Last Saturday, at The Well‘s first sold out show, K Holes, Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall smashed. It poured, there was crowdsurfing, the mosh pit found a new home, fans looked like madusa (see above), $4 beers were chugged, and the music was loud. Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall are similar but different garage-punk bands from the Bay Area that share a fan base- what could make for a better co-headlining tour? They were joined by local sludge metal/punk band K-Holes, who shouted “We’re your neighbors!” before diving into their first song.
It’s always nice to have a local band on the bill of a big-name show, although they didn’t quite fit with the genuine, ephermeral, upbeat likes of Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall. K-Holeswander through dark, muddy sounds, chanting aimlessly and getting louder. For the most part their music was very heavy, fairly distressing and a bit of a downer, although at times a twanginess found itself in their reverby guitars while the beat picked up and some sort of optimism pushed through. For the most part, the crowd was happy when their set came to an end.
Thee Oh Sees rock my world (as I told lead singer John Dwyer on my way out), and they’ll rock yours too once you see them live. Their always-quirky garage sound is 2012’s answer to punk rock and they put on a supremely energetic show that just begs for moshing. At a venue as big as the well this could have gotten out of control, but the good-vibey mosh pit was friendly as it was sweaty. The band played many songs off of their latest album, Putfiers II, a more accessible album, which at times even (gasp!) slows down.
Ty Segall stole the later slot for the co-headlining gig, and just about 10 minutes into his roaring set, it started pouring, and it didn’t stop. Luckily, the crowd loved it, making some fans even wilder than before. Ty Segall performed with his band, ripping through many songs on his soon-to-be-released album, Twins, while throwing in old favorites and even a few covers (Sweet Home Alabama, anyone?). Like Thee Oh Sees in garage-punk weirdness, Ty brings a classic rock freshness to his sound that has created a huge amount of die-hard fans. I can safely say this was the most exciting place in Bushwick to be on a Saturday night.
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