Just For The Pleasure : The Organ

Details: Published on Monday, 11 July 2011 00:18; Written by E-Li

the organ

The Organ was a band which I discovered a few years ago.

Unfortunately, this band does not exist anymore.

Even if their music was great, the story of the band will be stopped after an album which will stay a pleasure to listen for people who enjoy great music. Let's be back on a band full of lesbians who make us love the sound of an organ during a few years.

The organ members

The band was at the beginning a trio called Full Sketch with Katie (singer), Barb and Sarah. Barb decided to stop and was replaced by Jenny (organ). The Organ was born.

Then Debora (guitar) and Shelby (drum) joined. Finally Sarah stopped after the first EP and was replaced by Ashley, who also stopped to play in the band after the first album. Shmoo, the sister of Katie, replaced her (bass).

The girls come from Canada. Of course as its name indicates it, the music of the band was based on an organ.

"The concept was, 'Let's start a band where you play an instrument that you've never played before.' It was basically drunken ridiculousness, but all of a sudden I felt like life made more sense." explained Katie.

Katie Sketch 2

Was the organ the only particularity of their music? No. The voice of Katie, the androgyn singer, brought a particular ambience and, if you never heard this band before, you will understand what I want to say when you will listen their songs.

An appearance in the lesbian TV-show The L Word and their career was launched. Yes ladies, it is thanks to the show and their talent of course that the band successed going to play in several countries from America to Europe. But in which scene did they appear? Remember : Shane meets Carmen, a few times later Shane go and meet Carmen on a shooting where Carmen works, the shooting was the shooting of a video clip for a band and it is The Organ which we can see and hear behind. Ok I'm sure you want the video:

Then the band did the first parts of famous bands like Interpol. Their first album Grab That Gun was released in 2004.

Their music is at the same time dark, sad but despite everything, it is also dynamic. Not the sad and slow songs as we can imagine them, but a music which strikes as Brother, one of the singles of the album that you just heard in The L Word's clip I propose you to listen and who is quite simply for me the best song of the band.

It is unfortunately in 2006 that the girls decided to separate and that this fantastic music stopped. There will be an EP, Thieves, in 2008 with new songs. As I read in an interview of Katie, the label planned to released an EP whatever the band was over and Katie didn't agree because it was their musics and their songs so they have to do it not the label. All agree to release this EP even if they decided to record it one by one without seeing the others. The band was well finished, for proof the organ was sold.
The separation of the band, as will explain Katie in an interview, was because "at the end we were completely unable to communicate. We'd all become self-deprecating, we were fighting all the time... we were basically just drunk all the time. We had no time to separate, so it was like being in a bad domestic situation, all the time. [...] When you're five girls touring in really terrible circumstances, where you're all in the same van and all sleep in the same hotel room every night, and you're drinking a lot, you have a lot of really fun times, but there's always fighting, there's always something going on." and all that because "the record label, everybody, was pushing, pushing, pushing."

That's a fact that since a few years, labels developed this idea that if a band or a singer takes a break between 2 albums or between tours, that they just go in holidays a little bit, their fans will stop to listen their music. That's just the biggest bulls***t that I never heard but that's the reality behind bands who decide to stop, behind singers who go in depression or fall during their performances. They are just exhausted and that's what happened to The Organ.

But we need a happy end to this story, right?

You will discover that they never stopped to be in the music. Katie worked for a doctor, opened a bar with Jenny but never stopped to write music, she was back with a new band in 2008. The rest of the band also started their own projects, as a solo artist or in new bands. I will talk about all this next time !!!

Let's finish this article by this song called Basement Band Song (audio only but don't miss the bridge at 3'00, this part is just a beauty).