No Filler Music Podcast - Face-Melters and Mind-Benders: Thee Oh Sees Deep-Dive

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

Hold onto your brain - we're diving headfirst into the kaleidoscopic chaos of Thee Oh Sees (and their many aliases). From garage-rock blitzes to prog-noise freakouts, we unpack the ever-evolving sound and vision of John Dwyer’s relentless sonic machine. Join us as we sample from their vast discography and genre-spanning sound, with tracks from Face Stabber, Orc, Floating Coffin, and Protean Threat. Whether you’re a seasoned fan or just noise-curious, strap in and get ready to ascend into Thee Oh Sees stratosphere. Tracklist Thee Oh Sees - Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster Osees - Gong of Catastrophe Oh Sees - Snickersnee (Live on KEXP) Oh Sees - Animated Violence Oh Sees - Poisoned Stones Thee Oh Sees - Sticky Hulks Oh Sees - The Experimenter Osees - Sacrifice This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Hey, I'm John Stewart, and you're listening to the Pantheon Network. Welcome to No Filled It. If that doesn't get your toe tapping.

That's Toe Cutter, Thumbuster. And this is No Filler with the tracks that fill the records. Between the singles that you want to skip. Did I get an intro? It's pretty good. That's pretty close. I got real nervous during it, bro. I should know it.

I could play it a million times in my head. Dude, you had, dude, the pressure was on, man. This is your first intro. And dude, and here's the funny thing, dude. I forget that intro all the time, dude. And you never hear me fuck it up because I take it out. And then I put it in when it's perfect, you know, when I say it perfectly. That's the only version you hear.

So there you can keep my flip. version. Oh, I'm going to keep it in, you. That's fucking hilarious. Because honestly, as much as I love that song, toe cutter thumb buster, I do be skipping it, man, off of that record. I do, even though it's a single, because I want to get to the stuff that, that wasn't highlighted.

It was better, you know? There you go. So, yeah, this is No Filler. Let me, let me show your odds down, Mitch. Okay. This is, uh, I got my pad. Let me see if I can get it right. Welcome to No Filler, the music podcast, dedicated to sharing the often overlooked

hidden gyms. to fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. My name is Travis. I got my good buddy Mitchell back on the pod. It's three in a row. Three in a row. Technically, I was supposed to release our What You Heard, but I still haven't pieced it together yet,

so there will be another episode. Hey, I want to get up on one of those, bro, because I can really let my different types of stuff fly, but that's a whole different week. Maybe next time. I actually reached out to Q. He's down to record of what you heard. Okay. In between baby diapers and whatever else he's doing.

Man, selling houses, changing diapers. My gosh, studying, working. Busy guy. Yeah. So Quentin is busy being a dad for the second time around. He just had his second kid. Her name is River. I was told that I could share the name with the listening audience all 10 of you. It's a great name. Great name. Got the double R with his with her older brother there. That's really cool. Oh, Nand River. Yeah. Yeah.

So she is my first niece, which I'm pretty freaking pumped about, dude. She's going to be spoiled right in the brother. Oh, yeah, dude. She's a front. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, I've got five nephews, dude. Five.

Yeah, you know, I think y'all brought that up on some other episode or maybe it was when we were talking about it. And I didn't realize it was like that over there. Five, dude. Yeah. I mean, so it's two on my older brother's side, two on my older brother's side, two on my my wife's sister and then now it's yeah all boy stuff so now you can exactly it's nothing but it was the curse dude so river has broken the curse that's pumped about it did anyway so yeah when are you going to become

an unc dude you got two brothers you got two brothers who knows dude and I don't want to put this out it doesn't really matter yeah I don't think it's gonna ruin any surprises or anything but late late October yeah I'll be back in Austin for for Tucker's wedding man oh which is the first thing you know I got engaged before him he got engaged for me but He's putting the legwork in and actually getting the ceremony going. So, yeah. So I don't know. I don't think that's necessarily right away for them.

But if it does happen, man, you can imagine that I will be there and all over that kid, dude. Uncle Mitch is going to be great, man. Wow. So congrats to Tucker. Yeah, big time. It's awesome. I really look forward to that. It's going to be the first big proper party celebration type of event like that for our family tribe, you know.

Dude, that's right. Between me, him, and B, he's doing it. So it's going to be big. It'll be big. Late October in the Hill Country. it'll be really pretty outside of kind of low-key vibes. That's great. Dude, do you remember our buddy Josh Stewart?

Yes. Yeah, from Quentin's band. Exactly, yeah. Yes. He's appeared on this pod once, maybe twice. Super smart guy. I can tell that dude is sharp as shit. He lived in New York for a while, I think you mentioned, and was like in the source.

But yeah, his wedding was in Austin Hill Country. So I'm curious if it's like a similar venue. I'm sure it is. But anyway. You know, it's out towards dripping springs or something. And I'm not sure the exact spot. meant to get more better details on that language. But yeah, that's going to be awesome.

Yeah. All right. Lots of tears and dancing. Oh, yeah, dude. Get fucking ready to dance, bro, for sure. Speaking of dancing, bro. There's a specific type of dance that I'm really good at, and that's the Mosh Pit. And this band, bro, I'm telling you, Travis, it doesn't translate.

