Artist of the Week: Thee Oh Sees

Thee Oh Sees are a psychedelic/indie rock band from San Francisco. Formed in 1997, the band is made up of lead singer and guitarist John Dwyer, bassist Timothy Hellman, and drummer Nick Murray.

The band has become notable for their prolific discography, energetic live shows, and whimsical visual aesthetic. Also notable is the amount of times the band’s lineup and name have changed, previously being known as Orinoka Crash Suite, OCS, Orange County Sound, and The Ohsees.

The band’s first album under their current name, The Master’s Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In. The vinyl pressings of this album have been made in various colors, the initial pressing in 2008 was released on purple vinyl, and the rerelease was pressed on black vinyl.

The band’s next album, Help, was released in 2009. And after that came Dog Poison, also released in 2009.

In 2010, the band released Warm Slime. Much attention was drawn to the title track. At over thirteen-and-a-half minutes long, it is one of the longest the band has released. Dwyer said that he had wanted to record a long format song in the vein of Can’s “Yoo Doo Right” or The Doors’ “When The Music’s Over” and Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.”

In 2011, the band released the album Castlemania, most of which is Dwyer’s own home recordings. Also in 2011, the band released the album Carrion Crawler/The Dream. The band dedicated this album to the memory of Jerry Fuchs, Jay Reatard and Gerard Smith.

In 2012, the band released the album Putrifiers II. Notable about this album is that the cover art was created by the same man who created the album cover for Warm Slime, Kyle Ranson.

In 2013, the album Floating Coffin was released by the band. Dwyer has described the album as being “heavier” and “darker” than the band’s previous efforts. He is quoted as saying, “[The] songs occur in the mindset of a world that’s perpetually war-ridden.”

The band’s most recent album, Drop, was released in 2014. It is notable that this album was released while the band was (and still is) on hiatus. In December 2013, at a San Francisco show, Dwyer said “This will be the last [Thee] Oh Sees show for a long while, so dig in,”. It should be mentioned, though, that the band has not broken up, they are only on a hiatus, which, one hopes will end soon.