Artist description Power Pop for the New Millenium. Great songs from four guys who play like their lives depend on it. Songwriters Matt Potts and Rodney Lynch have a gift for melding great melodies with ultra-cool lyrics. Shamus 73 is pop music in its classic definition: AM radio was king, the sun was always shining and every song was delivered with grace and love.

Music Style Pop & Rock

Musical Influences Brian Wilson, Neil Young, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dictators, Ed Gein's Car

Similar Artists Flamin' Groovies, Rolling Stones, Flying Burrito Brothers, Slade, Cotton Mather, Mott the Hoople, Beach Boys

Artist History Shamus 73 emerged from a reconfiguration of the band The Leeds in early 2000. The band name has its origin in the 1973 movie Shamus, starring Burt Reynolds as a fiery detective ("The greatest movie ever made!" Matt proclaims.) Get it? Shamus 73. Rodney Lynch and Matt Potts played in Minneapolis bands Skeleton Ed and the Loose Rails, respectively. Both band were popular in the Twin Cities and in Europe. They decided to combine their talents to produce a roaring pop band with its melodic roots in the music of Brian Wilson and The Beatles and the fiery playing of both 1960s garage punk and the snarl of 70s English punk.

Group Members Shamus 73 consists of Matt Potts (guitar, vocal), Rodney Lynch (vocal), Joe Munster(bass), Joe Plummer (lead guitar), Johnny Munster (drums). Matt and Rodney handle most of the songwriting chores and have been called "Minneapolis' Lennon and McCartney "(okay, Joe called them that.)