It kind of does. You could fill the energy in that song, Toe Coder, which is their biggest song. And when he puts that riff in, like, in shows, he does it kind of slowed down. And you can just tell that's, like, a very well-known song and riff. and it just sends the crowd, bro, into like a pure Pogo pit. Dude, he's a phenomenal guitar player, so we'll get into that. Awesome. Bro, he has slept on in that way.

So, my God, yeah. So we're talking about the OCs, if you're unfamiliar with. Wait, are we talking about the OCs or OCs or? Dude, I wanted to ask you about that because I hope that you have an answer because I sure don't. By no means of mine expert. Let me temper that. But also, they're definitely my favorite contemporary rock band right now that's alive and touring. like hands down.

I mean, Sabbath doesn't count with their last. We can talk about that some other time too, Tread. Did you see Ozzy's final performance? Yeah, I did. Yeah, it was pretty cool. He still has the pipes, bro. It was. I'm curious how much of that was slown and altered.

Yeah, for sure. But it could have been a lot cornier and it wasn't the worst money grab, right? No, no, it was awesome to see all those acts, man. Yes. Yes, all four of them. Yeah, and all the acts with them, bro. Jack Black went up there and sang with him. Yep.

They had a drum circle with Dana Carey from Tool and some other people. they played Super Not, a deep cut. That's a tangent. But anyways. Oh, yeah, yeah. They're my favorite touring live act, bro. So I've seen them now over 10 times. Once I saw them five times in a row every day at a fest during Southbine for free, too, in Austin.

That's easy to do when you're homeless. But that's a different story, too. My favorite band live, without a doubt, without a doubt live. And they send it just, they just control the crowd, dude. It's so fun. And it's just a mixture of, like, punk sound. and garage psych sound and freak folk. And the name, as far as I know,

the original iteration of the name is, I think, V-T-H-E-O-C-P period, S-period, I think. Okay. I think the rumor is that it stands for Orange County Sound, which is where he formed the band with a bandmate named Bridget Dawson. And I want to say an original drummer, I can't remember his name,

and a guitar player named Pedy Dammit. I always like that name, so I can remember that name easy. And I think that's what it stands for. And then he's just kind of changed it, like warped the phonetic spelling of it, which is really cool as he as he grows with the band and the sound kind of evolves or changes into something for the what it is in the moment for that record. And it's spelled oh capital O, capital S, capital EES sometimes on like they're hardcore punk stuff and more I guess in your face kind of spelling if you want to read into it that way. Yeah, it's almost like they have like these different personas. Yes, bro.

Yes. So like here it is. Here's a good little paragraph here. or this is you're right so orange county sound but listen here's all the other ones orinoka crash suite at one point oh c s yep orange county sound the ocs the oases the o spaces the with like two e's oCs yeah that's when i first caught their wave yeah yeah and then o c so like yeah so they were already on like sixth spelling you know yeah it's one two three it's like eight or nine yeah uh just just on the just on the just on the wikipedia page

So, like, I'm sure there's more. But, yeah. And Dwyer, the frontman has side projects that he does under other names, like, I think, Bent Arcana and Witch's Egg. Like, the dude is, I mean, my gosh, bro. I don't know how he does it. Yeah. Yeah, they have a separate Wikipedia page for their discography because there's just so much content.

It's intense, dude. I haven't gone back past much further than floating coffin, if I'm being honest. Yeah. And apparently, I mean, this is hard to believe. I don't know if they have any content or any, like, releases from way back when, but apparently they formed in 1997. That's insane, bro. That's ridiculous.

I was 10 years old, dude. Yeah. He's pushing 50 now. I know he mentioned that when I seen him last here in the Colorado Springs, but he still got it, dude. He still fucking got it. So apparently it was a solo project of his in 97. So. That tracks.

I mean, it always, even with the same, he's got two drummers in the band, which is fucking cool. Really cool. Yeah, really cool. Yeah. Just in your face live. It makes these crazy beats and you see him doing it in harmony and it's just impressive. It's just so loud. And it has to be because his guitar is.

usually crank to fucking 11, so he needs two drummers to make that kind of noise. Yeah, so if we, I mean, I think with the tunes we bring in today, like, it's going to show, like, the breadth of their sound and stuff. But like, yeah, if we had to bucket it under one genre, would you say psychedelic? I'd call psych rock, yeah. Psychic rock, or punk rock or punk rock. There you go. One of those three. Yeah.

But bro, then it gets weird, dude, like on some of the stuff we talked about, you know, so. But yeah, definitely a really cool. psychedelic rock and roll band. Yeah, dude. With a hard, hard edge, dude. Yeah. Well, with that, let's jump into it. Let's go.

