The Plain White T's

Not long back, Dave Tirio was playing poker online and watching TV in a hotel room when he became mesmerised by a land far away - Dubai.

"It was three hours of programming about the UAE, and it blew my mind. I started looking up all the facts about the place," Tirio said. "I'm a bit of a nerd. I like learning," he said, adding that he would love to come and play in Dubai.

Major success

The 27-year-old was speaking on the phone from his bed in a Los Angeles hotel room. The guitarist said he was tired, but his voice was still energetic and friendly.

"I think you're the last interview for today, so I think I'm off the hook after this," he said laughing.

It means he can finally get some sleep. He's still in a daze from all the publicity that he and the rest of the Plain White
T's - an American Indie pop/rock band - are getting.

They have recently released their fourth album Every Second Counts, which has become a major success worldwide, in particular because of the acoustic Hey There Delilah, which became a No 1 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK charts.

'Amazing'

"It's pretty amazing," he said about their sudden international stardom. "I'm always being blown away by the news. And
especially when it's half way around the world. That's incredible."

It all started in Chicago, Illinois, when lead singer of the band, 28-year-old Tom Higgenson, gathered his high school
buddies - Mike Retondo (bass and vocals), Tim Lopez (guitar and vocals), DeMar Hamilton (drums) and Dave Tirio (guitar) - to form the Plain White T's. The band name was chosen because their idols, such as Bruce Springsteen, James Dean and Michael Jackson, always wore white T-shirts.

Influence

The group played at any event possible and soon gained a loyal fan base.

"We had an Indie following, which helped support our touring," said Tirio. It was local groups such as Smashing Pumpkins that were a strong influence on their music, and who inspired them to keep pushing forward. "We went to see them play once," Tirio said. "But our number one band is definitely the Beatles. We are obsessed with them. We even study their songs."

'Boom'

It's Higgenson's lyrics about hook-ups, break-ups and all that jazz that has grabbed the attention of the masses. Songs such as Friends Don't Let Friends Dial Drunk and Hate (I Really Don't Like You) are fun, vindictive, energetic expressions of love and life.

But it was one song in particular that sealed the deal. Little did Higgenson know that when he fell in love with a girl
named Delilah he would cement the Plain White T's success and send them straight to the top.

"Hey There Delilah was the song that blew it open," Tirio admits. "It was like the tipping of the scales. The song pushed it over the cliff and 'boom' it started rolling. All of these years led up to this moment," he said.

Not many realise that Delilah was first released on their third album All That We Needed in 2005, but it failed to generate
much interest. "The weird thing about Delilah was that it was very underground when we first released it.

The video was made a long time ago. It would go to specialised places like MTV U [an American university music channel], but then it kinda fell off the map because we started with a label and did new stuff," he said.

Hesitant

When the Plain White T's were signed to their label, Hollywood Records under EMI, they decided to re-release Hey There Delilah and include it on the Every Second Counts album.

"We were all hesitant about it. We never thought it was the kind of song to be on the radio, because it has such fierce
sentiment," Tirio said.

Delilah is certainly an emotional tune. The melody exudes such raw passion and is intensely captivating; the lyrics dance through your soul while Higgenson's haunting voice cracks as he belts out "oh, it's what you do to me" with the love he has for a woman far away.

So, who is this Delilah? It turns out the real life story is not as romantic as the lyrical one. Ironically, tragic would be
a better term for it.

"She's a pretty cool girl," Tirio said. "We don't know her that well. Tom met her in Chicago before she went to school in New York. He didn't have much time with her, but they kept in touch. He wrote the song and gave it to her when it was done, but it turns out she had a boyfriend. And she stayed with the boyfriend. It was really funny," Tirio laughed.

'Not interested'

Delilah would come to watch them perform when the band played in New York and, according to Tirio, she said in a recent interview that she just couldn't live up to the song. "She said 'how can I tell him that I'm just not interested in him?',"
Tirio said.

The Delilah-era is over for Higgenson, but it's just the beginning for the Plain White T's. With many more songs up their sleeve, the band are planning to go back to the studio next year, and, if we're lucky, they just might pass through Dubai some day soon.

Lyrics: Hey there Delilah

A thousand miles seems pretty far but they've got planes and trains and cars.

I'd walk to you if I had no other way.

Our friends would all make fun of us,

And we'll just laugh along because we know that none of them have felt this way.

Delilah, I can promise you,

That by the time we get through,

The world will never ever be the same,
And you're to blame.

Oh, it's what you do to me...
Oh, it's what you do to me.