Concert Review: Sea Mouse – Whammy Bar May 22, 2021

While the indie kids were making sweet music at Wine Cellar, Sea Mouse and their friends were making a much bigger noise next door at Whammy.

Fortunately for me, the headliner at Whammy was just about to set foot on stage as Mackensie Grace finished up at Wine Cellar.

So, we go from the sublime to the super sonic.

Earlier, Animal Head and Jang got things going at Whammy, but your intrepid reporter can still only be be in one place at a time (working on it, though).

But by 11:00 pm it was time to rattle the rafters.

Sea Mouse is a hard rocking trio led by guitarist/vocalist Seamus (get it) Johnson with able assistance from Scott Maynard (bass) and Thomas Friggens (drums).

For those looking for the next guitar God, look no further.

Let’s face it,  with Hendrix, Ronson, VH and SRV long gone, Beck under his car, Page under the influence and May under pressure (all semi-retired) and Clapton godawful rather than God, there is a vacuum waiting to be filled and our boy Seamus just might fill the bill.

Not only can he play like nobody’s business, but he has a voice that could stand alongside Bon Scott and Robert Plant.

Listening to these guys riffing away on the Whammy stage, one could  close one’s eyes and image what it would have been like stage-side at Woodstock when Jimi was closing the show.

High praise, yes, but deserved, I think.

The band’s second album, Tropical Fish, was released last year and the bulk of their 80 minutes set was drawn from that…tunes such as set opener Throw Away The Key, Same Old Song and Bad Brains quickly filled the room.

Sure there are moments that recall Zeppelin, Sabbath, AC/DC, etc, but what’s wrong with that?

Actually, their sound reminded me of a blusier version of Montrose, when Sammy Hagar was their vocalist with maybe some ZZ Top thrown in for good measure.

Johnson plays with fluidity, subtlety and power.

An early highlight was Same Old Song, a slow-building blues jam not unlike Zeppelin’s Since I Been Loving You. After listening to the blistering guitar work, I was about to wander around dazed and confused myself.

The good news is the the whole band swings.  I was loving the blues shuffle of Evil Heart and the new single/video Side B Track 1 (gotta work on those song titles guys). John Lee Hooker would have been proud.

While Johnson’s guitar and voice was the main attraction, Maynard’s bass was more than solid on Bad Brains and Friggens took a mighty drum solo during Vogons.

When the set came to a close there was no question the band would return. Calls for “Encore, encore” rang out, along with demands for “Three more songs”.

We got two

Gearbox sounded like early Damned meets AC/DC and I’m sure they mixed a bit of Hell Bells in there as the whole thing came to a close.

If the era of the guitar god is gone, no one told Seamus Johnson and I hope no one does.

Marty Duda
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