head-banging into another dimension

Photographed by Alex Carre

Written by Dave The Space Guy

Touching Down with Dave the Space Guy: An all access recap of Oh Sees at the Night Owl Festival 2019

Toronto, Canada

First off, I would like to apologize to my parents, my teachers, my professors, everyone who ever had hope in me and wanted me to deal with my procrastination. Most of all I need to apologize to Rick, Editor-in-Chief, Founder, and Daddy of Reckless Magazine. I have failed you all. I only hope that you can all find it in your hearts to forgive me and give me another chance to babble aimlessly at you.

Now, cast your minds back to the long-gone days of October 2019. A time before the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse came down to Earth and gifted us with their blessings. We were young then, and innocent. Oh, how so much has changed over the year. In this bygone time, I was working with Alex Carre, Night Owl Festival Toronto and Reckless Magazine to cover the premier psychedelic music gathering North of the States. Some of you may even remember the first article we put out. The final night of the Festival was a co-production with Embrace Presents at the Danforth Theater, featuring the dirty, bumping, grooves of LA’s Prettiest Eyes, and the legendary anarchy of Oh Sees.

The day began unassumingly enough. As is tradition, I was preparing for the evening by stomping around my house clad only in short shorts, harassing my roommates as they tried to go about their lives. Ritualistically jumping around on furniture and badgering anyone brave enough to leave their rooms and exist in a common space for more than a minute. This culminated in me gracelessly diving from a flight of stairs out into the living room. As usual, this climax was poorly thought-out and I managed to clip my head on the top of a doorway mid-flight, giving myself a handsome gash that I nursed throughout the rest of the afternoon while I coordinated with Rick, the Night Owl team, and the Oh Sees’ PR team.

I was extremely excited as Rick had finagled a possible interview with John Dwyer, frontman of Oh Sees. So, I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing questions and topics to discuss before getting dressed and loading into the car with all my roommates. I got word from the PR team that the band had been held up and would be late reaching the venue, so the possibility of an interview taking place might be dashed. Not ideal, but I was hoping that with some good luck we could still manage to have a few minutes with the band.

Upon arriving at the Danforth, Michelle from Night Owl told me and Alex that she had spoken to Oh Sees’ management and PR as well and that the interview was not going to be a possibility, but we were still given all-access coverage for the show. A little disheartening, but hey, we still get to see one of my favorite bands tearing it up live, so how upset can you really be?

Any part of me that wanted to push the matter any further was laid to rest by memories of the infamous video of Dwyer taking down Dan Burke, one of Toronto’s longstanding promoters, back in 2004. I don’t think Dwyer is a violent person, nor Burke, but when tensions are already running high, people are running late for a gig, and you’ve seen the man drop a guitar on someone’s forehead before, you don’t want to be the asshole bugging that same man for an interview. But also, don’t throw snare drums at people.

Once Alex and I got settled in at the Danforth and he had figured out some of his prime camera angles, we struck up a conversation with one of the security guards by the gate. For the life of me, I cannot remember his name. I forgot to write it down at the time, and it’s been annoying me ever since. He was extremely easy-going and kind to us and we ended up chatting with him about the venue and music in general for close to 45 minutes while the room began to fill up. I did my best to explain to him what exactly the promoters had meant when they described the show and the crowd as “bouncy.” I don’t think I did a very good job of it though. It may not be all that interesting to most people, but it was cool to get to a glimpse of the industry from a totally different perspective. We all spend endless nights in clubs, bars, and theaters, yet our experiences of it all is wholly dissimilar.

With my new-found appreciation for, and friendship with Security, I began to wander the venue a bit and checked out how the room was filling up from the balcony. Before I knew it Prettiest Eyes were getting settled in, and I rushed back down to the floor. I passed the gate and settled into a spot out of the way stage left where I had enough light to write notes, and with a decent view of the full band. All of the sudden, Paul Quattrone, one of the drummers for Oh Sees came up to me and we spoke briefly before he returned to their green room. It was a nice little surprised to get to chat with such a stellar drummer unexpectedly, even more so that he was just a very nice, easy- going guy.

Once Prettiest Eyes started, I was immediately impressed, a three-piece consisting of bass, drums, and keys, shouldn’t sound so full, but they pull it off effortlessly. Every song was really driving and powerful and I couldn’t help but find myself bobbing along for the whole set. The interplay between Pachy Garcia on drums and Marco Rodriguez on bass was tight and powerful, holding everything down nicely while Paco Casanova’s key work fluttered effortlessly on top. I was blown away at the energy and power behind Garcia’s vocals while he was consistently crushing on the kit.

I really dug the last two songs of their set, when they really let loose and the physicality of their performance came to full force. They were standing on the drum throne, on top of the stage monitors, and owning the full stage. Rodriguez jamming and grooving all over the place in his all-black cowboy get-up really fired me up. Mid-way through their set Dwyer came out with Oh Sees’ other power-drummer-machine, Dan Rincon (astounding drummer AND Elon Musk body double). I gave them an impressed look to which Rincon gave me a knowing “YEAH!” nod. Meanwhile Dwyer was playfully heckling the band between songs. Friendship pals. All in all, I was thoroughly impressed with Prettiest Eyes and how coolly and effortlessly they pulled off such an energetic and rocking set.

Oh Sees then took to the stage and after a quick tease of “Man in a Suitcase” for a sound check before they ripped into a set so monstrous that I thought I was going to die. Rinse-Cycle and Quartertone are such a hefty duo that it’s nearly impossible to put into words. Their complementary beats combined with inhuman stamina is simply something everyone needs to witness live at least once. Combined with Tim Hellman’s mesmerizing superpowerful groove, you can’t help but be entranced by every song. The addition of Tomas Dolas to the mix really helps fill in the whole shebang, giving Dwyer room to lay off the guitar, play little licks, or hold onto a fuzzed-out whine as much as he pleases.

Dwyer. If you’re not aware, has such a wacky repertoire of insane stage moves and dances with his guitar that even grabbing a sip of beer mid-solo is somehow a physical performance. If that’s not your cup of tea, the good old lick of a see-through acrylic guitar might be more your thing. Who knows? He’s a wild man and if you don’t like it, then I have no room for you in my life.

“Animated Violence,” “Henchlock,” and “C” were all standout, but it’s hard to fuck up a set list when the band has such a fantastic discography to pick from. Personally, I was beyond stoked that they closed with “Web” and a jam of “Encrypted Bounce,” the two songs that originally turned me onto their work on the 2016 Live in San Francisco album. Forever grateful I got to experience them as closers to an overall terrific set. I also know that my man Alex basically survives on the energy he gets from listening to “Plastic Plant” live every year, so needless to say, its inclusion was welcomed on his end. What I’m getting at here is that they’re an awesome band.

Somewhere between “Nite Expo” and “Snickersnee” I went down to the gate to take some quick and shitty phone pictures of the band doing their thing, when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned to face my new friend from security, and he was beaming as he asked me if I was enjoying myself. It was at this point that I realized that I had been grinning like an idiot and head-banging into another dimension for 2 hours straight. As anyone would do, I replied, “I think my heart exploded 4 songs ago.” Thank god Rinkler and Quattro were keeping my blood flowing with their otherworldly drumming.