Tag: thee oh sees

Thee Oh Sees And The Practical Applications of Quantum Physics

Danny Baraz September 7, 2017

John Dwyer is a man living the dream- at least from the outside looking in. From that view he embodies a stereotypical but rarely achieved archetype of success as an independent artist. Every fledgling rocker that ever existed since Sid Vicious has sketched out a similar blueprint for themselves on how they would make the music they want, on their terms, on their own label, with an increasingly popular side project to keep themselves artistically satisfied THEIR way. Well, the latest Thee Oh Sees, or Oh Sees, or OCS release on Castle Face Records paired well with a concurrent release of Dwyer solo side project, Damaged Bug, creating a full bodied bouquet of screeching fuzz, juxtaposed with thunderous synth analogs for your ear holes. As is becoming tradition in these moments, Oh Sees played a gig at the Teragram Ballroom with the usual slate of opening acts that would make any headliner have to rise to the challenge of having to follow a band like Zig Zags, to get the double drummer dynamic chops in post season form as they embark on a headlining tour of clubs packed with the most rabid fans in independent music- John Dwyer, along with

Thee Oh Sees & Wand Back For Annual Holiday Food Drive at Teragram

Johann A. Ramos January 13, 2017

Thee Oh Sees- AKA, the hardest working band in the global music underground in the past decade. I swear to punk rock gods that these guys are on a world tour 365 whilst simultaneously putting out consistently great records. How do they do it? The annual Panache Booking/LA Kitchen Holiday Homeless Food Drive took place in dirty Downtown Los Angeles at a very special venue that goes by the name Teragram Ballroom, we here at Janky Smooth have become familiar with over the last year or so. related content: Fuzz & Thee Oh Sees Bring Holiday Help To Homeless in L.A. Shannon Lay of the well established (and well ranked in Janky Smooth’s lists of Best of 2016’s) LA outfit, Feels opened the the show with a calm before the rage, as categorized by Lay herself. Lay coaxed the crowd with melodious chord progressions and beautiful melodies before the proverbial storm that was about to erupt, which juxtaposed the evening in the best way possible. I enjoyed the set, the atmosphere and the mildly depressing key of her music evoked some very strong emotions that challenged my fragile masculine intuition, and that’s a good thing. Wand did a fantastic fucking job at tying up the set

Desert Daze 2016: Quantifying the Physics Of A Good Time

Paige Vreede October 19, 2016

It has been a common sentiment amongst those that I’ve questioned about their time at Desert Daze 2016, that it was the most meaningful festival experience they’ve ever had. Same question. Same answer. Young, old, audiophiles, casual music fans, frequent festival attendees and those that loathe the format. Almost every person I spoke to this weekend gave me a variation of the same answer to my question- “Desert Daze 2016 is the best festival I’ve ever been to. And no, I can’t quite explain what it is or what makes me feel that way.” But given that I’m a writer and my actual purpose here is to attempt to take a photograph of this festival with my words, I will make an attempt to do so. My fear is that attempting to quantify the sentiments could steal some of it’s magic, almost like the Native American belief that if someone takes a photograph of you, it steals a piece of your soul. How would you describe the onset of love or a faith in G-d or religious ideology- It just is. And if you’re saying to yourself that is a bit over the top or hyperbolic, you’re right.. To describe the how or the why,

Thee Oh Sees Slay Teragram Ballroom Night Before Album Drops/Tour

Danny Baraz August 16, 2016

Is there anyone in independent music that has more going for them than John Dwyer and his band, Thee Oh Sees? In an industry that has been turned upside down, Dwyer and others such as Ty Segall have been successfully proving out the new business model for musical acts that aren’t corporate concoctions of sterile art, ripened just right for commercial licensing. Indy bands have proven that there is a demand for raw and innovative rock and roll, even as it disappears almost completely from the mainstream. Indy bands have proven that there is still a dream to be chased that can sustain their lives and compulsion to create with hard work and an untiring proliferation and output. On Thursday night, Thee Oh Sees threw a party at The Teragram Ballroom the night before their new album, A Weird Exits dropped and the night before they left on an extended tour of Europe that includes a backend leg in the US. While many bands might be content in taking the night off before a three month tour, whether John Dwyer wanted to brush up on some of the new tracks or he just wanted another stack of chips to add

Fuzz Play Charity Event shot by Johnny Ramos

Fuzz & Thee Oh Sees Bring Holiday Help To Homeless in L.A.

Danny Baraz December 22, 2015

Moments before John Dwyer and Thee Oh Sees took the stage at The Teragram Ballroom for the Holiday Homeless Charity Event, L.A. Kitchen chief, Robert Egger exclaimed, “If you have something bad to say about L.A. then Fuck You!” This sentence was the punctuation to the announcement of how much money was raised by the two day benefit show that was organized by west coast tour booking behemoth, Panache Booking, in conjunction with Thee Oh Sees. It’s almost as if Egger was making a public reply to a private conversation with someone involved with the show. Seeing as both Segall and Dwyer are Bay Area transplants, it wouldn’t surprise me. No one is harder on Los Angeles than NorCal hipsters. After all, outsiders and Johnny Come Lately’s aren’t allowed to criticize our complex city and all it’s nuance and eccentricities. Only those who are born and raised in the city of dream chasing and head fucking can legitimately disseminate it’s many strengths and weaknesses. Most attendees didn’t give a shit about the plotlines anyway. They were just happy to see Ty Segall’s band, Fuzz and up and comers Wand on the bill alongside Dwyer and his king of indie bands,

