Biography
While performing in Pink & Brown, Zeigenbock Kopf, and the Coachwhips throughout the late 1990s, guitarist and vocalist John Dwyer sought an outlet for material that lacked the frantic intensity of those projects. He adopted the moniker Orinoka Crash Suite, later shortened to OCS, and began capturing folky psychedelic material in a lo-fi style, initially working alone. Tracks appeared on the compilations Stealing Babies and Blank Memory in 1997, You're Soaking in It... The Sounds and Smells of Load Records in 1999 credited to OCS—the name the project would retain going forward—and Looking for the Perfect Glass: California Post Punk (U.S. Pop Life, Vol. 11) in 2001, after which album work commenced.
Enlisting assistance from an array of players that included Pink & Brown's drummer Jeff Rosenberg, Dwyer completed the double album 1, split between the largely acoustic 34 Reasons Why Life Goes on Without You and the more abrasive 18 Reasons to Love Your Hater to Death; Tumult issued the set in 2003.
Moving swiftly with a fresh group of collaborators, Dwyer contributed a track to the 2004 SSSSSOSS cassette and delivered the second OCS album, 2, via Narnack. Around the same period the Coachwhips and Zeigenbock Kopf dissolved, leaving OCS as Dwyer's primary focus. He recruited saw player Patrick Mullins and prepared another collection of noisy psych-folk, resulting in the simultaneous 2005 Narnack double-CD release of Songs About Death & Dying, Vol. 3 and OCS4: Get Stoved. Shortly afterward, Brigid Dawson, formerly of the duo Mix Tapes, became a member, prompting a name change to Thee Oh Sees ahead of 2006's The Cool Death of the Island Raiders, which preserved much of the earlier freak-folk atmosphere. Over the ensuing decade and beyond, Dwyer issued numerous albums of ferocious garage punk under various Oh Sees iterations and delivered performances that left both musicians and crowds drenched in sweat.
In 2017 Dwyer revived the OCS name for Memory of a Cut Off Head, an album of delicate yet peculiar psych-folk that updated the project's early lo-fi approach. He collaborated with Dawson on songwriting and initial tracking, then brought Mullins back for saw and electronics, added a string section arranged by Heather Lockie, and incorporated occasional horns guided by Mikal Cronin; Castle Face released the record late that year.
Enlisting assistance from an array of players that included Pink & Brown's drummer Jeff Rosenberg, Dwyer completed the double album 1, split between the largely acoustic 34 Reasons Why Life Goes on Without You and the more abrasive 18 Reasons to Love Your Hater to Death; Tumult issued the set in 2003.
Moving swiftly with a fresh group of collaborators, Dwyer contributed a track to the 2004 SSSSSOSS cassette and delivered the second OCS album, 2, via Narnack. Around the same period the Coachwhips and Zeigenbock Kopf dissolved, leaving OCS as Dwyer's primary focus. He recruited saw player Patrick Mullins and prepared another collection of noisy psych-folk, resulting in the simultaneous 2005 Narnack double-CD release of Songs About Death & Dying, Vol. 3 and OCS4: Get Stoved. Shortly afterward, Brigid Dawson, formerly of the duo Mix Tapes, became a member, prompting a name change to Thee Oh Sees ahead of 2006's The Cool Death of the Island Raiders, which preserved much of the earlier freak-folk atmosphere. Over the ensuing decade and beyond, Dwyer issued numerous albums of ferocious garage punk under various Oh Sees iterations and delivered performances that left both musicians and crowds drenched in sweat.
In 2017 Dwyer revived the OCS name for Memory of a Cut Off Head, an album of delicate yet peculiar psych-folk that updated the project's early lo-fi approach. He collaborated with Dawson on songwriting and initial tracking, then brought Mullins back for saw and electronics, added a string section arranged by Heather Lockie, and incorporated occasional horns guided by Mikal Cronin; Castle Face released the record late that year.
Albums
Singles
