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Plain White T's

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Plain White T's

Plain White T's is a Grammy Award-nominated band from Chicago, Illinois, that has released four full-length albums: Come on Over (2001), Stop (2002 Fearless Records), All That We Needed (2005 Fearless Records) and Every Second Counts (2006 Hollywood Records).

Biography

Formation (1997-2001)

Plain White T's lead vocalist Tom Higgenson originally set out to be a drummer in high school and was a member of various bands. However, when Plain White T's first came together in the late 90's Higgenson took over songwriting and singing duties for the band. Bassist Ken Fletcher and drummer Dave Tirio came on board and the band began performing around the Chicago area.

The T's were just an average starting out rock band, playing covers in a garage. They spent a few years doing this, but in the summer of 1999 Tom Higgenson was in a car crash, which left him with a lacerated kidney and punctured lung. The band had only just started to get noticed by record labels at this point, but this made no difference as far as Atlantic was concerned, as the band got signed to this indie label in 2000. They recorded an album and released it, its name was Come on Over. They supported tours around their hometown, Chicago, aiming only to gain their fan base.

Stop (2001-2004)

At the end of 2001, Fearless signed them and they began pre-production for their second album, and their debut on a major label. They began recording in the new year, looking back at the recording process, they had recorded this album in Catfish, Lombard, Illinois and Nick's House Studio, Santa Barbara, California. They finished mixing and mastering in California and had completely finished making 'Stop' in April.

The T's had some time off and began promoting the album around their home town leading up to the release of Stop. The band released Stop on August 20, 2002. They were starting to play more headlining dates, nearer their hometown, this added to their already growing fan base.

In October the band branched out and went for their first US tour, covering all areas of America. They were the first support to many different shows, throughout these different tours the band struggled with members and roles in the band. Before this time, the original line up was: Tom Higgenson (Vocals, occasionally guitar), Dave Tirio (Drums), Steve Mast (guitar and vocals), and Ken Fletcher (bass). After the switchover, in 2003, the line up had changed to: Tom Higgenson (vocals), Dave Tirio (guitar), Mike Retondo (bass and vocals), De'Mar Hamilton (drums), and Tim Lopez (guitar, vocals).

The band spent the first few months of 2003 in their hometown, Chicago, doing odd bits of promotion, including Radio and T.V. appearances along with interviews. In May the T's set out for Canada, which they had never been before, so it was difficult booking, but they made a second supporting tour in May and June. They spent the rest of the year touring mainly the US, but did have a few small venued shows internationally.

All That We Needed (2004-2006)

The band, despite the many line-up changes, finally went into the studio to record their third LP in May 2004, after a band hiatus. They recorded in Hard Drive Studio, North Hollywood, California until they had completely completed the album in September. They released All That We Needed January 25, 2005 on Fearless.

After recording the album, they promoted the US, by touring till the end of the year, sometime throughout this tour, they released their first ever single, All That We Needed. They did a promotional tour that began early January and finishing just after the release of All That We Needed. They then headed out to try and promote internationally, this was one of their first times touring outside the US, so it was big deal for them, even though they were supporting. They gathered a lot more international fans while on this tour, before heading back for the 2005 Take Action Tour.

The band spent time on the road with 2005 Take Action tour, alongside Sugarcult, Head Automatica, and more. A lot of the fans of these mainstream bands that attended the shows across the US caught on to the T's music, buying their new album, All That We Needed. During the 2005 Take Action Tour, they recorded their first ever music video, along with a new single, which they hoped, unlike their debut single, All That We Needed, would get noticed in the music industry to get placed on a chart. They finished out the year touring with Spitalfield.

2006 was a new year for the T's, they began a new tour, hoping, as always, to gether more fans. They joined up with Motion City Soundtrack for their Winter/Spring tour. On May 9, 2006, "Hey There Delilah", the to-be #1 was released. This was only released as an EP, Hey There Delilah EP, it had a compilation of B-sides from previous years, and it also had a live recording of the song, plus music videos.

They toured all summer, hoping to breakout mainstream with Hey There Delilah, but nothing came of it. Neither of the three singles they had released off All That We Needed managed to chart, this led to Fearless Records to drop the Plain White Ts off their label.

Every Second Counts (2006-Present)

Shortly after being dropped off Fearless, Hollywood signed them and they began recording their new album, and debut on Hollywood Records, Every Second Counts. They completed the recording process early summer and had some well deserved time off. They released their fourth LP, Every Second Counts on September 12 2006, which was preceded by their first single, "Hate (I Really Don't Like You)", this was released a few weeks before the album itself, but added no promotion to the release, but eventually turned out to be the first ever single by the Plain White T's to chart on the US Billboard charts.

The T's promoted by touring in the US, in the Fall and Winter, by this time they were starting to get noticed in the music industry at last. Although they were beginning to get noticed in the minor US rock industry, internationally the Ts were not doing so well, by this point, they hadn't even sold 100,000 copies of any album anywhere outside of the US. Their label thought that re-releasing Hey There Delilah would rectify this issue and even help get the band noticed in the modern rock industry.

Hollywood re-released "Hey There Delilah" on Every Second Counts in late spring 2007. The band went out to promote internationally before the release, to help the single along, they returned to the US soon after the release and immediately started touring. The band members were bracing themselves for a commercial explosion everywhere, they toured promoting the single further, and at last 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).

The T's were a massive break-through hit, seeming to come out of nowhere. Soon after the United States catapulted them to #1, the rest of the world followed, and the single soon shot up the charts in Australia, Asia and Europe. The Band released Delilah on August 27, 2007 in the UK and soon shot up the charts. 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, UK 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 Our Time Now.

On December 10th the Plain White T's released Hate in the UK, their January tour of Europe will promote the single. Tom Higgenson, frontman of the band stated in an interview that he thought they were bigger in the UK than in the US now. Their new single in the UK has caught on a lot faster than their new single in the US, this shows a massive popularity in Europe.

According to Billboard News, the T's are writing new songs and plan to head back to the studio in the spring, after their Europe and Australia tour. They hope to have a fresh batch of songs out, with their 5th LP in Fall 2008. The band will most likely be out touring late summer, promoting this new album. 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.


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Discography

Albums

Date of Release Title Label US Billboard Peak UK Peak
2000 Come on Over Atlantic
2002 Stop Fearless Records
2005 All That We Needed Fearless Records
2006 Every Second Counts Hollywood 10 3

EPs

Compilation appearances

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 63 - - - - Every Second Counts
2007 "Hey There Delilah" (Re-release) 1 1 3 1 2 1 9 1 3
"Our Time Now" 90 64 29 - - - - - -

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

  • Won - 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

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

References

  1. ^ http://www.hybridmagazine.com/reviews/0606/plainwhitets.shtml
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