by Alan Pedder | view as PDF

The art of the phone interview is underappreciatedly complex, or at least that’s what Alan Pedder keeps telling himself after chatting with up and coming Canadian band The Organ recently. There are three simple rules, really. One, know who you’re supposed to be talking to. Two, try to ease into a deeper conversation with some gentle/ amusing small talk. Three, try to ask questions in an inventive manner without sounding like a complete and utter arse. There is a fourth, perhaps even more obvious axiom too — don’t hang up on them mid-conversation! Just three minutes in and rules one and four are horribly defenestrated. Questions prepared for cool-as-you-like lead singer Katie Sketch are rendered rather useless when a clerical whoopsie means that she’s been double-booked and guitarist Debra steps in to take her place, while the sheer newfangledness of a fresh-outta-the-box speaker-phone ensures that the line goes dead not just once but embarrassingly twice. Jeremy Paxman, your job is safe!

Oh my god, I can’t believe I just hung up on you. It’s this bloody new phone. I think I’ve figured it out though, the trick is not to put it back on the cradle. Didn’t see that one coming! <laughs sheepishly>... so, have you had much of a chance to watch the Winter Olympics?
Debra: Umm I’ve watched a little bit of it, not too much. A bit of the luge and a bit of the skiing.

Canada are doing quite well, aren’t they?
D: They’re doing alright. Better than you guys <laughs>.

What do you think the best Organ song to ice dance to would be?
D: Oh jeez, hmmm... <laughs> let me think about this for a second... I’d say maybe It’s Time To Go — that’s off our [Sinking Hearts] EP. That would be an alright song to do that to, but I’m kinda taking a wild guess there. That’s a weird question.

Yeah, I’m sorry, there was gonna be a whole lead up introduction bit on skiing because I know Katie used to be quite a pro skiier. [dammit rule two! you let me down]
D: Yeah she did.

Do you ski as well?
D: No I don’t. I’ve only been cross country skiing twice in my life. A long time ago.

So, er, how are you enjoying the lovely British weather?
D: It’s cold here, but I think it’s actually about the same in Vancouver right now. What is it, one degree Celsius here?

Something like that, I actually haven’t been outside yet today. It’s probably raining, I think we get almost as much rain as Vancouver.
D: Actually I think you guys get more... well, usually you get more but we actually almost just broke a record. Just two days short of breaking the record for the most rain in Vancouver. We had pretty much two months straight of rain all day so it wasn’t too nice.

Ick. Anyway, let’s talk about your album Grab That Gun finally coming out over here. There must’ve been a lot of label interest, what made you go with Too Pure?
D: Well, I think it was perfect for us because it’s kind of small and we didn’t wanna go with anything big. We wanted to make sure we had control of what goes on with our album and stuff, and this way we mostly do. Actually there wasn’t really too much competition, but we got offered this and we thought ‘oh, this’ll be perfect!’

Are you guys fans of any of the other Too Pure acts?
D: I know Katie is. Actually, she’s just sitting across from me and she just finished her interview. We can actually kind of... can you hold on a second? <barely audible> hey, I’m talking to the man from Wears The Trousers. He wants to know if you’re a fan of any of the other acts on our label...
Katie: <muffled laugh> Electrelane!
D: Katie loves Electrelane... <laughs> I haven’t actually listened to too many of the other bands on the label yet. I’ve been to some of their shows and they were pretty fun to watch.

Your shows are doing pretty well too. I mean, you’re getting pretty great press. How are you finding the London chin strokers?
D: The London audiences have been pretty good. They’ve been kind of smaller than we’re used to because our record hasn’t been released here yet [it has now! go buy it!]. It’s kind of like Vancouver. They’re not too enthusiastic... well, the people who have the record are really into it, but the ones that don’t are just kind of seeing what we’re all about.

As a band you’re quite modest about your musicianship. Do you think that maybe your British fans better appreciate that? I mean, as a nation, we’re not very good at puffing out our chests and looking fame in the eye.
D: I think the British audiences are actually pretty similar to the Canadian ones in a lot of ways.

What about the US?
D: We actually don’t have very many fans in the US. Our record hasn’t been released there either and we’ve only been there a couple of times.

Oh! Are Too Pure going to be releasing it over there too?
D: No, they’re not

OK, well, in Canada at least, Grab That Gun’s been out for a couple of years now. Do you ever get on stage and think ‘oh crap, I’m not playing that bloody song again!’ or do they still get you fired up?
D: <laughs> We definitely do! We’ve been writing some new songs lately and we’re really excited to replace some of the others because we’ve been playing them for so long. But we have to make sure we play certain songs so that everyone will be happy.

And how’s it working out with your new bassist, Katie’s sister?
D: It’s good, she’s really enthusiastic. She can write and she can play well and we get along with her well.

