PHANTOM PLANET ***

Phantom Planet is an alternative rock band from Southern California. The band consists of vocalist-rhythm guitarist Alex Greenwald, lead guitarist Darren Robinson, bassist Sam Farrar and drummer Jeff Conrad. The band is best known for its track "California", which became the theme song for the Fox TV series, The O.C.. While the band is often mentioned as the group that featured actor Jason Schwartzman on drums, they have continued on in his absence and have released a number of well-received albums. On November 25, 2008, the band announced in a blog entry on their website that they are going on "hiatus, and will not be playing any more live shows or making any new records, indefinitely." They played their last show on December 12, 2008, in Los Angeles.

History

Early years (1994–1998)

Phantom Planet is named after a 1961 B-movie called The Phantom Planet. They decided on the name in 1994 in a Pizza Hut. They played their first show in 1994 at The Troubadour in Hollywood, California. Most of their friends could not attend because they were still in high school.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".

While still in their teens, the group played frequently in and around the Hollywood area, finally catching the eye of Geffen Records executives. Phantom Planet signed with Geffen in 1997 and released their first effort, Phantom Planet is Missing, in 1998. Phantom Planet is Missing showed musical similarities to the popular band Weezer, but the album failed to gain any significant ground with either critics or fans. However, as some group members started to make appearances on both the small and large screen and the group pressed on, Phantom Planet gradually built momentum.

Phantom Planet released their debut album, Phantom Planet Is Missing in 1998. A straightforward pop record, with influences ranging from The Beach Boys to Electric Light Orchestra, the album didn't catch on.

The Guest (2002-2003)

Shortly thereafter Geffen Records folded into Universal as part of a major record industry merger, and within a few years Phantom Planet had signed with Epic Records. Charlotte Froom, the daughter of famed producer Mitchell Froom—who had worked with Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney—caught the band's show just at the time when the group was looking for a producer to record their second effort. Excited by the group's music, the young Froom approached her father to produce the group, and after meeting with Phantom Planet, he agreed. Froom also brought in engineer Tchad Blake, who had worked with Pearl Jam and Sheryl Crow, to work on the record.

The Guest was released in 2002 and showcased a solid dose of poppy vocals, solid melodies, and sing-along choruses, which helped anchor Phantom Planet as a formidable indie outfit. The group's presence was also solidified by its commitment to touring. The group toured for almost 18 months both as a headliner and an opening act, and in late 2002 the band got the opportunity to open for one of their collective idols, the legendary Elvis Costello. The Guest got an extra boost when the record's notable power ballad "California" was chosen as the theme song for the Fox Network's breakout hit The O.C. As a result, the record was reissued in late 2003 with bonus tracks and a new cover, giving Phantom Planet a whole new round of exposure.

The album produced the band's breakthrough hit, "California," which became the theme song to the Fox TV series, The O.C., in August 2003. Its music video aired on MTV2 in mid 2002. The track "Lonely Day" also features on the Smallville and Laguna Beach soundtracks.

The Guest continued the pop-rock sound the band introduced in their debut.

Phantom Planet's Self Titled (2004)

The band's eponymous third album in 2004 marked a change in both the band's sound and lineup. Ditching their radio-friendly pop-rock, the band moved towards a garage rock sound. Lead singer Alex Greenwald stated that he wants the band to continue to change its sound. "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." 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

Raise the Dead and the last tour (2007-2008)

Early on in the recording process Phantom Planet's contract with Epic Records expired, which left them searching for a new record label. Soon after this, they signed to Fueled by Ramen, which produces bands such as Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Panic at the Disco, The Hush Sound and The Academy Is...

On January 20, 2008, Phantom Planet posted a bulletin on their Myspace page that stated that the album will officially be finished by the January 24, and that the official release date would be April 15, 2008. Fueled By Ramen re-released a teaser trailer and stated that the first single from the album will be a reworking of "Do The Panic".

In an interview with RaggedMag, Alex stated that "all bands are kind of their own cult, you know, but we want to take it to a new level. We really like the show Lost, and even though it’s totally fiction, there’s this air of mystery that’s lacking in a lot entertainment these days. I really like mystery in things, and what a little bit of enigma brings out of people and their imaginations...a band is about community, and within itself it is a brotherhood; it’s companionship. But a band can’t be anything without the people to love it. Our goal will be to recruit and befriend as many people as possible with our message."

When describing the new record, Alex said that "the next record is a concept record. If The Beatles had Sgt. Pepper's and The Rolling Stones had Their Satanic Majesties Request, we have our “Leader.” We’re concocting it, but at the same time we’re following it."

