you referring to your professional life or love life?
All of it. You name it.
The new album sounds quite a bit darker than anything else you've done before. Were you listening to any music while you were recording that influenced your new sound?
Yeah, a lot of My Bloody Valentine, Lightning Bolt, and like, late '70s, sort of more minimalist music. I like drum sounds and things, like, simple, dry, dead sounds. I also listened to a lot of Elvis Costello and the Church.
That's quite an interesting mix. Do you think this album will get people to finally look at you as just a band instead of the guys behind the OC theme song?
I don't know, probably not. We've always been a band about just making music and not worrying about labels and what other people are going to think. I'm just happy that we got the chance to make this record and then do it the way we wanted to and if other people are too then God bless them.
Listen to Phantom Planet's new single Big Brat. Windows Audio:hi | lo
