Garage rockers Osees let ’er rip at Brooklyn Made

BY EVERYNIGHT CHARLEY CRESPO | Osees onstage is volcanic. Osees erupts the moment the band starts playing. The band continues erupting continuously until the musicians walk offstage.

Osees was not always so volatile. Osees was not even always Osees. The band started as a tamer solo project for vocalist/guitarist John Dwyer in 1997 in San Francisco, California. Dwyer was in several local bands and sought an alternative outlet for his own experimental music.

He initially named the solo project Orinoka Crash Suite. Along the way, Dwyer began collaborating with musicians and finally declared the project a band. The band slowly transitioned from being Dwyer’s adventurous side project into his primary group, as his other bands disbanded in 2005 and 2006.

Over time, Dwyer’s project became known as OCS, Orange County Sound, The Ohsees, The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees and Oh Sees. Under the various names and personnel, with Dwyer as the sole consistent member, the outfit released 26 studio albums; the band dropped its most current studio album, “A Foul Form,” on Aug. 12. Osees currently is based in Los Angeles, California.

For the current Osees tour, Dwyer is performing with keyboardist Tomas Dolas, bassist Tim Hellman and dual drummers Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon. At Brooklyn Made, roadies at intermission placed the twin drum kits side by side, front and center at the stage’s lip. The other band members would be limited in space, Dwyer at stage right and Hellman at stage left, with Dolas and his suitcase of synthesizers almost invisible behind the drummers. Placing Dolas on a riser could have made his musical participation more noticeable.

While the band in the past has gambled with several genres, the current show is all about lightning-fast and highest-energy rock. Dwyer played a bit of synthesizer, but mostly he clipped rapid leads and chords on his guitar, often punctuated with roaring feedback and white noise. He tempered the rage of guitar licks when he sang, but as soon as he moved away from the microphone, he blared his guitar madly again. As the set progressed, the expansive jams grew speedier, longer and louder. Kudos to the sweat-soaked drummers, whose impressive symmetry and stamina helped power the intensity levels.

The propulsive, 22-song set drew from 11 albums. Except for a few slower, psych-rock moments, the set harmonized as if all the songs were drawn from the same inspirational frenzy. This was garage rock at its harshest ferocity. Keeping up to date with the band’s name changes may be challenging, but that task is easier than keeping pace with Osees’s live show.

Set list

1. 1. Withered Hand

   2. The Dream

   3. Toe Cutter – Thumb Buster

   4. Animated Violence

   5. The Daily Heavy

   6. Tidal Wave

   7. Funeral Solution

   8. Scum Show

   9. A Foul Form

   10. Sticky Hulks

   11. Nite Expo

   12. The Static God

   13. I Come from the Mountain

   14. Web

   15. Warm Slime

   16. Ticklish Warrior

   17. Scramble Suit II

   18. Frock Block

   19. If I Had My Way

   20. (unknown)

   21. Terminal Jape

   22. C

For more coverage of New York City’s live music scene, check out Everynight Charley Crespo’s The Manhattan Beat.