Phantom Planet

By LILLEDESHAN BOSE

The gig Phantom Planet with Panic at the Disco, Motion City Soundtrack and the Hush Sound

Genre Pop rock

When 7 p.m. Sunday, May 25

Where The Rave, 2401 W. Wisconsin Ave.

How much $30-$35

Info www.myspace.com/phantomplanet

Yes, Phantom Planet is still around.

It might be surprising, but its current tour (with Fueled by Ramen labelmates Panic at the Disco, Motion City Soundtrack and the Hush Sound) is meant to turn every rabid FBR fan into a Phantom Planet fan as well.

While older listeners are surprised the band is on the FBR label, "it’s been pretty much the best tour we could’ve gone on to release the new record," bassist Sam Farrar said in a phone interview from the band’s tour bus in Ohio.

Every night, singer Alex Greenwald and company do meet-and- greets with the audience, most of whom are very young and have never heard of Phantom Planet.

That’s right, there are people who don’t recall the TV show "The O.C." blaring the band’s pop anthem "California."

"When we start performing, people don’t know ‘California’ is our song. They think it’s a cover," Farrar said. There are people who don’t remember that actor Jason Schwartzman ("Rushmore,""Marie Antoinette") beat the skins for the band. And don’t expect these same people to know that Phantom Planet toured with Elvis Costello, Sting and the Zombies.

It might have been a roller coaster of a career, but Phantom Planet has been around since 1994. And the goal of the band’s latest album, "Raise the Dead," is to raise batches of new fans.

Considering that the first single, "Do The Panic," is an old B- side (Greenwald wrote the original version when he was 17), it might be a good thing that the album was made to woo new fans.

Farrar said the song was reworked at the suggestion of producer Tony Berg. "He thought it had a super-catchy chorus and had potential for radio. . . . So we took a shot at it, rewrote the verses (to make it more mature)."

Appeasing old fans while making new ones is still Phantom Planet’s goal. Die-hard fans complain that the band’s set is only 30 minutes long on this tour, so Greenwald has been performing acoustic sets by the tour bus.

"He really loves doing it. We’ll sing harmonies, like a campfire," Farrar said.

So far, they haven’t been mobbed yet. "We’re not that kind of band. We’re a lot older, no one gets too crazy about us . . . yet," Farrar said, laughing.

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Lilledeshan Bose

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