WHO THE HELL ARE

Phantom Planet

California men: Every band is looking for a shortcut to success, so when an offer to do a TV theme tune comes along, you can bet that most groups will sell their souls to the cathode ray. The Rembrandts reached immortality by doing the theme for Friends (to this day no one can name a single other Rembrandts song) and Primus got on prime-time TV with the theme for South Park. And where would The Monkees be if they hadn't landed the job of doing the theme for, uh, The Monkees? Now, we have another band who've hit the bigtime on the back of a TV series. Phantom Planet are behind California, which, as every major dude will tell you, is the theme for The OC. Every week, the song's breezy, West Coast jangle and catchy melody comes surfing out of a zillion TV screens, signalling the start of another hour-long dose of So Cal teen spirit. With exposure like that, who needs to play the toilet circuit?

Hollywood kids: Phantom Planet hail from LA, and came together in the early 1990s over slices of deep pan at their local Pizza Hut. They took their name from a sci-fi movie from the 1960s and their style from post-grunge. You want showbiz pedigree? Try this: their original drummer was Jason Schwartzman, nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, and star of such classic indie flicks as Rushmore and Slackers. Vocalist Alex Greenwald used to be a poster boy for Gap and played a psycho in cult black comedy Donnie Darko. And bassist Sam Farrar's oul' fella, John Farrar, is the man who wrote You're the One That I Want and Hopelessly Devoted to You for Grease. Beat that, Rufus Wainwright.

Phan base: Phantom Planet scored a deal with Geffen and released their debut album, Phantom Planet Is Missing, to lukewarm response from critics and record buyers. At least there was no shortage of guest slots on such TV series as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Get Real. It didn't take long, though, for the band to build up a following in LA, and by the time their second album (The Guest) appeared in 2001, with its TV-friendly tune California, the West Coast was crawling with Phantom phans. Since it became ubiquitous thanks to The OC, California has been dubbed the state's unofficial anthem. Can't be too long before the band are given official status and required to attend civic functions.

Zombie here now: Jason Schwartzman quit the band in 2003 because of his acting commitments and was replaced by Jeff Conrad. The band recorded their self-named third album in a log cabin in the woods near the Amish town of Fredonia. With the lead track Big Brat, Phantom Planet are hoping to be noticed for another song. And just to drive it into our brains, they made a home zombie movie with Spike Jonze to accompany the tune.