11/15/2024, 6:57 AM
now, i usually like to keep my music talk in the music tab, however i feel that this topic warrants a full words entry. Plumtree is bar none one of my favorite bands of all time, and its kind of driven me insane that no one else i've ever met listens to them. it kinda blows my mind, because you'd think more people would have found them the way i did: through Scott Pilgrim. everyone's favorite so retro gamer comic (this is not meant as an insult, i love SP) actually gets his name from a Plumtree song. if you've ever thought "wow, that's a really specific name for a main character," you'd be right! because it's meant as a reference to track 9 of Plumtree's 1997 album 'Predicts the Future.' speaking of which, that's probably their most well known song, due to its connection to the comics. however, the references go deeper than that. they're sprinkled throughout the comics, some of the movies that Lucas Lee stars in are named after other Plumtree songs (namely You Just Don't Exist, Let's Hope There's A Heaven, Thrilled To Be Here and The Game's Over), the drummer for Clash at Demonhead is named after Lynette Gillis, one of the main members of the band, and Scott even wears a Plumtree shirt in the first volume of the comics and in the movie. (they removed this detail from Scott Pilgrim Takes Off and YES, i'm STILL SALTY ABOUT THAT. at least they put Scott Pilgrim (song) in at the end, but still, come on.) i feel like there's a couple others, but i just can't pull them out of my head right now. either way, all of this is because Brian Lee O'Malley, the author of the comics, is a big fan of the band. i know this because in the colored releases of the comics, there's these bonus sections at the very end talking about developmental and concept stuff. you know, sort of like a developer's commentary. in the first volume, Brian talks about Plumtree, how he discovered them, and what impact they had on the comic. this was how i found out about them, and shortly after beginning to listen to their discography, i realized "wow, this might be one of my new favorite bands."
so, what is Plumtree, anyways? well, it's an indie pop-rock band formed in 1993 by sisters Carla and Lynette Gillis, as well as classmates Amanda Braden and Nina Martin. they formed the band in high school with Lynette being the youngest member at age 14. man, when i was 14 i was making shitty RPG Maker games, and these people were already forming a band! that's nuts to me. they did a few shows at a cafe in their hometown of Halifax, played at their high school talent show, and even got their first song released on a cassette called No Class, a collection of songs by high school bands. then they put out a release called Green Mittens, which had the songs Dog Gone Crazy and Have a Banana on it. (these two songs would later be rereleased on the best of Plumtree compilation that was released in 2010, which is where i first heard them.) soon after, they'd release their first EP, Flutterboard. i really love Flutterboard for a lot of reasons, it has an early version of In The Sink, Let's Hope There's A Heaven is really good, and i personally prefer the version of Good Time To Tell Me that's here, compared to the final version on Mass Teen Fainting. hey, speaking of which...
Plumtree's first full album was Mass Teen Fainting, and what a way to start. this was my favorite album by them for a long time, and for good reason. tons of excellent tracks here that really embody Plumtree's upbeat, punky spirit, such as Tropical, Shoot To Scoop and Phil Was Always Here, while also being able to have a softer side with tracks like Only In The Movies, Aquarius, and especially Good Time To Tell Me. MTF's version is completely stripped down compared to Flutterboard, it's just Carla on guitar and vocals, and it's almost haunting in a way. while i do prefer Flutterboard's rendition, there is something special about MTF's version that really makes it stand out. any way you look at it, Mass Teen Fainting was a great starting point for the band, and was a great indication of things to come.
after finishing their first album, Nina Martin left the band in order to focus on college, and this is when Catriona Sturton joined. prior to being in Plumtree, Sturton had apparently never played bass and was instead a harmonica player, which i found to be interesting. between MTF and their next album, both Gillis sisters and a school friend named Lisa Verge actually formed another band called Absolutely Nothing, which released two EPs and then dipped. Absolutely Nothing I was released in 1995, and has a faster, punkier sound compared to Plumtree's normal business. this EP is notable for being really good, and you should go listen to it. it has a really good cover of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun on it, if that sells you at all. the band's goal was to make songs and finish them all in the span of one practice, letting them take it less seriously and just have fun. the whole thing was recorded in various rooms of the Gillis household as well, leading to the messy, lo-fi sound that permeates the whole thing. their second release was finished up in 1996, and was fittingly called Absolutely Nothing II. Verge was swapped out for guitarist Derrick Hiltz. similar to ANI, the whole thing was recorded in the basement of the Gillis home, and was mixed by David Cyr.
