About Osees
Osees is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1997, now based in Los Angeles, California. Originally the solo recording project of John Dwyer, the band has evolved through numerous line-up and name changes since its founding, with Dwyer serving as the band leader and primary songwriter throughout. Alongside Dwyer, the band's current line-up includes longtime members, Tim Hellman , Dan Rincon , Paul Quattrone and Tomas Dolas .
The group's sound draws from a wide variety of influences, including garage rock, krautrock, psychedelia, and folk music. Osees are noted for their prolific recording output, energetic live shows, and whimsical visual aesthetic. The group has released twenty-eight studio albums, to date, alongside various EPs, singles and compilations.
Initially a solo freak folk recording project, Dwyer evolved the project into a full garage rock band, featuring Brigid Dawson , Petey Dammit , Mike Shoun , and Lars Finberg , while releasing the acclaimed albums, The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In , Carrion Crawler/The Dream and Floating Coffin .
After relocating to Los Angeles in late 2013, Dwyer changed the line-up of the band, with Sic Alps bass guitarist Tim Hellman and White Fence drummer Nick Murray replacing Dawson, Dammit!, Shoun and Finberg. Following the release of the band's sixteenth studio album, Mutilator Defeated At Last , Dwyer and Hellman began touring with two drummers, Dan Rincon and Ryan Moutinho, replacing Murray. Touring extensively, this line-up recorded the band's seventeenth and eighteenth studio albums, A Weird Exits and An Odd Entrances, with Moutinho departing in late 2016 to focus on his own projects.
With the arrival of new drummer Paul Quattrone, the band recorded its nineteenth album, Orc, with co-producers Ty Segall, Eric Bauer and Enrique Tena. In late 2017, Dwyer reunited with Dawson for a primarily acoustic album, Memory of a Cut Off Head, which returned to the band's lo-fi roots, and featured several former and current Oh Sees members. After two studio albums featuring a heavy, progressive rock sound—Smote Reverser and Face Stabber —the band changed its name to Osees in July 2020, with the announcement of their twenty-third album, Protean Threat. The group continued to release prolifically under the new name, putting out Metamorphosed, alongside a remix album and an EP before the end of 2020. The band's twenty-sixth album, A Foul Form, was released on August 12, 2022.
The group habitually changes their name between releases, sometimes recording one-off albums under a different name before returning to the previous. At various times, the band has performed or released under the names Orinoka Crash Suite, OCS, Orange County Sound, The Ohsees, The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees, and Osees. Band leader Dwyer has explained that the frequent name changes are done in opposition to the music press: "it seems to aggravate the press, which to me is great. I have nothing but contempt for the music press."
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