Standing in line outside of Los Angeles’ Historic State Park, one would’ve thought FYF stood for ‘Fuck you fest’ instead of the infinitely cheerier ‘Fuck yeah fest‘. Tensions were high as we sweated it out for over an hour amidst pure chaos: no one seemed to know which line was VIP, or the difference between a guest pass and a press pass, all of the press people (like myself and fellow BnB staffer Lauren Novik) becoming increasingly stressed about missing interviews. All of the FYF staff members did a great job-they were all very helpful and made sure people were partying safely, but quite frankly there just weren’t enough of them to keep such a large group of people organized. Luckily, the variety of accomplished yet still up-and-coming bands like Local Natives, School of Seven Bells, Thee Oh Sees,  and more than 25 other groups that packed three outdoor stages for twelve straight hours was more than enough to revive the good vibes in the crowd. Well, that and an untold amount of $7 beers and $11 vodka red bulls.

I made sure to drop what I was doing and head to the Sequoia Stage for Thee Oh Sees‘ set at 3:50pm, having to fight my way past many excited fans crowding around the front of the stage. I wouldn’t necessarily place such a broad label like ‘punk’ or ‘rock’ on Thee Oh Sees, because they blur those genre lines easily and often, occasionally adding blues, folk, and rockabilly to their sound.  But I would place them closer to the other heavy hard rock groups like Off! and 7seconds than the softer-on-the-ears indie groups like Warpaint and Vetiver. I usually prefer a relaxed folk show to a frenzied hard rock experience, but there’s just something about Thee Oh Sees that makes me want to explore their mysterious sonic universe. I guess I’ve always eschewed the harder groups because I don’t like to feel angry, more specifically, I don’t like to be made to feel angry. But Thee Oh Sees aren’t about anger, they’re about passion. The four some played harder and sweat more than any other group I saw, and as I walked into the photo pit I was almost knocked down by the awesome wall of sound and energy coming from the speakers and stage.

Besides making rock feel and sound so damn good, I noticed a few little tell-tale signs that Thee Oh Sees isn’t just your average noise rock group. Take their stage set up for starters: the group was arranged in a tight semi-circle around the drumset. Everyone could see what the other members were doing, creating a solid cohesion of sound that is usually absent from high-intensity shows like this.  Lead singer John Dwyer periodicaly leaned his head over in the middle of the song to check the sounds coming from the speakers, making adjustments throughout the show. The rest of the band kept their heads on a swivel, always looking at each other for direction and signs to back off or to keep going strong. They were all playing their instruments with a ferocity that bordered on frightening, but they were close enough to one another that they were really able to get into what one another was playing and spur each other to play harder than I thought was possible. Only Thee Oh Sees could transform a sunny, outdoor stage show into an intimate, underground rock show experience, and they did so with ease and gusto.

Thee Oh Sees is currently touring the US and Canada– for more information about their tour check out their Myspace page.