The ringer T-shirt has always been a staple of rock
‘n’ roll fashion. It’s very straightforward
““ simply white with bands of color around the collar and the
ends of the sleeves ““ but always ultra-hip. In this sense the
ringer T can even be viewed as a metaphor for rock’s musical
ideal: simple, but hard-hitting.
“There’s just something about ringer T’s that
makes them so much cooler than regular shirts,” said Brendan
Ryan, lead singer of the Los Angeles based band Plan-R.
He may have unwittingly been saying more with that statement
about his band than its clothes. Like thousands of ringers and rock
bands before them, Plan-R has set out to pack a lot of cool into a
deceptively simple package.
The band, which also features Matt Ferrone on lead guitar,
brothers Jeff and Dave Kaptain on guitar and bass, and the taciturn
Will Ferrell look-alike, mysteriously named Danger, on drums, has
been playing together for almost two years, initially without Ryan.
They came together shortly after Ferrone and the Kaptains graduated
from UCLA, and immediately started working on songs and looking for
shows despite the fact that they were still without a singer.
“I was actually the singer for the first few
months,” Jeff said.
“He wasn’t good,” Ferrone quipped.
Nevertheless, the group persevered, and after placing ads and
auditioning several applicants they found Ryan.
“We feel really lucky to have him; we really hit the
jackpot,” said Ferrone.
With a permanent singer in place, the group began writing more
songs and playing more shows around Los Angeles. Still,
they’ve often found it difficult to penetrate the local music
scene.
“The L.A. scene is pretty much everyone supporting their
own thing … It’s hard to get a sense of community,”
said Ryan. “In many ways it’s a reflection of L.A. in
general ““ just sprawling and disjointed.”
However, the group has found audiences responsive to their
sound, which they describe as “melodic, guitar-based
rock,” and have begun to build a following.
“I’ve heard mentioned more often than not that we
kind of stand out, that we’re pretty interesting,” Dave
said.
Still, to make progress as a band requires a lot of effort and
time commitment, leading most of the members to make the group
their number one priority.
“Music is what we want to be doing, so we put other things
on hold,” said Ryan. “You have to give 110
percent.”
As it goes forward, Plan-R continues to work to build industry
connections and hopefully develop interest from a major label. For
the time being, however, the members are content simply to play, as
they like to advertise, “rock the way it was meant to be
played.”