after the Gillis sisters finished up their work on Absolutely Nothing, they got back to work on Plumtree, and released their second album in April of 1997, Predicts the Future. PTF features a lot of the most iconic tracks by the band, and is probably my new favorite after listening to it again. my personal favorite has to be The Game's Over, i love the way that the tempo changes repeatedly throughout the song, it's a really cool touch and is just a great track overall. this was also the band's first dip into music videos, releasing ones for Go!, Scott Pilgrim, and You Just Don't Exist. speaking of which, yeah, Scott Pilgrim is from this album. here's the real question: is it good, or is it just overrated? uh, yeah it's good. it's their most well beloved song for a reason. (i mean, that reason is also because it was Scott Pilgrim (comic character)'s namesake, but... the song's also good.) some other standout tracks to me are Hang Up Baby, Why Won't You Stop, and Racing Gloves, they really embody that specific flavor of pop-rock that i love so much from Plumtree. overall, a really great album with a ton of great hits.
released a day after the turn of the century, This Day Won't Last At All was Plumtree's final album before breaking up later in July of that year, and it really feels like a breakup album. the whole thing is a lot more sensitive compared to their previous works, and the subject matter of each song is a little more geared towards that. I'm Not Moving is about seeing your friends moving away, and being really torn on whether to do the same, or stay in your own safe bubble at home. i interpreted Tonight's Not Alright as being about coming home after a really rough day, and just feeling that emptiness in your heart as you sit down and have it all replay in your head. i'm pretty sure Regret is about having a panic attack and doing something drastic, then being worried about how people who saw you in that state think of you now. (which i personally resonate with a lot, anxiety is such a bitch) these tracks tackle much more personal themes, and it makes me wonder if some of these were about specific experiences the band members had with each other or someone else. and even on top of all that, there's still a lot of fun songs here too, Hello Again, My My, and One-Stop come to mind specifically. This Day Won't Last At All is a really great sendoff to the band, and i don't think it could have ended on a better note.
so what's everyone up to now? well, after Plumtree, the Gillis sisters continued doing other assorted music projects, such as Bontempi in 2004, a band composed of the two of them, as well as Geoff Miller. they only did one album here, What Keeps Us Awake, and its much moodier compared to their earlier works. in 2010, Carla and Lynette would put out an EP called Sister, a reminiscent piece thinking back on their time touring with Plumtree. in 2015, they formed another band comprised of themselves and Michael Small called Overnight, who released the album Carry Me Home, a heavy piece written in response to the death of the Gillis' older sister, Darlene. Carla formed a band called The Lord Almightys with fellow Halifaxian Myles Deck also in 2015, and stuck with them until about 2017 or so. the two sisters reunited again in 2017 to form Bells Clanging, a more electronic-geared group that are still technically active, their most recent release was a three song EP in 2022. and only a few months after that, the two released a new single named Your Heart under the Overnight name, though Small was out of the equation for this one. as you can see, the Gillis sisters hopped around a lot post-Plumtree, and i got all of this info from their bandcamp, the Gillis Music Archive. it's super interesting seeing all of the different styles they shopped around to in this transitional period, which i guess they still are in technically. i follow them on instagram currently, and it seems like Overnight is the name they've decided on for now. the two seem to be doing good, which is always nice to see. as for the other two members, Sturton and Braden, Sturton has earned herself a wikipedia page, which is a pretty big feat. her most recent musical release was Night Bell, an EP released in April of 2024, and from what i've heard it's very folky and laid back. it's not my thing personally, but i feel my mom would dig it. i had a really hard time finding literally any information about Amanda Braden post-Plumtree, the closest i could find is a blogspot interview saying she lived in Vancouver sometime after the breakup, and a Discogs listing saying she contributed... something to the album The Plateau by International Falls in 2006. that's just about all i could find. there was even less info online about Nina Martin, for what it's worth.
in the end, i find Plumtree to be a super interesting band, and their history runs super deep in the indie scene. i love just how grassroots the band was from their start in high school in 1993, all the way until the end of their tours in 2000. who knew this band that O'Malley just decided to randomly reference a few times in his funny gamer comic just because he liked them were so fascinating! i think that's what i love so much about Plumtree. i love their music a lot, yes, but there's also that history aspect to it that really grabs me. so if you've read this far, go do yourself a favor and just go listen to their whole discography. it's like, what, three albums, a couple of EPs, and a compilation? you can blast through that in an afternoon, you have no excuse at this point.