Let's go. Okay, so yeah, that first one, toe cutter thumb buster, legendary song, a cool fact named after a character in Mad Max. It's the guy in Mad Max 2. I can't remember. He's some dude in Mad Max, which is sweet. Dwyer's references are on point. The guy is an avid, like, D&D fan and just writes cool, has cool names of songs

and shit. So after that one, I want to go to, Trave, let's go right into something. and more new off of Protean threat and the song is called gong like a bang a gong gong of catastrophe and it's got some really cool like synth work on it that comes up much later in the

OC's kind of abandon and I just really like its vibe dude totally different from that kind of abrasive garage sound that we just heard on tow cutter thumb buster and this one is off of what record again? Protein threat I believe protein like yeah I'm not even sure

what okay yeah so this is 2020 All right, here we go. That bass line is so killer. Tim something. I got you. Tim Hellman. Yes. Every time I've seen him on a stage,

imagine having to carry your own presence in the backing in a rhythm section when there's two fucking drummers, dude. And he's just this unassuming dude that just holds it down while Dwyer just freaks the fuck out on the other side of the stage. I mean, like, spitting, deep throat in the mic. He's known for putting his whole mouth around the mic, dude, like, like mouthing it, biting his guitar, he can hold his guitar in his mouth. Like the guy's wild, dude.

He's super spry, pulls power stances. I just love him, dude. I love him. And I love that song, dude. Oh, man. I mean, that's just, uh, there's just like a, it's just thick. It is. Thank you for saying that.

It's got a heavy vibe to it. It's almost, I mean, it's almost got like a, like a sludge kind of stoner-esque. Yes, dude. You know what I mean? Most of the, most of the songs that I brought today are ones that have that, that I find, that draw me to O.C. sound for sure. But, but, but it's also there, just a little high hat ride in there and the, and the little touch of that, of that synthy riff over his little with his guitar real quick. It's just like, kind of noisy and quick. And then if you read the

lyrics, it's about police state type shit. And it's really cool, man. So apparently, so, like we mentioned earlier, this, this came out in 2020. So listen to this, dude. Maybe you caught this. And an apparent response to the COVID-19 pandemic. and widespread cancellation of concerts. The band initially previewed the album in a rough form as a single take live rehearsal video that premiered on YouTube. That's badass. I think I have heard about that.

That's so awesome. So, so balzy. So that was like in March of 2020. So like literally like we're wearing the fucking thick of it. And we're all like hearing words like lockdown and shit for the first time. Day one or so. Yeah.

I mean, that was that was right when it started to hit. And that band, they're known for their touring too. I imagine that they had to pivot pretty quick. They got to play. Dude, they did a set in Morrison where Red Rocks is at up here in Colorado. That's awesome. But it was during COVID. So it was spaced out.

And it was kind of a weird, like, almost like an oxymoronic type OC show because nobody was moshing or going crazy. But it was also turned out to be like a really cool take on it. It ended up looking kind of like Pink Floyd live at Pompeii. You ever seen that trap? Where it's just like this really cool psych band playing in a beautiful, like, earth. natural earth-made amphitheater. It ended up working really well, and I regretted not going to that show.

But it was during COVID, so things weren't guaranteed. And I'd never been to Red Rock still haven't. But I didn't want that to be the first time, some socially distanced concert, you know. So if it's an O.C. show, bro, I'm going to be in the pit at the front with my earplugs and in the pit until I can't anymore. That's the funnest part. So you mentioned Red Rocks. The only, I've been to Red Rocks once. And it was last year.

And it was to see a band that, like is kind of similar. King Gizzard? Oh yeah. I know King Giz. Not nearly as well as OCs. But yeah. Dude, shout out King Giz.

There's a song called Iron Lung. I think I've seen on K-E-XP live that was that's fucking dope, dude. It's like a 10-minute jam, dude. It's about a guy in an iron lung or a person inside of an iron lung. It's fucking sweet. I'm glad you mentioned KEXP, dude. That's a perfect transition to this next track. Those guys are saints.

Saints on earth doing God's work. Please give them more funding. Oh. Dude, that's a good plug. Yeah, definitely do that right now. Got to, dude. Yeah, K-AXB has these great sessions, right? Like, name a band, and they've probably done a K-E-XP, like live-recording session.

Yeah, it feels like you're like side stage with the band for once, getting to see them right there, right? Like a homie would get to see them from. Exactly. You know, whatever. So we're going to go back and forth, like, between a Mitchie pick and one of my picks. And all three of my picks for this group are coming from. They're coming from their records, face stabber. So I don't know if it was the record prior to...

I think it's just after Ork, which is my favorite record by them. Just throw that out there. Yeah, so it came out 2019. So right before Protion, Proteon Threat. Protein, I think it's called? Protein. See, they're... Protean, maybe?

I ended up looking it up. It means something. This is why you're an excellent no-filler host, dude. You mispronounced stuff just like us. I don't give a fight me all back, dude. Cocktow twins. I took Spanish in high school, not Francie. Exactly.

Cocteau is what I've been told. Oh, my God. Cocktoe, that's easy to remember. Yeah, exactly. I don't know, dude, cocktow just sounded fancier, you know, just sounded better. Anything sounds better than cocktoe. Especially, yeah, we just talk about toe cutter. Yeah, dude.

Toe cutter thumb. You know, it's a bad guy for Mad Max, I think. Dude, I've had a, I've had a few ingrownails in my day. Oh, bro. Preaching to the choir, mate. Oh, my God. That shit will bring you to your knees, dude. I had to go see a toe cutter.

You know what I mean? Yeah, I had to do that once in high school, but that was long, I haven't had two since. I still got a baby nail. Shout out left toe. So, this is, dude, this is kind of funny. We went from toe cutter, and now this is a record called face stabber. Yeah, I mean, it's visceral. There's lots of violent, violent shit in his song lyrics and stuff.

