-----: = I'm not sure who is talking right then (sorry!) I tried the best I could to make a fairly accurate transcript and even though it's not the best, I hope you enjoy. And please, if you're planning on using this on your own website, please tell me (you don't have to ask, just inform me of it!). Thanks! Thanks to Kim for some additions and stuff I didn't have before!! Alex: Hi, I'm Alex. Jason: I'm Jason. Jacques: Hi, I'm Jacques. Sam: I'm Sam. Darren: And I'm Darren. Alex: And together we are... Phantom Planet: Phantom Planet Jessica: [lightly] Yay. Alright, well um, I'm going to have to ask you like, all the basics for everybody who doesn't know like how did the band get together and that sort of thing and how old you all were when you started off. Alex: Um, when Jason and I started knowing each other we were four years old in elementary school but we weren't really friends until, uh, eighth grade when he needed a singer for his band and he remembered that uh, I sang for some weird reason, right, J? Jason: Yeah. Jessica: So you knew all the other guys or what, uh, er, are you all being able to remember? Jason: Well, what happened, what happened, was that, uh, I knew Alex but bef- the band that Alex is speaking of that I needed a singer for was actually a band that I had formed with Darren and um, we had got, uh, you know, gotten lots of different people but Darren and I were in a band and then Alex came forward(?) and we became the three of us and then I met Jacques one day in a music store and uh, asked him if he could come and play and through him we, uh, got, we got Sam and that, and then it became, once it was us five, it never changed. Jessica: So you were all in the same high school? Jason: No, uh, Jacques and Sam were, Alex was in -?- High school, Darren in Hamilton High, and I went to Windward. Jessica: That's cool. Alex: We should just say that we met at a singles bar or something like that. Jessica: [laughs] Alright, um, so are you like self-taught or did you get lessons or is there like a history of music in your families? Alex: I'll tell you exactly for each of us what happened. We took lessons probably for a year each maybe or maybe a little longer and got in this band and just stopped growing. Jessica: [laughs] Okay. Jason: I learned most of what I know from music. Alex: But we grew as friends, of course, from watching the other guys. Jessica: Oh, that's sweet. Okay, um, who writes the lyrics? Jason: God. Jessica: Oh, oh, okay. Jason: And Barry Manilow. Someone in background: Oh, my - Laughter Alex: Um, for the record that we're about to release, there's a lot from me and Jason and then for the last record it's all of us and um we still write, all of us, but the songs we picked for our next record, is -- Jessica: Um, are you into any, like specific themes, are you like trying to like -?- into any specific topic when you write your songs or is it some personal experience? Alex: The theme of our next record sort of has to do with um, either trying to get to a place and not being satisfied with it and like...help me out here... Jacques: Um, you know... Alex: It's, it's about, it's about yearning and um, longing and un-uncomfortableness in a situation. Um - Jacques: And girls Alex: Be it girls, be it um, living arrangements, be it Las Vegas, trips to Las Vegas, um, etc. Does that make sense? Jason: Yeah, that was good Alex: Alright, thanks. Jason: I didn't even know that was -?- Alex: Cool, that's cool. Jessica: Do you find that your popularity is growing or you feel that you plateaued? Alex: Um, I'd say growing still. Jessica: That's good. Alex: And once we release the record hopefully it'll grow even more. Jason: Every show there's more people and different people. Jessica: Differences, okay. Jacques: And they're all getting taller so they're definitely growing. Jessica: [laughs] -?- getting older. Um, can anyone of you play more than one instrument? Alex: We can all play every instrument. Jessica: Nice. Alex: Not well. But alright. And we're also white belts in all forms of martial arts. Jessica: That's very impressive! White belts! Laughter in background Jessica: Influences, uh...other artists... Jacques: Picasso... Jessica: Musicians. Jacques: Andrea Skurski(sp?), um, probably the old 97s, Ultra Cherry Violet, -?- Pilot Laughter in background (because those are the artists Rachel had played during the show) Jessica: Nice. Jacques: Other than that I think we're influenced a lot by um, you know, the old classic rock bands like, uh Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the Beach Boys, um and contemporary-wise -- Alex: Um, and Elvis Costello and like the contemporary Radiohead, um, help me out here... Alex: Um, Rob Thomas and Santana [laughter in background], um, we're talking big influences, right? Like Rob Thomas and Santana... [I think] Jason: I like Rob Thomas and Santana Alex: That's about it, that's about all we really listen to...and our own CD. Jessica: Yeah, yeah, well, yeah...okay, um, all the websites say that you began in '94 and what getting your contract or whatever...what made you to decide to aggressively pursue getting a record contract while you were still in high school? And how did, uh, having the band effect your high school careers? Alex: We knew it was what we wanted to do at least three months into us being a five-piece...our lineup right now...You wanna talk shot for a second? [I think] Jason: Yeah...it wasn't...we didn't start out as a band to get signed and make a record. We just started playing together... Alex: But we knew it was what we wanted to do [I think] Jason: And yeah, and it kinda, it just kinda seemed like the natural progression like, the first thing we wanted to do was, like, play the Whiskey and then it just grew into like... Jacques: Which is a Los Angeles club Jason: Yeah, it grew...step by step Alex: It grew step by step Jacques: It grew step by step Laughter in background Jessica: And how did it effect your life at like in high school I mean, did -- Alex: The only problem that we ever had was, um, besides being tired maybe on Monday morning was when we were recording our first record um, we were either in 11th or 12th grade most of us...Sam was in college, I think, but um, it was very tough because we had to school like, about 6 or whatever, go to school, start recording at 4, you know, three 'o clock going to rush hour traffic all the way to the studio, record to 12, midnight, get back home at 2, wake up at 6. Jason: Jacques and I, Jacques and I...that was Alex's scheldule, Jacques and... Very faint ringing in background, guys and Rachel oh-ing Jacques: Oh, that's bad Alex: Oh, it's going off... Jessica: Oh, tough -?- Jacques: Who is it? Alex: [speaking into phone] Hello? Laughter. Someone's laughter stands out from the rest... Alex: Mom?? Jessica: I think we're going to play a song... Alex: Listen, I'm on the radio right now, I can't talk. [stammers and laughs while talking] Jacques: Is that really your mom? Alex: Yeah, it really is... [voice fades out] Song begins |