Interview with Plain White T’s

Jenn Cohen | November 1, 2011 | 0 Comments

by Jennifer Cohen

Question: What do you get when you send the Plain White T’s’ frontman, Tom Higgenson, to the Cirque du Soleil “O” show? Answer: The new Plain White T’s album, Wonders of the Younger. Before beginning their tour (now one month in) to support Wonders of the Younger, Higgenson answered a few questions for Colorado Music Buzz.

CMB: Are you guys excited to get back to touring?

Tom Higgenson (TH): We are, definitely. The summer’s been a little bit, you know, kind of random; fly here, play the show, fly home for a few days. It’ll be nice to get back into a rhythm, you know, playing every night, sleeping on the bus, traveling. It’s definitely a lifestyle that we’ve gotten used to, so it’s odd when we’re home for too long.

CMB: Do you prefer tour to studio then?

TH: I think that the studio is definitely big. I love that. You write these songs, and I’m constantly writing, and on tour, you write some stuff, so getting in the studio and actually making those ideas come to life – that is pretty amazing. But then you go a step further, and you share those ideas with people, and play them every night and make that actual connection, and see how people are enjoying what we’ve created, that’s just as good if not better. Every step of the way is great and it’s exciting and rewarding in its own way.

CMB: You (musicians) put your heart and soul out there and hope that people will enjoy it.

TH: Yeah, it’s hard because you don’t ever really know. I’ll write a song and like, ‘Ok, this is it, this is the best I’ve got so far.’ And then people are like, ‘Eh, it’s ok.’ You never know what their reaction is going to be.

CMB: When you guys are touring, do you get sick of playing the same songs over and over for months on end?

TH: No I don’t, actually, because I love the songs that I write, so I don’t really get sick of them. Obviously, once in a while there’s a song that’s like, ‘Ah, that’s not my favorite.’ If we don’t feel like playing a song, then we don’t play it – unless it’s, ‘Hey there, Delilah,’ or something, which A) we have to play, and B) we don’t mind playing because the crowd loves it and it’s a great moment of the set every night. It works both ways, the crowd loves it and we love it.

CMB: Do you have a favorite Colorado venue?

TH: We’ve had such amazing shows there, and it seems like we’re always coming back there so, you guys have never let us down.

CMB: Do you have a favorite ‘all-time’ venue, nationwide?

TH: When I was a kid, I would go see shows as a teenager at the Metro, it was a really small little club. And I would always dream of like, ‘Someday I’m gonna play here,’ and I’d make sure I touched the stage before I left, you know, just a stupid little ritual like that. So yeah, once we started the band, we got a show there after about a year of being the Plain White T’s, and since then it’s just been our local stomping grounds in Chicago. There’s definitely some sentimental value there.

CMB: How’d you come up with the title Wonders of the Younger? I love the name, it conjures up all these images of youth and innocence, and that there’s so much out there.

TH: Yeah, that’s the idea. I actually came up with that name before any song on the album. I went to see a Cirque du Soleil show, ‘O’, in Las Vegas, and I left that show and literally turned to my friend and said I know the name of our next album, ‘Wonders of the Younger.’ I didn’t really know what that meant yet, but I knew that I had that name in my head, and I wanted to make an album that felt like that show, basically.

CMB: Do you usually come up with the [album] theme first, and then try and cater the songs to that?

TH: I’ve never done that before. Normally, you write a bunch of songs, pick the best ones, and that’s your album. In this case, every song we wrote had, at least in the back of our minds, that theme in mind.

CMB: Is this the first time that you and [guitarist] Tim (Lopez) have alternated lead vocals?

TH: Yeah. We’ve written together on the past couple of albums, and on the last one, he sang a couple parts; a lead vocal in a bridge, or something like that. But to actually take his own song and sing a full song, that was a new thing for him. This was the first time he actually came to the table with full finished songs, [and] the songs were so great, we loved them the way they were. We’re changing things up with this album anyway; trying to be more adventurous and creative, so let him sing what he wrote.

CMB: Do you like stepping back a bit when you’re on stage, or do you feel uncomfortable, because you’re not used to being back there?

TH: No, it’s actually been really cool. It just seems like everything was a perfect time to do something like this. And now I’m ready to get back, I’m ready to be the singer again. Tim had his moment, all right … (laughing).

CMB: Is there any up-and-coming band that you’d like to give a little shout-out to?

TH: There are a couple local Chicago bands. A band called the Scissors that is just gonna blow people’s minds in the next year or so, hopefully. They’re so good. They’re recording an album right now in my home studio. They have a great, great album they’re working on. And there’s a band called A.M. Taxi, they are just unbelievable; lyric-wise, their songs, they’re definitely a band you gotta check out.

PlainWhiteTs.com