Yeah, for sure, dude. All right, so I'm actually going to bring a clip from their K-E-X-P performance. Cool. It sounds amazing. So this song is going to highlight his ability as a guitar player for sure. So here you go. This song, again, is off a face-stabber. Here's a live recording from their K-E-X-B session.

This song is called Snickers-Snee. Now, I don't know if this is on the record version, but I don't know if that synth player is on the record. And that's kind of what makes it interesting. Because he's sort of doing like a dual rib. Like he's dueling it up with the with the synth player. And yeah, he's the newest member of the band.

He had his own group called Mr. Elevator. And he's been with him, I think, since Protein Threat or around post-COVID. Or maybe just after a face stab or he'd come along. I don't know if they met around that or what. But I don't know that gentleman's name either. And he's kind of tucked away in the back

and kind of lost back there sometimes. but you still hear him on, they let him solo out sometimes too, especially when Dwyer has his little like pocket piano going or whatever the fuck he's playing on. Well, I'm going to have to listen to Mr. Elevator now, dude. Yeah, they're cool as shit, dude. It's that kind of long-haired cat in the back. He doesn't really change his expression too much. He's kind of that type of, you know, rocker.

He's cool. He's cool as fuck. Dwyer is just all over and just a wild man. Yeah. So, I mean, I feel like with his, the way he would like sort of answer every verse with like the guitar there. Dude, that was, that was giving me. me some like, some Tony Iommi vibes a little bit. Yeah, yes, yes.

From early Sabbath. Yep. Totally, man. And, and, uh, I love the, I had to look up what Snickersney was just because I didn't realize I didn't know what it meant. It means a knife fight or to fight with a certain type of Dutch knife. It's perfect, dude. It's fucking awesome, dude.

And it kind of sounds like, now that version is a little, it's like, it's kind of sexier. A little bit, yeah. But, but the one of the record, I can see how it's kind of like stabby sounds at you. Yeah. I mean, yes, it is. Coming up behind you and the lyrics. I love all of it.

Face stabber. All of it. And yeah, the, yeah, speaking of lyrics right here, dude, this could not be more relevant than right now. Politicians tell you only lies. I hate to taint any kind of fucking, because to me, Travis, this is a space where buddy, it's, I miss communicating with you and your brother. Like, roses miss the rain, buddy. I really do. So fuck the, fuck all that negative energy.

I don't want to anywhere near me. the fucking OCs. But that being said, John Dwyer writes things for a reason and it gets even more kind of in your face with later stuff like is one of his more recent records, a foul form. What do you think he's talking about, Trave?

It's called a foul form. Dude, that's his like return to hardcore punk. Like straight up, you know, minute long songs that are just fucking aggressive. Yeah, man.

Well, it's interesting because this, I mean, this record came out in 2019. So maybe he wrote these. He might have wrote these during like the, you know, like the primaries and shit.

Yes, Travis. things were already going off the rails then, you know, or starting to be like a fucking spectacle in the worst way, a nightmare carnival. The escalator had descended. You know what I'm saying? We were starting to take the, yeah, I do.

I know exactly what you're saying. And we've been in a snick or snee ever since, bro, having to fucking watch your bag, bro. We've been getting snick or sneed left and right, dude. Anyway. I thought it was something softer. It's a cool name. It is odd.

Yeah, it's cool. And it makes me wonder. I mean, not all the tracks on the record. Because I was thinking it'd be cool if like every track on the record had some sort of like a play on words with like getting stabbed. But no, it's not the case. Oh, I'm curious about that too, Triff, because the record before face stover is called orc. And then the guy on the cover of face stabbard is quite clearly like your archetypal orc warrior.

I'm curious if there's, and there's lots of songs where Dwyer sings about wizards and warriors and this and that. So that leads me into my next pick. That's a great pick, bro. I love that song. I think Quentin would really like that song because of the groove that the drums bring. I mean, it's just fucking catchy. Q's going to listen to this, dude. He's going to like, shit, I should have been on this episode.

Yep, yep. Or he's going to be screaming the right answer at us while we're just, you know, butchering the fucking whatever we're saying, you know. Okay. So from Snickersney to a song because of the connection of the records in proximity there, off of orc is called the opening track, I think. It's called Animated Violence. And it's incredible, Travis.

It's my top two favorite OC song. of my favorite OCs record, the only song I'm bringing today from said record, which was hard. But, you know, I know a little bit about the OCs. I'm not doing jacknives from the into the deep end, but I'm swimming in the deep end, right? I'll get up on that slide eventually. I mean, you're deeper than I am for sure. Yeah, we're in it, buddy. They're fucking awesome, Trave.

You got to catch them. So, yeah, it's called animated violence. It's aggressive. You don't need to let it play all the way out, Trave. It kind of has a kind of a psychedelic kind of outro that you can listen to in your own time. but just let a few of the verses play and basically just get ready for a fucking crunchy riff, dude. I love some crunch, dude.

