15 June 2025 (gig)
18 June 2025
It's been a couple of years since San Francisco's Osees have been in the UK, and it's way too long, we need an annual dose at least! The band, led by the prolific guitarist and vocalist John Dwyer have released 28 albums in just over 20 years and are not looking like slowing down, in any sense of that phrase, one tiny bit. Each new album can go in a completely different direction to the last and it's this ability to metamorphosise which has kept them fresh. Psychedelic, Rock, Punk, Garage, Prog, they've been called them all and the rest, but it's immaterial, they don't need a genre, they are a genre.
The current line up, which has remained steady for a good few years now features Tim Helman on Bass, Tomas Dolas on keyboards, and on drums, why have one, when you can have two? Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon double up to create an enormous sound. The set up has keyboards at the back, the rest of the guys in a line at the front of the stage, as you look, it's usually John on the left, then the two drummers, then Tim on bass.
We were at the bar getting some pre gig refreshments when the slow thumping bass of Withered Hand started to thunder in from the room next door, they weren't due on for another 15 minutes or so, but when Osees are ready to play, they play. We managed to squeeze our way through the already bouncing crowd, to the front, beer spilling over us as we went, and there we stayed.
If you have seen the Osees live yourself, then you will already know, but the live experience is like nothing else. It's an all out attack on all of the senses. Dwyer plays and sings/screams/whispers/shouts like he's just been released from a cage, and the energy which flows from the stage to the audience is simply electric. With most bands it takes a few tracks for the crowd to loosen up, not the Osees. Imagine you wake up and find yourself half way down the biggest slope on a giant roller coaster, that's what happens when these guys play, I struggle to think of another band who have the ability to get at least half of the crowd visibly bouncing half way through the first song, and by the time the deceivingly slow bass intro has finished and the huge riff kicks in, it's mayhem, friendly and good natured, but mayhem.
They played an eclectic set spanning some of their huge back catalogue, songs old and new are great to listen to on record, but live is where they were born and where they belong. The huge hooks and riffs in songs like Ticklish Warrior and Tidal Wave just bleed energy and the beautiful slow build of Sticky Hulks is sublime. John's stints on his analog keyboard in between ferocious fuzz laden guitar and dreamy vocals create a beautiful noisy organised mess.
The pinnacle of the evening for me is when they play The Dream, if any song encompasses everything that the Osees are about it's this one. Dwyer's guitar playing darts about in all directions, like an antichrist Sultans of Swing, no riff repeated twice. He can't stay still, the instrument, it's like he was born with it strapped to him and his objective in life is to just play the shit out of it in any way possible.
They are simply impossible to describe without failing to do them justice, please, if you are reading this and haven't seen the Osees live, then, firstly, look up any live performance and see for yourself, but if at all possible, and if they are playing in your town, country, or continent any time soon, just do yourself a favour and go and see them. It will stay with you forever, and I guarantee, after the first time, you will go back for more! There's still a few UK dates left to play, submerge yourself in the Osees experience. Plus, they are playing Glastonbury, hunt them down, and as John Dwyer would say "Dig in".
