Plain White T’s

After watching the band’s sound check, I had the great chance to sit down and talk to the entire Plain White T’s gang backstage before their big show with AFI and their flight to Toronto that night. The interview went really well and was a lot of fun to do, particulary near the end. De’Mar came in a little late, but his entreance certainly added a little flair to the interview too. We talked about all sorts, from the Hey There Delilah EP, to their new album on Hollywood Records and of course, the always important florescent underwear and insertion. Read and enjoy 🙂

Please Note: All pictures were taken, without permission, from the band’s myspace page and are copyright their rightful owner, which, for the most part, is Bryan Sheffield.

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Bobby: I guess starting with the basics, you guys have been on Warped Tour for a couple weeks now, how’s that going so far?

Tim: Um, we just got off Warped Tour. Yesterday was our last day, and it went really well. It was awesome.

Mike: Hot and sweaty.

Dave: Yeah, a lot of sweat, a lot of tears. A lot of blood, sweat and tears.

Tom: *laughs* Yeah, we just did Vancouver and Calgary and we’d never been to either city so…

Tim: Yeah, we’ve never been to the West of Canada, so that was kind of cool.

Bobby: I know Calgary was hot as hell last night.

Dave: It was actually really nice, that was probably one of the more fun shows.

Tom: Absolutely, the crowd was great there.

Bobby: Was there any really memorable moment from Warped Tour?

Tom: I don’t know about one particular memorable moment, but we have a lot of friends in bands that are out right now, so it was just a good hangout time I think. Memorable moments? I don’t know…

Dave: We got played on the radio station KROQ in LA. That was kind of a big moment for the band and that happened while we were on Warped Tour, so that was huge.

Bobby: This show is a one-off show with AFI, did you do many shows like this throughout the tour?

Mike: No, this was the only one.

Tom: Yeah, there wasn’t too many days off during Warped Tour, it’s a pretty crazy tour. This was the only off-show for us.

Bobby: How did you guys end up getting the opening spot for AFI? *everyone laughs*

Dave: I don’t know.

Tim: They were like begging us….

Dave: Does anybody really know how we got it?

Tom: I think it just kind of came up. I think they needed a band and we were just finishing Warped Tour…

Dave: In the area.

Mike: It was convenient.

Tom: Basically we got lucky.

Bobby: A few months ago, you guys released the “Hey There Delilah” EP, why did you decide to release the six-song EP for that song?

Dave: To fulfill our contract *laughs*.

Tom: We did it with that song because it was already a song on our last record.

Mike: That song was kind of gaining momentum you know?

Tom: Yeah, it was a lot of our fans’ favorite; and we made a video for it, so we put the EP out almost as a single. A “Hey There Delilah” single, with a few new songs and all the videos and stuff.

Mike: And the new version of the song, we added some string arrangements and stuff.

Bobby: Why did you decide to put the new version of the song onto the album?

Mike: To give something special back to our fans.

Tom: Yeah, to make it a little different. Plus, as a single, to be on the video and everything, we thought that it might add to the song.

Dave: A little bit more dynamic.

Bobby: Like you just said, your fans all really liked the “Hey There Delilah” song and you guys became really well known for it. Is there any fear that you’ll become a one-hit wonder because of that song?

*everyone laughs*

Tom: No! We already have another hit, it’s called “Hate.”

Dave: The thing is though, you have to define “hit,” which is funny, because we really don’t have a hit.

Tom: Hopefully we’ll get a real, bonafied one.

Dave: We’re not really worried about being a one hit wonder because we have songs coming out that we’re proud of.

Tom: I think our fans… all our songs are kind of in the same vein and are all equally… incredible.

Bobby: Okay, well, you guys have a new CD coming out on September 19th, “Every Second Counts…”

Mike: Twelfth!

Tom: It moved up.

Dave: And it will be September sixth next week.

Tom: Hopefully.

Mike: September twelfth as of right now.

Bobby: Are you excited to get that CD out there?

All of them: Oh yeah.

Tom: It’s gonna be the best one yet.

Bobby: What do you think, as fans, we can expect from the CD?

Tom: Everything you love from the Plain White T’s and more.

Mike: Yeah, it’s gonna sound a lot better.

Tim: A little bit more fun and a little bit more exciting I think.

Dave: But, the usual Plain White T’s… It’s the same sound and everything, we haven’t changed anything, but it’s just a little but more….

Mike: Hopefully a little bit more on a grandeur scale.

Dave: Exactly, a little bit more of a bigger record.

Bobby: Like you just said *pointing to Tom* every single song on the album is “absolutely amazing”

Tom: *laughs* I didn’t say that…. You said it!

Bobby: If you had to choose one song, what would you say is your favorite song off the new album?

