Phantoms

Phantoms is the debut studio album by American rock band Acceptance, released on April 26, 2005, by Columbia. It has gained notoriety as being one of the albums released by Sony BMG in the mid-2000s containing their controversial Extended Copy Protection software package, that resulted in lawsuits and settlements to consumers. Background Acceptance formed in Seattle Washington, in 1998, with a line-up of: vocalist/bassit Jason Vena, guitarist Kaylan Cloyd, guitarist Chris DeCastro and drummer Peter Pizzuto. The group released a self-produced EP, titled Lost for Words , in late 2000 through independent label Rocketstar Records. Sometime after this, Pizzuto and DeCastro departed from the group; the pair were replaced by Garrett Lunceford and Christian McAlhaney, respectively. Ryan Zwiefelhofer then joined on bass. The group then recorded another EP, this time with Aaron Sprinkle. This brought the band to the attention of Columbia Records president Rick Rubin and A&R representative Matt Pinfield. The band wished to release it through an independent label in order to build a fan base and tour for a period of time, before creating an album for Columbia. Columbia thought this was a good idea, and as a result, the Black Lines to Battlefields EP was released in 2003 through The Militia Group. Shortly afterwards, Lunceford left the group. Composition and recording The album's sound has been described as alternative pop, pop, pop rock, and rock. All of the songs on the album were written, but were left unfinished before recording. Prior to entering the studio, the group did pre-production for a few months. By the time they entered the studio, the band had complete songs. Phantoms was recorded at The Compound in Capitol Hill, Seattle with Sprinkle handling production duties. Release In August and September 2004, the band toured with Gatsbys American Dream and the Snake the Cross the Crown. They went on a West Coast tour in February 2005 with Killradio and Over It. On February 24, 2005, Phantoms was announced for release, and the album's track listing was revealed. On March 1, 2005, "Different" was released as a single. In March and April, the band went on tour with Copeland, Lovedrug, As Tall as Lions and Eager Seas. It was promoted with an appearance at The Bamboozle and Flipside festivals, and a May 2005 tour with Vendetta Red, Head Automatica and A Static Lullaby. The band then supported Anberlin and Saosin on their tour of the US in June and July.