 Switch
on the radio and there’s one song that’s guaranteed to be played, Hey There
Delilah. Already a chart topper in the US
for Chicago five-piece
Plain White T’s, it’s well on its way to being a smash hit over here too. The
band are naturally overwhelmed by the song’s success, and that it seems to have
hit a chord with music lovers all around the world.
“Across
the world it’s doing very well. That’s weird for us, ‘cause in US we had to
tour for five years to get anyone to know who we were and now we have a song in
New Zealand
that’s like number one and we’ve never been there,” says frontman Tom
Higgenson.
The ballad was written four years ago in an attempt win the heart of the girl
of his dreams (that would be Delilah).
Tom failed in his bid, but nevertheless is hasn’t stopped the
inspiration behind the song and has given media interviews.
“Good for her,” says Tom. “I guess she’s an Olympic hopeful, it’s given
her some press to get into the Olympics or something, I don’t know how it works”.
UK
Music is sitting with Tom and Plain White T’s drummer De'Mar Hamilton at their
record label in central London.
It’s their second major visit to the UK this year following their
support slot with Hellogoodbye in January.
“I think it surprised us how many fans we
had. We’d never been and we were shows and it felt like we were playing small
clubs back home because the kids were into it. I’m like how do they know these
songs? A lot of people ask for old songs, which is crazy,” recalls De’Mar.
Such
is the power of the internet, but in actual fact Plain White T’s have been
going for ten years now, started by Tom and guitarist Dave Tirio. Both had been
friends and in bands together during high school and according to Tom “was one
of the better musicians out of our group of friends!”
The
band have been through several line up changes since then but the current set
up also includes, bassist Mike Retondo and guitarist Tim Lopez. De’mar, a friend of Tom’s via the Chicago
music scene, joined the band in July 2003 after being kicked out of his former
band (“I was gonna quit, I was ready to quit, but basically they got another
drummer and he started practising with them”).
“I made a deal with myself because a lot of
bands in Chicago
were like ‘be in my band, be in my band’, I was like OK I’m only going to be in
two bands if they asked: Fall Out Boy or Plain White T’s,” states De’Mar. “I
knew that plain white t’s were a good band and I knew that plain white T’s also
could be something. It was kind of weird
we were joking around and then one day he was like ‘no I’m kinda serious’. I was sitting in my house looking through the
jobs or something and my phone rings and it’s Tom.
Originally
signed to indie label Fearless Plain White T’s were snapped up by major label
Hollywood Records, home also to Hillary Duff, after executives noticed the
band’s growing popularity. Their latest
album, Every Second Counts is their first for Hollywood Records.
“It wasn’t like some new band they had to
completely introduce to the world, so yeah it was maybe a bit easier for them. But
then again it was weird, because a lot of majors had seen us and really liked
us a lot, but passed, didn’t sign us or didn’t want to sign the band. To us it
was like what the hell? We already know it’s working. To us it seemed like a small
gamble,” recalls Tom. “Even our A
& R guy tell us funny stories of how ‘oh yeah, other people from other
labels going ‘I was going to sign that band but my assistant told me not to’”.
“But it comes down to, you didn’t sign us because
you didn’t want to, which is fine because we’re happy with Hollywood,” adds
De’Mar. “They got us, or our song and
they supported us and got us to where we are”.
So
that they’re on a major record label and are globetrotting around the world,
how has life changed for them?
“Little things like when we do shows, now it
gets pretty crazy. Like we did a show in New
York and it was a free show, and ten thousand people.
Afterwards we had to go out to use the van and there were like kids just
huddled around the van, screaming, we had to get a police escort out,”
explains Tom. “Things like that. That’s
changed obviously, but that’s just stuff we look at and we’re like ‘what the
hell’ and laugh at. But we as people
haven’t changed. We’re not like rich or anything yet and we’ve not got huge
egos. We’re just going to work harder and make even better records”.
Their
busy schedule permitting, they’ve already started thinking about their next
album.
“I’m thinking the next record won’t be that
much different, but hopefully just a little bit better. Maybe a few more …. I
love writing songs like Hey There Delilah,” reveals Tom. “Those are some of my favourite songs, the
slower songs, so maybe a couple more of those on the next record. It’s easier
for me to write songs like that than the rocker ones sometimes”.
“The next record will be all slow songs,”
chips in De’Marr.
“No it won’t be like that. Maybe like Rubber
Soul though. We’re kinda getting a little bit more into that area but still a
long way to go”.
Hey There
Delilah is out now. Their album Every Second Counts is out on 3rd
September.
For more
info: www.weareplainwhitets.com
Words: Helen Duong
 |