Tom: Well, we all would probably vary on favorite song. “Gimme A Chance” I like but is probably everybody else’s least favorite song *Mike busts out into laughter* Well, I think “Hate” we can all agree with. It’s our first single we all love and we’ll play it live tonight. But as far as personal favorites, like, “Take Me There”, everyone has their favorite song.

The rest of the band: Yeah, yeah.

Bobby: “Hate” is the first single, why did you pick it as the first single? Because it’s everyone’s favorite or what?

Tom: Jeff, the A&R guy.

Dave: Because everyone who heard it, thought it was a hit and we thought “wow, maybe they are right.” The label, to the producer, to everyone.

Bobby: The new album is out on Hollywood Records, how did you end up meeting up with them?

Dave: I don’t know! We got screwed on that deal… No, we got lucky! They delivered us from the depths of hell.

Tom: Since we started the band, we always wanted to reach a wide audience and finally with Hollywood picking us up, for the first time, we feel like we might have a shot at that. You know?

Dave: That’s very well said.

Tom: They actually came out to a show in Hollywood, crazy and ironic enough….

Mike: Cause Hollywood Records and Hollywood the city….

Tom: Anyway, the A&R guy was just mesmerized by our performance and he just had to have us.

Tim: He literally crapped his pants, like literally.

Dave: Yeah, he literally did, it’s kind of an embarrassing story.

A&R Guy: I like calling it “laying a plotcher”

Tim: *laughing* laying a what?

A&R Guy: “Laying a plotcher” I laid a plotcher.

*everyone laughs*

Tom: From that point on the negotiations started going. We were really hoping that other labels would come so that we didn’t have to sign to Hollywood *band laughs* But unfortunately….No, I’m just messing with you. That’s our A&R guy *pointing to the guy in the back of the room* in case you didn’t realize that. But no, we ended up doing a deal, everything worked out, barely, at the last minute.

Dave: Right in the studio.

Tom: We were actually in the studio already recording our record for Hollywood before our deal was even signed, everything was still being negotiated. It got crazy there for a second, and that’s part of the reason why we’re calling the record “Every Second Counts” because everything kind of came down to the wire and it was a big rush to get it done but I think the rushed helped, it kept us all focused to get everything done.

Bobby: Like I set this interview up through Fearless Records, do you still work with them a lot?

Tom: Oh yeah, they’re still awesome, we still deal with them. I mean, we haven’t put the record out on Hollywood yet, so all of our stuff is still Fearless right now.

Mike: Like the “Delilah” EP.

Tom: Yeah, and I think the record is going to come out on Fearless/Hollywood, so Fearless will still be in the picture. They’ve done great things for us and probably still will.

Bobby: Would you say there’s a big difference between Hollywood, the major, and Fearless, the independent?

Dave: Yeah, definitely.

Mike: Huge.

Tom: I mean we’re already on the radio; we’re shooting a video actually in two days, with a huge budget.

Dave: Basically, there’s way more fighting power.

Tom: Yeah, exactly. Like we did a photo shoot with a really great photographer, there were a few different sets, and we had a wardrobe person. Just little stuff like that that weirded us out.

Dave: It’s not really that big of thing, but it helps. It’s the kind of thing that on Fearless, we weren’t able to have just because of the money restrictions.

Bobby: Like you said, the CD is called “Every Second Counts” which I like, I think it’s a good name for a CD and I like the whole idea behind it.

Tom: Thank you.

Bobby: But kind of going in reverse, is there a second or a moment that you can think that you really regret doing something or not doing something?

Tom: In life or on the record?

Bobby: Any.

Tom: Umm… Any regrets?

Daver: Regrets? About what?

Tom: Anything.

Dave: Anything?

Tom: The record, the band or, you know…

Dave: Not really, I think even though it seems like it’s taken a long time, everything that’s happened it seems like it’s happened for a good reason, not a bad one. From the three other members here, beside me and Tom, they’re like new from like three years ago and that made the band a whole new level.

Tom: Yeah, people quit the band…

Dave: And they were like some of our best friends who quit. So on one hand it was like “oh man” and then you get new people who are also great friends and then you realize how much better it is now and pretty much everything has been like that.

Tom: Yeah, anything bad that ever happened, you could always look at it from a positive thing in a way that kind of changes things and mixes stuff up. So no, I don’t think there’s kind of a particular regret.

Bobby: Personally, I love going to concerts, I try to go to as many as I can. I know this week I have eight in a span of twelve days including Warped Tour yesterday which was very tiring, so thinking back, what were some concerts that you went to that were really memorable for you guys?

Tom: I saw Weezer at the Metro on the Blue Album tour, one of their first tours probably. That was a pretty insane show. That was my first show ever at The Metro, which is a venue in Chicago.