In the same interview, bassist Sam Farrar descibed the new logo. Which is a circular graphic of piano keys that seem to morph into a shirt sleeve with a hand emerging from the cuff. He said, "The idea is that we’re going to sell a lot of these sweatshirts and all the kids will show up in them so the entire audience looks just like us." Alex followed this up by saying that "The "Leader" is the hand. He is the hand that plays the notes we sing to. It’s in the beginning stages still; we’re just chipping away at the stone."

The new song "Leader", is about Alex's fictional or metaphorical experience with a cult. For the definitive recording of the song, Phantom Planet brought in children from Kenter Canyon Elementary School to sing the chorus, the video for which can be seen on their YouTube site.

The album, titled Raise the Dead, was released as scheduled on April 15, 2008.

Phantom Planet has announced that they will be playing their last show ever December 12 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The group performed this first live all ages show in the same place in 1994.

In their 15 years together the group released four albums: Raise the Dead, The Guest, Is Missing, and Phantom Planet.

Read the full statement from their website after the break:

“

This could be the most difficult piece of news we have ever had to post. Sadly, Phantom Planet will be playing our last show, December 12, at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the same venue that we played our very first live all ages gig, back in 1994. We have had an amazing time playing together for 15 years, but we have officially decided to go on hiatus, and will not be playing any more live shows or making any new records, indefinitely. There is so much more to write, but at this time, we just want to say thank you, to everyone, for their support, friendship, inspiration, attendance, and love.

”

-alex, darren, jeff and sam.

Indefinite Hiatus (2008)

On November 25, 2008, the band announced in a blog entry on their website that they are going on "hiatus, and will not be playing any more live shows or making any new records, indefinitely." They played their last show on December 12, 2008, in Los Angeles. Alex mentioned numerous times during their last show that the band was, in fact, going on a hiatus, not breaking up.

Former drummer Jason Schwartzman makes a cheeky reference to this hiatus in his song "Drummer" from the Coconut Records album Davy (released January 2009). The lyrics state "I was a drummer in a band that you've heard of / I was a drummer in a band that just broke up / Isn't that the way it goes?"

Guitarist Darren Robinson posted this message on his personal Myspace page telling fans that they are not broken up: "We have NOT broken up. We are on an indefinite hiatus. That means we don't know when we'll regroup. But we are NOT broken up. I swear to you it's not just a polite way of saying we have broken up. Got it?"

Post–Phantom Planet projects (2009-2011)

In September 2009 Alex Greenwald has officially announced the tracks for his solo record. He posted the track listing and a CD mockup to his Twitter account. While Sam Farrar joined in a band called Operation Aloha with members of Gomez, Maroon 5. Operation Aloha's self-titled, fourth full-length album was released on May 12, 2009. It was recorded over a period of 30 days in Maui, Hawaii.

Darren went tour with the band Miniature Tigers in January, February and March 2009. He is now a member of Southern California surf band The Californian, whose current lineup was formed in Summer of 2009 by singer/songwriter John Graney. The band includes John Graney (vocals), himself (guitar and vocals), Jonathan Price (guitar Keys and vocals), Wendy Wang (bass and vocals) , Mike Hopkins (drums).

Greenwald has recently co-produced and appeared on ex - Panic! At The Disco members, Ryan Ross and Jon Walker's new band, The Young Veins debut record, Take A Vacation!. He has also produced a few tracks on the band The Like's new album.

More recently, Greenwald recorded with Mark Ronson & the Business Intl, playing on Guitar, Keyboards and singing on the album.

Augustana's self-titled, fourth full-length album was released on April 26, 2011. The album's lead single, "Steal Your Heart", was planned for a radio release on February 14 in order to coincide with Valentine's Day, but was released early on the 8th of February on AOL Music. The album was produced by Sam Farrar. He also co-produced Gomez' Whatever's On Your Mind.

In popular culture

The band has opened for many well-known artists, including Guns N' Roses, Sting, Elvis Costello, Incubus, Guided by Voices, blink-182, The Zombies, The Hives, Sloan, American Hi-Fi, Maroon 5, Ludacris, Panic at the Disco, and Paramore.

