Osees et George Chen

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.