Thee Oh Sees – SORCS 80 (Coloured vinyl)

“This album [SORCS 80] was a self imposed ambitious project for us [OSEES]. Something to kick in the creative flow. The last few years, having been a challenging time in general, felt like a good time for a pivot. The last two albums were so guitar and keyboard centric, I wanted a weird and fun set of parameters for us to work with. I demo’d everything at home on cassette four track (harkening back to simpler times) using drum loops, and just had at it ’til I had a pile of ‘songs.’

“Tom [Dolas] and I chose one sound each using synths and created a range of three octaves of that sample, then loaded them into Roland SPD-SX samplers and learned the transcribed songs using drum sticks. The idea was to change the way we wrote and to have four people along the front of the stage essentially playing percussion. So no guitar, no keys.

“As we were recording I kept thinking how the sounds, when paired up, sounded a bit like brass. So, we added a saxophone horn section to round out the horniness of the sound with a bit of reedy bell tones. Thanks to Cansfis Foote and Brad Caulkins on tenor and baritone saxophones.

“Sort of a Dexy’s Midnight Runners meets Von LMO meets The Flesh Eaters meets the Screamers kinda punk junk. Poppy and hooky, heavy at times. Sort of vacuous and maybe a bit sci-fi in sound. Boneheaded in riff and heady in lyrics. Recorded at Stu-Stu-Studio by me on eight track 1/4-inch tape. So pretty hot and raw. Lots to write about today. A lot of these lyrics were taken from things people said in passing about taking on life right now that stuck with me. Things that made me reflect. Things that made me laugh. Things that made me WTF. Some folks are kind, genuine and give you love and energy. Some are greedy manipulative ghouls who hang off your veins. You must be strong, composed and take care of yourself. Be self aware and check your mind for cracks. Learn to relax and be well. There are moments of beauty and redemption. It’s not all bad news and there’s always hope. People continue to surprise me one way or another. Anyhow, hope you enjoy and good luck out there.” —John Dwyer