Above: Weezer scholars Mike and Josh Davis walk Seattle Weekly through the entire Weezer discography, album by album.
When I showed up to Seacats’ show at Heartland last night, singer/drummer Josh Davis and keyboardist Justin Salisbury were both wearing the same Weezer Red Album tour t-shirts.
“If there is one thing I hope to accomplish with Seacats, it’s establishing myself as Seattle’s resident Weezer scholar,” says Josh Davis.
He’s only half kidding.
Brothers Mike and Josh Davis have been churning out Weezer-tastic power pop in their Kelso based band Seacats since 2009. Joined by their friends Justin Salisbury, Jordan Cole, and Mike Ferrario, the gang has been all about Weezer before Seacats even existed.
“Before our band, we had a web show that shall remain nameless,” Josh says. “Me and my brother won a radio contest from a Portland station 94.7 where we got to go back stage and interview Weezer, which really only meant interviewing Brian, Pat, and Carl. They just took us on a tour of the entire, giant, Weezer corporation that is playing as a stadium band.”
The brothers have followed Weezer everywhere, including seeing one of Weezer’s side projects play at The Vera Project.
“They pulled up to The Vera in a limo,” says Josh.
Seacats have managed to craft one of this year’s catchiest singles, “Wrecked,” which will appear on their upcoming full-length album, due out on Fin Records in October. The song’s lurching bass-line is hooky as hell, and matched with its epic lucha libre music video, “Wrecked” will stick itself firmly in your brain.
Live at Heartland, Seacats ended their sweaty set with an insane altered version of the single. With absolutely no regard for tempo, Seacats began the song as a doom metal number, shifted to a high punky speed for the bridge, and ended the song at 200 mph going so fast that Josh could barely sing the hook in time. The experience was pleasantly disorienting.
“That’s the first time we’ve done that,” Mike says. “We practiced it once. We just wanted to mess with everyone.”
The band is refreshingly funny in a town full of somber folkies. At the Yellingham festival in Bellingham this year, a week after My Chemical Romance had officially broken up, the band led the crowd in a shout-along to the emo outfit’s classic single “I’m Not Okay.”
Their most recent 7” on Fin Records for the single “Firewood” inexplicably has a hamburger on it.
The great thing about Seacats is that behind the comedy lies some of Seattle catchiest tunes. Check them out at: seacats.bandcamp.com.
