Live music review: Hotel Vegas welcomed home the Osees 

John Dwyer can’t sit still… as evidenced at his September 30 appearance at Hotel Vegas, leading his band Osees in yet another sold-out performance. Osees might as well be the (un)official house band of the East Austin club.

Over the past 20 years, Dwyer has released over 26 full-length records with L.A.’s Osees project. You may also know them as Orinoka Crash Suite, or OCS, or Orange County Sound, or The Ohsees, or The Oh Sees, or Thee Oh Sees, or Oh Sees, or now, just, Osees. Whatever name the band is operating under, Dwyer takes full advantage of the stage space to fidget and gyrate from one end to the other. From the output of recordings, to the ever-changing band names and the ADHD concert bopping, Dwyer can’t sit still. And why would we want him to?

According to setlist.fm, Osees played their first show at Hotel Vegas at SXSW 2013. Their September 30th show put them over 28 concerts at Hotel Vegas (with four upcoming shows scheduled for LEVITATION festival this Halloween weekend).

|Before starting the show, Dwyer circled the stage, burning a long wand of sage. It’s surprising the band doesn’t have any songs about “Smudging Satan” or “Incense Incest” (sorry).

Opening with “Withered Hand”, the audience took their places, rushing to the front stage to headbang along to the thunderous chorus. The song and album titles are so gory and over the top they’re more whimsical/comical than unnerving. Of course, think about titles like their second, “Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster” too long and you may feel uneasy.

The night’s set list was nearly identical to prior nights, showcasing over 20 songs from the past two decades. You have to see the band live to understand how tight and precise they are to plow through so much material.

 

Employing two drummers front and center could easily be a visual gimmick. But like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, it adds a frenzied element that makes it seem as if the stage is about to take flight or explode into flames. There is something beautifully synchronous about watching the two pound down on a snare simultaneously. Their onslaught of percussive hits was so close to the edge of the stage that a few crowd divers and surfers had to watch out for the hi-hats on their way up and down.

There’s no banter except dry jokes like, “We have a new one for you!” before opening up “The Dream”, the band’s most popular song.

Dwyer and co have slowly transitioned away from prog-rock and toward punk. This year’s release, “A Foul Form”, is a relic of 80’s punk-rock, and the CBGB days, with straightforward bops just 2 minutes long. 

Dwyer wears his guitar up to his neck, Tom Morello style. He could choose to look slick by wearing it down to his waistline, but this fastening enables his onstage aerobics. Songs like “Ticklish Warrior” unleash a marching catharsis with thumping bassy fuzz and Dwyer wielding his guitar like a gun, shooting with each downstroke.

There aren’t really breaks at an Osees show. Some bands may pull out an acoustic guitar or drum brushes for a respite. The closest thing here was “Sticky Hulks” where the first few minutes feature a slightly slower BPM with sparse chord strikes before entering a few spazzed-out solos. It’s these moments where you have to catch your breath before the next song.

Some of their psych-jamming contemporaries create grooves that make you want to dance. The Osees charm the mosh pit into giddy chaos. Fan Favorite “I Come from the Mountain” saw an audience member (Andrew Cashen of A Giant Dog) climb the top of the venue’s outdoor tent. The groovy palm-muting of “If I Had My Way” induced some of the most violent head-nodding I’ve ever seen.

The night closed with extended version of ‘C’ complete with ambient cricket chirps. Here, Dwyer couldn’t contain his oral fixation and lodged the microphone into his mouth as he waddled across the stage, simultaneously soloing and making heavy panting sounds to the beat of the song, like an asthmatic metronome. 

The pantheon of prolific psych-rockers may not be as popular as other pop genres, but this fan-base could be the most passionate. You can’t name the leading DIY garage rockers of the past 15 years with out naming John Dwyer, facial contortions and all.

                               

If you like the Osees, check out: Jesus Lizard, Wand, White Fence, Bass Drum of Death, Fidlar, Acid Dad.

All photos by Drew Doggett