Plain White T's

Plain White T's

Plain White T's are a pop rock band originating from Lombard, Illinois. They have had most success with their fourth album Every Second Counts, charting in the top 10 in America and at #3 in the UK. In 2008, they received a Grammy nomination for the song "Hey There Delilah".

Biography

Formation

Lead vocalist, Tom Higgenson, originally set out to be a drummer in Willowbrook high school and was a member of various local bands. Plain White T's first came together after high school, in the late-90s, with Higgenson's high school friends: Bassist Ken Fletcher, and drummer Dave Tirio. After about a year of playing together, Steve Mast was added as a second guitarist. They soon began performing to increasingly more enthusiastic crowds in their hometown of Villa Park, Illinois as well as around the Chicago area.

Soon PWT began cultivating an audience. They self-released a few tapes and an LP called Come on Over in the early nineties.

Stop

Stop was originally self-released, until at the end of 2001, the band signed to Fearless who subsequently re-released the record in 2002. Stop was recorded in their friend Wes's basement and, despite having recorded other albums, the band has called it their real debut album. Prior to the release on August 20, 2002, the album was promoted around their hometown.

In October, the band went on their first extensive US tour. The tour resulted in tensions starting within the band, with Dave switching from drums to guitar, Steve being replaced by Tim Lopez, Ken being replaced by Mike Retondo and De'Mar Hamilton, previously the drummer for local Chicago band and brief Fearless label-mate Knockout, taking up drums.

All That We Needed

The band, despite the line-up changes, went into the studio to record their third album in May 2004. They recorded in Hard Drive Studio, California. The album titled, All That We Needed, was released on 25 January, 2005 on Fearless.

They first single to be released off the record was the title song, All That We Needed. They did a promotional tour in the United States, and also promoted internationally, gathering a growing fanbase, before heading back for the 2005 Take Action Tour.

During the Take Action Tour, they recorded their first music video, along with a new single, which they hoped, would get international recognition.

In 2006, they joined up with Motion City Soundtrack for a Winter/Spring tour. On May 9, 2006, "Hey There Delilah", the was released. This was only released on the Hey There Delilah EP - a compilation of b-sides, a live recording, plus music videos.

They did further extensive touring, the aim break into the mainstream with Hey There Delilah, but their hopes were not matched. None of the singles they had released managed to chart, leading to Fearless Records dropping Plain White T's from the label.

Every Second Counts (2006-Present)

Shortly after being dropped, Hollywood signed them and they began recording a new album, Every Second Counts. The album was released in September, and was preceded by first single, "Hate (I Really Don't Like You)", and was their first single to chart on the US Billboard charts.

Hollywood re-released "Hey There Delilah" on Every Second Counts in late spring 2007. On July 28, 2007, "Hey There Delilah" became #1 in US for two weeks running.

File:PWTredcarpet.png

Plain White Ts at MTV Video Awards (2007).

Soon after the United States success, the single soon charted in Australia, Asia and Europe. The band released the single on August 27, 2007 in the UK gaining chart success. They also released their first album in the UK, Every Second Counts, a new re-packed edition with an extra two songs, "Hey There Delilah" and "Take Me Away".

They made #1 in the US, Canada and Germany, followed soon after with a top 5 in Austria, Ireland, Belgium, United Kingdom and Australia, followed by hitting the top 10 in Sweden, World singles, Dutch singles, New Zealand and Swiss singles.

Shortly after their commercial break-through, the band released a third single off Every Second Counts, "Our Time Now" on November 6, 2007 in US and Canada. The band appeared in the third episode of the first season of ABC Family's GRΣΣK performing the songs "Our Time Now" and "Hey There Delilah". They also appeared on the 11th episode of the first season of Nickelodeon's iCarly, performing "Our Time Now". They appeared on 'The Young Wild Things' tour, along with Fall Out Boy, Cute Is What We Aim For and Gym Class Heroes, to promote their new single.

On December 10th the Plain White T's released Hate in the UK. Higgenson stated in an interview that he thought they were bigger in the UK than in the US.

Fifth album

According to Billboard, the band is writing new songs. It plans to head back to the studio in the spring, after their European and Australian tours, with their 5th LP being released in late-2008. This information is also backed up by an interview with Chum FM in December 2007 and an article in the January 2008 issue of Alternative Press magazine. They also stated at the London Astoria in February 2008 that they were going "home" to work on their new album.

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Label	U.S. Billboard	UK	Australia
2000	Come on Over	Self-Released
2002	Stop	Self-Released then re-released on Fearless Records
2005	All That We Needed	Fearless Records
2006	Every Second Counts	Hollywood	10	3	45

EPs

• Rip Off the Hits (2001)
• Hey There Delilah EP (2007)

Compilation appearances

• "Bruises", from Oil: Chicago Punk Refined
• "Song 2" (Blur cover), on the album Punk Goes '90s
• "Season of a Lifetime", on the album Taste of Christmas
• "It's So Easy", on the album Sound of Superman
• "Better Luck Next Time", on the album Dead Bands Party: A Tribute to Oingo Boingo

Singles

Year	Song	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Pop 100	U.S. Modern Rock	Hot Digital Songs	UK	GER	NZ	CAN	AUS	Album
2004	"All That We Needed"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	All That We Needed
2005	"Take Me Away"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	"Hey There Delilah"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	"Hate (I Really Don't Like You)"	68	61	25	48	53	-	-	-	-	Every Second Counts
2007	"Hey There Delilah" (Re-release)	1	1	3	1	2	1	9	1	3
	"Our Time Now"	90	66	29	-	-	-	-	-	37

Guest appearances

Year	Song	Album
2007	"Recluse" (Stacy Clark featuring Plain White T's)	Apples and Oranges
2008	"Little Miss Obsessive" (Ashlee Simpson featuring Tom Higgenson)	Bittersweet World

Television

• Greek - The band provides Our Time Now as the theme for commercials and trailers for the show. They appear playing the song in the episode The Rusty Nail.
• iCarly - The band appears as a special guest for the webshow in the episode iRue the Day, singing their song Our Time Now.

Awards

2007

• lose - Teen Choice Award
  • Category - Choice Summer Song for "Hey There Delilah"

• Nominated - US Grammy Award (2008 Awards Ceremony)
  • Category - Song Of The Year 2007 (Hey There Delilah)

• Nominated - US Grammy Award (2008 Awards Ceremony)
  • Category - Best Pop Performance By A Group (Hey There Delilah)

2006

• lose - mtvU Woodie Award
  • Category - The Breaking Woodie (Best Emerging Artist)

External links

• Plain White Ts Official website
• MySpace Profile
• Plain White Ts French First Community
• Plain White Ts French website
• Trash the Stage interview with De'Mar
• Interview with Plain White Ts
• Interview with Plain White Ts by Jamie Pham on TheSoCalScene
• Plain White T's Interview on Music Towers