Now, if you’ve been frequenting site over the past few years, you’ve likely been made intimately familiar with JOVM mainstay act Thee Oh Sees. Led by Castle Face Records co-founder John Dwyer and featuring a rotating cast of collaborators and friends, the band has long-held reputation for being both incredibly prolific and for a relentless touring schedule. And this year, further cemented that established reputation as the band released two albums — a live album with DVD footage, aptly titled Live in San Francisco, which was recorded over three nights of shows The Chapel and featured live versions of material off the band’s also recently released full-length Weird Exit, the first entry of a planned series of albums.
Earlier this year, I wrote about “Plastic Plant,” the first single off Weird Exit, a single that continues the band’s renowned guitar pyrotechnics but filtered through dreamy psych rock, gritty garage rock, prog rock with tons of effects pedals paired with propulsive and forceful drumming and Dwyer’s falsetto. And of course, in typical Thee Oh Sees fashion it’s a thrashing, ass-kicking, sweaty mosh pit worthy song with an atypical, almost jam-like song structure. “Dead Man’s Gun,” Weird Exit’s second single seamlessly meshed garage rock, psych rock, surfer rock and punk as Dwyer’s falsetto and howls are paired with alternating sections of scorching power chords, shimmering reverb and delay pedaled surfer rock and psych rock chords in the song’s quieter sections — with the whole thing being held together by a propulsive rhythm section featuring a throbbing and insistent bass line and a rolling drum pattern. Interestingly, Weird Exit‘s third and latest single “You Will Find It Here” may arguably be one of the more contemplative and dreamier singles that the band has released to date, as the song begins with a trippy introduction full of shimmering feedback before turning into a slow-burning dirge of sorts in which layers of buzzing and angular guitar chords, twisting and turning organ chords, propulsive cymbal-led drumming and a driving bass line are paired with Dwyer’s equally dreaming falsetto floating over the instrumentation before gently fading out. And in some way, the song evokes a pleasant reverie in which the song’s narrator has spent contemplating their inner self and their place in the universe. Yes, it’s that trippy.
Dwyer and company are finishing a rather lengthy world tour with a full slate of Fall/Winter Stateside shows with Amplified Heat, Straight Arrows, Alex Cameron, Magnetix and my personal favorites The Blind Shake opening for Dwyer and company during various dates — and it includes three NYC area dates: 11/11/16 and 11/12/16 at the Bowery Ballroom and 11/13/16 at Warsaw. Check out tour dates below.
Fall/Winter Tour Dates.
11-01 Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
11-02 El Paso, TX – Lowbrow Palace
11-04 McDade/Austin TX – Sherwood Forest Faire @ Sound on Sound F
11-05 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jack’s #
11-06 Memphis, TN – The Hi Tone Cafe #
11-07 Nashville, TN – Mercury Lounge #
11-09 Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall #
11-10 Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts ^
11-11 New York, Ny – Bowery Ballroom
11-12 New York Ny @ Bowery Ballroom w/ Straight Arrows
11-13 Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw ^
11-15 Providence, RI – Aurora ^
11-16 Montreal, Quebec – La Tulipe
11-17 Toronto, Ontario – Danforth Theater
11-18 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
11-19 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
11-20 2016 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle w/ The Blind Shake, Torture Love
11-23 Missoula, MT – Stage 112
11-25 Seattle, WA – Neumos %
11-27 Portland OR @ Aladdin Theater %
11-26 Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre %
11-29 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel %
11-30 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel %
# Amplified Heat
^ Straight Arrows
% Alex Cameron
* Magnetix
! Blind Shake
