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Interview with Plain White T's
By: Meagan Rockne
 What do you get when
you put four of the five Plain White T's around Motion City
Soundtrack's poker table? A lot of sass, some pertinent
information and an imaginary feud with another
up-and-coming Chicago band.
Dave Tirio (guitar): Oh, this is
tape-recorded. You might want to get closer, Tim.
De'Mar Hamilton (drums): What about
just not answering? [Laughs]
If you don't want to answer, that's
fine.
Dave: Throw in your own two cents.
Okay, let's talk about you guys being tour
sluts.
De'Mar: Can I ask a question though first? What is this for?
NowOnTour
Dave: That was the greatest opening...
De'Mar: NowOnTour. So what about us being tour sluts?
Okay, I'm gonna tell you right now.
Dave: We are like tour virgins.
Dave, Tom, De'Mar: We are tour virgins.
No, you are always on tour.
The band: Ohhhhhh...
De'Mar: We thought you meant tour
sluts.
No, tour sluts - as in you are always on
tour.
Dave: You realize there are many different ways to read into
that term.
Tom Higgenson (lead vocals): Okay, yes
we are tour sluts. In the clean sense of the word.
Dave: As far as being tour sluts, we like it long and hard.
We're always on the road.
True, Why?
Tom: For you.
Dave: The more time we spend on the road the more fans
we make.
De'Mar: The more time we spend on the road, the more
'fans'...
Dave: We're, like, renowned sluts.
Tom: We're known for our slutness. Our slutness.
Someone around the poker table: Our sluttiness, you crap
sack.
Dave: I like crap sack. Tom creating a new word on the spot
for you.
De'Mar: [Sings] "I believe in Medication..."
How's the tour going so far?
Tom: It's great. Next question. [Laughs]
I'm gonna be mean to you.
Tom: This tour is going great.
Did you make friends?
Dave: I'm making friends with the poker table.
Tom: I'm making friends with the fans.
Dave: De'Mar's making friends with the bottle. No, the Motion
City guys, the OK Go guys, the Spill Canvas guys are all
awesome. No, we're having a great time. A great
time.
Since you're on tour so much when do you find
time to write an album?
Tom: When we're not on tour. Next question. [Laughs]
Dave: Oh my God. No, no, no, come on tell her.
Tom: That's the answer.
No, if you want to go on to the next
question...
Tom: When I'm off, I always write.
When can we expect a new album?
Tom: New album. We're putting out a new EP in May and
then a new record at the end of the year.
De'Mar: Or maybe in the spring. Next spring.
Tom: Either at the end of the year or the beginning of the
year.
Dave: You don't want to make empty promises.
Tim Lopez (guitar): Don't quote us on
this, but it's coming out soon.
Dave: Yeah, you don't want to make empty promises there,
Tom.
What can we expect from the new
material?
Tom: Rock n roll. Great music. Classic songs.
Dave: Shredding guitars.
Tom: Timeless.
How long does it take for you guys to write an
album usually?
Tom: Well our last one took about 4 years. [Laughs]
Dave: Total hours.
Tom: Uhhh...total hours?
Dave: It takes about three hours on average to write a
song.
Tom: Times that by 40.
Dave: Yeah, we usually write like between 20 and 30 songs
before we pick a full album.
So is it safe to assume that you're gonna get
dumped a lot between now and then?
Dave: Well that's up to this guy. He's single.
Tom: Dumped? You mean by, like, girls?
Yeah, 'cause a lot of your songs are about
break-ups.
Dave: And Mike doesn't write because he's happily in
love.
Tom: You know, I just see what my friends go through and I
write about it. You know I never actually get dumped.
Dave: Actually, when I get home I'm gonna give Tom a list
of things...
Tom: I'm more of a ladies man. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah,
you know, shit happens and you just write about
it.
Let's talk about the video to "All That We Needed,"
with all the girls in their underwear.
Tom: Yeah, we never made one for "All That We
Needed."
Oh, "Take Me Away."
Tom: Ho, gotcha. Yeah, the girls in their underwear. That
was actually us.
Tim: That was mainly my family, so...
Dave: If you're into that sort of thing, because we
are.
They were all over you, so that's kind of
gross.
Tim: It was my kid sister and my wife and...
Tom: His dog.
Tim: Frankie. Frankie looked good in them freaking
American Apparel shorts.
Dave: Most of them were our friends though, so it wasn't like
that.
That's got to be awkward though.
Tom: No, we all hang out in our underwear all the time.
Don't you?
Not with my friends.
De'Mar: Who at that video shoot was not our friends?
Tom: It was probably about half-and-half.
Dave: Yeah, it was half-and-half. Yeah, and there were like
only 12 people in that basement.
De'Mar: There's a lot of other people that you don't see, who
I had no idea who they were.
Tom: Whitney, Caitlin, Monica, Donya, nervous Nick,
Joel...
De'Mar: What's your next question?
Any other videos coming out?
De'Mar, T: Yes!
Tom: We just shot one for "Hey There Delilah."
De'Mar: We just shot one the other day. It's called "Hey
There Delilah." Do you know the song?
[sarcastically] No.