Mike: Smashin’ Pumpkins at the Metro, when they were huge and they went back and played a little club show; that was insane.

Dave: I used to see Alanis Morissette a lot, you know, Canadian Pride, in Chicago on the Jagged Little Pill tour. I loved that record. I saw her a bunch of times on those tours.

Tom: And recently I saw Jimmy Eat World play at the Glass House in Pomona, California and that was a really incredible show.

Bobby: Yeah, they put on a good show.

Tom: Oh yeah. And The Strokes, the first time I saw The Strokes at the Aragon in Chicago was a great show.

Mike: A better show that I was at was The Strokes, Kings Of Leon, and Regina Spektor in L.A. at the…

Dave: Henry Fonda Theatre?

Mike: No, no, no, It was… nah I forget the name of the place.

Tom: But that was when Julian was loosing his voice though right?

Mike: I think that made it better because he got really pissed off which made it…

Tom: A more unique show.

Mike: Yeah. I used to go to Lollapalooza every year, Warped Tour every year, those were fun.

Bobby: Okay, now onto a bit more unusual questions that I like to ask at all my interviews just to keep it interesting and stuff. First off, if you guys, as a band, were stranded on a desert island, with no food and nothing to eat to survive, which one of the band members would you eat to survive and why?

*everyone laughs and claps*

Tom: I think it might have to be one of the guys with the most meat.

Dave: Yeah, exactly.

Tom: Um… De’mar?

Mike: It’s gotta be Lopez.

De’Mar: What was the question? If you had anyone to eat, who would you eat?

Tom: No no, if you were stranded on a desert island.

Mike: You’d probably want the healthiest guy in the band.

De’Mar: *grabbig his stomach* No, no, no, you don’t want to eat this, because you’d just die because it’s just fucking filled with fat. You gotta eat Tom dude.

Dave: He’s got nothing on him.

Mike: No, no, Lopez.

De’Mar: He has too much muscle.

Mike: It’s all steak dude, all steak.

De’Mar: It’s too tough.

Tim: De’Mar’s got some good legs, I’d probably eat those.

Dave: Yeah, I wouldn’t eat Tom’s legs.

De’Mar: SKINNY LEGS!!

*everyone laughs*

Tom: Alright, next question, something not as morbid.

Bobby: This one’s a bit worse actually, if you were a member of the opposite sex for a day, week, month, how ever long you wanted, what would you do and why?

Tom: Wow.

Tim: Tom would just sit around and squeeze his own tits.

Mike: If you were a girl for a day, you’d have to take lots of showers, man.

De’Mar: I would “s” a lot of “d.”

*everyone is both laughing and disgusted with this remark*

Tim: Ewwww. That is gay. I’d just masturbate all day.

Dave: I would become a lesbian and find as many girls that I can to be a lesbian with.

Mike: De’Mar would have a chick or a guy like nut on his stomach *band laughs* because he thinks it’s sexy.

De’Mar: I just want to have sex, I just want to know what it feels like.

Mike: True.

Tim: You want some insertion? Do anal.

De’Mar: I want insertion! I want some insertion!

*everyone laughs*

Bobby: Okay, could you guys tell us something about the band or one of its members that not many people know about? Like a little quirk they do on the road or something like that?

Mike: Um… De’Mar thinks it’s sexy to have a guy nut on somebody’s chest…

De’Mar: Shut up Mike!!

Tim: *imitating De’Mar* Shut up Mike!

Tom: What’s something weird about me?

Mike: Tom wears bright pink underwear and socks.

Tom: That’s true! Not always pink, various colors.

Mike: Purple or neon green.

Tom: Yeah, I have an odd obsession with cool underwear and socks….

Dave: And sixteen year olds.

Tom: And sixteen year olds. But they look like their eighteen.

Mike: They really don’t.

Dave: They kiss like their eighteen.

Bobby: If you could have one thing at this moment, anything at all, what would you have and why?

Dave: I would have everything.

Tom: I’d get to meet Hilary Duff… Wait! It might happen tomorrow!

De’Mar: I’d take a million dollars and two chicks, at the same time.

Tim: I would do two chicks on a stack of a million dollars.

Mike: *looking at Joe, their tour manager* I would have a tour manager that gets me a teapot when I ask him to get me a teapot. It’s very important dude or I can’t sing; I have no voice.

Bobby: I guess that’s about it, thanks a lot for doing it. Do you have any final thoughts you would like to add?

Dave: Canada rules!

Tom: Oh, here’s something that people might not know about me. My grandfather – born and raised in Canada, so I’m definitely part Canadian.

De’Mar: Canadian’s not a race dude.

Dave: So final thought: Canada kicks ass.