Here we go. All right, animated violence off of their 2017 record orc. I almost didn't want to fade it out, man. Yeah, you faded it out at the perfect time. He always plays that one, too, and I know when it comes away. Going off yet, it's going off now, dude, when I hear that one. Yeah, that is a charge into fucking battle kind of song, you know what I mean? Exactly, yeah, exactly.

Like I told you in the chat, if I had to introduce me as a wrestler into a cage fight, I'm coming out to that shit, dude, to hype myself up. That song, I'm telling you, that song is usually, and lately he's been pairing it with toe cutter, thumb buster. So it's like a, I got to stretch my back and my knees and shit before I get in on that, because it is a doozy, dude, a doozy. I mean, he's got almost a totally different vibe with his vocals on that. I mean, he sounds like a different guy almost.

Yeah, the delivery is throaty and aggressive up on the mic. And then compared to Snickersy, the track that you brought right before that, it's very soft and delivered where you can understand what he's saying. The first few times I heard this animated violence, I didn't fucking know, but the lyrics I just love, dude. It's like the ultimate D&D poem, Dungeons and Dragon poem, you know. Yeah. I'll let people read that on it. Read it as you listen to it and it just, bro, it gives me goosies to the fucking extreme, dude.

Kind of like Zeppelin lyric vibes a little bit. Yes. Nailed it, dude. Yes. Yes. I'm picturing that stick gatherer with, you know. Yeah. That's like the terrain that this song is set in.

And dude, when he plays it live, I mean, he's like rock. It's into it. I don't know how to explain it. You got to catch it, bro. Don't miss it. They'll be back around again, too, but you just need to get the more in you because they change subtle lineup stuff. And they're known for not really changing it too much, but he's been peppering in things

that are different. It's not like the same stagnant type shit. So they're playing Austin, October 18th, and then Dallas, October 19th. So, yeah, the next day. Dude, I saw that fucking built a spill is playing. trees. Oh yeah, yeah. I might catch that actually. I love them, dude. They're playing with modest mouse in Denver and me and Laura are going to see them. Nice, dude. Nice. Bill to spill. Same fucking bill, bro. Smaller club in Denver for under 100 bucks.

For both of us, dude? Are you kidding me? Yeah. Dude. That's incredible. You want to talk about a phenomenal guitar player, dude. Oh, dude. Doug Marsh? Yeah, man. Yeah, Doug Marsh, you slept on, dude. Slept on. I think y'all turned me on to a lot of them from our episode on them. Yeah, with Carrie the Zero that amazing song. Yes, dude. He's such a lyricist, man.

Oh, he is. Yeah, and he's such a like a low-key dude. I think Dwyer is too from the interviews I've seen. I mean, he's out there and he'll let you know. He's an East Coast guy. I know he's from Rhode Island. I know that he's lived a long time in California. Yeah, he doesn't sound like what you'd expect him to.

No, no, dude. Not at all. He admits to like, and he's locked in his style. Cutoffs and fucking like old, like, track running shoes and like a tank top. He locked that shit. in fucking 20 years ago and that's what he wears now. And he pulls it off, dude.

Yeah. He's just super fucking charming, but also has an edge to him. It doesn't take any shit, I can tell. And he's just one of the hardest working guys I think in the psych rock industry. I mean, as far as I can tell. Yeah. You know, and there's never any, nobody's ever fucking bringing up anything bad about him. Like you said, bands that are doing it like doing it prolifically and like torn all the time and shit.

Like nobody can match these guys, you know what in these circles. Yeah, that's kind of like that. I've tried to keep my ear to the ground for like with bands like King Gid. is and there's a band called Slift that gets compared to OCs a lot, but they do their own thing. Yeah, they're in their own kind of world, yeah. Yeah. But just as far as I'm concerned, man, and I have just taking the, drinking the fucking Kool-Aid, so to speak, for the live show, I have fully support that.

If you can go to that, get into it. Oh, yeah. No, I mean, this is just one of those bands that you've got to see live for sure. Let's jump back to Face Stabber. So I've got another pick of this record. So we're kind of bouncing around here in terms of the years. Yeah, that's going to be kind of our like lightning rod, though. stabber which is kind of which is an out there album which i love that you that's the one that i kind of

missed and there's so many too man that we're not even addressing but that that you're bringing three from so that's going to kind of bring us back to that similar wavelength the snick or snick or really cool psychedelic borderline kraut rock vibe and i'm not even sure if i'm using that term right i think i know what it is when i hear it but i don't know how to exactly explain i mean they've got they've got some songs on here they've got a 14 minute track and a 20 minute track on this you just said it all there yeah you just said it all there but I know bands in that crot rock genre do that, those long jamouts. Exactly.

All right. So here you go. This song is called Poisoned Stones. The drums, too, man. And what I love about it, like, the drums are very consistent the entire time. It's just that groove the entire time. And then the guitar, they're kind of changing it up just slightly in like the little like interludes and stuff. Like the little, you know, grooves that kind of like tie it together.

Yeah, it's like micro riffs. Yeah. Or solos, I'm rather solo, like micro solos. He's so good at that, man. Oh, my God, dude. He just does these quick little fucking spurts. In and out, dude. And with the sounds that I've never heard from a guitar, dude, ever.

