Selecter + Thee Oh Sees

Maybe it wasn't the best pairing. And I say maybe, because beyond the pigeonholing (pre)judgments — which could have been more than justified considering an evening like the one on May 18 at Circolo degli Artisti in Rome, where the "fresh-faced" Thee Oh Sees were followed by the "seasoned" The Selecter — the strange stylistic schizophrenia of the bill found, as usual, a more than satisfying resolution in the actual performances. Because there really was an almost unbridgeable gap separating the 2 tone-ska of the veteran English band (from Coventry, to be precise) and the psycho-garage of the American act (San Francisco) Thee Oh Sees. The tension born of preemptive disappointment was therefore sky-high, especially given that not everyone was there for both bands.

Fortunately, John Dwyer's band — a guitarist who has trodden the boards of the American underground for quite some time now — was skilled enough to make people forget the contradictions of such a pairing right from the start. Their sprawling garage-rock, which certainly can't be compared to that of the 13th Floor Elevators, nor to the Seeds or the Electric Prunes (at most, by subtraction, to the Count Five or the Troggs), harks back directly to a way of playing rock that's very close to its true punk origins, that is, to the sixties documented on compilations like "Nuggets" or "Back From The Grave". And that's only true, of course, if viewed in reductive terms, because in reality Thee Oh Sees possess all the awareness of a band that knows that historical period by heart, has thoroughly digested it, and then reworks it through a lo-fi aesthetic fully conscious of today's alternative vocabulary. A philological operation, for sure, but one whose results come very close to the original intensity. Complete with the relevant updates.

And live, they couldn't put a foot wrong — unsurprisingly, given the sheer force with which the quartet tore into their instruments, starting with Dwyer's guitars, which on their own practically covered most of the band's "total" sound, immediately followed by Mike Shoun's untamed drumming, a real cornerstone in the overall wall of sound, which then found its perfect female counterpart in Brigid Dawson's voice and tambourine (perched above unused keyboards), the ideal finishing touch alongside Petey Dammit's relentless bass for the band's rougher edges. The masterpiece of this gleefully brutal approach was their (specially reworked) version of "Warm Slime", the track that gave its title to the 2010 album, in which their whole freak, obsessive-spastic soul came pouring out, unleashed in a central improvisation that made room — alongside the more psychedelic vein that had already been a constant presence throughout the show — for a drum solo that felt anything but out of place, complete with extra mics added ad hoc.

So if the room wasn't already packed for Thee Oh Sees, it certainly reached capacity once The Selecter took the stage, instantly turning the surrounding space into a dancehall that felt more akin to a strange British new wave atmosphere than to contemporary reggae, perhaps due to the massive presence of skinheads (or rather, as their own chants repeatedly made clear, Rude Boys). This odd stylistic break, however, turned out to be less jarring than one might have expected: all things considered, the English band played really well, despite the initial genre-based preconceptions. And in the end, it was the same sense of fun that united the otherwise different attitudes of the two acts. For this reunion tour, the band mostly revisited tracks from their masterpiece album "Too Much Pressare", showing off at the Circolo all the technical skill that clearly comes from their (more than) thirty years of experience — combined with the kind of energy that only a show like this one could bring out.

After all, they were the main attraction of the evening, and in a sense the night belonged to them. Time sets its own priorities, sometimes, even if never as much as today has a certain underground habit — and not only underground — pushed musicians toward constant (in a good sense) chameleon-like shifts, giving shape to their different sides through numerous corresponding side projects. This is the case with Thee Oh Sees. And a point in favor of the Selecter.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google