Is Shmoo her real name?
D: Yeah, pretty much. She’s been called that since birth and she prefers it.

So, recording the album was apparently a bit of a nightmare. What was the hardest song to nail?
D: We actually had to redo the whole album, it wasn’t just one particular song that we weren’t happy with. The first producer [Kurt Dahle of The New Porno-graphers] had a different vision of what we should sound like than we’d originally planned. He made it sound a bit too crisp and clean and not like a real band, and when we heard the end product we realised we had to redo pretty much everything. Now they all sound like they should sound, to me. Basically, our goal of redoing it was to make it sound like our live show and not too overproduced.

Do you think that the recording of the next album will be easier?
D: I hope so. It has been so far. We started recording a couple of the new songs already so it’s going pretty well.

Great! When do you think it might be ready?
D: We’re kind of recording as we go along and we’re touring a lot as well, so I’m guessing probably not until next fall.

Something to look forward to! Are you working with any producers we might know?
D: John Collins. He plays in The New Pornographers, he’s been recording us.

Grab That Gun is fantastically moody. Is it hard for you to write happy songs without them turning out all Disney and vomitous?
D: Yeah, those are the kind of songs that we usually end up scrapping. We start usually by writing the music first, and sometimes if it turns out to sound too happy or if Katie feels like she can’t sing it as she would like then it won’t work out.

Well, yeah, you’ve got to believe in what you’re singing.
D: Yeah, absolutely.

Lyrically, I think the songs on Grab That Gun have a great economy to them. Like nothing, not a word is wasted. One thing’s puzzling me though — in Memorize The City, the line “Acrisius favours”, was that the name of the boat in the song? [huh? what possessed me? it’s my Martha’s Foolish Ginger moment!]
D: I can’t answer that question, I didn’t write the lyrics. Um, I’m wondering, do you me to... Katie’s not on the phone yet, do you want me to put her on?

Umm, yeah, sure, if you want. Only if she doesn’t mind!
D: Hold on a second... <barely audible> he has a really weird question <assorted muffled sounds>
K: Hello! It’s Katie

Hi! <repeats question>
K: The name of the boat?

Yeah, there’s kind of a boat lyric and then this name pops out.
K: Ohh, I see! <laughs>... I have a hard time explaining the lyrics, but it’s definitely not in reference to the boat. Have you ever typed Acrisius into Google before?

Yeah, I tried that. Acrisius was a vengeful Greek god who was accidentally killed by a discus thrown by his grandson Perseus...
K: Yeah, that’s right, it’s more of a gods and mythology reference.

<laughs> OK, now I feel dumb!
K: Oh no problem. Do you have any other lyric questions you want to ask?

No, that was the only one <laughs>... cheers!
K: <laughs> Thanks, bye!

Hi Deb. Sorry about that!
D: No, it’s quite alright.

So whose idea was it to have that cute little organ solo tucked away at the end of the album?
D: I think that was Katie’s idea. Katie and Jenny were kind of fooling around on the organ while they were recording it and that little vignette at the end is just them messing around. It’s kind of neat though.

Is it a pain carting the organ around on tour with you?
D: Umm well we’ve only been able to take it on tour with us in Canada and the States so far. We can’t take it on the airplane. It’s really heavy, so we try and get as many people to help us carry it as we possibly can.

<laughs> How much does it weigh?
D: Errr... well, it weighed a couple hundred pounds or something but then we recently, er, revised it a little bit. We got a friend of ours to cut the bottom half off and tuck the wires inside so not it’s not quite as big. It’s a little bit lighter. That’s been kind of, um, interesting. But yeah, when we tour Europe and the UK we’ve been bringing a friends’ keyboard with which we made a sample of our Hammond. It doesn’t sound quite as good but that’s all we can do for now.

Yeah, I always wondered how Tori Amos manages to drag all her pianos around.
D: <laughs> Yeah, I don’t know about that either. It’s really expensive too.

I bet! OK, so I read that your red guitar Bryan was given to the band by the actual Mr Adams. What’s he like?
D: Actually, I haven’t met him. Katie worked with him once.

I was just wondering what he was like because he gets so much crap from the press over here. Speaking of press, did you hear that the Kaiser Chiefs called you their new favourite band in one of our newspapers?
D: We did hear something about that actually, that was nice of them.

Who’ve you enjoyed touring with most?
D: Umm, well, most of the bands we’ve played with are usually really nice and friendly. We toured with The New Pornographers, they were fun to hang out with. Neko Case is really awesome... and a band called Controller.Controller... have you heard of them?

In brief, yeah, only the other day actually.
D: Well, we toured with them and they’re really nice people so we have a lot of fun with them.

I’ll look out for them, cheers! OK, so most of the people I know found you first through your appearance on The L Word, and I think. It’s a real American phenomenon, this breaking of indie bands through TV shows. What do you make of it?
D: I think it’s a really good way to be seen!