Yeah. The tone that he gets off of it is, it sounds like a keyboard sometimes or a keytart. He plays this freaking awesome look. It's like a clear guitar. Yeah, I wanted to bring that up. It's an acrylic. It's cast acrylic cast into an SG mold. And the most recent interview that I saw, he says he's not playing that anymore because it's really heavy.

And yeah, yeah, it's super heavy. It's got like an aluminum neck, but it makes the most ridiculous noise. And, but he's got a melody maker, Trav. I don't know if you know this brand. I don't really know it too well. That's his favorite now. He's even got like D20 d-20 dyes on it for the fucking tuning knobs and shit, Trow. Okay, okay.

Like he's got color like D-10s and D-20. So he's like, he's hardcore nerd in that way. Okay. So he's like super customizing his guitars and stuff. Yes, massively. Yeah. But that acrylic one is a legendary fucking guitar. When I first saw him.

It's fucking gorgeous, man. Yeah, it's incredible. And it's heavy and it makes a fucking gnarly. sound, dude. And apparently it's a one-off. And I guess he said the guy that made it has disappeared or might possibly died or something like that. So the guitar is like, he's, he travels so much and he's getting up there. I'm sure he wants something lighter. You know, when I first saw him, he was playing a 12-string guitar, Travis, that he was known for. And he would choke it way up on his chest. Oh, yeah. It was a 12-string. Like, I want to say it was like a special type of fender that I'd

never seen before, dude. I'd only ever seen like 12-strung acoustics and like maybe certain electrics, but it was a unique guitar. And then he had that clear one dude. Now he's been on that kind of maroon melody maker that he can just do whatever he wants with. It's so light, dude. I've seen him bite it, put it in his mouth up on it, and it hold it in his mouth while he's like playing on his team. That can't be good. I mean, he's got a good, he's got a good strong jaw. The guy is a self-admitted speed addict and, you know, recovering

from a meth addiction type shit. You know what I mean? Like in that way, I'm, you know, I'm not casting stud judgment. I have my demons in spades. So I'm I'm sure his jaw is quite strong from a career locking that thing up, you know? The dude is, he's out there, bro. He would make, I think he would make Lemmy from Motorhead Blush in the ways that he party. Let's just put it like that.

Well, let me play this interview clip real quick, because it kind of ties into, you know, maybe his intro to drugs. Sorry, here we go. That store had a huge role in my formative years of music. And then I had a friend Robbie, who I'm still friends with, who gave me my first drugs proper

and turned me under things like Cannes. And even stuff like, like, yes, like he was really into like, he was really into Crout Rock, but also very much into like elaborate stuff, like really over the top stuff with orchestration and shit, which was a little bit too much for me as a young man, but now I love that stuff. So I feel like the seeds were planted for things like Prague Rock and orchestral rock and and even like Renaissance rock. Huh.

I never even heard any of those terms. So he said the seeds were planted like basically. Renaissance rock. I know, right. Oh, my gosh. That's something you've got to look up next, right? But I just think it's interesting that like his introduction to like prog rock and crout rock was also his introduction to like drugs. I mean, can you imagine?

Yeah, yeah. This guy's like, here, try this. He just spins him out. He's like, now listen to Tago Mongo. Exactly. And he's like, holy fuck, the drums, dude. They never end. It's no wonder he goes on to make this kind of music.

It makes, you know what? It makes me grateful that he that he was somehow still creative enough to, to, come through whatever he wanted to chose to do what and still is you know yeah be who he is and it molded him to exact to the bard and song crafting wizard that he is bro exactly we were talking in our little chat here about that song and i remember seeing the music video too so i'm sure that kind of helps with the immersion but it sounds very sci-fi like it could be yeah track over a montage scene when you know somebody's traveling from one space station to another or one or or or in the music video, I think he's like traveling around and like, and he's wearing a mask and it's like a, it looks

like a poison type earth, you know, like post-apocalyptic vibe and he's got to get somewhere. 60s sci-fi films and stuff, you know. Yes. Yeah, dude. Like the early, the golden era like, uh, or even, or even earlier like 20s, dude. Like, what was that dude? Metropolis sort of. Yes.

Yes. Or they even, oh gosh, Flash Gordon type shit. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And the way he sings, too. It's, it's soft, you know, and you can understand.

Not soft, but, but it's, it's. enunciated. It's not growled into the mic. Such a range, dude, because coming off your, your last pick to this one, yeah. The last one, it's about some kind of psychopath on a hill killing things. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the dude can do whatever he needs to do with his voice and whatever he needs to do with that guitar, man. So, bam, we went from, let me get, okay, we're going to slow it down. That was a, I love that song, dude, a lot. And it sounds so different. Just synthy forward, not like a metal riff, like, from the one I brought previously in.

I want to go to, let's do tunnel time. That's going to come off the record that toe cutter, Thumbuster, was on. Okay. So a little more garage sounding and a little more low phi than anything off of any other album I think we've even brought so far, you know, because they're a little cleaner and more produced and got that kind of electronic sense shit going on. Dude, whenever I look at the album art for a floating coffin, I feel like I'm on drugs, dude. Like that's a weird one, isn't it?

