Plain White T's

"Tonight I'll get up on the stage and all my problems seem to go away/Tonight I'll get up in those lights and I will sing my best for you tonight," proclaims Plain White T's frontman Tom Higgenson on "Sing My Best," from the album All That We Needed. It's not uncommon for musicians to experience a cathartic release onstage. But for singer Higgenson, the rush of performance is particularly acute. "Being up there, connecting with the fans, there's nothing like it," he insists. This intense feeling may explain why the Plain White T's are on the road nine months out of the year, plying their hook-laden alt pop to a devout, ever-expanding fan base. During their frequent cross-country jaunts, the T's have shared stages with such bands as Jimmy Eat World, Sugarcult, Saves the Day, Motion City Soundtrack and Simple Plan, and played at the Bamboozle and on the Vans Warped Tour. The band began in a suburban Chicago basement in 1997. Higgenson and co-founder/high-school pal Dave Tirio fooled around playing cover songs before the former began experimenting with songwriting. Previously a drummer, Higgenson switched to guitar and stepped into the lead-vocalist spot; Tirio, meanwhile, anchored the songs on rhythm guitar. In the eight years since, other band members have come and gone. Still, the singer couldn't be happier with the band's current players. In addition to Higgenson and Tirio, the T's now feature Tim Lopez on guitar and vocals, Mike Retondo on bass and vocals and De'Mar Hamilton on drums. "This line-up clicks on so many levels," Higgenson marvels. "It finally feels right. It finally feels like we're a band." Higgenson's newfound confidence is evident on All That We Needed, the band's sophomore release. From the percussive fury that kicks off the record's title track to the deft acoustic strumming on "Hey There Delilah," the album's fleet 40 minutes are packed with energy, melody and purpose. For this album, the T's had the luxury of recording in a proper studio (North Hollywood?s Hard Drive) with a producer, Ariel Rechtshaid (The Hippos, We Are Scientists). This was quite a departure from the "hectic and random process" Higgenson remembers as the recording of the debut T's effort, Stop, in a friend's basement. "We love that record but we had no idea what we were doing," he confesses. "It was awesome just being in a real studio with a real producer this time. The whole process was incredible." The expanded sonic possibilities didn't change the band's crunchy coating/creamy center approach to pop-rock, however. Nor did a big studio dampen the emotional urgency of their songs. Thematically, Needed deals with breakups ("Anything," "Take Me Away"), longing ("Last Call," "Hey There Delilah") and the loneliness of life on the road ("Sing My Best"). But for Higgenson, what underlies the entire disc is a sense of freedom born of unity. (more on fearlessrecords.com)