Interview #6 from Phantom Planet Insider

would the band ever consider touring to northwest louisiana?
sure. if we get invited.

what was your favorite subject in high school?
art and mathematics.

how long have you been playing bass?
9 years. guitar for 11.

whats your fav. president?
president of the JBFB. [jbfc?]

whats your fav. magazine?
i don't really read magazines.
occasionally spin. gear. wire. but i don't have a favorite.

is there a feud with ozma? and would you ever tour with them?
the only feud i know of was from their end of it.
we've never had any bad blood towards them, but i've
heard the opposite.

when in NYC, what places do you go to just chill?
friends' apartments. there's a good bar on houston that i've
forgotten the name of, across from soho billiards . . .

when will you play in long island again?
coming up soon actually . . . early september i believe.

after touring, what city has the best crowd?
new orleans was great. charlotte was great.
chicago. MSG.

Describe yourself in 5 words
my name is sam farrar

What kind of car do you drive? or what is your favorite kind car?
a japanese truck.

If you could jam with any living artist, who would it be?
the roots would be fun.

Which is your favorite Beatles album?
revolver or rubber soul. not sure.

Which relatively unknown bands or artists do you think are really good and we
should give a listen to?
rilo kiley, rooney, maroon 5, she said yeah.
support your local scene.

Which of the following were you in school?: cool kid, dork, shy kid, trouble
maker, smart kid, or the average kid.
shy dork smart thing.

If you do 5 things right now what would they be?
huh? not quite sure what that meant.
eat sushi would be one of them though.

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Interview #11 from The Stamping Ground

Their Aim Is True
There are plenty of reasons to hate Phantom Planet. Don't.

By Maya Singer, dallasobserver.com, Oct 03, 2002

The members of Phantom Planet have problems. It might not sound like it, but they do. Listen: The band's second album, The Guest, has drawn kudos from critics, garnered national press attention and spawned one legit hit, "California." Consequently, their label, Epic Records, is 100 percent behind them, as befits the most hyped act amid the burgeoning L.A. rock scene. Not to mention the fact they are, like, totally cute--and have the groupies to show for it. Even celebs show up for their gigs. And much like The Strokes, they come with pedigree, what with bassist Sam Farrar's dad being in the biz, and drummer Jason Schwartzman a full-fledged member of the Coppola clan. Schwartzman and front man Alex Greenwald have successful second careers as actors as well; Schwartzman, notably, played Max Fischer in the iconic Rushmore, and Greenwald appeared in cult phenom Donnie Darko. Plus, Greenwald's a model, too, and dating Spider-Man über-starlet Kirsten Dunst. As if all that weren't enough, Phantom Planet is opening a series of shows for their idol, none other than Elvis Costello.
Gotta figure, every striving garage band in the country that's still hauling their busted amps to gigs that pay in beer is gunning hard for Phantom Planet right now. Band on the run, indeed.

"Man, yeah, if I was in another band, I'd want to punch the shit out of me," Farrar acknowledges genially. Seated downstairs at New York City's Irving Plaza, savoring a few minutes of leisure before soundcheck starts and another crazy night unfurls, Farrar is, in fact, consistently genial: One senses that he's found this the best way to deal with all the people who speculate that Phantom Planet must have struck a deal with the devil, such is the band's fund of luck.

"We're just freaking out," Farrar continues. "I mean, the Elvis thing alone--that guy's a living legend to us, and to be able to sit in soundcheck, with nobody else in the theater, and watch him just kind of figure stuff out--it's unbelievable. When we were cutting the album, we had Steve [Nieve] and Pete Thomas come down and check out the recording and kind of executive produce, like, which track they thought was the best one--that alone was enough. But now, to actually get to play with them..."

He's not doing himself any favors with this little speech. And--as if on cue--OK Go front man Damian Kulash strides up purposefully, guitar in hand, violence in his heart.

"Hey, Sam!"

Farrar whips his head around. A broad grin breaks across his face.

"Yo, Damian, what's up."