Phantom Planet has appeared on the television programs Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, performing "So I Fall Again", and they have also appeared on 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 and featured as a "Hip Clipz" on the website of Curly Grrlz Skateboards. 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. Sam Farrar also contributed to the Hanson album, Underneath, on the song Lost Without Each Other. In 2008, Raise the Dead was featured in an episode of the second season of Gossip Girl. In 2009, Phantom Planet will be featured on Josh Schwartz new show 'Rockville, CA.' Their music has been heard frequently on television, most notably "California," as the theme song for the popular TV show "The OC," and the songs "Do the Panic" and "Dropped" in various commercials. Greenwald made an impact on the British music scene in early 2008 by featuring on Mark Ronson's cover of the Radiohead song "Just".

THE HIVES ***

The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band that first garnered attention in the early 2000s as a prominent group of the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the "greatest hits" album Your New Favourite Band, featuring their most well-known song "Hate to Say I Told You So". The Hives are known for performing in ever-changing black and white suits.

 

History

Beginnings of the Hives (1993-1999)

The band claims it was formed in 1993 (although formed in 1989 under a different name & sound) under the guidance of Randy Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons suggested that they form a garage rock band.He gave each band member a letter asking them to start the band. Fitzsimmons allegedly acts as a songwriter and Svengali for the band. The band recorded a demo titled Sounds Like Sushi in 1994. The following year they were signed to Burning Heart, a Swedish skate punk record label. The following year they released their debut EP Oh Lord! When? How? Almqvist decided to promote the band to Burning Heart.

in 1997 they were called Barely Legal (an early stage name of guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem), and they began touring. The following year they released their second EP A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T.

Veni Vidi Vicious and Your New Favourite Band (2000-2002)

They released their second studio album Veni Vidi Vicious in April 2000 through Warner Music Group. The band themselves described the album as being like "a velvet glove with brass knuckles, both brutal and sophisticated at the same time". The album yielded the singles "Hate to Say I Told You So", "Main Offender", "Die, All Right!", and "Supply & Demand".

After seeing the video for "Hate to Say I Told You So" on German TV, Alan McGee (Oasis, Creation Records) decided to sign the band to his newly formed Poptones label. Poptones released the 'best of' compilation Your New Favourite Band in 2001, which proved to be their breakthrough record, reaching #7 in the UK album charts. Following the success of the album, the band re-released singles "Hate to Say I Told You So" and "Main Offender" which reach numbers #23 and #24 respectively in the UK Singles chart. The band also re-released Veni Vidi Vicious in the US.

It was during the promotion of Veni Vidi Vicious and Your New Favourite Band that The Hives signed a record deal with Universal Music, reportedly worth $50 million. This led to a dispute between The Hives and Burning Heart, who claimed that The Hives were still contracted to them for one more album.

Tyrannosaurus Hives (2003-2006)

After extensive touring, the band retreated to Fagersta to record their third album. The result was 2004's Tyrannosaurus Hives, their first new material in four years. The album includes the hit singles "Walk Idiot Walk" (which debuted at #13 on the UK singles charts) "Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones" (another top 50 hit), and "A Little More for Little You". The tracks 'B is for Brutus" and "No Pun Intended" were also featured in the games Gran Turismo 4 and SSX On Tour, respectively. In 2006, their song Diabolic Scheme was used in the vampire film Frostbiten, marking the first time a The Hives song was used in a major motion picture.

The Black and White Album (2007-present)

The Hives' official website was overhauled in the second week of August 2007, with a grungier, "emergency broadcast" layout. The new site revealed the album's cover and the title of the first single, "Tick Tick Boom", with a release date of August 14 in the United States and October 8 in the United Kingdom. The release dates for the new record, The Black and White Album, were October 15 in the UK on Polydor and November 13 in the US on A&M/Octone in 2007. It was mostly recorded in Oxford, Mississippi, Miami, and in their native Sweden.

The Hives were featured in a Finish Line commercial performing "Tick Tick Boom", as well as a Nike commercial featuring the song "Return The Favour". "Tick Tick Boom" was also used in many different advertisements including: the 2007 season of the NFL Network, commercials for the CBS series Jericho, and the USA series Burn Notice, as well as the films Jumper (2008), MacGruber, and Get Smart, and was also the official theme song for WWE Survivor Series 2007. The Hives song "Try It Again" was featured in the trailer for the US film Get Him to the Greek.

On October 2, 2008, Nicholaus Arson added a diary entry on the band's official website writing "Right now we are at home resting our tired limbs and starting to gear up for the work ahead making a new record." This entry came after the band had finished their world tour supporting The Black and White Album.