Homeless Holiday Charity Event by Thee Oh Sees and Panache Booking

Danny Baraz December 11, 2015

Sometimes, we help those less fortunate without expecting anything in return and sometimes, we can help the needy and create memories we will never forget. This coming Wednesday the 16th and Thursday the 17th, Panache Booking in conjunction with Thee Oh Sees are holding a Homeless Holiday Charity Event at The Teragram Ballroom. Proceeds from the Homeless Holiday Charity Event will benefit the L.A. Kitchen. L.A. Kitchen’s focus is reducing food waste and addressing unemployment and hunger, amongst other things. The event will be headlined by hardcore psych punks, Thee Oh Sees. Supporting acts include Fuzz Wand and DJ’s from Permanent Records. There is so much you can do to help this holiday season. This is just one. Janky Smooth will keep you posted on more ways to help the less fortunate.

Thee Oh Sees at Berserktown II by David Evanko

Berserktown II: Music Fringe Binge at The Observatory

Danny Baraz August 18, 2015

Last year at around this same time, the first annual Berserktown Festival was in the midst of a filthy, sweaty, hardcore but successful mess at club Los Globos in the Silverlake district of Los Angeles. A harder edged alternative to Echo Park Rising, Berserktown was successful enough for a sequel this year. With ambition in his heart and dollar signs in his eyes, Church on York captain, Graeme Flegenheimer decided to take some risks in an attempt to expand and grow his vision. The result was one of the most interesting festival lineups I have seen in quite some time. It was a buffet of musical delicacies and rarities such as Dead Moon, Royal Trux, Lust for Youth, No Hope for the Kids, Destruction Unit and Total fucking Control. When it was announced that the second annual Berserktown would be held at The Observatory in Orange County I thought to myself, this could either be genius or it could be a disaster- like a football coach deciding to go for it on 4th and inches, late in the game, backed up deep in their end zone. The Church on York venture has been disturbing the music scene’s status quo in

New Album Review: Damaged Bug- Cold Hot Plumbs

Danny Baraz June 4, 2015

Of course you can expect the typical, justified hype around the release of Thee Oh Sees’ 9th full length studio album, “Mutilator Defeated at Last” on Dwyer’s, Castle Face Records. It is the kind of work we’ve come not only to love but EXPECT from the mind of John Dwyer. Thee Oh Sees continue to be one of the most exciting and high energy acts in independent music but what about that Damaged Bug album that dropped this week? What the hell is Damaged Bug, you ask? Damaged Bug is an experiment in musical isolationism. It is a collaboration of ones own individuality and an intimate, private party amongst ones own multiple personalities. Damaged Bug explores time and space in a broken down space ship. John Dwyer seems to be cruising the nebula in search of new elements of sound and song structure and what he finds is both unique AND accessible. Cold Hot Plumbs is Damaged Bug’s second full-length release. It is a rescue dog that is adopted just moments before being euthanized. Dwyer’s use of both analog and digital sound design, sequenced programming and of course, melodic storytelling gives fans a new and dynamic spin on Lord Dwyer’s songwriting

Burgerama 4: Burger Food Poisoning

Danny Baraz April 2, 2015

Almost every place in the world now breeds the type of angsty teens that pick up guitars to butcher some out of tune power chords. What is it about Orange County, California that continuously, for the last three generations in a row, forms and re forms these amazing scenes that surround dozens of good local bands? Many bands that eventually rise to international fame or at least, notoriety. Decade after decade the youth of Orange County reject the status quo, vandalize their strip malls, piss in their pools and rock the fuck out. Once the music industry crashed and burned, you would think that those kick-pedal-carrying kids would remain in anonymity in the solitude of their own bedrooms, never to move out of their parents homes. Rising from the smoke and the ash of a music industry unwilling to adapt to the digital age comes Burger Records bearing, of all things, cassette tapes. They are here to service this generations’ insatiable thirst for angst, sex and adolescence. Burger Records was formed in 2007 by Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard. They allowed all their artists to retain complete control of their works and primarily, all of their releases have been on cassette.

No Barrier Between Thee Oh Sees and Audience at Human Resources

JustinThomas March 13, 2015

Last night I found myself on a mission on the streets of Chinatown, iPhone GPS in hand, searching for Human Resources. I love Chinatown, it’s an eccentric place to wander around and explore. Last night however, was not one of those nights. I was on a mission to find Human Resources because it was there that Thee Oh Sees were billed to melt faces. Tucked away on a little side street, I saw a bunch of grimy kids smoking cigarettes, huddling around 32 racks of beer on the street; I had found the spot. Human Resources is a DIY-style venue, with bare white walls, lofty vaulted ceilings, and no stage. Looking around, I couldn’t help but notice that everybody was getting fucked up drinking beers and smoking weed. With a five-dollar cover, no security in sight, and a room full of rowdy kids, the evening was sure to be mayhem. Taking the stage around 9 PM was the Los Angeles duo, Caldwell/Tester. To put it bluntly, Caldwell/Tester made a shit-load of noise. With their ominous, and sometimes even celestial, beaming sounds, the duo played what I thought was a total of two songs over the course of their 45-minute set.