<i>Big Bad World</i> more feel good than punk
The album isn't as dismal as it sounds.
Published Dec. 5, 2008
Just when you think they can't possibly get any better and top their Grammy-nominated song, "Hey There Delilah," the boys from the Plain White T's slapped audiences with what is surely their best album to date.
They have recently been touring on the "Rock Band Live" tour with bands such as Panic at the Disco and Dashboard Confessional, but now the band is focusing its energy on solo shows for this new album.
Coming off of their highly successful Every Second Counts album, the Chicago natives' most recent album, Big Bad World, is an all-upbeat sound that moves audiences with their fresh new lyrics.
Band frontman and songwriter Tom Higgenson said he's no longer just singing about girls.
"Overall, I think it's an album of hope," Higgenson said. "I mean, the title of course is called 'Big Bad World,' which sounds kind of dismal, but the idea is that even in the darkest times or even when you make stupid mistakes or the whole world seems to be against you, you know it's going to be OK."
Listeners will get this sense of hope with lyrics such as, "Someday we'll all get started/Someday we'll have what we wanted." The album really relates to young college-aged kids with big dreams and tough times ahead.
The music itself is very positive and hopeful, too, even when the lyrics might not be, proof of The Beatles and Beach Boys influences that Higgenson and the other founding member, Dave Tirio, often cite. The band recorded the album live, and each song seems to be more '60s, California, feel-good than the sounds of the band's pop-punk past.
"When we record we always just kind of go for it," Higgenson said. "For this record, we really had an idea of what we wanted to do before we even recorded a note of it. We knew we kind of wanted to, you know, play up that '50s and '60s vibe that's kind of always been in my music. We really wanted to just make it a more honest and sincere sounding record."
The band really takes to heart the messages the guys try to give to their listeners on this album.
And they aren't new to the music scene, as some might believe. In fact, they have been at this for a long time. Of course it wasn't without trials that they got to this point.
Even after becoming a big part of Chicago's intense music scene (which they grew up watching major bands and musicians from around the world come through), the boys still knew they were going to have to be patient.
"If you really want it, then there is nobody that can stop you," Higgenson said. "I never thought for a second that I wasn't going to make it or that the band was going to fail or break up."