Osees, Unwritten Law, and Yoke Lore

It’s genuinely difficult to get a handle on Thee Oh Sees, primarily because they’ve never quite done anything like a real band; what we can say for sure is that they’ve always been centered around John Dwyer, who has used the name as a vehicle to release a wide range of material, from conventional studio records to experimental demo mixtapes. The current live lineup of the band features Nick Murray on drums and Timothy Hellman on bass; both only joined the group in 2014 after Dwyer confusingly hinted at a hiatus, then confirmed a new album for 2014, ‘Drop’. It seems possible that the current trio is only a temporary arrangements whilst the pre-hiatus lineup turn their attentions to other projects.

Dwyer has recorded under the name ‘Orinoka Crash Suite’ since 1997 and changed the name of the band several times, from OCS to Orange County Sound and then The Ohsees in 2006. This latter incarnation has been the most stable, and the slew of albums they’ve released since then have met with critical acclaim, especially 2013’s ‘Floating Coffin’. They have enjoyed mainstream exposure when their 2011 track ‘The Dream’ was featured on the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto V.

After forming and finding themselves amidst a slew of acclaimed rock bands fron the San Diego area in the early nineties - Rocket from the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu and Blink-182 can all be counted amongst their initial contemporaries - Unwritten Law didn’t actually release a debut record until 1994. When ‘Blue Room’ dropped, though, it encapsulated the aggressive, pacy style of punk rock that the band had become known for on the local scene with countless rapturously received gigs. By the late nineties, they were gradually edging toward stardom, with two more studio albums ‘Oz Factor’ and ‘Unwritten Law’ placing them on the map internationally, thanks to a slot on the Vans Warped Tour that, at the time, covered Europe and Australia as well as North America.

They could potentially have been accused of failing to strike whilst the iron was hit, leaving it until 2002 to return with a fourth album - ‘Elva’ - but the time they spent realigning their punk rock sound, making it more accessible and hard rock-oriented, paid dividends as they made TV appearances and saw their single ‘Seein’ Red’ top the US modern rock charts. They’ve retained a strong cult fanbase the world over since then, despite a slew of lineup changes affecting the band - frontman Scott Russo was, for a while, the only remaining founder member, although drummer Wade Youman rejoined the fold in 2013.