Thee Oh Sees played Death by Audio w/ White Mystery, Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel and Hector's Pets (pics)

June 17, 2014

photos by P Squared Photography, words by Andrew Sacher

Thee Oh Sees at Death by Audio – 6/15/14

Garage rock greats Thee Oh Sees came to NYC for a free outdoor show in McCarren Park during the Northside Festival, but as they tend to do when they come here for a big show, they added a tiny last-minute one that happened at Death by Audio Sunday night (6/15). The shows were their first in NYC with their new touring lineup which is frontman John Dwyer joined by Nick Murray on drums and Timothy Hellman on bass. This power trio version of the band still put on a very full sounding show that my ears are just beginning to stop ringing from two days later, and needless to say it was a wonderful mess. Crowd was packed in as close as possible to the stage, dancing, bopping around, and clearly having a hell of a time. And John Dwyer and co. matched their energy, taking only minimal pauses and never going less hard on a song than the one before it. Totally wild show.

Two of the openers, Hector’s Pets and White Mystery, also had a garage rock thing going on, but the opener that struck me most was LA’s Burger-signed Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel. They sounded straight out of 1967 LA with organ-driven psych rock not far from Strawberry Alarm Clock (there was a song I almost thought was an “Incense and Peppermints” cover), and a little Ray Manzarek in there too. You can stream their newest record, Nico & Her Psychedelic Subconscious via Bandcamp.

Pictures of all four bands are in this post and continue below…

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