Photo Credit: Alex Roush
Plain White T's
It’s hard to believe that Illinois-based indie act Plain White T’s are in their 25th year of playing music together. However, in their quarter of a century as a band, they’ve experienced everything from humble beginnings in Lombard, just outside of Chicago, to a worldwide smash with pop punk ballad “Hey There Delilah.” In that time, they’ve made many trips to Milwaukee, as well, and will return once again this Saturday night, in a unique setting at the Milwaukee County Zoo as part of the A La Carte festival.
While the band is preparing new music, we got a chance to talk to frontman Tom Higgenson about the band’s rise, as well as his memories of Milwaukee as both a fan and touring musician.
You’re bringing back some of your earlier material for these upcoming shows, right?
Well first of all, I think being in the zoo setting is really fun. We played at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago once, and it was just the most beautiful, perfect night. Perfect location. It’s fun because we don’t really hit the zoo circuit very often (laughs) but we’re excited for it. As far as bringing back older material, we’re trying to dive in to fan favorites and what people respond to. We’re going to debut at least one new song, too, maybe more. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but at least one brand new song. We’re working on some new material now, so we’ll be trying some of that out live, too. Plus, being from Chicago, it’s about as close as we can get to a local show without being in our hometown.
Does it feel like some of the energy from the band’s early shows comes back when you play that material?
Absolutely. Because of not being able to play shows from 2020 to basically the end of last year, we were stuck home reminiscing about the days when we could go get on an airplane and play shows, and see the people. So the fact that we’re playing shows again, it almost does have the same feeling of when we started playing in 1997. Every show was exciting, every show meant something, and it was all important. We can say “oh man, we get to play Milwaukee again” because we haven’t been able to play there in years, and it’s almost like going back and playing for the first time.
When you think of playing Milwaukee, does any particular gigs come to mind?
Shows at The Rave were always the best. Either playing there, or coming up to see bands. I remember I saw Panic! At The Disco at The Rave, probably like eight years ago. That building is so cool, and haunted, too. I’ve seen the pool, been down there. One show stands out though. Whenever anyone asks about magic moments for the band, though, I talk about when we played Summerfest in 2007. ‘Delilah’ was blowing up, and it was a surreal moment, because the song was just hitting the radio. We had been opening for people mostly, and when we came out, there’s like 10,000 people there. We all in realtime looked at each other super confused, like, “what the hell? Fall Out Boy’s not playing next. This is for us?” and it was the first time we really saw the effect of a hit song. That was one of our favorite touring memories.
With a new song, is there any plans to take things into a full album, or are you just experimenting at this point?
We are knee-deep in making a new record right now. It’s early in the process, still deciding which songs are going to make it. There’s a handful that we know are done and going to make the album. We’ll hopefully start releasing music with a single this fall, and an album by spring of next year.
Because you’re playing a zoo, we have to know… if you had to pick, what animal would you be?
I don’t know if I would want to be a zebra, but a zebra is one of my favorite animals. They just look so cool. If I was an animal, though, I’d be some sort of bird. They can fly, and that feels like it would be so freeing.
