FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: Panic Shack

FEATURE:

Spotlight: Revisited

PHOTO CREDIT: Taiye Omokore for KLAT

Panic Shack

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I went and saw…

PHOTO CREDIT: Ren Faulkner

the mighty Panic Shack in Manchester back on 16th October at Academy 2. The band have some amazing European dates coming up, and they play here again in December. The Welsh quartet are made up on Sarah Harvey, Meg Fretwell, Romi Lawrence, Em Smith - and Nick Doherty-Williams (who plays drums for them but is not in publicity photos). Their album, Panic Shack, was released in July. I shall come to a review of that. I spotlighted Panic Shack in 2022. A lot has happened in the past few years. They were extraordinary when I saw them play in Manchester. Such a powerful, playful and astonishing live act, I definitely want to see them again! I will come to some interviews with them. I want to start back in 2023. Panic Shack spoke with The Skinny about the Middle-classification of music. A band that were labelled as nepo-babies and industry plants, they called out the industry and told it like it was:

“With a name like Megan Fretwell, it should have been a giveaway that she might make a perfect punk guitarist. Despite racking up slots at Primavera and Glastonbury this summer though, Fretwell and her punk peers that make up Welsh DIY fem group Panic Shack only began playing together a few years ago. She dials into our call with a brew alongside fellow bandmates Romi Lawrence and Em Smith (the latter is considered the group’s 'real' musician having played bass in bands since she was 18). The trio are lined up on Smith’s leather couch like the opening credits of Friends.

Completed by Sarah Harvey on vocals and David Bassey on drums, the band deserves a bit of a sit down after a whirlwind ride since forming at the tail end of 2018. The last few years have seen them appear on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds, supporting Northern lot Yard Act and earlier this year they sold out their own string of headline dates across the UK. But it was Worthy Farm that made the biggest impression so far. “We felt lucky to be able to go to Glastonbury and then the fact that people turned up!” jokes Fretwell. “We weren't mentally prepared. We went on for soundcheck and they were like, 'Okay, just start!'” jokes Lawrence, clearly flummoxed.

It was in a different verdant setting that the catalyst for the group sparked after years of feeling frustrated watching their male peers perform. “It was the first time that the four of us had gone to Green Man Festival together,” explains Smith. “When we got back, we had a buzz going on [our] group chat. We were like 'Shall we do it?'” Like the 70s spirit of punk, Panic Shack channel that do-it-yourself resourcefulness in spades. Even if Lawrence was tentative about fully embracing the role. “I used to get shy and nervous, especially about playing guitar. But then I thought, 'There's no way I can watch my best friends be in a band and not be in it!'”

Getting to grips with bar chords, the foursome quickly began songwriting together. Early single Jiu Jits You was a BBC 6Music mainstay with its Kill Bill cool wandering basslines and scrappy guitars. Alongside their kung fu capers, Panic Shack’s Baby Shack EP sketches relatable stories of young adults scrimping and saving, even if it’s dressed up with a hefty dose of satire. Who’s Got My Lighter? conjures up balmy evenings passing the Amber Leaf pouch around the pub garden. While the touring band service station staple gets a nod in Meal Deal, as Harvey exclaims: 'I’m going out for a meal deal because my flat is fucking freezing / I can’t stand it any longer / Can just about afford my heating'.

Even with the band’s obvious hard graft and modest incomes, their working-class credentials have been criticised in the past. “We had this thing on TikTok, where people were saying that we were private school girlies [and] that we were cosplaying the working class,” says Smith. “You can call me an ugly slag and I'll be fine. Yeah, whatever. If you call me posh, I'm like ‘No.’” The Britpop era of the 90s boomed with working-class heroes like the Gallagher brothers and Madchester kingpins Happy Mondays. In the noughties though, certain pop artists (looking at you, Jamie T and Lily Allen) were called out for their hammed-up cockney characters only to confess they’d both attended private schools. So where are we with the middle-classification of music in 2023?

“Now more than ever, the playing field is off balance. Everyone gets a leg up,” believes Smith. But the tension is being magnified as rising artists are facing a whole new level of background checks, not unlike the towering touring policies for bands in a post-Brexit EU. “The discourse has changed now where people have to prove that they're not posh. Like with the whole nepotism discussions, it's starting to become a little bit nasty.” (See the recent comments on Picture Parlour’s NME cover or the now-notorious 'industry plants', The Last Dinner Party).

There’s nothing more telling of the band’s current situation though than their output so far. There’s a reason why they’ve spent close to the last 52 weeks on the road. “Class is a much harder barrier to get into music,” reflects Lawrence. “It's why we've still not released an album yet,” interjects Fretwell. “Everyone's like, 'Where's the album?' Do you know how much it costs to put an album out? We've got rent to pay!” So much so that when Panic Shack packed down the rigs from their heroic set in the Shangri-La fields this summer, they headed home to Wales the next day and back to work. “You need a lot of money to be able to do this and we don't have anything we can fall back on,” says Fretwell. “We've got to work our arses off to do this [but] we're at this tipping point where we can't stop now. And I don’t want to”.

