Oh Sees
Garage rock pioneers Thee Oh Sees owned the stage with their insane performance at The Belly Up.
Prettiest Eyes warmed up the crowd with energetic tunes from the same category as Oh Sees. Drummer and vocalist Pachy García lead the band, looking snazzy in a sharp suit. Next to him was a suitcase filled with pedals for his vocals that gave him a wet delay when he would yell out his lyrics.
From afar, you would think their was a guitarist playing, but the keyboards filled the void by emulating a distorted/fuzzed-out guitar. The bassist—dressed like a seductive cowboy—showed the most showmanship by handing his bass over to the audience to play and even stepping down to mosh. By the time their set was over, everyone was fueled up for the headlining band.
The minute Thee Oh Sees’ frontman John Dwyer spoke into the mic to announce that they would perform after he took a piss, the crowd went nuts. Everybody in the front was preparing for the pit that was about to be formed. Oh Sees broke out with “The Static God,” the first track on the most recent release Orc. After that moment, the rest of the night would stay more or less the same, with everyone out on the floor moshing their brains out.
I joined in on the fun as well, and lost my pair of glasses on their second song, “The Dream,” arguably one of their most well-known songs. However, that didn’t stop me (or anyone else) from dancing uncontrollably for the rest of the set. John Dwyer’s shredding on his transparent SG paired with the rhythm section that comprised of two drummers and a fat-toned bass gave the final result of heavy garage rock goodness that had you drenched in sweat. If by the end of the night you didn’t lose something or end up with bruises/sore muscles, then you probably didn’t enjoy Oh Sees’ performance properly.
Review by: Luis Mireles
Photos by: Nicholas Regalado