rock

Osees

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John Dwyer's endlessly renamed, endlessly prolific garage-psych machine — records at a pace nobody can keep up with and a live show that runs hotter than any of them.

Osees formed in San Francisco in 1997 as a solo recording project for John Dwyer, previously of Coachwhips and Pink and Brown, and is now based in Los Angeles. What began as lo-fi home recordings grew into a full band, with keyboardist and singer Brigid Dawson joining as a recurring member and collaborator across many of the group's records.

The band has recorded under names including Orinoka Crash Suite, OCS, Orange County Sound, The Ohsees, The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees, and, since July 2020, Osees. Dwyer has said the changes are partly aimed at the music press, joking that he has nothing but contempt for it.

Albums such as The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In (2008), Carrion Crawler/The Dream (2011) and Floating Coffin (2013) established the full-band garage-psych sound. After relocating to Los Angeles in 2013, Dwyer rebuilt the lineup around bassist Tim Hellman, and by Mutilator Defeated at Last (2015) the band was touring with two drummers.

Later records pushed further into heavier, proggier territory, including Orc, co-produced with Ty Segall, and the more acoustic Memory of a Cut Off Head, which brought Dawson back into the fold. Smote Reverser and Face Stabber leaned hard into progressive rock before the rename to Osees arrived with Protean Threat in 2020.

The current lineup pairs Dwyer with Hellman, drummers Dan Rincon and Paul Quattrone, and keyboardist Tomas Dolas. The band has released thirty studio albums to date, alongside numerous EPs and singles, at a recording pace few of their peers try to match.

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