Phantom Planet Returns With 'Balisong'

"It's exciting and it is a bit unexpected -- especially just how quickly this snowballed."

"It's cool people remember us and want to hear more from us. I have friends who when I brought up that we were gonna make a record they were like, 'Oh! F***in' finally!' They didn't want to bring it up before, but obviously they were hoping for it." Of the song, which Greenwald told Billboard deals with his obsession with a butterfly knife, he added: “It’s something that is really easily concealed but with the right know-how can be easily pulled out and is sharp as hell. I just went down the rabbit hole with that and the band loved the song and it was one of the first ones we did.” In addition to all of these big announcements, they’ve also secured a handful of new tour dates — beginning tonight! Yes, the band will take the stage at San Diego’s The Casbah this evening, where they’ll test and debut all sorts of new material. They’ll following that up in the days ahead with similar intimate shows in local haunts ahead of their Hop Jam appearance. The reunion comes as Phantom Planet is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its formation, which Greenwald calls "baffling." Nevertheless, he adds, "Our hairstyles were different and our mode of dress and we were, like, 15 and 16 year old people, so in that sense yes, time has passed. But when the band played, even the first day in our drummer's basement, it just felt like that thing, and it still feels like that same thing." Phantom Planet has three more shows lined up -- May 7 in San Diego, May 10 in Los Angeles, May 11 in Santa Ana, Calif. and May 19 at Hanson's Hop Jam Festival in Tulsa, Okla. -- and Greenwald predicts that more dates, and even possibly a full tour, will surface "in the relatively near future." "None of us knew exactly what to expect, but it's definitely like riding a bike," he notes. "We've surprised ourselves with how easy and how much fun and exciting it is to play together, still. I'm very excited about what the future holds for this."