Fresh sound: Phantom Planet have rerecorded their hit California.
In 2002 a highly infectious pop-rock track titled California by American outfit Phantom Planet was all over the radio. The group also had an Australian connection; bassist Sam Farrar is the son of famed Australian producer John Farrar, better known as producer and songwriter of many of Olivia Newton-John’s #1 US hits.
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Also, in the band and playing drums was Hollywood actor Jason Schwartzman, who soon after left the band to focus on acting full-time. California was later picked up as the theme track to popular TV series The OC.
Recently a re-issued and rerecorded 2023 version of California hit digital music platforms, signalling a full-blown return for the band, who for the past decade or so have been in hibernation.
“We got the idea of rerecording our single from Taylor Swift, who rerecorded her albums to get the rights to the new masters,” Phantom Planet’s lead vocalist and guitarist, Alex Greenwald, told this column.
“My plan was to also do it in the same studio as we did the original song, using the same instruments and going through the same recording equipment.”
The new version, while sounding much the same, does has a freshness and spark to it that brings a modern warmth and feel to it. And it may well return the band to the charts. After laying low for the past decade, Phantom Planet are excited to be back in full force again.
The band members were all in their early 20s when California first brought them commercial success, and with the members now in their 40s, how do they feel they’ve changed?
“As a performer in his 40s, I try to be mindful and enjoy every moment of getting to play music,” Greenwald said.
“In my 20s, I was like a wild animal and just expressed myself as hard as I possibly could.
“There are beautiful aspects to both of these.”
With new music from the band due in September, they’re looking forward to returning to the road — and there’s good news for Aussie fans.
“We hope to tour Australia to promote our next record,” Greenwald said.
“Right now, the emerging songs have big riffs and choruses — I’m excited to get to share it with the world.”
Fans of Silverchair will be pleased to hear that a new tell-all memoir titled Love & Pain, written by Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies and bassist Chris Joannou, is due for release on September 27. It documents the band’s story, from their beginnings right through to their split in 2011, from their own perspectives.
For fans of ’80s metal, a new three-part docuseries titled I Wanna Rock: The ’80s Metal Dream follows the rise and fall of hair metal in the 1980s, and debuts in Australia on streaming platform Paramount+ on July 19.
Country star Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 song Fast Car has hit #1 on the country music charts in the US this week. As a result, Chapman has become the first-ever black woman to achieve a sole songwriting credit on a #1 country hit.
The frenzy caused by Taylor Swift fans rushing to purchase tickets to her upcoming Australian Eras tour next year saw one fan accidentally get more than she bargained for when she spent $10,000 on eight VIP packages rather the initial two tickets she was looking to purchase. But the excess tickets are not going to waste — she’s sold them off at face value to family and friends.
Live review – 10cc
Seventies English pop-rockers 10cc have been frequent visitors to Australia since their first tour down under in 1978 — and on every tour they’ve delivered the goods. Last week I caught their Melbourne show at the Palais Theatre.
Led by co-founder Graham Gouldman and with their newest and youngest addition to the current line-up, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Iain Hornal, the band sounded fresh and energised, and in the live arena masterfully recreated the original studio recordings.
A riotous rendition of The Second Sitting for the Last Supper kicked off proceedings, and for the next two hours we were treated to a greatest hits and more set, with the familiar and nostalgic in the form of Art For Art’s Sake, Good Morning Judge, The Wall Street Shuffle and the 10-plus-minute prog-rock epic Feel The Benefit to the new, such as the recent single Floating in Heaven (the original recording features Queen’s Brian May) and Iain Hornal’s 10cc pastiche Say The Word. Gouldman served up banter between songs, offering up interesting anecdotes. Long-time band mainstay guitarist Rick Fenn punctuated the set with some of the finest guitar playing this side of Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour.
The Things We Do For Love was pure pop perfection while the lush I’m Not In Love was otherworldly before finale Dreadlock Holiday brought the house down. An a capella version of Donna served as the encore before the extended jam of Rubber Bullets finally got everyone up and dancing and closed the night out.
Pop rockers: 10cc, live in action.
Fun fact
Did you know that in the mid-1960s Australian country singer Keith Riordan hosted his own TV show, Matinee Of Song (which featured weekly requests), on what was then GMV-6 in Shepparton?
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