Plain White T's Biography

Very prepared to gain more exposure from their onstage gigs, Plain White T's appears to be tireless indeed in delivering continuous live performances throughout the rest of year 2006. Already added to the Panic! At the Disco tour since November 13 as the band's opening act up to date 26, the quintet next is set to hold two special showcases at Michigan State University's Union Ballroom in East Lansing on date 30 and at Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa on December 3. By the following day, they will be joining the likes of Taking Back Sunday and 30 Seconds to Mars to tour around the States for the first half of December, taking stops in cities such as Charlotte, Tucson, Glendale, and Los Angeles before kicking off their U.K tour with Hellogoodbye starting from January 23, 2007 in Portsmouth.

Easily noticeable for their catchy melodies, upbeat guitar riffs, plus songs that deal with the age-old themes of heartbreak, angst, and betrayal, Plain White T's was established sometime during fall 1997 in Villa Park, the suburb of Chicago, Illinois where bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and Fall Out Boy also hail from. The story began its chapter when two young guys namely Tom Higgenson and Ken Fletcher unanimously decided to continue being together following the disbanding of their music act Harvey's Daughter, which they had played in since high school. Intending to form a power-pop trio, the pair then recruited Higgenson's friend Dave Tirio as the drummer while Higgenson himself took lead vocal plus guitar and Fletcher handled the bass guitar.

In their effort to find a proper name for the band, Higgenson later strangely noticed that every single CD he had turned out to have a picture of person wearing a plain white T-shirt and with other personnel's agreement, finally concluded to call the troupe Plain White T's. "Anyone can look great in a plain white T, and that's how we feel about our music," so he said. "Anybody can hear it and enjoy it." All settled, the threesome wisely did not waste time to embark on their journey in music scene together, spending the next two years to play every gig they could before adding one more member, Steve Mast, on guitar also vocal to afterwards launch a self-released album titled "Come on Over" in 2000.

Successfully sold the record for over 3,000 copies, Plain White T's optimistically followed it up with another self-released work of "Stop" in November 2001. By this time, their fan base in the Midwest had already grown large which subsequently enabled them to perform as the opening act for notable music groups like Sum 41, Jimmy Eat World, plus Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, to name few. Also making a number of sold out shows of their own gigs at some Chicago's prestigious venues during the period, it really did not take long for the band to draw attention from the music industry, particularly Fearless Records that later not only signed them in, but also re-released "Stop" on August 20, 2002 to the mainstream market.

Despite this satisfying progress, however, the troupe sadly had to witness the departure of both Fletcher and Mast as they toured heavily in support of the album, but everything fortunately went back to the track when the remaining members managed to construct a new lineup as a quintet instead. Coming to replace Fletcher and Mast were Mike Retondo and Tim Lopez, respectively, with Higgenson concluding to handle vocal only and Tirio switching to guitar while the drummer's seat was given to a guy named De'Mar Hamilton. "This line-up clicks on so many levels," Higgenson happily commented. "It finally feels right. It finally feels like we're a band."

Under this formation, Plain White T's confidently issued their next studio effort "All That We Needed" on January 25, 2005. The record resulted considerably great as it amazingly strived to peak on the 26th rank of Billboard's Top Heatseekers also the 31st of Top Indie Albums, but it was the album's single of "Hey There Delilah" that really introduced them to a new demographic and cemented their status as potential hit-maker. "We knew '...Delilah' was going to be something people would like," said Higgenson. "And it's turned out to be our biggest song yet." Following this, a third LP titled "Every Second Counts" was then released on September 12, 2006 with track "Hate (I Really Don't Like You)" becoming its first single launched.