New York City isn't exactly known for its mexican food and that's evident the minute our order arrives at a Mexican joint in Midtown Manhattan a few hours before they are slated to play an intimate show for fans at Gramercy Theatre.

"This food looks very average, " guitarist Tim Lopez exclaims when his steak tacos arrive—and in all honesty, he's being pretty kind.

"Mine's pretty good," the band's frontman Tom Higgenson chimes in. (Although in fairness, he did order a veggie burrito.)

"His ultimately can't be messed up, it's rice and beans in a tortilla," Lopez adds. That said, the Plain White T's know more than anyone that sometimes the seemingly simplest things can end up being massive setbacks.

Jonah Bayer/Myspace

We all know the story of the Plain White T's rise to mainstream success nearly a decade ago via their ubiquitous ballad "Hey There Deliah," which went platinum in 2007 and was nominated for two Grammys. The band—who had actually formed a decade prior to that in Illinois—had two more massive hits in 2009 and 2011 with "1234" and "Rhythm Of Love."

But for the past few years, things have been relatively quiet in the Plain White T's camp, although it wasn't the band's decision to take five years between 2010's Wonders of the Younger and their latest full-length American Nights which came out on Megaforce Records in late March.

"We made a full record three years ago and the label loved it but we weren't necessarily in love with it," Higgenson explains.

"They kept pushing back the release date and kind of holding us in this weird limbo because we couldn't really go on tour because we didn't have anything to promote," Higgenson continues, adding that eventually the band—which also features guitarists Dave Tirio, bassist Mike Retondo and drummer De'Mar Hamilton—ended up negotiating their way out of their deal and walking away with their masters.

"Then we looked at the album and said, 'A few of these songs were on an EP that came out two years ago,' and another few of them, as a whole, we didn't really dig so we scrapped half the album and recorded six songs in seven days in my basement," he adds. "It was the most inspired week in the past five years for the band and they're my favorite songs on the album."

That's evident listening to the independently released album's first single "Pause," which not only features an instantly infectious melody and chorus made for sing-alongs but features lines like, "I don't want to miss this moment and I can't get it back when it's over," which see Higgenson writing less about love and getting metaphysical about trying to be present. "I guess I'm the optimist in the band but I also live a lot in nostalgia," he explains.

"I'm always kind of looking back because I think where you come from is important to make you who you are so for me that song is about taking a minute to acknowledge what's happening around you," he continues. "Like even right now we're doing an interview here and eating lunch. This is a good place to be."

The band's sense of perspective is rooted in the fact that before they were mainstream superstars they cut their teeth on backbreaking tours like the Vans Warped Tour or playing in basements or makeshift venues, a chapter of the band that they acknowledge a lot of their fans may not be aware of. "A lot of people have no idea what the rest of our catalog sounds like," Lopez admits. "There's probably plenty of fans that have three of our songs on their phones."

However, Higgenson explains that while the band never set out to intentionally write a hit like "Hey There Delilah," for him the greatest reward as a songwriter is writing something that connects with listeners in such an overwhelming way.

"When you sit down and write a song obviously you make it very personal for you but when you hear someone tell you that 'Radios In Heaven' was played at a loved one's funeral or '1234' was played at someone's wedding and made a deep impact on their life, that's pretty badass," he continues.

While the band obviously hope to continue that mainstream success with American Nights they also hope to be able to reconnect with old-school fans who may have written off the group when they heard their music played inside of their local Target. "The ultimate goal would be to have it all," Higgenson acknowledges. "We just want as many people as possible to hear the band because I feel like what we're doing is great, I always have, it's just trying to get people to give the band a chance."

Better yet, Plain White T's plan on making up for their major-label misadventure by continuing to release more music and videos on their own timeline.

Jonah Bayer/Myspace 

"There's a freedom with being independent again that we didn't have before," Lopez says. "We want to put out another record within this year. There are so many artists out there who are really prolific and constantly feeding their fan base with new material and for us it was like, 'Write an album, record it, get it out and work it for two-and-a-half years,'" he continues. "And that's a long time between albums when you're a songwriter who can turn out songs. It's just a weird process because in any other art form, as soon as you finish something, you should be able to get it out there. We haven't been able to do that."

Similarly the band also aren't able to finish their food (at one point Lopez speculates that his steak may actually be camel meat), but luckily they aren't competitive eaters, they're a rock band—and tonight, the show must go on.