Impotent Sea Snakes

The Impotent Sea Snakes were an American Rock'n'Roll band from Atlanta, Georgia known for their sexually explicit lyrics and performances. The band put out three albums: God Save the Queens (1995), Everything in Excess (2001) and Drag (?), and put out one officially released dvd: Impotent Sea Snakes Live in Germany (2005). The band also and appeared on HBO's "Real Sex" tv series.

The Stage Show

The stage show involved all of the male of the members of the band dressed in full drag. The costumes skewed towards the outrageous with exaggerated platform heels and brightly colors wigs and garish makeup and all band members and stage performers wearing fetish clothing/accessories. All of the female performers generally wore as little of their costume as was legally required by the club, which generally required putting two pieces of electrical tape in the shape of an "X" over their nipples so that they could still legally perform bare-breasted when the law barred it. They performed fully nude, or nude with accessories (ie, stockings) when it was permitted.

In addition to the theatrics of the musicians in the band, there was generally an additional performance piece being simultaneously played out in complement to the song, usually with and S&M and/or B&D theme. This included pouring melting candle wax on female performers, spanking or paddling female performers, dominatrix humiliation and beatings of male performers and audience volunteers, the burning of an American flag draped on a cross, a fire breathing male stilt walker and fire breather, and female performers wearing strap-on dildos and otherwise wielding dildos by hand. Common motifs included variations on nun and priest costumes, school girl uniforms, and a costume reminiscent of Elsa, She-Wolf of the SS.

One of the most visually spectacular parts of the performance involved a mostly nude female performer wearing a metal plate over her groin and a gas mask over her face. Another member of the troupe, also wearing a gas mask, would use a metal sander against the plate to create a shower of sparks from her groin in time to the riff of the music. The gas masks protected the performers' eyes from the ingots. This was sometimes done with the female performer upside down, or sometimes with her standing with an additional metal plate on her head.

In addition, there were usually a number of televisions set up on the stage playing anything from political media imagery, to Alice in Wonderland, to adult content.

Song Content

The band's songs were often on the subjects of: cross-dressing, bestiality, feltching, fisting, anal sex, incest, S&M, group sex, and pornography. The band also regularly covered "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones, "Rock'n'Roll All Night" by KISS, and "People who Died" by the Jim Carroll Band, sometimes with altered lyrics.

First Amendment

The Impotent Sea Snakes were ardent endorsers of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which legally protected their performances as free speech. Before burning a flag as a part of their stage show, the point would be driven home that burning a flag was an act of patriotism.

Safe Sex

The band were also vocal proponents of safe sex, encouraging their audience to engage in only safe sex and handing out free condoms.

Celebrity Endorsements

A number of celebrities publicly endorsed the Sea Snakes, including Lemmy from Motörhead (who appears in their "Lipstick" video) and porn star Jenna Jameson who provided moans and groans on the "Everything in Excess" album, and porn star Ron Jeremy whose video taped endorsement of the band was played at the beginning of shows for years.

Run-ins with the Law

In 1999, the Impotent Sea Snakes played two shows at Brother's Bar in Jacksonville, AL, which is a small town a distance away from any large population centers. The first show involved nudity and sex acts that were more than likely not in compliance with local law, however there were no legal ramifications at the time.

When the band returned several months later, they announced over the PA that there was a significant undercover law enforcement presence in the club and greeted them. During the night, as they introduced their acts, they mad a point of verbally pointing out that they were within the letter of the law during the entire show.

After a nearly full length performance, a member of the law enforcement presence pulled the plug to the PA just as the band was less than a minute into their encore song. The band promptly exited the venue and, in the confusion, were not detained.

A number of patrons from the show complained to the Jacksonville Town Counsel and local news papers (The Chanticleer, a college paper, and the The Anniston Star, the nearest local paper - this article content is not available online) that the law enforcement used unnecessary roughness with the crowd, arrested several audience members without cause, and referred to attendees as "freaks" and "faggots" while dispersing the crowd.

Numerous patrons opined to the counsel and news papers that the plug had been pulled on the show when nothing illegal transpired with the intention of causing a riot to justify the cost of the significant law enforcement presence that night, but ultimately no official action was taken to look into the incident.

Current Status

The band never officially dispersed, but have not performed live since 2004. Their web page has not been updated since that time and their myspace page has not been updated since 2007.

Links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSMVmPgWB-Y The Impotent Sea Snakes Lipstick video]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=2156698 The Impotent Sea Snakes MySpace page]
* [http://www.impotentseasnakes.com The Impotent Sea Snakes Home page]