Having evolved from the ashes of lo-fi distorted garage noise acts like Coachwhips, The Hospitals, and the most seminal of Providence label, Load Records has ever released: the mighty Burmese, it came then as a surprise when John Dwyer emerged as the frontman of Thee Oh Sees, with the gentler folk sound.

Maybe it was the move to San Francisco from Providence, but this was an altogether quieter Dwyer. However, like a kid pretending to be grown up for a week and failing OCS (Orange County Sound) swiftly mutated into Thee Oh Sees, and started getting loose all over again. Their album The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In should be sitting tall on end-of-year lists everywhere, combining elements of all Dwyer’s past into an impulsive and petulantly coherent whole.

Beyond Shoreditch, venues that consistently put on shows of any quality in deeper East London are few and far between. If you aren’t watching a band in Dalston's Bardens Boudoir, it’s likely you won’t be watching a band at all. With this in mind, it East London residents welcomed the opening of council-funded venue Café Oto that popped up out of nowhere just two weeks ago behind Dalston-Kingsland station. With a string of great gigs in the near future thanks to the ever reliable Upset The Rhythm Thee Oh Sees-– Dwyer, Petey Dammit, Mike Shoun, and Brigid Dawson-- talked to psychoPEDIA about venues, lake of cake, and organic beer:

How does Dalston compare to San Francisco?
JD: Right now Dalston is nice. We are just sitting out here on the curb in the sun drinking coffee.
PD: In fact, this is probably exactly what we would be doing if we were in San Francisco right now.
MS: You would probably actually be asleep.
PD: Jet lag is a bitch. All those timezones. My head can’t keep up.

How were the venues as opposed to on the mainland?
JD: On this particular tour, they have all been fairly standard. But with other bands I’ve played with, I’ve played everywhere: you name it. Squats where the punks want your blood, pool tables, beer halls, caves. Wherever we could get power. It sounds awful but they all kind of merge into one.
PD: We had a great show in our practice space in San Francisco recently, though. Does that count as a venue?

What made it so great?
MS: It was Brigid’s birthday. We were practicing and we had everything planned so that mid-practice, all her friends burst in and surprised her.
BD: I was pretty scared, but in a good way.

Did you know that "oto" means "sound" in Japanese?
JD: No, but I do now.
PD: I see what they did there.

How are you finding the full range of organic beers and ciders?
PD: I like the label with the Bayeaux Tapestry painting, but it costs five pounds. I’m sticking to coffee.
JD: The coffee is excellent. It reminds me of the coffee in this little SF joint where we used to go and bum out and drink cup after cup and smoking a whole bunch of cigarettes or whatever.

Does it bother you that you can't smoke indoors in the UK anymore?
JD: They are weird about it in the US. Some venues just turn a blind eye. I can imagine it must suck bumming smokes in the winter here.

What do you think of this Bretton beer-- so organic that it has loads of sediment?
PD: I’m not into that. It looks like mud in beer. They serve Kronenberg and Beck too. We are gonna get a bunch of that in later.
JD: The coffee is great though, I want to stress that. And you can always drink coffee. Beer is sometimes just not feasible. But, coffee? Always.

How about the space itself?
JD: I really like it. It is super simple. Just a nice square white box. Everything has slight sense of DIY to it. Like the guy DJing has his turntables on top of a vintage sled. Sled? Sleigh? I’m not sure the proper term, but one of those rickety old wooden things.
PD: They also haven’t started doing food yet. Can we come back and play again when they are doing cakes? They say the cakes are coming. But when?
JD: Good cakes and good people. That is all you need. The people here seem great–- the promoters, the kids, the local guys. People told me this place was rough, but it’s been great. We just need those cakes now.

~James Knight