"Check this out--oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Uh, have a good soundcheck." Kulash ambles off, waving. In retrospect, maybe he wasn't looking so much violent as, um, hungover. Farrar proceeds to speak the praises of OK Go, who are opening Phantom Planet's headliner tonight, unzipping his hoodie to reveal the OK Go T-shirt he'll be sporting onstage.

"You know, we've been on the road for a solid year now," Farrar continues, unprompted. "And one of the most important things we've learned--all of us--was from opening for Incubus. They're, like, huge right now--and we were completely expecting them to be dickheads. Frankly. But they just could not have been cooler. Treated us with respect, hung out, gave us advice--it's really nice, now, to have the opportunity to share some of that vibe with the bands who are opening for us--maybe mentor them a little bit the way we were mentored and just have a good time with them."

Oh, yeah. Phantom Planet is a nice band, too. Really nice. No spoiled pretty boy attitude whatsoever. And the noblesse oblige extends to Farrar's friends in up-and-coming L.A. bands like Rilo Kiley (with whom Greenwald and Robinson have collaborated) and Rooney (fronted by Schwartzman's younger brother), as he expresses profound gratitude merely for the opportunity to be part of an exciting young scene. Have I mentioned that half of Phantom Planet is vegan? That's right. They're even nice to meat.

For all the naysayers who haven't found a way to knock the band's music--a punchy triangulation of Weezer, OK Computer-era Radiohead and the "Radiation Vibe"-summeriness of Fountains of Wayne, launched with a three-guitar attack and topped by Greenwald's soaring vocals--the obvious Achilles' heel has been Schwartzman. Everyone loves to pick on a band for having an actor in it--never mind that Phantom Planet is far from a vanity project. (Are you listening, Jared Leto? Russell Crowe?)

Farrar sighs before tackling this issue and allows himself one ever-so-brief gripe.

"What gets me is this idea that one person can't be really good at two things. Look: Jason is an amazing drummer. And together with Alex--who he's known since, like, kindergarten--he's a tight songwriter, too. That's the bottom line. I mean, why is that so ridiculous to people? Why does it mean we might be..." he trails off, thinking.

A sham?

"Yeah." Farrar gets back on track with the charitable explanation, natch. "I think people don't realize that we've been in this band for--years. I mean, since waaay before Jason was doing the acting thing. He and Darren [Robinson] started playing together when they were 14, and Alex joined the band just a little bit later. No different from any other bunch of teen-agers who just want to rock, y'know?"

Guitarist Jacques Brautbar and Farrar connected with the then-trio in the time-honored method: over a conversation at a record store. After much persuasion, they went along to a rehearsal, and the rest has been Phantom Planet history since the personnel were in their midteens.

"This is what we're all about," Farrar continues. "I mean, the whole acting thing happened at a time when the band was in limbo because our old label got swallowed up in a merger, and all the people we'd worked with left. But they were still productive years for us as a band, because we were getting into different kinds of music, like Jacques started studying classical music, and Jason and Alex were getting into bands like Radiohead and Flaming Lips, and we all started listening--I mean, really listening, to the Beatles--and when things started coming together again, we were bringing so much more into our sound. And, like, we were growing up, too," he concludes with a laugh.

The new and improved Phantom Planet sound soon scored the band a deal with Epic and landed them in the studio with megawatt producers Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake. The session was quick--two weeks--essentially just polishing poptastic ditties like "Anthem" and "Lonely Day" into high-gloss hit material.

"I think the record is actually a lot poppier than how we sound now that we've taken these songs on the road," Farrar asserts. "We've become harder-sounding on the road--more of a real rock-and-roll band, and that's definitely the direction we're continuing to go in. Like 'Nobody's Fault' and 'All Over Again'--we're just killing those live, it's just fun, really high-energy, with Jason and Alex going totally crazy. I think people at our shows have been a little surprised."

