The Plain White T’s have been producing catchy sing-along hits since 2000. After eight different releases in their discography, they released their self-titled album in November 2023. With a new album, comes a new tour and I recently had the pleasure to catch up with Tim Lopez (guitar and vocals) and talk about the new music, old music, and the upcoming Fired Up Tour, which kicks off January 23 in Spokane, WA at Knitting Factory. You can view all the dates and get tickets here.
Named after a single off the new album, Fired Up Tour, is to promote the new music. We talked about that a bit. Lopez mentions going into making this record he and Tom Higgenson (vocals) sat down and talked about going back to their earlier days.
When Tim Lopez joined the band Plain White T’s were considered a pop punk band and they wanted to bring back that type of influence, they had gotten away from this a bit over the years. They also realized the success that some of their acoustic-driven style songs had produced, like “Hey There Delilah”, “Rhythm of Love” and the song “1,2,3,4”. These were massive hits for the band, and they realize they do this very well so a new album just wouldn’t be them without something like these included.
All you need to know about the Plain White T's new tour
We had to bring up their stop in St. Louis, Missouri, which is the closest stop for me to travel to and Lopez mentioned being stoked to be back on the road again. When asked about the specific venue they’d be playing at, Delmar Hall, he stated he’s been on the road so much and not great at geography that he sometimes has to google where he’s been as far as venues go. I can imagine it wouldn’t be easy to just recall a venue in a random city.
The band recently played the When We Were Young festival and talked about the difference between something like that and a traditional tour. Being a more pop punk style festival, the band leaned into some of their earlier stuff and the new more pop punk style songs from the new record. With that, he also mentioned of course having to play the big acoustic hits. A 30-minute set they had to slow down for those and rush through to get some more songs in the set.
This, of course, differs from a traditional tour that they headline where they get 90-minute or so sets. Fans can look forward to hearing all the hits plus a lot of new stuff on this tour. Check out their new record titled Plain White T’s and catch them in a city near you.