Live Review: Osees - Chalk, Brighton 25/06/2025
California-based psych-garage maestros Osees still remain one of the most energetic and exciting live performers in modern music, with frontman John Dwyer’s infectious energy and ingenuity making for one hell of a show.
Having just announced their new album Abomination Revealed At Last along with lead single “Flight Simulator”, Dwyer’s vast portfolio of incredibly innovative psychedelic explorations just keeps getting bigger, this being their 31st full-length album.
And somehow the band play through songs from all eras of Osees like an incredibly well-oiled machine, with the same ardent passion and grit as if it were their first time playing the songs.
From the first moment that the double-drums started pounding the crowd came alive in a frenzy which spread like wildfire, an infectious feeling of excitement which shows the vast reach that Dwyer and co’s recordings have had even in a relatively small coastal city in the UK such as Brighton.
The floor quite literally shook when the first riff of “Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster” kicked in, which only got more intense on the following few times the explosive riff came back in, followed by Dwyer’s fuzzed out solos piercing through the crowd.
Slowly but surely the mood swayed from a chaotic frenzy of songs like “Encrypted Bounce” towards a more ruminative mood, especially towards the last three songs which included long, constantly evolving jams before going right into the extraordinary closer “Minotaur”.
Osees are now headed to Glastonbury for their televised set on The Park Stage, a definite must-see for any fans of garage, psychedelic or punk. This is a band at the top of their abilities, somehow continuously evolving their craft every single year to the surprise and delight of fans.
Abomination Revealed At Last is out on the 8th of August via Deathgod Records (formerly known as Castle Face), which going by its fiery lead single, should be one hell of a ride even deeper into their iconic garage-psych sound.
Words by Jay Cohen