I made a little star by Thee Oh Sees‘ name when making my must-see list for FYF Fest tomorrow after listening to their latest album Warm Slime. There was something about their edgy, willing-to-try-everything-yet-gloriously-well-put together sound that was incredibly appealing to me. I skimmed through 2008′s The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In and really dug into 2009′s Dog Posion, marveling at the unusual evolution of the band’s sound. Many groups lose their edge over time, but not Thee Oh Sees: they’re just as raw and gritty as ever. I was lucky enough to speak with frontman John Dwyer on the phone today, his quick humor and honesty making me feel like I was chatting with an old friend rather than interviewing a talented rocker.

Thee Oh Sees will be playing FYF fest in downtown Los Angeles tomorrow along with over thirty other bands. With such a large, diverse repetoire, what can we expect from you guys?

Our early stuff is a lot mellower- we don’t play too much of that shit. We’e going to be playing a lot of our new stuff off of Warm Slime and some stuff that’s going to be on the next album. We get bored with our songs.

Who are you excited to see at FYF?

I actually have no idea who else is playing. We’ve been so busy; I just moved. I just did an art show, and I’ve got an all ages shows booked tonight. I was going to check it out this afternoon, I guess right now it’s still a big surprise.  Let’s just say all of them and none of them (laughs).

Your tour schedule for the next few weeks is pretty hectic: you’ve got shows lined up in Canada, the Pacific Northwest, and the East Coast before returning home to California. On October 1^st, you’ll be opening for The Flaming Lips at The Fox Theater in Oakland along with Ariel Pink. What are your expectations for that show?

I saw them [The Flaming Lips] on Jimmy Kimmel, and I was pretty impressed. Though to be honest I’m not all that familiar with all of their music.

Tell me about your latest album Warm Slime as compared to your previous work.

We actually recorded Warm Slime on 8 tracks at this reggae club in San Francisco. We recorded for about 12 hours with our friend Chris Woodhouse.  It was like open bar for 12 hours…we got pretty dunk (laughs). On Help [2009] we did half of it like that but with more live flute, stuff like that. Dog Poison I recorded by myself at home. It’s easy recording live because you have to play well. I think our next album will be like that too.

I saw your blog post in response to an ad offering good press for cash in WWS magazine. Your response was pretty epic.fuck

Who the f*** wants to pay for good press? I guess we have some people doing that for us, but that’s like label promotions stuff. The dude wrote me back and seemed like he was trying to act like he was hurt, but I was like ‘Come on. For $75, I bet I can get you to not act hurt.’

 

Check out Thee Oh Sees in Los Angeles’ Historic State Park tomorrow at FYF Fest located at 1245 N. Spring St. Early bird tickets are already sold out, but you can still get tickets for $30 or $65 for VIP. Please purchase tickets online or at the record stores listed here.