Tom: Well, it's a good one and the video is beautiful. It's
very artistic and very classy. Pretty much the opposite of
our last video. [Laughs]
The band started out doing
covers...
Tom: Well not this band. Before the Plain White T's
started.
Dave: What's she's saying is you and me and the fucking
basement. When...
Tom: We were like playing Weezer songs and stuff.
Dave: That's not how the band started.
Tom: The band started another day, every show for the first
five years.
Are there any songs out now that you'd like to
cover?
Tom: Yes, we actually just covered...
Dave: That's a good question though.
Tom: We just covered "Song 2" by Blur. You know that
song.
Dave: That was for a comp though.
Tom: We just recorded it for a comp CD that Fearless is
putting out, Punk Goes '90's. We're gonna be
on that doing that song. Other than that, we wanted to cover
"Hey Ya," but then they changed the comp around so we
couldn't do that one.
De'Mar: Then we were gonna cover "Don't Speak" but that
was too...
Dave: Too difficult.
De'Mar: We're not as musically talented as them.
Tom: Yeah, we're not as good as No Doubt, so we had to
settle for Blur.
De'Mar: We pretty much did settle for Blur.
Dave: I didn't settle.
You're going on the Warped Tour.
Tom: Yes.
Do you know the dates?
Tom: Yeah the first half. I believe it's June something to July
something to be exact.
Dave: Middle of June to middle of July.
Do you like playing festivals or would you much
rather do a tour?
Tom: We like doing all kinds of shows.
De'Mar: Festivals pay more.
Dave: Not really. Well with the merch sometimes.
De'Mar: Oh festivals, like Warped Tour. My bad. Yeah, you
know, I'd rather do this.
Tom: Like Redding Fest. Coachella actually would be great
this year.
Have you ever played
SummerFest?
Dave: SummerFest like in the Midwest? Is that what you're
talking about?
Tom: Like in Milwaukee? No, we never have but I believe
that Alanis Morissette played there.
Tom, what's going on with the feud between you
and William of The Academy Is...?
Tom: The feud?
Dave: There's a feud?
He says you suck, repeatedly.
De'Mar: Yes!!! That rules. High five, dude. That's so
awesome.
Tom: No, what I think happened was - because I always
used to play acoustic outside of shows - and so when kids
would ask William to play acoustic songs...
Dave: Who's William?
Tom: Bill Beckett.
Dave: Thank you.
Tom: And he was like "No, blah blah blah." And then they'd
get mad at him and then they'd say, "Oh, Tom from the Plain
White T's always plays acoustic." And so, Bill was like, "Well,
he sucks." because he's not as cool as me.
De'Mar: Let me cut you off right here. Truth is, Bill and him
hate each other.
Tom: Yeah.
De'Mar: And...
Dave: Don't create a real feud here.
Tom: I write better songs than he does and he's mad about
that.
Dave: And I don't like Adam Siska.
Tom: Yeah.
Dave: There's no room for a Steven Tyler rip off band in the
market today. [Laughs]
De'Mar: You're not Led Zeppelin...
Tom: Tell him to unzip the bottom of his jeans and umm...try
and get them off.
De'Mar: Did you see the ones he was wearing the other day,
with three pockets and like ties and shit, strings. I'm like
"What the fuck are you wearing?"
Tom: But he does look pretty with that long hair. I've got to
admit.
Dave: And we are probably gonna go on tour with them
again.
Tim: Let's just sum it up that he's a big bitch.
Tom: Yes, Bill Beckett is my bitch. [Laughs]
Oh, I am so putting that on.
Dave: Oh, for God's sake.
Okay, now are you gonna do an acoustic
set?
Tom: No.
Dave: Not tonight.
Why?
Tom: Ask Bill Beckett to play you one.
I don't like him.
Dave: Uh-oh, now you're in trouble. Are you gonna put that
in the freaking interview?
Tom: Now you're feuding with him.
Yeah, I'll totally put it in.
Dave: It's too cold out here. Look, at you, you're not even
wearing a jacket.
Tom: Yeah.
Dave: We can't stay outside and do an acoustic
set.
I know, it's because boys aren't nice and didn't
offer me one of theirs.
Dave: See, chivalry is dead.
Tom: Assholes. Next question.
Any last remarks?
Tom: Yes, I love...
Dave: Bill Beckett. [Laughs]
Any other bands that you would like to start a feud
with?
Tom: Yes.
Let's get this going...
Dave: No, we can't...
Tom: No, we like most of the bands. We like The Academy
Is...
Dave: I kind of love most of those dudes.
Tom: Yeah, exactly. We don't hate anybody.
Dave: And then the other ones, I really like.
Tom: What?
Dave: Yeah, I like most of those dudes.
Tom: And the other ones you really like. Yeah, we're cool.
No feuds. No feuds here.
Dave: Joke feuds are good though because they're
entertaining. You know, what's an interview without
entertainment? You don't really want us to say all the things
straight up anyway.
No, you never want plain, boring
answers.
Dave: Exactly. So that's what we're here for.
Well thank you.
Tom: No, thank you. Honestly, thank you.
Dave: You wanna play cards?
Tom: Seriously thank you.
De'Mar: We should go to the bar, dude.
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