Sandwasher

 The Plain White T's accepting their first MTV Woodie Award. 

From humble beginnings nine years ago, the Plain White T’s persistent and tenacious work ethic has paid off.  The PWT’s recorded their first album, Stop, in a friend’s basement, feverishly hit the road, and never looked back.  They were quickly snatched up by indie music label Fearless Records and wasted little time before recording their second album, All That We Needed, which exponentially expanded their fan base with the poetic “Hey There Delilah.”  Shortly after, major labels came knocking down the PWT’s doors.  They signed with Hollywood Records, and recently released their third record, Every Second Counts, with the hit song, “Hate (I really Don’t Like You).”    

Lead singer Tom Higgenson and high school friend Dave Tirio (guitar) founded the band in suburban Chicago.  While there have been a few lineup changes through the years, the core of the group has remained intact.  Mike Retondo (bass, vocals), De’Mar Hamilton (drums), and Tim Lopez (guitar, vocals), joined Higgenson and Tirio to complete the PWT’s lineup.          

While embarking on the band’s first tour to promote Every Second Counts, I caught up with Tom and Tim on the Nintendo Fusion Tour. 

How did the relationship with your current label, Hollywood Records, begin?  Was their a courtship involved? 

Plain White T’s:

Tim - We played a MySpace show in Los Angeles and that was the first time [Hollywood Records] came out and saw us.  I think Fearless [Records], our last label, was almost looking to pass us onto someone bigger. 

Tom - Fearless knew they couldn’t do as much for us as a bigger label could.  I think Fearless felt that we had the potential to do bigger things. 

Tim - Matt from Hollywood took care of us for months before we ever signed with them.  We were already in the studio working on this album for Hollywood before we had ever signed a contract with them.  It was good faith on their part that we were going to go with them.  They were already shelling out money on us, taking us out to dinner, and putting us up in apartments well before we signed with them. 

Tom - We had a meeting with Hollywood people before we signed, and they were the most genuine, sincere people that we had met in the business.  Everybody seemed real; they liked the band; and seemed to be good people.   

A sense of trust was established right away?

Tim - Yes, Hollywood has a very hands-on feel.  The team that is working with you; you know everybody by name and face.  You’re not making phone calls to some random guy that you don’t know. 

So Hollywood Records has that “indie” label type feel?

Tom - Exactly, except Walt Disney runs it (laughs). 

I went to Fearless Records’ website, and they are also promoting the new album Every Second Counts.  Do you still have a relationship with them?

Tom - Oh yeah.  The new album is out by both Hollywood and Fearless.

Tim - It will always be in Fearless’ best interest to promote the band, because they own the band’s back-catalog.  They obviously want to continue to sell the old records. 

Tom - Plus, I think it is cool for us, because it keeps us linked up with an indie-type feel.  

Do you have the same voice and say with Hollywood Records that you had with Fearless Records? 

Tom - Definitely.  So far, I think it is just as much as Fearless.  But who knows.  They haven’t asked us to dress up in any Disney outfits, or photo shoots with wind blowing in our hair (everybody laughs).

The first album, Stop, was recorded in a friend’s basement? 

Tom - Yes, it was recorded in our friend’s basement in our hometown of Lombard, Illinois.  The kid who recorded it was 16-years-old.   

Did you have any professional help with the recording?

Tom - A little bit.  Our manager at the time acted as the producer and made sure that we took really good takes.  He helped out with the songs a lot, and he made sure that I was thinking of the structure of each song. 

Do you think you’ll ever go back to recording your own music? 

Tom - I still record in my basement a little bit with the iTunes GarageBand thing.  As far as a complete record, I don’t know.  With each record, they have gotten a little bigger and better each time and hopefully that will keep happening. 

Tim - The big studio recording experience is definitely very cool.  It is not something that you would trade off for a basement recording. 

Tom - That is until, hopefully, we make a lot of money and can have our own big studio basement. 

Describe the experience of working and collaborating with a producer.

Tom - I think it is nice to have an outside perspective on a song. 

Tim - Especially working with someone who knows the tricks of the trade to make songs sound better.  We still have a lot to learn in terms of the recording aspect. 

Is it hard to hear someone else’s opinion, especially work that is near and dear to your heart? 

Tom - We’ve gotten lucky.  The people that we’ve worked with have been open-minded about our opinions and their own opinions.  Johnny K, the guy who recorded our last record, All That We Needed, did not have trouble backing down and accepting our opinions.  And the same was true if he had an opinion that made sense, we would go with that.  

