I have a list of questions, but I barely need them. John Dwyer – who is bespectacled, has a tangled mess of hair, and is sitting in his living room in Eagle Rock in north-east Los Angeles – could talk underwater.
Soon after the 50-year-old leader of Osees asks where I am and what time it is (“Seven in the morning? F— that! I wouldn’t be doing this interview with me if I was you!”), he’s off, talking about his love of all things Australian.
“I had two music lessons at 16 years old when I got my first guitar. The first song I learnt was AC/DC’s Back in Black. And then I made the guy teach me Hate Breeders by the Misfits. That was all I needed to start writing songs.”
Then he starts singing the praises of Gutter Oil, a Perth band who will be one of the opening acts for Osees when they tour Australia in February and March. “They’re swampy and filthy and they sort of remind me of Lubricated Goat,” he says, casually referencing the ’80s Australian cult band led by Stu Spasm.
Dwyer (second from left) with his band Osees. The band has gone through endless name changes since starting as a solo project in 1997.Credit: Oliver Halfin
He’s also a huge fan of Australian composer Brian May, who created the soundtrack for Mad Max. “But I initially mistakenly thought it was Brian May from Queen. I was so impressed that this incredible guitarist had also written the soundtrack to Mad Max. I said to a friend of mine, ‘How the f— is he doing all of this?’ And he said, ‘It’s a different Brian May, you cretin.’
“I could go on for days about how much I love Australian films. Maybe it’s your country’s beginnings as a prison colony that lent itself to this punk-rock approach to films like The Cars That Ate Paris, Ghosts… of the Civil Dead, The Proposition, Razorback and Wake in Fright.”
Dwyer does everything fast, whether it’s talking, playing, writing songs, or recording and releasing albums. “The other day, the girl I’m hanging out with right now was watching me make dinner and she said, ‘You’re the fastest person I’ve ever met. You even cook unbelievably quickly!’”
‘For people like me, I think it’s like an addiction or an affliction.’
It’s so hard to keep up with his catalogue that he’s been the subject of parodies, such as a satirical fake news article with the headline: Even Newer Thee Oh Sees Album Somehow Released Before New Thee Oh Sees Album.
Oh, that’s another thing. The band name. He has changed it regularly over the years. It’s now Osees, but in the past it has been The Ohsees, The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees, OCS, Orinoka Crash Suite and Orange County Sound.
Whatever the name, almost 30 albums have been released since 2003, but Dwyer has concurrently released around that number of albums again with numerous other bands and side projects. Is there a secret to this seemingly relentless productivity?
“I mean, this is my job,” he says. “It also helps that my whole family are these tenacious workaholics, so I have nothing but energy to put towards my true love, which is music and art. For people like me, I think it’s like an addiction or an affliction. It’s not a problem for me to maintain this level of creativity, but if I run out of things to say, I’ll certainly stop.”
Osees are fuelled by dual drummers, their live shows are legendarily loud, wild and intense, and a signature part of the sound is Dwyer’s electric guitar, which he holds high on his body and attacks as if it recently said something bad about his mother, while he scream-sings with throat-shredding gusto.
But the latest album, Sorcs 80, has no guitar on it at all. It might sound like it does, but it’s all samplers. In August, the band filmed a live performance of the new record on a helipad on top of an LA building, with Dwyer and keyboard player Tomas Dolas beating synth pads with drumsticks to trigger the sounds. How does one actually get to play on a helipad in LA?
“We had to rent it from this Armenian family that owned the building,” he says. “It rained all day and it was freezing cold. We set up and covered everything, and then sat in the hallway for about six hours waiting for it to stop raining, and the second it stopped, which was basically right at sunset, we ran up, took the tarps off, plugged in, and just went for it. We only had two hours left to shoot. That night, when I got home, I was so f—ing tired I fell asleep with my clothes on.”
Dwyer is a bit of an open book about most things, even his drug use. But lately he’s been talking about living a “subtractive life”. What exactly does that mean?
“I just turned 50,” he says. “I still drink. I still smoke weed. I don’t smoke cigarettes any more. I’ve always loved LSD. I love speed. I love cocaine. But there comes a certain point where you’re at an age where it’s just not OK to do them any more. They’re a young person’s game. I can’t keep that up. I need sleep now. So I’ve turned off a lot of those things in my life.”
One thing he hasn’t turned off is his productivity. Naturally, he’s already working on the next album. Apart from the fact the guitar will be making a return, he doesn’t know which direction it might take.
“I definitely have the confidence now where I’m fine going in with no idea. I can go to the band and say, ‘Let’s see what happens. Good luck, everybody. See you on the other side.’
“Also, I feel like our fans, thankfully, are pretty down to roll with the punches. If you’re in our army a little bit, I think you’re probably prepared for some stuff from left field. I just hope it doesn’t suck. I definitely think that we are due to put out a terrible record sometime soon.”
He laughs and runs a hand through his hair. “So maybe this one will be the one.”
Sorcs 80 is out now. Osees will perform at Brisbane’s Princess Theatre on February 26, Sydney’s Metro Theatre on February 28, Adelaide’s The Gov on March 1, Fremantle’s Freo Social on March 3, and Melbourne’s The Croxton Bandroom on March 6 and 7.
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