Plain White T's and Teenage Joans

The band originally came together as a power trio with high school friends Tom Higgenson as singer and guitarist, Ken Fletcher on the bass guitar and Dave Tirio on the drums. The band made their live debut while playing local shows on the thriving Chicago punk scene, but soon after their live debut they had graduated to playing famed rock clubs like the Chicago’s Metro. As their shows got bigger and they started developing a real life fan-base, the band recruited Steve Mast to play lead guitar and sing backup vocals to give them a fuller live sound. However, the band were nearly kneecapped before they could truly begin when Higgenson broke several vertebrae in his back in a car crash while driving the bands van.

Higgenson was in a brace for three months, and needed to learn how to walk again, but the whole sorry situation changed him in the best way it could. Higgenson realized that life was short, precious and could stop at any moment. Moreover, he assessed what was going on in his life and found that the band was the most important part of it, and that he was fronting an outfit with enough talent to hit the big time in the near future. With that at the forefront of his mind, he started writing songs that carried more of himself in them than ever before, and the whole band started taking their career more seriously as a result. The band released their debut album “Come On Over” in 2000 but it was their second effort, 2002’s self-financed and released effort “Stop” that got the band their first record deal with Fearless Records.

Unfortunately, this lead to another pothole in the bands road to stardom, as while they toured “Stop” in 2003, their first tour with a label backing them, Mast and Fletcher both decided to leave the band. The band had far too much momentum going their way however, and Tirio switched from Drums to rhythm guitar while they recruited Tim Lopez to play lead guitar, Mike Retondo to play bass and De’Mar Hamilton to take the newly vacated drum stool. This is the line-up that Plain White T’s play with to this day, and as if it wasn’t clear enough that they’d made the right choice, they would follow this up by briefly becoming one of the hottest bands in the world.

In 2006 they released their single “Hey There Delilah”, and over a year after its release it hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in July 2007. The track was nominated for two Grammy awards and the album it came from “Every Second Counts” was certified Gold. The band found themselves playing shows alongside Panic! At The Disco and Dashboard Confessional, along with headline shows all over the world on the back of the success of “Hey There Delilah”. Ever since then the band have been one of the most beloved cult acts in American rock, with their songs appearing in everything from iCarly to Hollyoaks, and for that, along with their impeccable live show, they come highly recommended.