Instruments Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocals

Albums Growing In My Mind

Press Reviews I'm sitting here in shock. PURE muther-fucking-bend-me-over-backward-and-spank-my-hot-ass shock. Because I was scrambling to make my press deadline for this review, I purposely woke myself up on a Sat. morning at 5:15 AM AFTER a Friday night gig in Wilmington, DE (I live in Philly). So let's just say I wasn't in the sweetest of moods as I sat down to Shamus 73's debut album, "Growing in My Mind." The goddamn sun hadn't risen yet, I haven't had breakfast or my coffee and here I was about to listen to new music. Humph. This might get ugly--but that's why I'm sitting here in shock. It didn't get ugly. In fact, just the opposite occurred. Shamus 73 is probably one of the most inspiring, hooks-slapping-my-face-off, indie, un-signed bands I've heard. EVER. Ever ever ever ever ever EVER!! If you like Whiskey Town and Wilco, Shamus 73 will give you a hard-on (or the female equivalent (I'll have to ask my wife about the word for that). After listening to the album three times in full rotation (I'm not kidding), I signed up on their fan list, downloaded their songs from MP3.com, and explored their entire fan website. What the hell happened?? I feel like a teenage girl in 1964 who's screaming her titties off because she's about 200 deep waiting for Ringo Starr to dash out of a limo. How can I get a poster of these guys to hang in my room?! Seriously. Named after a Burt Reynold's filmed released in 1973, Shamus 73 (see the connection, ahhh?) represents everything true, real, and beautiful about original music. From Joe Plummer's naked guitar with infectious Neil Young-esque riffs to the near-perfect rhythm section combo (Vince Murray, Rodney Lynch) pocketed wonderfully to accent lead singer, Lynch's tenor, Shamus 73 frame their straight-ahead song writing with discipline, passion, and hooks that never stop. My personal favorite and a band anthem is "Sad Day." I especially admire how the vocals and musical dynamics drop back into the verse from the chorus--there's something so simply perfect in the arrangement and songwriting there - you'll hear the same thing when you listen. Without fail, every song on the album made me glow--and not just musically. Their lyrics border on brilliance as well. "I'm not a wise man searching for a star. I'm just a fool who left the bedroom door ajar ("Every Color's Blue"). And how true is their theme in "Vodoo Summer" - "You don't believe in magic anymore - that's a part of you I will have to ignore." What I respect most is that Shamus 73 isn't lead by one mastermind, but rather a songwriting partnership between Lynch and fellow band mate, guitarist/vocalist Matt Potts. These two together are, excuse the expression, kicking ass and taking names (I had to use that phrase-- Shamus 73 prides itself on poignantly clichéd retro humor which is employed heartily on their web site). Tag-teaming on lyrics, melodies, and arrangements, the Lynch/Potts consortium produce 3 min. power pop nuggets that pull the listener into simple yet universal themes. The songs are compact and evoke personal connection through measured use of descriptive language, i.e. song title, "King of the Jersey Shore." Could I go so far as calling this songwriting team the Lennon and McCartney of the Twin Cities? Maybe, but let's wait to see how their next album sounds. And believe me, I'll be watching for it. Shit, I'll be sending Lynch and Potts daily fan emails begging, "Hey! when's the next album coming out? Come on, muther fuckers, you just gotta let me know!" Jesus, save me, I didn't know I had this side of me. Where's that poster of the band holding calico kittens as they all sit atop a '74 Corvette for my wall again? Everything about Shamus 73's "Growing in my Mind" feels good, which by the way is titled "in honor of Stephen Hawking and his pursuit of the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) that ties all known physical laws into one neat package (Shamus 73)". These boys from the northern tundra are damn good. I've got to publicly thank my editor, Deneen, for sending this demo my way. Shamus 73 reminds me painfully of how much I miss the original and unique flavor of the Minnesota music scene. P.S. The only piece of advice I could pass on to this band would be to enlarge their menu bar on their website. Either that or change the text color from blue to yellow or something. I couldn't even read the section titled "buy." How you gonna sell albums that way, man? A piece of advice for all you Demorama and Toast fans out there, aside from buying their album, you really should visit Shamus 73's website (www.shamus73.com). Like their songs, the website is a feel-good, no frills portal offering sweet vibes and some quietly funny material. Their links section, for instance, provides access to sites such as, "Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers" and "Aluminum Foil Helmets." Their art section displays a sample of their old gig posters which are creative mock-ups of comic book covers and 1950s regional wrestling bouts. And their recommended reading list--let's just say it tickled my funny bone to the point where I wanted to rock and hold myself until my nipples exploded into small pieces for kittens to eat. (Eric Thiegs DEMORMA.COM) Allow me to introduce you to one of my new favorite bands on the local music scene, Shamus 73, who in their own words on their website, "grew out of the ashes of two popular Twin Cities bands, the Loose Rails and Skeleton Ed." (For those of you really keeping track, you may note that Shamus 73 was formerly known as the Leeds.) Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised to stumble across Shamus 73, which I did quite by accident Wednesday night at the Uptown. On my list that night was to see The Exceptionals. But accidentally discovering a great new band is one of my favorite parts of my self-imposed rock hack hobby. I was a certifiable Loose Rails fan in "the old days;" the early 90's now practically seem like a different era in local music. I knew Matt, Jeff and Adam from the Rails pretty well actually. And I'd seen the now mythical Skeleton Ed (featuring Rodney Lynch) more than a few times at the Entry. Ten years on I am delighted to see Potts and Lynch' s have teamed up to form the heart Shamus 73, Lynch on lead vocals and Potts on lead guitar. Joe Plummer on second guitar balances the rhythm section of Vince Murray on bass, and the handsomely tattooed John Munster on drums. In the late 70's and early 80's I was a bigger than big teenage fan of three bands that most people ignored at the time but that as time wore on became terribly important to pop music, at least from a critical perspective: The under-appreciated Zion, Illinois band Shoes; the perfectly poppy wunderkinds, The Records; and the legendary Peter Perret led The Only Ones. The spirit of all three of these great bands is alive and well in Shamus 73. It's almost as if the guys have been sleeping with their records under their pillows for the past 20 years. Shamus 73 opened with a cover of "Shake Some Action" by the Flamin' Groovies. It immediately cheered me and made me doubtful if I would still be able to make my self-imposed midnight curfew that night. From the first few bars of scintillating guitar it conjured up sweet memories of "Starry Eyes" by The Records. Matt "Guitar" Potts lived up to his rock god reputation when the effects kicked in on his Gibson; I was transported to a time and place simpler and just plain more fun than today. Their second song was "Please Gravity" from their critically acclaimed (http://shamus73.homestead.com/quotesShamus73.html) spring 2002 release "Growing in My Mind" a recommended purchase from your local indie shop or online at CDBaby.com. I was awestruck by the quality of the song-writing here, most of which is done in by the team of Potts and Lynch. These are pop songs of an exquisite quality hard to match by any band in the Twin Cities today. (You can grab this one from the band's MP3 site.) I wrote the note "Wow!" next to the third song in the set-list, which turned out to be none other than "Sad Day" the opener to their album also available on MP3.com. Although the bass line of this song sounds eerily like The Only One's "Another Girl, Another Planet" imitation is surely the sincerest form of flattery and you can expect no copyright infringements here. You will be in love with this song and this band by the time you get to the verse "You're not falling / It's just gravity pulling you down." This is purely and simply a five star pop song. Potts introduced the bands fourth song by saying, "This one's for all the ladies in the audience." This was surely a somewhat twisted joke as there were almost no women in the bar by this time. (What is it with the Uptown Bar stage? I don't recall the last time I've heard a serious or coherent in-between-song comment by any band on that stage. Is there some sort of running joke about Uptown Bar band banter that I've not been let in on?) In any case, that song was a rocking rendition of the Elvis song "Burning Love" (http://www.geocities.com/just_4_u333/elvis.html#BurningLove) written by Dennis Linde. Rodney Lynch then introduced a brand new song called "Mount Palomar" which I don't recall too well, but was not a set highlight. Somehow there was a momentary loss of focus here, or so it seemed. But nothing to worry about as song six saw things coming right back together again. Alas, it was a school night, the midnight bells had rung and it was time to go home. (Matt Potts filled me in later via e-mail that they'd ended the set with "6 Days on the Road" and a Flaming Groovies cover "Teenage Head" so I wish I'd stayed.) As I was putting on my rain gear by my Vespa parked out behind the Uptown for the ride home Johnny waved at me from his seat at the drum kit. Verdict: Shamus 73 are super nice guys, these are terrific songs, and this is a great live rock show. I will pass along info on their next show as soon as I can dig it up as no future shows are yet listed on their website. P. S. In my e-mail from Matt, he also said he believes the Shamus 73 songs are some of the best songs he and Lynch have ever written. I would have to agree with that. It's my hope that this review will serve as my part at attempting to get more people out to see this gem of a local act!--David de Young, howwastheshow.com

Location Minneapolis, Minnesota - USA

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