On July 2, 2010, the band released an EP titled Tarred and Feathered, which covered "Civilization's Dying" by Zero Boys, "Nasty Secretary" by Joy Rider & Avis Davis and "Early Morning Wake Up Call" by Flash and the Pan. "Nasty Secretary" is also a song on the US release of the Gran Turismo 5 soundtrack. On January 9, 2011, Nicholaus Arson wrote another short diary entry on the band's website saying that they had recorded some new songs before Christmas, and were planning to continue recording throughout January.

Collaborations

The Hives completed recording vocals and guitar in late November 2006 for a song called "Throw It On Me", a collaboration with hip-hop producer Timbaland. The song was included on his album, Timbaland Presents Shock Value, released April 3, 2007. They also performed in a music video for the track. The Hives also have recently spoken of a collaboration with Jack White's The Raconteurs on a song for their new album, originally entitled "Footsteps", however it was later revealed that Howlin' Pelle had literally recorded footsteps. Howlin' Pelle also did a collaboration with Swedish rock artist Moneybrother, a cover of an Operation Ivy song "Freeze Up". They used Swedish lyrics and called it "Jag skriver inte på nått", which translates as "I Won't Sign Anything". In October 2008 it was revealed the band had recorded a Christmas duet entitled "A Christmas Duel" with Cyndi Lauper, which was available as a free download from their website on November 28, 2008. On November 27, 2008, The Hives official website had begun to play the Cyndi Lauper\The Hives duet automatically whenever it is visited.

In a November interview with leading Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, Swedish rapper Petter announced that The Hives were working on a new version of his track "Repa skivan" for his upcoming album.

Style and onstage personas

Randy Fitzsimmons

All songwriting except covers on the band's albums are credited to "Randy Fitzsimmons." The band claims Fitzsimmons is an honorary "sixth Hive", who along with writing their music, discovered and manages the band.

Live performances

The Hives live show has been highly rated - Spin magazine rating them 8th best in rock music. In concert, vocalist Pelle Almqvist and his guitarist brother Nicholaus Arson handle showmanship while the other members attend to musical business. Pelle is known for his "colourful idiocy" - stage diving, scissor kicks, climbing amps, and eschewing false modesty with pronouncements such as "I've been busy being fantastic."

Pelle: "I'm out of control! Tell me to take it easy!"
Crowd: "Take it easy!"
Pelle: "No, I wooon't!" 

Pelle: "Bad music is the devil and I will be your exorcising priest, helpin' you out!"

and unlikely explanations for the need for the crowd to make more noise:

"I don't know if you know this but there are monsters in [name of the city they are performing in]. If the club goes silent then the monsters come and kill everybody!"

Pelle: "This is a stick-up! Put your hands up! Now, last song I told you to put your hands in the air...But I never said you could take them down. Now! OBEY ME! Put your hands in the air and make some noise!"

At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, The Hives performed "Main Offender" in a "Battle of the Bands" type of set up, with The Vines playing their hit "Get Free" right after The Hives. Before The Vines began playing, Pelle Almqvist said to the crowd, "I know you want us to play more, but that's all the time we have so you can turn off [your TV] now!"

The Hives played at Rock Werchter Festival 2008 in Belgium and played for an extra 15 minutes, refusing to leave the stage: "They're telling us we have to go now... Do I look like I give a fuck?"

The Hives performed at the 2008 NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta, Georgia, singing "Tick Tick Boom" during the players' presentation.

On the 25th of June 2010 they performed at Hard Rock Calling in London's Hyde Park before Ben Harper and Relentless Seven and the headline act, Pearl Jam. On stage, Almqvist declared "I am here to save your evening."

They have toured with other groups such as Maroon 5, The Hellacopters, The Donnas and Eagles of Death Metal.

Wardrobe

The Hives are noted for wearing matching suits or outfits, always in nothing but black and white. However, their clothing has changed with each album. They wore suits with ascots for Veni Vidi Vicious, suits with colonel-styled laces and white spats for Tyrannosaurus Hives and bandanas and suspenders for their 2007 hurricane tours. For their newest album The Black and White Album, they have gone with something of a school uniform look, with black blazers bearing an "H" crest on the left breast, and striped black and white ties. As of late September 2008 and near the end of their "Black and White Tour", The Hives have changed their wardrobe to white suits with a striped black tie. In the summer of 2009 The Hives walked out on stage in Hultsfred wearing new clothes that can be described as white workwear with a black shirt and same tie and crest as the last tour. In 2010 they wore new clothes again when the summer tour began in Hässleholm, Sweden. Now they are dressed as what can be described as a mix between old French soldiers' uniforms and boy scouts' uniforms.