"Osees are the best band on the planet" - Marc Riley BBC 6

“Easily one of the most ferocious live bands on the planet”
- Louder Than War

Psych-punk psychic warrior, ear worm-farmer, and possessor of many stamped passport pages John Dwyer and the his band Osees (aka Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, OCS, The Oh Sees) return to Aotearoa next February for the first time in much too damn long. Banished Music and Strange News Touring are teaming up to bring you three mammoth rawk shows, in Auckland, Wellington and Raglan.

The 2025 visit comes off the back of their 28th album (yikes!) Sorcs 80. Another stab at mutant-punk it may be but Sorcs 80 is unique to the Osees catalogue in that there aren't any guitars on the album. Synths are the only sounds you’ll hear here other than a horn section, drums and frontman John Dwyer's vocals, yet still they deliver the goods as only Osees can, with tracks like Also the Gorilla and Termination Office sitting amongst their very best.

Dwyer himself has described the album as "Dexy's Midnight Runners meets Von LMO meets The Flesh Eaters meets the Screamers kinda punk junk”, with MOJO saying it boasts “Dwyer's catchiest hooks yet”. The point is, this is another peak in the mountain range of Osees high points, these shows are going to be wild.

Fans of the old fashioned ways, take heart, the guitar is very much at the fore of the modern Osees live experience, as are the duelling drums of Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon, while bassist Timothy Hellman and keyboard player Tomas Dolas are the linchpins holding the sprawling unrestrained chaos at bay, never relenting and ensuring the whole show stays one course.

Saddle up, Aotearoa. It’s Osees time.

“Tonight, we were served more than two hours of the most well-thought out and powerful and intense music that I had seen in 40 years of gig going” - i94bar