Plumbing the depths of Plumb
October 10, 2003 | 12:00am
I got the call to do the interview only three hours before it was supposed to happen. (Apparently, they wanted someone smarter, cooler and much better-looking, with a much longer mane of hair than my chopped lettuce of a ‘do could muster, but Igan D’Bayan was unavailable.) I had never heard a note from Plumb but the interview had to happen. Normally, I make it a point to listen to the music before I meet its creator for the simple reason that it’s the only currency of note in such encounters but I reluctantly agreed.
Upon arriving at the venue where all the press were supposed to meet Plumb, I found out that it’s almost my time, hardly giving me the time to even peruse the biography or look at the sleeve-notes of the CD. (I wasn’t fashionably late on purpose but rather – if you can believe it — stuck in traffic. Hey, don’t groan; it was raining.) With a glass of iced tea in one hand and tape recorder in another, I was quickly deposited into a seat by the obviously harassed PR of the whole meet n’ greet opposite a woman with the vertiginous features of Celine Dion but with the kindly expression of Bonnie Raitt. This was Plumb.
We stared at each other across the table. At that moment, I almost believed that I could indeed pull this off, acting like an overpaid psychiatrist – just nodding and asking the occasional general question. (All rock stars are by definition neurotic.) Then her gaze shifted and she cocked her head.
The game was up.
"You don’t know who the hell I am," she chimed.
I admitted the truth.
Assuring me that it’s alright, she told me her real name is Tiffany Arbuckle. I reached to turn on my recorder lying just a few inches from a plate containing a meal she’s hardly touched. Before I press the button, I told her that since she also doesn’t know me that we’re even.
"Right," she returned with a smile.
Click.
Young Star: Growing up, what did you listen to?
Plumb: A lot of Fleetwood Mac…
Stevie Nicks or Peter Green?
Both, actually…But I would say that Stevie Nicks’ voice reminds me of my childhood. I don’t know if that makes sense to you but her voice just brings out all these memories. My childhood is her voice.
That’s quite interesting.
My mom had this old car that was orange, and every time she put on the radio, it was always Stevie Nicks singing, coming out of the speakers. So when I hear a Fleetwood Mac song, or a Stevie Nicks song, it reminds me of being a kid. It’s a very content sound.
Have you met Stevie Nicks?
No, but I would love to.
Did you write songs when you were a kid?
I didn’t write songs growing up; I mostly wrote poetry and stuff. I only started writing songs when I was signed.
That’s strange but I guess they hired you because of your voice?
Yeah. I was a back-up singer doing session work. Also, I was teaching gymnastics and all kinds of odd jobs just to make ends meet. You could say I didn’t pursue it like most but someone heard me sing and that someone told someone who told someone…Until I was offered a record deal.
That’s kind of refreshing to hear.
Well, the whole thing since has been a blast. I mean, it was only a hobby; I didn’t major in music or take up a course about the music business. It just kind of happened.
I played a little piano, and the clarinet but nothing formal.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Well, I still have a little itch to be a nurse.
Really?
Yeah. I guess when I have children, and in my 50s, I’ll be an older nurse.
What’s the allure?
I love medicine. I’ve always been fascinated by it; always been very interested in it. And I think I’m very compassionate towards people with sickness and…I don’t know. I just love it. And I believe if you’ve got a passion for something that you should explore it.
Funny, I collect medical books.
You do?
Yup. One of my favorites is a copy of Gray’s Anatomy that I bought at this used bookstore. When you flip the pages it gives out a distinct musk of formalin; also it has all these odd stains that I imagine are from the cadavers that the previous owner – probably a student – was dissecting. Another is this textbook I got which is about systolic heart murmurs; fascinating stuff.
That’s interesting.
I don’t want to be a doctor, though. I just like reading the literature.
Interesting hobby.
Well, do you collect medical books?
No, but I do have a family medical book that I like to read.
At this point, a woman broadly smiling appears and hands Plumb her cellphone. Gamely accepting it, Plumb talks to the caller with bonhomie, thanking her for supporting her music and asking her to be at the show so that they can talk some more. I believe I can hear someone squeal at the other end of the line (and a thud, but it all may due to the iced tea – a lethal amount of caffeine – that I’m drinking).
What was that about?
Oh, that girl was interviewing me before you and her best friend is a big fan. So she asked if I could say hi to her through the phone.
You seem to have this effect on people. I was able to read in your bio (before being whisked away, kicking and screaming, to the interview, of course another hallucination brought by too much caffeine) about a fan of yours who walked up to you and confided a very personal trauma in her life.
It’s strange but I’ve always been someone people felt comfortable telling some of the most intimate details of their life. They allow themselves to vulnerable and with this record "Beautiful Lumps of Coal" I’m just learning to be vulnerable myself, a kind of giving back. And that’s the inspiration from my fans. I’ve written songs drawn from them or specifically about them.
Could you be specific?
There’s a song I wrote called Damaged that was inspired by a letter I got from a girl who was being molested.
Have you met her since?
Yeah. She’s been to half a dozen of my concerts and we’ve talked and she knows that song is about her.
That’s nice to hear.
She’s even in charge of my merchandise table, selling T-shirts and stuff. She’s a really big fan.
Doesn’t the attention ever get annoying?
No, I don’t think so. If that was annoying to me now, then I think I’m in the wrong job. It’s humbling, and I feel that responsibility whenever I hop on that platform, and the lights turn on and I sing into the microphone and they’re listening to me, that I have something valid to say. And they’re moved by my encouragement. I just don’t take that lightly.
Even when you’re just dining out or taking a stroll? Isn’t that an intrusion into your privacy?
No, because when you are given the opportunity to do what you love – going up on stage with people paying money to watch you for an hour and hearing what you have to say – the least I can do is shake your hand, sign your T-shirt and answer a question. Don’t get me wrong: I think there are boundaries. But for a true fan interrupting me during dinner isn’t too much to ask.
What burns you out about the music business?
Definitely not my fans! It’s the political nightmare of the recording industry which gets me down. People saying one thing and doing another, and this was a shock to me. I hadn’t prepared, had not educated myself about it and was just thrust into this situation where I was being molded and shaped into someone who I wasn’t. I was naïve but I knew what I didn’t want and walked away. Of course, Curb records made me an offer I couldn’t refuse so here I am still in the business.
What kind of offer?
Something in favor of the artist.
What’s next for you?
I don’t know and that’s the fun part.
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