Tom, I read when you and co-founder Dave Tirio first started playing together that you played a lot of covers.  Was there a particular band or artist that you covered more than others? 

Tom - Weezer and Green Day were probably the two biggest. 

Heartbreak is an overlapping theme in a lot of PWT’s songs?  Tom, do you think that finding love and eventually getting married could potentially cause a problem lyrically? 

Tom - I hope not (laughs).  Hopefully one day I’ll be able to settle down and be happy.  (pauses) But, there’s always stuff to write about. 

Tim - I’ll plant little seeds of doubt in Tom’s mind.  I’ll get everything all stirred up (everyone laughs).

When writing songs, Tom, do you typically come to the band with the lyrics completed? 

Tom - I usually have a very solid structure for the song with the beat, melody, chords, and lyrics.  As far as the individual parts, that’s where everybody comes in. 

Has there ever been a song that you didn’t think would reach the finish line?  

Tom - There is one song called “Someday,” that was one of my favorite demos from our last record All That We Needed.  The song never reached completion for that record.  For this record, we all thought that we should try to do something with that song, but it became too late in the recording process to really give the song the time it needed.  The song is still there, and hopefully it will show its face. 

It’s something that you’re always tinkering with?

Tom - Yeah, exactly.  And, even songs like “Hate,” the new single, I don’t think we ever thought that it was going to be as cool as it turned out to be until we actually started recording it and playing it. 

Tim - I remember when Tom shared it with me in a total stripped down version that he probably made in [iTunes] GarageBand.  I thought it was good, but at the time, I just felt like it was another song.   

What is it like performing the finished product of “Hate”?   

Tom - It is awesome.  It sounds cliché, but everybody wants to hear the song they’ve heard on the radio.  The fans will really react to it and sing along with it.  It is an incredible feeling. 

How was the recent experience on CDUSA, where you performed the new hit single? 

Tim - We’ve done CDUSA before, and it is always a good time.  [CDUSA] know how to take care of bands.  There are always a lot of artists piled into one building, performing one after another. 

Describe the experience of the recent video shooting for “Hate”? 

Tom - That was a lot of fun, and we did it all in one day.  I think we started at six in the morning and went until midnight. 

Tim - We were up in Canada for the filming of that video.  It was fun.  It was our third time working with director Jay Martin (also worked with Death Cab for Cutie).  Now working with Jay is so comfortable that it’s a lot of fun.    

I saw on your website’s news/journal entry that you were asking fans to come out for the shoot.  Did a lot of fans show up?

Tom - We put it up the day before the filming, so there wasn’t a lot.  But, kids were trying to drive from as far as Texas. 

Tim - (laughing) I don’t recommend that.

It seems like the band has been on tour nonstop from day one.  Do you plan on taking a break after this tour?    

Tim - We are coming off a little bit of a break from Warp Tour until the recent release of our new CD, so we had a month or so off. 

The month off was enough to reenergize you? 

Tom - I think so.  We would like to be out touring for the whole cycle of this record, for a year-and-a-half. 

As a band, you guys are so accessible to your fans.  As the PWT’s continue to grow in popularity, do you think it will be possible to carry on this practice?   

Tom - I hope so.  We will try to continue doing so as long as we can.  I’m sure it will reach a point where we will not be able to do so much of that.  If we were at Hawthorne Heights’ status (currently touring with on the Nintendo Fusion Tour), we probably couldn’t continue with the practice.  Every kid in the whole place would want in on that, and there just wouldn’t be enough time.  But, yeah, we love doing that stuff, and we will continue to do that as long as we can.  

What was it like when you realized that you have an unofficial fan website?  That had to be a pretty cool feeling.

Tom - Yeah, it was a tremendous honor.  Colleen, the person who runs the site, is awesome.  Her site is better than ours, and somehow she knows things before we do.  I’ll go to her site to find out what the band is doing next. 

Tim - She has more interesting things about the band on her site.  On ours, we’ll give you the basic updates, but she’ll have video clips and thousands of pictures. 

Tom - If you really want to see more of the band, Colleen’s site is pretty incredible.  

The Plain White T’s are currently supporting Panic! At The Disco in the U.S. before going to the U.K. to kick start 2007 on tour with Hellogoodbye.  “Hate (I Really Don’t Like You), the first single released from Every Second Counts, peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot Modern Tracks.  For the most current PWT’s news, check out the bands’ unofficial website.   

--M.D. Sandwasher

As Always, comments, questions, and rants, can be sent to sandwasher@yahoo.com.