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Plain White T's
with Tom Higgenson

So you're on the Nintendo Fusion tour --- in that spirit -- what's your favourite video game?
- Of course the classics like Super Mario Bros. and all that kind of stuff. Lately I don't play too many video games, but Mike, our bass player, he's a big fan. I think he's the most excited about being on the Nintendo Fusion Tour.

What's the setlist going to look like for NFT, will you be playing any old songs?
- We're going to be doing a few songs off our last record, All That We Needed, and then I think probably 4 brand new songs off our record that just came out, Every Second Counts.

If you were a piñata, what shape would you be & what would you be filled with?
- Ooh. That's a good one. Hmm. A piñata. For some reason I keep thinking of a donkey... I'm an ass or something? I don't know..
Yeah, but you wanna be original!
- Let's see. I would be....I don't know! A donkey. Maybe a guitar or something like that. But I think a donkey would be a more appropriate answer. And I'd be filled with... I don't know. What's this interview FOR?
Just my website. I've been asking this question for YEARS. You get some pretty great answers.
- Oh, okay. I WAS gonna say condoms for some reason.
You can say that. I've heard MUCH worse.
- You've heard much worse?
Yeah, there's been some pretty bad ones.
- Like what??
Someone said he wanted to be a genius, but then he'd be full of shit. I've had people filled with shards of glass, so when it falls down it stabs people. I've had sperm, condoms... pretty much everything.
- Ok, then I don't feel so bad.

What are some of your favorite movies?
- Movies. I like It's A Wonderful Life. I like Vanilla Sky. I like Roman Holiday. I like Cinema Paradiso. It's an Italian movie and it's one of my favourite movies. I like good movies. I like all kinds of movies.
Have you seen Grandma's Boy?
- I never saw that one... and I donnn't think I'm going to. Why, should I?
It's kind of funny. It's like in the vein of Wedding Crashers.
- Oh, really? Well, I love Wedding Crashers.
Yeah, it's kind of up there with that one.
- Wow. That's a pretty big pedastal you're putting that on!
Yeahhh... It's all about pot & video games. But it's great.
- I'll have to check it out.

Who's your favorite band to tour with?
- Obviously Hawthorne Heights. Cuz that's who we're on tour with now.
Hah, I was just about to ask who you're more excited to be on tour with now. So I guess that answers it now.
- Well, I don't really think they're my favourite band to be on tour with, but we love those guys. Basically it's the second day of this tour and I didn't get to watch them yet so I'll definitely be stoked to see them tonight. Other than that, we've toured with Jimmy Eat World which was incredible because they're one of my favourite bands. We toured a couple times with Simple Plan and they're the nicest guys you'd ever meet. They're always fun to tour with. We usually get along with every band we're on tour with. We've never had those tour horror stories or anything like that.

What's your favorite city to play in?
- I kinda like the major markets for some reason. Like New York, that whole upper East Coast area. And you know, LA. And that lower Southern California area. For some reason shows are always so amazing in those places. They're also fun places to be to hangout. We have friends everywhere we go. When we started touring it was like "I miss home. I miss my friends." and now it's like we've made friends.

Any particular songs fun to play live, and why?
- I like to play new songs. Those are always my favourite because they're new. They're more exciting. Actually, it's been sort of weird because some of the new songs we just started playing them obviously, and I don't really have my moves yet for them. Working them out... getting used to performing them. At times I'll be like "Okay, I'm a little bit out of my box." But it's always fun to play those songs because they're new and they're fresh. And then there's obviously the classics like Delilah. That's the crowd favourite. Songs that the crowd knows are good to play because you get the energy going in the room.

What was the first album you ever bought? Or first you cared about.
- I don't know if I actually cared about it, but I remember buying the Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Blood Sugar Sex Magic'. That was the first cd I ever actually went out and bought. Maybe 'Bad', Michael Jackson. But I think my mom bought that one. When I was a kid, there was the Monkee's. There was a tv show and they were like this Beatles...
I used to watch that show.
- Okay, so you know what I'm talking about. I used to love that show, and I was a really young kid, so I'd make my mom buy me Monkees tapes.
Did you want to be Davey Jones?
- I did!! How did you know? Who didn't, right?? Davey was my favourite.
Davey was probably everyone's favourite.
- Well, he was the 'cute' one.
Well, Marcia Brady had a big crush on him. She was the president of the Davey Jones fanclub. I don't know how I remember that. But I do.
- Yeah, I think you're dating yourself a bit.
I wasn't even alive back then. But, I remember it.
- Neither was I.
So that means we're awesome for remembering stuff like that.

What was the most outrageous gift a fan has ever given you?
- Fans give us some awesome stuff sometime. There's this girl in Milwaukee who always brings us the best presents. Like a little tie or a dvd. Just crazy stuff. It goes beyond being a fan. One time, these Japanese fans came and saw us and brought all this candy and stuff from Japan which was cool. Another Japanese girl brought us a fan, like a Japanese fan that you flip out. And I thought it was funny... a fan from a fan. Kind of clever, I guess.

If there was only one band you could see/listen to for the rest of your life -- who would it be?
- Probably the Plain White T's. Does that count?
That can count. But would you get tired of it?
- I don't know. Probably not.
Well, you could always just write new stuff, right? It works perfectly.
- Exactly! That way I'll never run out of stuff to listen to.

In orange juice -- do you prefer pulp or no pulp?
- I like pulp.

What's a typical day in the life of the T's like?
- Well, let's take today. I slept until about 3 o'clock. Then I got up and stumbled in to take a shower. Which is when I believe I missed your interview... but I didn't know! So it's not my fault. My tour manager got an email and he was like "Dude, I think you were supposed to have an interview like a half hour ago." Buut then I came back on the bus. And I had a bit of fruit and sat around and made some phone calls. Now I'm on the phone doing an interview. And we're gonna go have some food in a little bit. I'm going to change, put on some clean undies & clean socks. Put on my outfit for the night. Then we're gonna go play a show. Then we're gonna sign some autographs and hangout with some fans. And then we'll get on the bus. Maybe hopefully catch a bit of Hawthorne Heights playing. Then... I don't know.
Are you excited to have a bus this tour?
- Yeahhhh. We're really excited. Well, warped tour was the first tour we ever had a bus and we had to share it at warped but now we have our own bus we're really spoiled. It's so much easier.
Is it a nice bus?
- It's an okay bus. It has tvs, it has a refridgerator, a microwave.
So you have all the essentials. Do you have a toaster though?
- I think we do. I haven't used it yet.

Any last comments?
- Ummm. I don't know. I love music and... and... and... that's it.
Well, thanks for taking the time to do this.
- Thank youuu, Stephanie.

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