I am going to move to an interview from July from Rolling Stone UK in promotion of Panic Shack’s astonishing self-titled debut album. On their acclaimed album, these hugely close friends “self-mythologise while having a right laugh along the way”. If you have not heard Panic Shack, then go and listen to it now:

“‘Girl Band Starter Pack’, the first song from the debut album by Cardiff quartet Panic Shack, was also the first song they ever wrote. The ludicrously fun punk rager serves as a perfect introduction to the group, as well as somewhat of a theme song for the band.

In their own words on the track’s bridge, they sing: “We get loose, we get lairy, we get wild, we get crazy / We get naughty, we get silly, we get loud, we get freaky.” In its chorus, things are simpler but no less impactful: “Woooo! Shack shack!”

In the seven years since they formed, Panic Shack have evolved and bolstered their sound, arriving at album time with a greater musicality, a prioritisation of fun and directness in their lyrics, and the same inseparable bond that has existed since the start.

The debut album – out this month via Brace Yourself Records – begins with voice recordings from the smoking area of an Amyl and the Sniffers gig, and the whole album vibrates with this sense of buzz and excitement.

Ahead of the album’s release, we speak to the band’s Sarah Harvey (vocals) and Em Smith (bass/backing vocals) about their evolution, the album as an introduction to Panic Shack, and why their reasons for forming the band are more valid than ever today.

Read our Play Next interview with Panic Shack and listen to them on our Play Next playlist on Spotify below.

When you formed the band, you did so as a reaction to exclusionary, male-heavy spaces in rock and punk music – do you still see those existing today?

Sarah: We did it because we thought, ‘Hey, if they can do it, we can do it! Let’s just have a go.’ We always get lumped together as “female-fronted”, and there are so many more people doing it now.

Tell us about ‘Girl Band Starter Pack’, the song that began it all…

Em: It’s had so many versions. We started writing it with our first drummer, and that was three drummers ago! It’s our anthem, innit? It sums us up as friends and a girl group, taking things too far…

Sarah: A simple coffee can turn into 3am.

With this album being an introduction to the world of Panic Shack, what’s your elevator pitch for the band?

Em: It’s a spirit and a friendship. It’s our humour.

Sarah: We like not taking ourselves too seriously, mixing the light and the dark is. You can have some dark concepts, but we always try and keep it quite light. That’s really Panic Shack, lways bringing the fun to every sad occasion. Get us at your funerals”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ren Faulkner

I am going to move to Kerrang! There is so much wit and bite to Panic Shack’s debut album. I can attest that they are a sensational and unforgettable live act. Kerrang! caught them in July, where they discussed, among other things, “bin men, body image and why their bond is “unbreakable” after seven years”:

“Happy-go-lucky closer Thelma & Louise is a love letter to their friendships, while Girl Band Starter Pack and Pockets (‘Making jeans without them remains a mystery / And tonight I kinda wanted to be hands-free’) transport us live and direct to one of their (many) wild nights out. Four drag queens play Panic Shack in the music video for the former, maybe giving us an insight into what the inevitable biopic could look like.

“We want a documentary one day, there’s so much footage over the years!” confirms Meg.

Things only get more obscene. Personal Best recounts the moment Emily decided to take magic mushrooms, four miles into running a marathon around the streets of Cardiff. “Performance-enhancing drugs!” quips Sarah. Unhinged, meanwhile, reels off all the Hinge prompts that make us shudder on a daily basis.

Then there’s SMELLARAT, which tears down predatory male behaviour, using one of many words that Panic Shack have invented. “We were walking through Newport, really pissed, and we started spitting bars about the bin men,” recounts Emily.

“Romi is terrified of rats, and one ran past us,” adds Meg. “It fit this ratty, horrible person that lives in Cardiff.” Sarah joins the dots together. “We had this song about ‘rat boy’, and the song about bin men – let’s combine them. Poof, magic!”

The album took shape with Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, The Mysterines) across nine “exciting-slash-overwhelming” days in Bristol – which included a brief trip to see Amyl And The Sniffers. Such financial and time constraints made sure that their collective “stream of consciousness” took centre stage, when it came to moulding the album into shape. Gok Wan, for example, was brought to fruition within a “cathartic” two hours, calling out the toxic standards that women’s bodies are constantly subjected to in the media.

“I was reading a magazine the other day, and one of the headlines was, ‘Men ageing like fine wine,’” says Emily. “Then you’ve got, ‘Look at this fat bitch’ – men get away with so much.” Inspired by gossip magazines and episodes of Trinny & Susannah – “to get us in the mood” – it’s a song that remains alarmingly poignant.

“It references TV shows from the ’00s, but it is still relevant today, [because of] the beauty standards that women are having to contend with, and the fact that they are constantly changing,” says Romi.

