Plain White T's, a homecoming of sorts

All success and "Delilah" radio play aside, The Plain White T's are still suburban boys, wrapped up in many of the same rock relationships they formed during their earliest years. Technically, most of them even still live here, some of them with their parents. And for this popular music outfit to make its way back to one of the 'burbs' biggest stages is outwardly important for them -- and the scene.

They've come a long way. From practicing in their respective basements and struggling to book shows at Chicago's Metro to forming an unofficial indie collective and getting signed to tour the country, the T's more or less define the epitome of "making it." They talked to Beep about what it's like to come home.

Dave Tirio

Q. Name drop for me. What were some of the bands you used to play with?

A. Of course, if you're talking West Suburban bands, you're talking about 10 years ago. So 10 years ago, when the band was getting started and we had to find shows in the suburbs, there was of course Lucky Boys Confusion and the brother band Swizzle Tree, and The Dog & Everything, and Retro Morning, who are now This Is Me Smiling, and just all kinds of bands that were always around in the suburbs. And we'd always play with them at the Downers Grove First Congregational Church, or at the Lombard Community Center we did a ton of shows, and the Elmhurst Lodge.

Q. Did you ever play the Wheaton Grand?

A. We played the Wheaton Grand a bunch of times. You know, the Wheaton Grand came around kind of later. To be able to play there for 600 or 800 kids felt almost like a Metro vibe.

Q. Do you still view the suburbs as your home base?

A. Oh, yeah. I mean none of us have moved to the city or anything like that. We all still live at home. We're pretty much homeless, I guess. Our home is a bus or a hotel room, or occasionally we sleep on airplanes. Your home is wherever you close your eyes. De'Mar kind of spends a lot of time in the city, but we're pretty much all still suburban. I mean, once we do see a little bit of money or something and we can actually think about buying our own places or moving out of our parents' places, I think that I'd like to personally stay suburban.

Tom Higgenson

Q. How long were you guys at it before you were on the suburbs' "Songs From a Scene" (local music) compilation?

A. I don't remember exactly when that was, but we were probably a band for about three years before that happened, maybe four.

Q. What was the scene like at that point?

A. It was awesome. All the bands on that CD, we were all friends. And we would all literally play every show together, everywhere around within an hour of the city. Every suburb, any place that had shows, we would play there with a few of those other bands. And the even cooler part is that there was a (family) of kids that would go see all these shows and follow all these bands.

Q. What's this about Dave telling me you're not making any money? You wrote "Hey There Delilah." I mean, that's huge.

A. Well, that's hopefully coming very soon. Dave is modest, and he's right, we haven't really seen any money yet, but, I dunno, we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Q. How many times have you been asked about Delilah? Like, give me a rounded number.

A. Let's see, the song came out (on a mainstream level) about what, three months ago? And that's what, 90 days? And I probably do on average two interviews a day, so probably like 180 times. Probably more than that, actually.

Q. How many of those answers are absolutely true?

A. All of them. I try to tell it in a slightly different way every time, not to get boring. Once in a while, I'll start it with, "Oh, that's a song about my dog." But then I can't really lie like that, so I'll tell the real story after that.

Q. How much inspiration do you still take from these fine, humble 'burbs of Chicago?

A. Unfortunately, we're not there very often anymore, but a lot of the songs off "Stop," they're all about one girl basically. And she lives in the suburbs, of course. Even some of the songs off the new album. I don't know. You can move away, but it's still part of you forever.