Any show you’re dying to be played on? Any favourites?
D: Umm, let’s see... probably any television show that isn’t completely ridiculous! <laughs> I think that would be a start. I don’t get to watch much TV really, and I don’t have cable either so I pretty much just have two channels. I don’t have much of an option.

<slightly panicked> You know what, I’ve just realised I haven’t got any more general questions prepared... I wrote them all with Katie in mind, so umm... well I guess that doesn’t matter!
D: Umm, well she’s still free if you wanted to ask her.

OK, thank you Deb. Nice talking to you!
D: You too. Hold on one second...
K: Helloooo! <laughs>

Hello again! Sorry about this, there was a complete mix-up and I’ve ridiculously run out of general questions... do you mind if I ask you some more personal ones?
K: No, go right ahead.

Great... er, so you worked at Bryan Adams’ studios. What’s he like?
K: On a personal level, I don’t really know him all that well. I worked for him when he was making one of his records so I was around him quite a lot, and to be honest he was always really nice to me but he’s also purely focused on the task at hand. That’s really my take on him. He’s like the hardest working person I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Always the first person in the studio and the last one to leave. I think he must sleep like four hours a night. Insanely dedicated. He’s the kind of guy who’ll be working on a guitar part and changing a lightbulb at the same time, you know <laughs>... he’s extremely focused, always.

Neat! OK, I read you’ve got a psychology degree...
K: I’m actually four classes short of one. That’s what I was working towards until last year when I just couldn’t do school any more because all the touring got so busy. I was doing school and touring at the same time for a while but it was starting to get to the point where it was just impossible.

Do you think you’ll ever go back to it?
K: <pauses> Yeah, I do actually. I mean at some point the music thing’s going to either end or take a break so I will definitely go and get the rest of those courses then. It’s really frustrating to not be able to finish your degree. It makes me feel like a dropout <laughs>.

Well, I know you’re sick of being asked about the whole ‘being in an all-girl band thing’ so I thought it might be fun to ask you about it in an interesting, psychology-related way... I don’t know if you ever got round to studying Jungian theory... [c’mon rule three!]
K: Let’s see if I can remember anything!

<laughs> I’m totally rusty too, but one of his theories was that achieving a certain balance of anima and animus has an influence on a person’s creative ability. So I was wondering, as an all-female band, whether you think that your music is more influenced by your animus?
K: Oh god, I don’t even remember what that is. Do you know enough about to explain it to me?

If I remember correctly, Jungians think that every person has their semi- or unconscious female and male traits that guide them. The animus is feminine and the anima is masculine. They think it’s the reason people can fall for someone in an instant, like they see their anima/animus in that person, but that’s not really what I was getting at.
K: I don’t think we studied that yet. That doesn’t ring any bells at all. Seriously.

OK, no worries. I just thought I’d try and get round that whole boring 'is it different for a girl band' kind of question. Trying to be too clever! That’ll teach me <laughs>
K: Oh no, I’d answer the question if I had, like, any brain. We just flew in yesterday so I’m a bit jetlagged. Actually, that’s not even my excuse; my excuse is I can’t remember a thing about school already and it’s only been a year! <laughs>

I can’t remember anything about my degree either so you’re not alone! OK, moving swiftly on, you’ve been doing some fashion shoots with designer Marc Jacobs. Was that a weird experience?
K: Yeah, it was, but it was really quick and I was really jetlagged and exhausted and it all kind of happened within about three hours. I’ve done a lot of photo shoots before so the actual photo shooting part wasn’t weird. The weird part was wearing the outfits. I don’t usually wear anything other than jeans so that felt a bit strange. And being around proper models was a bit strange as well, because I’ve never really been around them before so I didn’t know anything about it. But, on the whole, it was like sit on the couch, eat a meal, do a couple of photos in about five different outfits and then I was out the door, so it was really quick.

A meal? You mean models eat!?
K: <laughs> Sometimes, yeah. I guess.

And did you get to keep any of the clothes like a proper celebrity?
K: No, but they sent a catalogue and asked me if I wanted to choose anything but I just haven’t had time, basically!

OK, time for one last question... you’ve got a tattoo of a heart on your arm with a blank banner running across it. Is it reserved for the name of ‘The One’ or for that elusive perfect chord progression? Will you ever fill it in?
K: Umm, I don’t think I’ll ever fill it in, no <laughs>... I’m old enough now to realise I don’t think it’ll ever be filled. I think if I’d had it when I was 17 it would have been filled around 8000 times by now, but that’s part of the reason why I’ll never fill it in, because I realise that things change... don’t they?

They definitely do. Listen, thanks so much.
K: You're very welcome! Byeee!

photos by Davida Nemeroff (top) and Ashley Massman (above)