1 of 3 2 of 3 Good God, what should have been, that driven home by newly restored video of Vancouver’s the Organ. For why that restoration process is important, let’s go back a decade or two. For a brief shining period at the turn of the millennium, the postpunk quintet was one of the most loved bands in Vancouver, its lone full-length Grab That Gun sounding as vital today as when it was released in 2004.
And then suddenly, it was over, the band breaking up not long after a European tour where inroads included catching the attention of tastemakers at the BBC. If there was any justice in the world (sorry: there isn’t) the Organ would today be revered as one of the all-time great postpunk bands, and not just on Canada’s West Coast. Songs like “Brother”, “Steven Smith”, and “I Am Not Surprised” still hold up as fantastically timeless.
They are the sound of Vancouver at its most grey-skies-November gloomiest: perfect for the days when getting out of bed seems an impossible task and the forecast is for 30 days and nights of “You’re going to need a bigger umbrella.” Yes, sometimes feeling sad can feel great, especially when the soundtrack is perfect. But because they were only here for a short time, the Organ has in many ways been one of those bands that you know if you’re lucky enough to know.
Kind of like the Velvet Underground from the ’60s to the early ’80s, Interpol during the first couple of Williamsburg years, or Daniel Johnston before Kurt Cobain declared himself a fan. Some Vancouver acts—D.O.
A., Slow, Black Mountain—are, deservedly, recognized as legitimate Vancouver icons and ambassadors. The Organ isn’t part of that club.
Instead, the group—singer Katie Sketch, keyboardist Jenny Smyth, guitarist Debora Cohen, bassist Shmoo Ritchie, and drummer Shelby Stocks—is for a breed of music fan that gets excited when talk turns to the under appreciated brilliance U-J3RK5, the Scramblers, and Death Sentence. So the reason for bringing up the Organ in 2024, other than the fact anyone who cares about Vancouver underground history absolutely needs to know them? Video of The Organ - Memorize the City - Remastered (4K) 604 Records—which the band called home for Grab That Gun —has today announced the restoration of four of the Organ’s videos: “Brother”, “Memorize The City”, “Love Love Love”, and “Fire In The Ocean”. All have been upgraded to HD 4K quality, and are available on the label’s YouTube channel under a section called “604 Restored”.
“Brother” captures the Organ in all its detached, captivating beauty, the clip buffed and digitally polished to the point where it arguably looks better than it did first-run 20 years ago. In a release announcing the Organ videos, 604 Records owner Jonathan Simkin says, “Details that were missed in the original version are now crystal clear. For me, it is akin to when old classic paintings are restored.
” The video for “Brother” finds the Organ proving, once again, that great acts don’t need 2Pac Shakur’s “California Love”-size budget to captivate an audience. In that vein of less being more, see the Pretenders’ “Tattooed Love Boys”, the Specials’ “A Message to You Ready”, and the Buzzcocks’ “What Do I Get?”. In “Brother”, what you get is five musicians seemingly bound together by the idea that charisma comes in all flavours, including determinedly downbeat.
And it’s beautifully compelling, to the point where one seriously has to wonder why the hell the Organ couldn’t have hung around longer. For a lucky few acts, breaking up before crashing the mainstream is the best career move one can make. Ask the Misfits, Velvet Underground, Sex Pistols, and the Refused, all of which became larger than life after first unplugging the amps.
At the risk of understating things, the Organ doesn’t quite have the profile of those acts. But that doesn’t diminish the band’s importance in the slightest. To celebrate the 20-year anniversary of Grab That Gun , 604 Records re-released the full-length on vinyl earlier this year, along with the EP Thieves .
In a more just world, that, along with the release of the 4K videos, would spark a flood of interest in a band Vancouverites were once lucky to call their own. Dare to dream, because no one has ever called the world a just place. So, in the meantime, watch 604 Restored, the best thing being you’ll get a new look at why “Brother”, “Memorize The City”, “Love Love Love”, and “Fire In The Ocean” were so important.
Crystal clear and beautiful, they’ll all leave you wondering this: what could have been, and maybe, just maybe, might still be. Video of The Organ - Brother - Remastered (4K).
