Since I created this blog, I knew in my heart that I needed to start a little mini series (if you will) of Important Los Angeles Bands of My Teen Years. Definitely at the top of this list is Phantom Planet. In the early 2000s they ruled the L.A. scene. Los Angeles really isn't known for having one official scene; because the city is so big and diverse, there are a slew of underground scenes going on for each genre. I'm sure that you can find fantastic hip hop or fantastic weirdo pop or fantastic new wave goth bands around the city but, for the sake of this blog, I was raised on Indie Rock. And I was cornfed Phantom Planet because they were the kings.
I got into Phantom Planet before "California." Yes, I did. I got into Phantom Planet because of their song "So I Fall Again", which was off their first album Phantom Planet is Missing. The album itself is a bit mediocre, which I guess is something expected of a young band. They also released their debut back in 1998, way before the hype of the early 2000's. But whatever, it was cute and poppy and fun.
2002 came the release of their second album, The Guest. It has their hit single "California" and it is a cracking opener. The Guest was Phantom Planet polished and at their most saccharine. It was absurdly catchy, had great harmonies, and lol-aciously ambitious. And it was way beyond their debut.
Around this time was when I started seeing Phantom Planet live. Their fan base was insane: a bunch of teenage girls hyped up in this candy power rock and drooling over their favorite member. My personal favorite was Sam Farrar, the bassist, but I did enjoy how easy Alex Greenwald was on my teenaged eyes. I have to admit that as I get older, I wonder if Phantom Planet's fans were just maturing Hanson fans: I see the similarities in both fan bases. But the shows were fun.
Phantom Planet used to do all the rounds in L.A.: the Troubadour, the Roxy, the Knitting Factory, and they even played campuses. They were my first exposure to West Los Angeles (which always prides themselves on being "The Los Angeles" and I guess it's sort of true, if you're into that kind of thing where mostly everything to do is in the West side, but that's a whole different post for a whole different blog), and my first exposure to rich kids.
Rich kids were just a part of Phantom Planet's fan base. The band themselves were from West L.A. and Malibu; they had affluent parents and family, grew up with money, had connections. If you want to pinpoint a total Los Angeles Band, you'd have to say it was Phantom Planet because if the fact that Jason Schwartzman was their drummer and he got the rest of the band extras gigs on the set of his first movie Rushmore doesn't sway your decision, you don't know what a goddamn Los Angeles band is to begin with.
It was also my first foray into seeing how people try way too hard. Again, since I was born and raised in this city, I always see first hand people trying too hard. It was also the early 2000s, when The Strokes dictated what you listened to and what you wore, so everyone at Phantom Planet shows turned up looking dirty and disheveled but had $500 Chanel flats on. It was my first taste of cynicism, of being jaded, of judging people based on their attire. It was my first taste of being indifferent and aloof, especially at shows when you're not supposed to show you're into a band's music. It still affects me to this day, even. It's something I grew up on and you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Because of Phantom Planet, tons of L.A. area bands were getting famous. Rooney, Schwartzman's little brother's, Robert Carmine (another actor - go figure!) band were the princes of the scene. They were 2nd rank and if you were a fan of Phantom Planet, you were most likely a fan of Rooney as well. I certainly was but that's for another post. Other bands include The Like, Everybody Else, Big City Rock, Rilo Kiley (probably the most famous of them all). If you knew Phantom Planet and opened for them, you were scene royalty.
The band themselves weren't entirely out of reach. They were very accessible to their fans and often corresponded with them. Be it meeting after a show, exchanging emails, whatever, they were completely accessible. In fact, I exchanged Radiohead songs with Darren Robinson. He gave me the leaked Hail to the Thief demos! And I emailed Sam Farrar about Radiohead all the time!
Because Phantom Planet were getting so much exposure from MTV and The OC, the band were getting bigger and their fan base was becoming way less intimate. It was annoying to suddenly be a fan of "that band that does The OC theme." They were so much more than that, and they were starting to become less accessible.
Jason Schwartzman left the band in 2003 to pursue his acting career full time. Jeff Conrad from Big City Rock was brought in to fill his shoes. I remember seeing the new Phantom Planet and not being particularly happy about the change. It was the start of something different and you could feel it.
In 2004, they released their self-titled fourth album as a follow up. I remember liking most songs but not all. I had seen these songs live, in their embryonic states, and I remember downloading bootlegs (on my dial-up connection, no less) so I could hear the new songs over and over. Things were changing, they sounded harder, and you can tell that fame was a killer when your favorite band was getting bigger. Another important original member, Jacques Brautbar - one of the guitarists - left the band and was not replaced. Seeing the band with him not in it was just jarring. This was also around the time I got off the Phantom Planet train and part of my teenage years behind.
The band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2008, after releasing their last album on an emo record label. They are not recording or playing live shows for the time being. Other L.A. bands are still going like The Like, Rilo Kiley and Rooney. I can't help but feel that that part of my teenage life has been laid to rest.
I recently googled the band and realized they all aged considerably. I saw Sam Farrar at one of the rare Thom Yorke shows I went to last October; seeing him was fucking weird and cool. He was still alive and around and still loving Radiohead. I didn't go up to him and say hi but I just saw him from afar and texted my sister about it. If I was 17, I would've gone up to say hello. Now that I'm older, just seeing him from a distance was good enough for me.
The Guest will always and forever remain important to me. I listen to that album often, 8 years later, and I still get lots of good little memories. it is the quintessential summer album; it encapsulates everything a Los Angeles summer is. It must be on your roadtrip playlist if you ever find yourself making your way to L.A. for whatever reason. I will never hate this album, I will never forget the good memories it gave me, and it is one Of Those Albums That Made Me, capitalization needed.
The next time I'm down the 101, I will blast this song and unabashedly sing my heart out and be brought back to a time when I had a glow in the dark Phantom Planet and was PROUD of it:
