One of our favorite up-and-coming bands, Plaid Brixx, is currently out on a huge tour with We The Kings, Cute is What We Aim For, and Astro Lasso. Launched last month, this tour is taking them to more than 30 cities across the U.S.
We were fortunate enough to steal some of their time between shows to find out exactly what to expect from their live performances, their funniest story as a band, and so much more.
You’ve played loads of festivals, including SXSW, CMJ, Fashion Meets Music Festival, Musikfest, The New Albany Classic. Now you’re about to head out on a 32-date tour with We The Kings. Is this your longest time on the road as a band?
Frontman Chris, here. Thanks for your interest in Plaid Brixx. Yes, this is our first “full length” tour with 32 performances over 7 weeks. So far, it’s been an incredible experience to get to meet our fans in all these great cities.
Is there a city you’re most excited to play in and explore?
It’s more about the fans than the cities, but there are a couple of iconic venues that we’re excited about. Playstation Theater in NYC was a surreal experience…great stage (and we need a big stage because we move around a lot), great sound system and the fans were out of this world. And we will play shortly at Troubadour in Los Angeles. We’ve always wanted to play there, so it will be a special experience.
Tell us about your new tour van!
Our tour van has a name, Charles aka Charlie aka CharChar. Charlie is a Ford Transit van and takes good care of us, and traveling this way is so much better than what we were doing before, which was using 2 SUVs. I can’t believe we didn’t get a van years ago.
Can you describe your sound to use using a combination of 3 well-known artists?
Our sound could be considered a mash up of Taylor Swift, CHVRCHES and Panic! At the Disco. Pop, indie, dance…it’s all in there.
What’s your pre-show ritual?
Warming up for us is pretty simple…we don’t get nervous, so it’s about doing a few things to get ready. I do some voice runs and then also do a bit of stretching to get ready for all the dancing and gymnastics on stage. Mark and Jared drink some Red Bull and/or coffee, and make sure their gear is ready to go.
What can we expect from your live performances on tour?
For this tour, our focus is on the songs on the EP we released in 2016…so expect some great music, and as you might gather from some of the previous answers, we have high energy performances, so be ready to dance!!! And at the end of every show, we give out roses to our MVP, the person who was had the best time and rocked out!
What’s one thing you absolutely have to take with you on the road?
Mark: Snapbacks.
Jared: Headphones.
Chris: Gaming computer.
We saw you tweeted, “Someone drove by blasting ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’–analysis: cool people still exist.” Very important: What are your top 3 favorite Fall Out Boy songs?
You already have one of them, ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’, and the other two would be ‘Dance, Dance’ and ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s an Arms Race’.
Someone drove by blasting 'Sugar, We're Going Down'–analysis: cool people still exist
— ### PLAID BRIXX ### (@PLAIDBRIXX) January 8, 2017
Tell us the funniest/best story that’s happened to you as a band.
We’ve had a lot of great and unusual things happen on the tour, but one of the funniest was when a fan asked our drummer, Mark, for a pair of underwear. Fans do the craziest things, but we love them!
Get tickets to see Plaid Brixx on tour with We The Kings, Cute is What We Aim For, and Astro Lasso from Ticketmaster.