I don't know if it's a magic eye thing. Yeah, and like teeth, like vampire teeth and little like googly eyes. Yeah, it looks like a dog, like snarling or whatever. Yeah, yeah, it's probably what it is, Traff. I always thought it was like, I always thought it was like teeth inserts or something. It looks like that too, like the stupid, like plastic like Dracula teeth or whatever. It's like a really, really specific kaleidoscope. It looks fucking, it's fucking fucked up.

It's strange, dude, yeah. It's weird. Yeah. And this goes, what is that? 2013, Trave, you're looking at the 2013, yep. Yeah, because I remember this is the one. This is way back when it was, you know, and it probably should still be pre-Spotify. So I was using Pandora, dude.

And that was because you showed me Pandora way back in high school. Oh, yeah, man. So I was using Pandora. And this, I remember seeing that graphic on the album art for the first time. And it came on, toe cutter came on Pandora back then. And I was like, what? And it stopped me. I was working a shift, dude.

I can imagine the kitchen I was in. I stopped and looked at my phone to be like to mentally log. What was that I just heard? So this is off that record. This is the era of, I mean, this was past, way past the strokes and all that stuff. Way past, dude. So this is like an aggressive. garage band.

Yeah, yeah. This is what I like in this record. Yeah, yeah. All right, here we go. So this is tunnel time. Here we go. The Renaissance rock right there. Yeah, I forgot how kind of like,

that was great, man. Yes, that sounded like a straight up, like an electronic flute solo. Dude, yeah, man. Yeah, like the freaking, you know, yeah. Like a bar or a gesture of dancing on one foot blown into a pan.

Well, that's why that's what's so great about this. Your mind is being blown because you never even heard something as beautiful. Dude, I'd be following that dude around. the Pied Piper. Oh, brother, I'm gone. I'm gone from the fields. I'm gone. Adios, mom.

I love you. I'm gone. Dude, I'm falling into whatever, whatever hole they're leading me into. That song was such a punk rock, like, yeah, garage rock sound. I mean, like, it made me think of like the hives. You remember them? Yeah, totally. With the, okay, roll it.

Even like a kick in with the, you know, all that. Low five-eye. Yeah. And but then they change it up with that little freaking, you know, Pied Piper flute shit. They did not land in the same. spot they took off in no doubt dude yeah exactly and it took me some i totally forgot how ambiently awesome and grooved out that was at the end man you could tell me that was a so a tight jam out from a grateful dead set i wouldn't be mad at you you know what i mean exactly well i'm glad

that's that's saved that was a good that was a good bouncing around i wanted to pepper in my last one in a good spot so i'm curious what you're going to bring after that if you're going to keep if or if you're going to find something different because i knew poison stones was more than likely one you were going to bring but i forgot about snickers knee that one was a heavy hitter dude i'll be revisiting that song for sure like after we get done it's uh experimenter is what i'm gonna that's my last pick experimenter yeah yeah so it's gonna keep the energy high i'll be revisiting this whole album to be honest with you treb yeah it's solid man start to finish all right well yeah so like i said i'm gonna keep the energy high here uh but yeah here we go we're going back to face stabber

the song is called the experimenter as the outro but it does how does it even yeah it took it was like three separate songs kind of, I felt like there was a beginning middle and an end to that, but the end wouldn't even end. It was kind of just like a, well, a new beginning. Yeah. And it keeps kind of slowly kind of fading out like that. Awesome. It sounded like it might have been changing just ever so slightly to, like losing a tenth

of a second on the way it was repeating. I don't even know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was kind of like a like a march, you know, like a like a drum march thing, like the snare drum, all like the soldiers are marching around and shit. Yes. On the battlefield. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can probably tell why this was the album that I got into because, like, the guitar is just front and center, like, throughout the whole record. And it's fucking amazing. How ridiculous is he, dude? I don't know if he's doing, like, if all those sounds are coming from his guitar.

Because, like, there's some sort of, there's definitely like a, like a flange or like a wah situation going on, uh, on like the bed of that track. And does he have another guitar player in the band or is? No, never. I've never ever seen. Not once, bro. Maybe that's why he doesn't. So you said you've never heard them do that live. Maybe that's because he can't fucking do it live.

because he has, he needs like three guitar players. It could be, or somehow he looped his own shit, but he's always got some kind of unique synth set up behind himself on his own, too. So he's making weird noises, man. The guy gets weird sounds out of his shit. I mean, he really does. I've seen him drag his, uh, his, like, guitar cable over the symbol and, like, tap it on the symbol to make noise and static and, you know,

it's just experimental type shit, man. I'm sure he gets bored of, which is, I also, which makes me respect the shit out of him because he plays kind of the staples that people want to hear, at least I want to hear like I've heard toe cutter a million times but if he didn't play it at a show I probably would be disappointed just because it makes like I see the crowd go crazy over it like I like I like I like I like I'm like different every time a little bit and that's a great segue for this last song that I of my selection that I brought called Sticky Hulks off of a record called mutilator defeated at last which has a name that is similar to a bunch of their other records that we didn't get to touch bro there's so many that they have this name that they have this name that they have this name that like conjure up the idea of a story or a fable that is going to be told or has some kind of of its own universe or its own reality where Dwyer is telling this kind of sci-fi or fantasy tale, right? And the art helps a lot and the lyrical play and all this shit. It just seems like there's a lot of like mythology and shit.