And judging from the Irving Plaza crowd's response, however, pleasantly surprised. Concluding their set with an epic treatment of "All Over Again," Greenwald body surfs and belts the final chorus hanging upside down from the mixing deck on the balcony (as his girlfriend looks on from the VIP, vaguely concerned), Schwartzman banging his drum kit with an intensity worthy of, well, Max Fischer. Everyone goes wild--and not just the girls, but everyone in the capacity audience of NYU students. The encore, with the men of OK Go in tow, is even more raucous and rousing.

As Farrar says, the band's "just loving playing live right now," and it shows. In fact, the only hesitation he notes about that night's show is that, because it's an NYU-sponsored gig, there's no alcohol being served.

"Man, I just can't believe they wouldn't even let us have beer in our rider!"

Told you they had problems.

Thanks to John Foyle

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Interview #13 from Starstruck Magazine

SS: You are currently on tour with Incubus; are you a fan of the band?

Sam: Well, I kind of grew up listening to them, and our bands have always been playing really close to each other. I'd been with them for a while and all of a sudden we got put into their lives and yeah, I'm a huge fan of them right now

SS: What music are you into right now?

Sam: Uhhh... lets see...ummmm.. a lot of hip hop and a little bit of jazz in there, do you want specific examples?

SS: Yea, sure, name a few CDs.

Sam: Lets see, uhh, Dave Brubeck because he's pretty hardworking, Coldplay, Radiohead- I've always been a fan of them. Yeah, so that's a few.

SS: That's good. Good music. Alright, Taylor Hanson. He's been to a bunch of your shows, are you guys friends?

Sam: Yeah! Yeah, we are. They're really all cool guys, especially Taylor. I got to actually play bass on their record.

SS: Really? So you're going to be on their new CD?

Sam: Yeah! If they put the songs on it I will be.

SS: What songs are they, are you allowed to say?

Sam: You know, I don't even know if I remember the titles of them. They're really great songs though, you've got to give it to them, they're pretty talented kids.

SS: What's the strangest or funniest thing that a fan has ever done?

Sam: Uhhh.. Ok, hold on. I have to think of a good one! Hmmm.. well, we've had fans get tattoos of our logos and stuff. It- it's..it.. I thought it was scary but it's actually the biggest compliment in the world.

SS: Pretty flattering!

Sam: Yeah, I mean, I've liked some bands but I don't think I'd ever get a tattoo of them.

SS: Is there anything specific that you take with you on tour?

Sam: Ummm.. lets see, uh, a bunch of underwear and socks, and then uh, I have a little baby Taylor. It's this mini acoustic guitar.

SS: That's so cute.

Sam:

SS: Okay, some fans wanted to know.. they saw some electric tape with the number 14 taped on your bass.

Sam: Yeah!

SS: What is that?

Sam: Well... we played somewhere and um, it actually turned out to be the same day as my brother's birthday. His 14th birthday and um, I thought, well tons of bands write stuff like "Happy Birthday" on their t-shirts, but I- I just didn't think that was cool enough so I wrote a big 1 - 4 on my bass. It's still there.

SS: What are you guys going to do after the tour?

Sam: Take a break.

SS: A well needed vacation.

Sam: Yeah, we have certain things we fly out for, for the weekend, you know, breaks like Minneapolis and Chicago, a big show in LA, actually, we haven't played there in a good six months now. Have some little after parties, sometimes we'll throw a party for a video release, and then uh Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

SS: Wow. Okay, was the, "buy 4 CDs and Alex will make out with you" thing true? 'Cos some girls are claiming that he's a great kisser.

Sam: Yep, it's true! We've uh, witnessed it several times now.

SS: Really? So you're guaranteed a make-out session with Alex if you buy four CD's.

Sam: 4 CD's.

SS: Sounds great.

Sam: Yeah, although it only happens if he says it at that specific show.

SS: What about you? Why don't you do that?

Sam: I just don't think anybody wants to make out with me, so..

SS: I don't believe you.

Sam:

SS: The Canadians want to know when you're coming back to Canada.

Sam: We're probably- I think we're going to do another tour, a US tour, sometime in October, and that'll probably include Canada.

