My motto is: try everything, life is short,” says John Dwyer, the leader of San Francisco garage rockers Thee Oh Sees. “We are growing at every turn. Every day you get a little older, a little closer to the grave – you should taste it all.
As his band releases its 20th album, the prolific musician and label head explains how ‘D&D’ and a “zen” work ethic fuel his underground empire
Whether you call his band Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees, or OCS, there’s no denying John Dwyer’s prolific musical output.
Oh Sees’ John Dwyer was the latest guest on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast. The conversation covers Dwyer’s prolific career and his influences.
John Dwyer, the frenetically prolific frontman of Thee Oh Sees and all the band’s verious mutations (Oh Sees, OCS) joined Maron in his garage to talk about garage rock.
Of the video, frontman John Dwyer said in a statement: “Animation and role-playing games were a huge part of my youth, so I was really excited to work on this with Alex Theodoropulos and make a fun Halloween video that harkens back to the real simple times.
Just in time for Halloween, Oh Sees have a spooky/scary animated video for “Nite Expo” from this year’s Orc. Hand-drawn and animated by Alex Theodoropulos, the video plays off some of frontman John Dwyer’s childhood loves.
Thee Oh Sees, or Oh Sees, or OCS, or whatever John Dwyer is calling his band these days, have a new album coming out next month. But today, they’re looking back to this summer’s LP Orc with a colorful animated video for “Nite Expo” from director Alex Theodoropulos.
John Dwyer, the guitarist and lead singer for Oh Sees (formerly Thee Oh Sees), makes a good case for the argument that the best decade for making music is right now.
On the album’s opening, title track, Dwyer sounds every bit as at ease as he did over the wild Richter-scale energy of his recent records.
“…I’ve done my best to keep up with the man’s output, but he doesn’t make it easy: his releases just don’t let up. I have a great deal of admiration for not only John’s music but for the intensity with which he pursues it. In that way, he is a true artist, one who’s never taken the easy route.”
“Throughout the record, he sounds as eager to mess around with his singing as the music: the glorious, steamrolling sludge of “Animated Violence” is the closest Oh Sees have ever gotten to metal, with Dwyer dropping comically Gene Simmons-esque growls in between gleaming Thin Lizzy arpeggios.”
“..the record is an absolutely evil stunner from front to back, top to bottom, head to toes and everywhere in between, and whips up the same kind of radiant, strange awe that the band’s overdriven catalog has so generously perpetrated album after wicked album.”
“…as evinced by the reduction-of-band-name and its terse title, Orc aims to cut the fat off last years’ trial runs and introduce the new Oh Sees thesis as yet another Phlegethon of shrieking Gibsons and yelping Dwyers now aiming to fill observatories rather than dive bars.”
“…Oh Sees rally on the blistering cut, whose scissoring guitars are sure to lodge themselves deep inside your brain.”
Thee Oh Sees have announced a tour. They’ll hit the road later this month at Norman Music Festival in Oklahoma and tour Europe through the summer, before wrapping up with a series of North American dates in September.
The expectation for most artists these days is, after releasing an album, to tour and tour and tour until they just can’t tour no more.
Rejoice, Tone Deaf readers, we’re taking you into the weekend with some good news, particularly if you happen to be a fan of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard or Thee Oh Sees.
The ever-prolific Thee Oh Sees are set to release a new 7-inch single on February 12th. Coming through mastermind John Dwyer’s own Castle Face label, the single’s A-side, “Fortress”, has just been revealed.
Thee Oh Sees’ John Dwyer has a synthesizer-driven side project called Damaged Bug. He’ll release the new album Cold Hot Plumbs on June 1 via his label Castle Face. Dwyer has also released the video for “Jet in Jungle”. Directed by S. Wadsworth Adams, it features a puppet pilot taking, yes, his jet through a jungle.
Mutilator Defeated at Last is Thee Oh Sees’ first post-hiatus LP to be recorded using the band’s re-staffed touring lineup.
Thee Oh Sees’ new album Mutilator Defeated At Last arrives May 18 via Castle Face. After sharing the album opener “Web”, they’ve let go of another track, “Withered Hand”.
Thee Oh Sees just released Drop last year, and today, they’ve announced their new one. Mutilator Defeated At Last is out May 18 via Castle Face. The band’s lineup on the new album is John Dwyer, Tim Hellman, Nick Murray, Chris Woodhouse, and Brigid Dawson. Woodhouse recorded and mixed the record; it was mastered by John Golden.
The all-ages, sold-out crowd at the Croc filled the floor with shiny faces and moshy bodies, ready to go Oh Sees mental. Immediately, the crowd began to release its own energy back, the center swirling and undulating like a hurricane sea, waves of arms and shoulders and heads crashing into each other, quite happily.
Big, dirty riffs are on the menu Friday night as Thee Oh Sees explore their 2014 album “Drop” at Warsaw.
Thee Oh Sees are in town for two announced NYC shows with Los Angeles’ Jack Name: Bowery Ballroom tonight (11/18) and Warsaw on Friday (11/21).
Now working as a power trio, Dwyer along with bassist Timothy Hellman and drummer Nick Murray stopped at the Gothic Theatre on the second date of their fall tour to serve up a quick, high energy set of jagged yet groovy garage rock.
Next year’s festival runs from March 13 to 22, but the buildup/lineup reveal is a gradual striptease of sorts, with Round 1 announced today. At first glance, we’re happy to see locals The Stone Foxes, The Dodos, The California Honeydrops, and Thee Oh Sees.
