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TH : Yeah , we ' ve gotten lucky enough to tap into a few of those , which is crazy . It ’ s not like we went into it [ thinking ] we need to make a hit album . It was like , we need to make a Plain White T ’ s album . That ' s the album cover we have , just a plain white T-shirt . Just leave everything as stripped down as possible . No fake pretenses , no facades . This is what it is kind of thing .
Plain White T ’ s circa 2011
22 illinoisentertainer . com july 2024 of expand our boundaries or do something different . Whatever we ' re feeling at the time or whatever is inspiring us we push ourselves in that direction . But never have we really looked at it like when the average person hears the name Plain White T ' s . Of course , they think of “ Delilah ,” they think of “ Rhythm of Love ,” “ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,” maybe “ Our Time Now ,” “ Hate ,” right ? What is it about those songs ? Why don ' t we try to hone in on the vibe that those songs had ? It ’ s not like I rolled up my sleeves and did a bunch of studying or something . It was just keeping the writing very pure , very honest . And the production , I ' d say even more .
We left the production raw and rough around the edges and kind of stripped down . We didn ' t overproduce anything . Now , you can make something sound as perfect as you can . You can put in a cue in AI , and it will make you a perfect song . But we really wanted to leave the human qualities in there , like the guitar that ' s a tiny bit out of tune at that one chord or it didn ' t quite cut off at the right time , but it ' s kind of cool . Just stupid things like that we left intentionally because it made it feel more real . If you go back to those songs people think of when they think of the band , I feel a common thread is authenticity , it is sincerity , it is heart . So , we tried to make sure we didn ' t squeeze any of that out with the production . We left all the vulnerability , the rawness , and the honesty in there .
IE : And that ’ s why those songs have resonated with people for so long . It ' s about authenticity and heart . Sure , you can make a song sound perfect , but are you going to remember it in a year ? Hell , even in like a month ? But a song that ' s genuine and written from the heart stays with you forever .
IE : Was the way you approached or recorded the new record any different from how you guys have recorded and written your albums in the past ? TH : A little bit as far as the recording . At this point , we are all spaced out ; we have been for a while . I bounce around between Chicago , Nashville , and LA . Our drummer [ De ' Mar Randell Hamilton ] is in LA . Our guitar player , Tim [ Lopez ] is in Austin , Texas . And Mike [ Retondo ], our bass player is in Aurora , Illinois . So , we ' re all a little bit scattered . Tim contributed one song , but most of [ the album ] was me messing around with either my production buddy , Dan or some friends in LA I worked with . Once we touched on something really cool , we ’ d bring in the rest of the band , and everybody put in their two cents and added their touches . In a sense , that ' s kind of how we always do it .
But it was a little bit more pieced together on this album , which made it more exciting . It wasn ' t a lot of hours logged in the studio doing pre-production and overthinking everything . It was a lot of first instincts like this feels cool . We ' re not recutting it . Let ' s just roll with it and not think about it too much . To get that vibe of honesty , we didn ' t want to overthink all the life out of it . So , it was a little bit different in that sense . We ' d all get together once the song was ready . Then we ' d just mess around in the studio for like a day . And that was the song . It made it a lot more fun because everything you were doing never got stale . It always felt fun and fresh by not overthinking it .
IE : It can be so hard to turn off that part of your brain that just wants to keep going back continues on page 32