SS: What's your favorite song off of "The Guest" ?

Sam: Either "Wishing Well" or "Turn Smile Shift Repeat". One of those. I think they're kind of a different direction for us and I like seeing us grow.

SS: As the band begins to grow and become more popular, will you and the guys continue to be an active part of the fanclub and the website?

Sam: Yes. Yes.

SS: Yeah?

Sam: Yep!

SS: For sure?

Sam: For sure. We like to be in control of everything we do as much as we can, and the only time we're not is when we specifically can't. You know, we all like to think that we have some pretty good taste in art and style, so we try to keep it all in the house.

SS: What do you consider your greatest personal accomplishment?

Sam: UMMMMM. It was a show in Madison Square Garden that we did with Incubus. It was sold out, it was like 14,000 people. I know they were all there to see Incubus, but I flew out my mom and my dad and my brother, and about 20 of my best friends, and uh, somehow, we got onstage and kind of tore it up and didn't even think that we were playing the most famous arena in the world. And at a certain point we actually, I actually got up on the side kind of right in front of my parents and did my little bass thing at the end of the last song. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

SS: You've performed both in the UK and in the US. Which fans were crazier and louder? Was there any sort of noticeable difference?

Sam: UK fans are actually kind of boring!

SS: Really?

Sam: Well, they're not boring in essence, but they don't really move around and they're very hard to judge you, you know, hard on judging you? And if they like you they love you and will stick with you, and if they don't love you they will trash you beyond belief. But thankfully, we went over there and no one had heard of us, but we put on a show and at the end of the show we got some serious applause and everyone was really into it, and we made a whole ton of new fans. Then when we came back we had even more people coming to see us play, and all that kinda stuff.

SS: Cool.

Sam: But, um, the rest of Europe... is crazy. The Germany fans are crazy and awesome.

SS: So it's just the UK.

Sam: Just the UK. They're not.. they're just a little more uptight, that's all. And perhaps, I think that's a really good thing because that means they're just listening more.

SS: If you could pick any body in the world to tour with, who would it be?

Sam: Regardless of whether or not I think we should tour with them?

SS: Yep. Anyone.

Sam: I'd like to tour with Radiohead just to see how they do it all.

SS: What song is the most fun to perform live?

Sam: Probably our last one. We usually close with a song called "All Over Again" and it's sort of a free for all.

SS: That's a good song. How did you guys meet?

Sam: Umm, I think it's kind of a weird story. But well, Alex and Jason had known each other since elementary school, and Darren and Jason started the band when they were like, ten or eleven, and Jason remembered that Alex liked to sing, so he said "do you wanna come sing with us?" and the three of them kind of got together for a while. Jacques and I were in high school together and Jason bumps into Jacques very randomly at a music shop, and he was playing a solo from Pearl Jam, and Jacques was like, "hey, do you wanna be in my band?", and Jacques kind of avoided it for a while but eventually caved in after about two months of calling, and Jacques and I went down to the rehearsal place and we all knew the same cover songs, we all thought the sounds we were doing were all really cool, and we took off from there.

SS: I guess it was meant to be huh?

Sam: Yeah, you know, instantly I was like "Okay, I'm going to be with these guys for a long time."

SS: On your free time, what do you like doing?

Sam: During touring and stuff you mean?

SS: No, when you're bored at home.

Sam: When I'm home? Umm.. well, I think uh, mostly just hang out with my friends. I have a studio at my house, a little practice garage, so a lot of times we'll just hang out, have a drink, and play some music together. But not Phantom Planet songs! We just jam around and play hip hop, or just whatever you wanna, you know, do.

SS: Do you have any pets?

Sam: No, but my parents have this fantastic dog named Ruby, it's an Irish Bulldog, and I'm kind of particularly attached to her, even though I don't see her very often.

SS: Awwww. Alright, well thank you so much. I don't want to take up any more of your time. Good luck on the show on Friday.

Sam: Thanks a lot, see ya.

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