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On April 18, 2009, Plain White T's performed for Salve students as part of their "Three Part Harmony Tour." The shows on the tour are aimed to feel more personal and closer than past tours.
Plain White T's found inspiration for the set-up of the show after seeing how well received acoustic sets for press went over. "For anyone who's seen us before, why go out not having headlined for a few years and give them the same old boring show and the same old look," Tirio said. "We felt like something needed to change to make it interesting."
On the tour, this last week for the Plain White T's has been chaotic. Tom Higgenson, the lead singer, became sick and for the first time in 10 years, the band cancelled two back-to-back shows. "People come to see the lead singer," Tirio said. "These last couple of days was a massive rollercoaster ride of what the hell is going to happen."
The opening bands have also helped the Plain White T's during this last week when they have cancelled shows. Danger Radio and Single File performed for fans who stuck around the venues. "They held it down and gave the fans something in our place," Tirio said. "It's nice to know that as a team we can try to pick each other up sometimes you know. I was apologizing to all those guys like 'I'm so sorry we let you guys down' and they're like, 'no way dude, thanks for letting us still play, we had a great show yesterday.'"
The Plain White T's pulled through their performance at Salve. The concert reflected the vibe of their newest album "Big Bad World." Plain White T's recorded "Big Bad World" differently than their past albums which all were built off a click track and built together piece by piece. "Sometimes when we do that I think maybe there's a bit of a stiffness to it," Tirio said. "When you play live, there's that fun kind of tug back and forth that keeps it alive." The band recorded all the parts together to keep a 'live vibe.'
Plain White T's received two Grammy nominations this past year for their No. 1 hit single, "Hey There Delilah." The Grammy experience proved stressful to Tirio. "All you want to do is sit back and enjoy it," Tirio said. "By the time you're sitting in your seat, all you want to do is eat and eat anything. You're starving and you just want to use the bathroom and you're stuck. So it's kind of a blur."
"I wish you could be there without having to do press all day and you had almost like a practice run like this is the way we are going to walk to the seats and this is the bathroom you can use," Tirio said. "If we ever get to go back, we'll know. The next time will probably be awesome, but the first time, man it was madness."
The rerelease of their hit song, "Hey There Delilah" skyrocketed the band out of the indie world and into mainstream radio time. But along with the success of that song, many radio listeners only identify the Plain White T's with the acoustics of "Hey There Delilah."
"People hear 'Delilah' or they hear "1,2,3,4" and think that when they come to the show, they would almost be surprised that they'd hear rock songs which is kind of strange to me because when's the last time you heard a song and assumed that every other song by that band was exactly the same," Tirio said. "Band's have all kinds of songs."
"Hey There Delilah" has also been featured on American Idol. Tirio explained how amazing and weird it is to hear their song on the popular reality show. "It's weird to think that it's kind of part of pop culture in a way you know because we don't see any of that," Tirio said. "We just kind of hang out and do our thing and get out on the road and play. We don't really understand that something has impacted the public in a way where someone put it on American Idol and use it as their big shot."
The song has become a staple of pop culture however, but Tirio hopes those who like "Hey There Delilah," search for the rest of their songs. "I couldn't imagine only really liking one song and not trying to find the rest of the record so hopefully people go back and try to find stuff," Tirio said.
Tirio hopes that people have the same passion about music that when one finds a band, one needs to find the rest of that band's catalog of music. "When I found Green Day, it was right when "Dookie" was coming out and it hadn't really been a big hit yet and I totally loved it and as soon as I figured out they had two independent records before that, I had to go out and get them," Tirio said. "So all of a sudden, this one little song I heard from the band turned into 35 songs that I listened to that was great. I hope people still have that attitude."
Tirio and Higgenson started the Plain White T's knowing nothing and learning how to make music. They certainly know how to make music with their catchy songs and melodies. Their faith in the project was well rewarded.
"The fact that we got together and started off playing in crappy little community center basements and what not and actually proved what we had in our heads right, that's the most satisfying thing," Tirio said.
The Plain White T's plan to tour the rest of the year, jumping on summer and fall tours, and possibly heading to Europe. "We need to spend all of this year on the road," Tirio said. "We started off this year with a little bit of time off and that's never happened for us so now we've got to work."
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