Yeah, there's a, the guy loves fantasy and I think he, he just draws from that pool a lot because he likes reading about it and, you know, grew, grew up on it, I think. I think he was probably pretty nerdy and like the D&D. type shit before it was even cool to like that type of shit like it is nowadays, you know? Back when you were an outcast for that. Yeah, which is why I think about, that's why I think about the stuff that Robert Plan would write about. Like, he's writing about the shire and shit, you know. Yeah, he'd read The Hobbit and it changes.

It probably blew his mind. Yeah, dude. And as it should. Oh, yeah. Why wouldn't it, man? You get bored of the mundane. You want to be taken somewhere else, dude. This is not the, I hate to break your bubble, bud, but this ain't, not you, Trabb.

But potential listener, this is not the fucking. way, dude. No. No. I'm out of this shit. And if you can take me away and all it takes is some weird fucking guitar noises and synth sound that this dude scratches out and shouldn't work, but it does, then I'm there, man.

I mean, in the live show, it's like a, I look forward to him. It's good for me. We need that flute player, dude. We can just follow the flute player up the hill. That's right, buddy. You ain't wrong, dude. You ain't wrong. Hey, man, I follow him any time he comes through Colorado.

That's what goddamn. Pretty goddamn. I'm sure. So, the last song. Yeah, last track off of mutilator defeated. Mutilator defeated at last. That's a mouthful. It's called Sticky Hulks.

And it's by far my favorite one of my top all-time songs, Trave. I'm putting that out there. It's my favorite love song. Okay. Okay. This is for Laura. As much as it is for me as I love it. I love it only because I love her, dude.

So this song is a straight up me and her song, O.C. song, without a doubt. All right, man. You got to play the whole thing. Okay. Or fade out just at the end, whatever you think is necessary, but there's just such a beautiful solo. It's slowed down. The lyrics are incredible.

Okay. And I just dig it so much, man. I really, really do. First time I heard it, it blew me away. Dude, this is great. I'm stoked. I'm stoked. Here we go.

Holy shit, Mitch. I mean, that's how you close it right there, dude. Yeah, that's a good one, bro. I love that fucking song. I hadn't heard the record, because I always go to YouTube and watch a specific one because I like the way, because I get to see Twires, handsome fucking face, basically. But that version sucks. Oh, man, I forgot how tight that was on the record.

I mean, what a dude. I mean, we were joking around in the chat here. But, like, yeah, you put that up there with like the fucking best of him, dude. I mean, in terms of like progressive, like, moody blues, yes, all those bands. That sounds like a track from, like a Pink Floyd would have written. Yeah. Absolutely. That sounds like a song that Stanley Kubrick would have put in 2001 a space odyssey if he could have.

Yeah, yeah. It was up for selection at that time, right? Like, I put that against anything Bach or Baja. That's my, dude, I'm telling you, it's one of my top songs all time. Yeah, that's fucking love that song. That was the first time I've heard it, and that was fucking gorgeous, man, blown away by it. That's awesome that that's the first time you heard. I love it.

Yeah, go back and watch some of the live versions, dude. It's just the way the guitar is so, it's so seemingly like kind of carefree, but I think it's every single note's chosen with intention. And I just really love the lyrics, man. It's not, I find it as a love song, but I also find it to be very uplifting. and ultimately optimistic, which can be beneficial whenever you need it, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. It can make me very emotional, but it's also like come out of it in a better headspace that goddamn song.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the lyrics are just making, you know, it kind of matches the feeling that the song gives you, which is just like floating around the astral plane and shit. And I also want to say that that's kind of rare for an O.C. tracks. I mean, they make sense when you read them out, when you play it. along, so to speak, you know, when you read the story. But this one specifically, it reads like a poem or like a love song, like a ballad.

This is like, for me, this is Dwyer's ballad, you know. Our love flows on endlessly. Our love is pure and free, a vast and depthless sea. Yes, brother. I've thought about getting a pure and free tattooed on my fucking knuckles, dude. Oh, that's awesome. Reference to that final

verse there. This is the song, you got to request this to Tucker's wedding, dude. Oh, this is a good one, yeah. Do an interpretive, like, Do a little slow dance for us. And do a little slow dance on this one. Yeah, yeah. No, I make everybody watch.

I'm like, shut up. Everybody has to watch, you know? Gather around. Gather around. Yeah. You'd be the only one on the floor, but they'd be an interdic. Yeah, I love that track, man. Well, this is, I mean, this is the only track that really gets into this kind of, this kind of mindset.

You know, I mean, this is kind of like vibe. I'm glad you said that because it's the first thing we've heard it, and it does. And they always play this one. As far as I can tell. No, they didn't do it in the Glassonbury set, which I get, because that's probably They kind of wanted to come out and do something with some edge to it. And this song is a little older now. And it's kind of as far as I can tell.

10 years old, dude. It's a fan favorite. But man, I love that song. Yeah, that's killer. Killer. All right, that'll do it for us this week. Thanks again, Mitchell, for joining us. We're going to have you on again probably pretty soon because...

Thank you, bud. Yeah, anytime. We'll get that together. All right. So we're going to close out here with sacrifice. Thanks again, as always, for listening. My name's Travis. My name's Mitchell.

We'll see all next. time.