Thee Oh Sees are a blast on album. I’ve been late to the party as I am only a recent fan, and any fans of psychedelic garage rock shouldn’t make the same mistake as I have by not giving them a listen. John Dwyer’s project has released many albums and had taken on a number of forms. It’s a never ending outpour of creativity for this man, despite a hiatus last year. Not a matter for Dwyer: he just formed a new line up.
This kind of passion is why I knew Thee Oh Sees would at least be interesting live, but they were infectious, too. Dwyer is a minotaur trapped in a labyrinth bursting to get out, even while hitting 40. He stomps around and gets more whiplash from headbanging than even his hyped crowd could get. His muscles looked tensed as he thrashed his way in directionless patterns. His guitar tone was quite loud, with the sharpness of his recorded material somehow not quite capturing how intense the music truly is (despite being in-your-face already).
The rhythn section was heavy and pounding; as if Dwyer needed any more reason to lose his shit. With members of both the band and its crew in short shorts and/or without shoes, the culture that brands like Billabong and Quicksilver were ones to promote were alive. Dwyer brought his guitar collection with him, which included a see through 12 stringed beauty whose cacophonous ways simply didn’t make sense. It was an out of control evening with banter, feedback and connectivity.
Yours truly had a bit of a problem this very night. With what I thought was a prepared kit to shoot with, I had actually arrived to the show with flat batteries. I only had enough time to photograph one and a half songs, and I used this time to rapid fire as many shots as I could get. The results may not be great, but it’s the kind of anxiety, rawness and dedication that Dwyer would (hopefully) be proud of.
