At the opening of the second of four Chapel shows in the Mission, frontman John Dwyer introduced the band to the crowd: “We’re the Osees, we’re from Los Angeles,” launching into the propulsive “Carrion Crawler” with the band’s signature snarling swagger, the assault of garage rock guitars instilled with a devilish playfulness. But for many longtime fans, something wasn’t quite right about that introduction.
In the world of rock music, Osees are a singular force, a battle-worn group of touring road warriors who both put on one of the most exciting shows in rock ‘n’ roll and produce a staggering amount of recorded material, with almost 30 albums to their various names (the spelling changes like the weather, from OCS to Thee Oh Sees, and currently Osees). They’re currently based in Los Angeles, but for the first half of their career, the band called San Francisco home.
Dwyer moved to SF from Rhode Island in 1997 with a desire to play with musicians like Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier. His first show in the city was at now-shuttered Edinburgh Castle under the moniker Pink and Brown. In 1999, he told Vice about playing venues like Eagle Tavern and the long-lost El Rincon while working as a cannabis trimmer in Oakland. He also did stints as a house painter, bike messenger and barista at a defunct Lower Haight coffee shop called Bean There, blocks from Rooky Ricardo’s Records, whose recently deceased owner Dick Vivian got a shoutout from Dwyer onstage, thanking him for introducing him to Canned Heat and the Temptations.
Concertgoers mosh at the Osees show at the Chapel in San Francisco, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Theo LaBrusciano-Carris/For SFGATE)
The Osees perform during their four-night run at the Chapel in San Francisco, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Theo LaBrusciano-Carris/For SFGATE)
What began as a freak-folk act under the moniker Orinoka Crash Suite evolved into one of the biggest forces in the late aughts and early 2010s garage rock movement, which locally included other bands like the Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall, Kelley Stoltz and Sonny and the Sunsets. Lofi and DIY in ethos, the bands took inspiration from the ’60s and ’70s, creating music that ranged from melodic psych to punishing punk.
The Osees fell into the latter category, with loud and fast riffs that extended into hypnotic krautrock-like jams. A dual drummer lineup adds to the chaos, but the core of the group has always been Dwyer, whose spitfire vocals and daredevil guitarwork instill the group with a confidence and charisma that evokes vintage rock stars of yore. Ty Segall once called Dwyer “the nicest guy in the world” and “the mayor of San Francisco.”
Much of the setlist on Wednesday was composed of songs from this San Francisco era, with standouts like “I Come From the Mountain” whose pointillist guitar riffs and howling vocals sparked crowd surfers at the Chapel (one of which somehow managed to take a selfie). “The Dream” was another hit from that period, Tim Hellman’s acrobatic basswork acting like a cattle-prod shoving the song along. And “Meat Step Lively” emphasized special guest Brigid Dawson’s backing vocals, a feminine contrast to Dwyer’s brute force yapping.
Like many artists, locked in cheap rent allowed him to pursue his craft. In an interview with Impose Magazine, he sung the praises of rent control: “My rent is really low out here. I have rent control from ages ago. I got lucky in that way that I don’t have to work much. So, when I’m home I can just relax from tours and sit around and write stuff as much as I want.”
John Dwyer of Osees performs at the Chapel in San Francisco, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Theo LaBrusciano-Carris/For SFGATE)
A crowd-surfer dives into the crowd at the Osees concert at the Chapel in San Francisco, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Theo LaBrusciano-Carris/For SFGATE)
But that rent control didn’t last. He moved to Los Angeles in 2013, scorching the city on his way out with a news release for an album on his record label Castle Face. “Evictions! Pop up shops! Parklets! Specialty shops! What the f-k is happening???” He goes on to rail about wealthy tech newcomers: “San Francisco has long been filling up with noobs … but now we face the most dangerous, the most egregious and blandest of them all… people with lots of money.”
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His booking agent went on to tell SF Weekly that after living at 17th and Valencia and witnessing the area’s transformation, he was simply over it. He told KQED in 2017 that housing costs were the reason for his move: “I didn’t really have a choice,” he said, saying that he was looking at apartments with over five roommates, compared with Los Angeles, where he was able to buy a home in the Eagle Rock neighborhood. The whole situation was such big local music news that SF Weekly did an April Fool’s post declaring Dwyer was returning to the city to embrace tech culture (“I’m thinking about moving to SoMa so I can be close to CalTrain to commute to Silicon Valley with the rest of my new tech friends. It’s all so inspiring!”).
But any bitterness toward Dwyer’s exodus from San Francisco was absent from Thursday’s show, filled largely with graying-haired millennials, reminiscing about now-defunct venues where they originally saw the band. At one point in the set, Dwyer mentioned the city again briefly over a trail of guitar feedback, and to my ears it sounded like he might’ve said “we’re from San Francisco, too,” but I can’t be sure. After the show, one fan told me over a pizza slice that he believed Osees to be the best live band in rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s hard to disagree.
A crowd-surfer is lifted into the air at the Chapel in San Francisco, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Theo LaBrusciano-Carris/For SFGATE)
The Osees perform during their four-night run at the Chapel in San Francisco, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Theo LaBrusciano-Carris/For SFGATE)
Dwyer is the focal point, aiming his guitar like a rifle at the audience, perfectly encapsulating the word “shredding.” But he’s assembled a merry band of pirate-like rockers that perfectly complement his guitar acrobatics. The dual drummer line-up is pure punk excess – often they’re hammering out identical beats, just milliseconds out of sync, giving groove a certain sense of swung seasickness. Bassist Tim Hellman adds a steady, almost bluesy backbone to the affair, giving Dwyer space to let his freak-out guitar flag fly. Tomas Dolas hovers over a Nord keyboard, adding harmony to the sonic soup. Brigid Dawson’s tambourine cuts through the chaos, keeping the operation on solid ground.
The band did their best Black Sabbath impression on “Plastic Plant” off 2016’s “A Weird Exits,” progged out guitars simmering over Ozzy-like chants. “Tidal Wave” splashed more toward the surf rock side of the garage spectrum, and “Sticky Hulks” was a rare moment where the tempo dropped below breakneck speed.
A crowd-surfer is carried across the crowd at the Osees concert at the Chapel in San Francisco, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Theo LaBrusciano-Carris/For SFGATE)
John Dwyer of the band Osees performs at the Chapel in San Francisco, on Aug. 27, 2026. (Theo LaBrusciano-Carris/For SFGATE)
Overall, there’s not much more you could want from a rock show, except, perhaps to still be able to call the band our own. But Dwyer perhaps put it best when describing Rooky’s owner Dick Vivian, calling him “a piece of old San Francisco that can’t be reproduced.” Osees may have left San Francisco, but there’s no other place that could have birthed them.
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This article originally published at Osees left SF because of gentrification. They returned for 4 sold-out shows..