Altsounds - Plain White T's frontman, Tom Higgenson

The Plain White T's have done what most bands strive for. They started at the ground level and worked their way up to the bright lights of Hollywood. 'Hey There Delilah' was a massive hit for the band, turning them into major label heavy-hitters. Now out with their first album since their big break, Big Bad World, The Plain White T's are happy. Appreciative of their success, but essentially unaffected by it, PWT took the time to make the album they wanted to make, the way they wanted to make it. There is no venue too large, small or ridiculous for the Plain White T's as they stay focused on their mission to reach absolutely everyone.

Their success has opened some interesting and unexpected doors for the band, so I got on the phone with Tom Higgenson to try and sort out reality from hype.

Hey Tom...I gotta be honest, I can't figure you guys out. Like at all.

How do you mean?

Well, I've been in music for a while and I got my start in Chicago, so I've been hearing about you guys for a long time. You were on the OIL compilation in 2003 with serious indie punk bands, which lends any artist massive cred. But now you're doing reality show webisodes for ABC Family and showing up on their crappy tv shows. What are you guys doing?

[laughs] Look, we've always wanted this. Anybody who says they don't want this I think is full of crap. ABC Family...I mean that's not what we define ourselves as. It's just one of those things that came along. We were going to have a friend film us in the studio anyway. We like doing that kind of thing so fans can see behind the scenes. Because of our affiliation with Greek (theme song), they said, "Hey, if you're going to be doing this anyway, let us put it up." We thought it would mean a bigger audience than we could have reached on our own. It's just one of the avenues we use to get our songs out there.

I mean, OIL was the same thing, just like ABC Family. It was a way to get our music out there. Maybe OIL was more 'indie' and has more 'cred,' but it's just another way to get exposure.

The episodes were airing like 10 weeks ago or something, so it was way before the album came out. We just wanted to get people excited about a new album. We were obviously working the whole time. We weren't completely screwing around...there was some clever editing.

Do you regret doing it?

No way! I don't think the ABC Family affiliation was as much help as we thought it would be. If we just did the videos and put them on YouTube, they would have been seen by just as many people. But we did it so people can see it. We may put out a DVD or something with all of the videos together.

Are you going to?

I am now! I just thought of it. Good idea.

So, it's interesting how these things play out. I got your cd just like all of the other press people. I'll admit that I didn't review it, but I checked it out. I'm a harmony junkie and I like the way you guys include harmonies into your songs. Overall, I personally don't notice a huge difference between your songs now and your songs before, but I was reading the press for the album and it's getting panned. Maybe it's your affiliation with ABC Family or the Teen Choice Awards or...I don't know. Your 'avenues.' But, people seem to agree across the board that you're skewing toward a younger demographic. You had a big hit song so now you're targeting 12 year olds?

See, that's funny. With this new album I was almost scared that we would alienate those young fans. I thought we went in a way more grown up direction with the album. We used crazy instrumentation and the lyrics have more depth. 'Serious Mistake,' 'Big Bad World'...the lyrics are pretty legit. When I hear stuff like that, it really just pisses me off. Maybe it really is because of the ABC Family affiliation or because we're on Hollywood Records, which is owned by Disney. Makes people think we want to be the Jonas Brothers. I dunno. For us, we're doing what we always do, doing the best we can putting on the best show possible and writing the best songs we can. Sometimes we get lost on the perception. We're putting up a new website, doing the blogging, doing more to tell our fans "Hey, we're still that band you liked 2 years ago.' It seems like people don't even know we have a record out. It's a weird time for us. Coming off of something that big, people are like "Oh, that band. I've heard that Delilah song a million times...I don't want to hear them for a while." Or the people who liked us on Fearless don't like us now. I don't know what it is, but we wrote the best album we've ever written and just recorded it. We're doing whatever we can to get people to hear it.

'Delilah' was fucking ginormous. That song was everywhere for a while. A hit like that can either screw you or launch you. Do you feel a lot of pressure to recreate that magic or whatever?

[laughs] Not really. I think it was a great song and I get why people like it. I never thought it would be that big. I never even thought about it, honestly. It's just another song that I wrote. I try to write every song as good as it can be. It's not like I'm trying to write shitty songs or something. If we can get another song to be as big as 'Delilah,' that would be great. Half as good would work, too. Maybe a third as big, also cool. I'll just keep writing and see if they end up being hugely successful. A Grammy would be nice.

[laughs] So have you guys 'played Disney' yet?

No we haven't, but we have been there. One of the perks is you get everything for free at Disney World. All the parks and hotels, we got an escort so we went to the front of every line. So we are really using (or milking) that connection. I got all the Pixar movies on DVD. I really like being a part of Disney.

Do you have to say that?

[laughs] No, I mean it. Ok, Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, whatever. There is still something magical and kind of cool about Disney. Have you ever been?

Nope.

Well it's like a weird nostalgia thing. I just went for the first time. Like I remember watching the Disney Channel as a kid, so there's something special about it. And now with all the Pixar movies, I mean, come on.

So now that you're famous have you upgraded from a van to a pimped out luxury bus?

Oh hell yeah! But, that's not Disney paying for that. That's all us. It's awesome.

What do you want to do next?

Good question. There's a lot of things that I want to do. I don't know about 'next.' We're gonna be in this band for a long time. I'd like to make 10 records and we're not even halfway there yet. I love movies. I'm a huge movie buff. It's not THAT hard to make a movie. You can make some crappy movie and it doesn't have to win an Oscar or anything like that. Just take a good script. Spend like a month with some friends writing something and a few more months shooting it. Something like that I think would be a lot of fun.

Are you dressing up for Halloween?

I dunno, actually. I should probably get on that.

Are you playing a show on Halloween?

Yeah, we are. In D.C.. I would love it if we could do some group costume or something. Like a theme where we all match. That would be cool. I'll have to think about that.

[laughs] You should definitely do it. Ok, here's something I really want to know. In your little videos and even in this interview, you have talked about going above and beyond with instrumentation. I read that you used nothing but instruments from like the 60s and 70s and in the videos you stressed the desire for a warm, classic sound. Do you feel like any of that effort was in vain since you come out sounding basically the same anyway?

[laughs] Wow. Um, I know what you mean, actually. We always come out sounding like the Plain White T's no matter what we do. I think this new record sounds more thought out and more organic than the other ones, but it's definitely still a pop record. I mean go back and listen to that song on the OIL compilation. It still sounds like us and it was recorded in an oil factory. Like if Jonas Brothers recorded 'Hey Delilah' and sang it and recorded it, it wouldn't sound like the way we did it. These songs on the new record, if some producer came in and over-slicked it, it wouldn't feel the same. It wouldn't be as real, and that's what we're going for. We are a band and we want it to sound like us, not a machine. I think for the most part, that comes across at least. Yeah, we probably could have done it with instruments from 2008 instead of 1968, but it's like a nerdy artist thing. We wanted that studio experience.

Well thanks for talking to me. You're a surprisingly nice guy!

Surprisingly? What, you thought I would be a douche or something?

Kind of, yeah. I watched all your behind the scenes video things a little while ago and...

Because I wanted to go to the party?!

Yeah. That's such a douchebag singer move.

[laughs] See! That was like ONE DAY and I only wanted to go because Kim Kardashian was supposed to be there. That made me look bad, but I swear I am the glue. I'm holding this whole operation together.

I'm sure the rest of your band would agree.

They know it in their hearts. Maybe they wouldn't admit it, but they know.

http://www.myspace.com/plainwhitets