Planet Us
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Planet Us (pronounced ''Planet-uss'') was a short-lived supergroup that formed in 2002 with
Sammy Hagar Sam Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose before launching a ...
on lead vocals,
Neal Schon Neal Joseph Schon (born February 27, 1954) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist for the rock band Journey. He is the last original member to remain throughout the group's history. He was a memb ...
on guitar, Michael Anthony on bass, and Deen Castronovo on drums. The band later recruited a fifth member—famed guitarist
Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". ''AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American rock music, rock guitarist, composer, and songwriter. Early in hi ...
—when their original choice,
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, turned them down. The band's name ''Planet Us'' has been alternatively spelled as ''Planet US'' in various publications.


History

In 2002, with some down time between Journey albums and
Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
still unreformed at this point, the members decided to kickstart a separate project. The band was announced in early 2002 yet Schon and Castronovo were still recording and subsequently toured with Journey that summer, while Hagar was touring with
David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Known for his wild and energetic stage persona, he was the lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen for three stints: from 1974 to 1985, during 1996, and from 2006 to when ...
in the successful 'Sans Halen' tour. The new group then planned to reconvene in the Fall but the initial recording sessions scheduled in San Francisco were again delayed until January 2003 while Castronovo recovered from an illness. In the end, only two songs were written and recorded under the Planet Us name: "Vertigo" and "Peeping Through a Hole" and neither was officially released by the band itself. "Vertigo" was originally intended for the first ''
Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...
'' movie; however, it was turned down by
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(correctly, says Sammy) for being "too f—in' heavy!" "Peeping Through a Hole," a very dark song about an abused child, was later re-recorded by another of Neal Schon's projects, Soul SirkUS with
Jeff Scott Soto Jeff Scott Soto (born November 4, 1965) is an American Rock music, rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is perhaps best known for being the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and the lead vocalist for Journey (band), Journey i ...
on vocals, and released as "Peephole" on the Soul SirkUS "World Play" CD.Neal Schon discusse
Soul SirkUS birth from Planet Us
In an interview from late 2005, Neal Schon described how material he had originally written for Planet Us ended up on the Soul SirkUS project instead: "There was a couple songs that did end up on Journey's '' Generations'' that I wrote during the same time period that I wrote that material like "Faith in the Heartland" and "Out of Harm's Way". They were all written in the same month. I wrote about twenty songs that month and it was all going to be for the project that I was doing with Sammy Hagar. ... I wanted to do something with this material that I had written with Planet Us. So, I decided to re-group and put it out with some guys that I think are 'happening'. And that's what I did. I sent Jeff (Scott Soto) all my material and he wrote all the vocals. When he got eight songs done, we went into the studio and knocked it out in a couple of days."Neal Schon intervie
discusses Planet Us
The band only appeared live four times, the first being at the 25th annual Bammies (aka the California Music Awards) on Saturday, April 27, 2002 in Oakland, California. After Sammy Hagar took the stage playing three songs with his band the Waboritas he announced a few friends and Schon, Anthony, and Castronovo took the stage. They then played "Vertigo" and "Peeping Through a Hole" publicly for the first time. Hagar and Anthony had performed at the Bammies years earlier as Los Tres Gusanos. The second and third appearances also occurred when Schon, Anthony, and Castronovo joined Hagar on tour, this time at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas on May 17 and May 18, 2002. Both nights they ended Hagar's headlining show with performances of their only two songs. Their fourth and final performance occurred on March 12, 2003 on the syndicated radio show '' Rockline'' hosted by Bob Coburn. Sammy introduced the band's recently expanded line-up with Joe Satriani on guitar and after briefly explaining the origin of the 'side project' they played "Vertigo" to end the night. Planet Us never finished their planned album likely due to the busy nature of its members at the time. Hagar and Anthony returned to Van Halen with much fanfare in 2004 and subsequently went on a world tour. In frustration, Schon and Castronovo took the material written for Planet Us and formed Soul SirkUS with Soto, touring the results before returning to their regular duties in Journey.


Epilogue

In 2008, Hagar released the songs "Vertigo" (now renamed to "Psycho Vertigo") and "Peephole" on his '' Cosmic Universal Fashion'' album. In the liner notes Hagar states: "Neal Schon has been a friend for years. We have talked about working together but the time had never been quite right. A few years ago we finally wrote a couple of songs, "Psycho Vertigo" and "Peephole", and decided to go into the studio and record. I called Michael Anthony to play his bass while Neal enlisted Deen Castronovo to play drums. I had a home studio in my basement where we worked out these two tracks. We were really excited about the way things were going and had already decided to call ourselves Planet Us. Then the phone rang and the Van Hagar reunion was an idea that was just too irresistible to pass up. I am happy these tracks are finally coming out."Liner notes to ''Cosmic Universal Fashion''
/ref> Planet Us was the second project that Hagar and Schon formed, the first being the short-lived Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve from the mid-1980s. Although it seems unlikely that they will regroup and produce a proper album, Neal Schon has left the door open stating "If he (Hagar) calls me up and says 'Schon – let's go'. I'm gone and it'll be fun." Satriani, Hagar and Anthony would later join forces for another band named Chickenfoot; that band formed in 2009.


Notes


External links


Melodicrock.com news 2002
– First reports of Planet Us 'supergroup' forming

– Neal Schon discusses birth of Planet Us
Journey Newsletter
– Photos of first Planet Us appearance in Oakland, 2002.
Planet Us in Vegas 2002
– News of 2nd & 3rd live appearances

– Sammy discusses delay of Planet Us record
BW&BK Jan. 2003 article
– News of first Planet Us recording session
RedRocker Feb. 2003 announcement
– Sammy puts Planet Us on hold

– Photos of Planet Us with Satriani on Rockline

– Neal Schon discusses aftermath of Planet Us
Schon Radio Interview Sept. 2005
– Neal Schon discusses breakup of Planet Us

– Soul SirkUS website {{Authority control American hard rock musical groups American rock music supergroups Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups disestablished in 2003