When we ask how many more thoughts they’re dying to express in musical form, all four vivaciously nod their heads in unison. While the core punk sensibilities and hyper-specific lyrical style have put them on the map, this album’s brief electronic and art-rock escapades prove that Panic Shack have a million tricks up their sleeve, whenever the world is ready for them. But crucially, it all stems from that killer instinct”.

There are a couple of other interviews I am keen to cover off before wrapping up with a review. DIY caught up with them in August. Noticing how Panic Shack might have started wit bonding sessions down the pub and some in-jokes, they are a “ridiculously fun breath of fresh air”. A band that have plenty of fun but are also putting plenty of thought-provoking words into their interviews and music. Challenging sexism, misogyny and sh*t in the world. Inspiring to see:

“For the band, the songwriting - and storytelling - always stems from “a bit of a joke” or “a common, shared lived experience” that will just “snowball” from there, Meg explains. This element of the everyday is vital to Panic Shack’s work, she continues, as such mundane yet important moments - from bitching sessions in the women’s toilets on nights out, to the excitement of being with your friends, or even talking about creepy men they face - are “not really reflected in music”.

The band want their songs to be realistic; they want the audience to feel as if they’re living through the experience in question. The aim, Sarah notes, is to make people “really put [themselves] in someone’s shoes - and that’s quite powerful as well, because it’s women’s shoes.”

However, to simply call a female artist or a band of women ‘feminist’ and move on is a disservice. That label doesn’t tell you what they sound like; it doesn’t encapsulate their high-energy, free-spirited punk sound, or the fun of their surf-rock and indie-pop sensibilities, and lumping all female-fronted bands together reduces their work to gender alone. Sarah just shrugs at that kind of ignorance. “We’re four friends, having a laugh and whatever happens, happens… Even though we take it very seriously, it’s not too serious.”

“I do also feel that, being a woman, you feel like you’ve got something to prove [at first], so you kind of put on a bit more of a front… [Now], I don’t give a fuck,” Em nonchalantly smiles. This attitude helps when the band are sometimes grouped with the same group of artists - acts as sonically varied as Lambrini Girls, Wet Leg, or Pale Waves - all because of their gender. It’s a point met with a collective, exasperated sigh. “We love them all, but there are so many other bands that you could compare us to,” Sarah all but rolls her eyes. “Why are you comparing us [to them] just because we’re female-fronted? [Do] men get compared to the [same] three bands in every interview?”

Despite the bullshit, Panic Shack are more than comfortable in their own skin, and those rehearsals-turned-nights out are still a pillar of their four-way friendship. Their carefree, fun-chasing spirits haven’t dwindled throughout the process; rather, they’ve become stronger. “It doesn’t really matter what day of the week it is to me still,” laughs Meg. Nearly ten years into being a band, they’re fundamentally no different: piecing together a collage of influences that scream with pop sensibilities in a post-punk setting, they’re just four mates, having a laugh, and making ferociously bold art in the process”.

Meg Fretwell and Romi Lawrence spoke with The Line of Best Fit about their debut album. Keen to emphasise the fact that they have not come out of nowhere and their debut has been seven years in the making, I know that next year is going to be a really busy and exciting one for the quartet. Make sure they are on your radar:

“Despite being mislabelled as disingenuous industry plants, it’s been a long, arduous journey to get to where they are. But the best part? They’ve had the time of their lives: “We were always the ones to start the party; we were getting people to dance and bringing the vibes.”

“We’d get trolleyed after every rehearsal and do really silly stuff. It’s a crazy busy world and it’s full of lots of leopard print and vodka soda limes and cherry ice vapes,” Fretwell says of the early days of the band. It’s from touring with acts such as Soft Play, however, that they learned to turn the party down every once in a while: “We’ve learned from some of the other bands not to cane it too hard on the booze – the big bands don’t necessarily drink as much as we do,” she continues. “We’ve learned to pick and choose when we have that extra vodka.”

With comparisons to the leaders of the Riot Grrrl movement, Meg Fretwell notes Kathleen Hanna as a heavy inspiration: “I really loved a documentary called The Punk Singer – it’s about Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill. It was very inspiring to my graphic design work, which I was studying, but I never thought I was going to be in a band.” Asked how Panic Shack align with the Riot Grrrl ethos, they offer: “I think it’s doing DIY from the very start. We’re authentic and we’re also women, and I’m glad that maybe we’re inspiring people in some way.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ren Faulkner

On their debut record, Panic Shack, this authenticity shines through. “It’s almost like a stream of consciousness of our lived and joint experiences… that we have as a friendship group,” Fretwell shares. “It’s also a wider commentary on being women – but the point was to introduce the world to us, and how it feels to be us.”

Although its predecessor is titled Baby Shack, this new release is by no means Adult Shack: “It’s a step-up but it’s not full-on adult yet, maybe teenage,” Fretwell explains. “Even on Baby Shack we touch on important things, and there’s serious undertones on the album, but we’ve approached it in our own silly way.”

The album closer, “Thelma & Louise”, perfectly demonstrates the love they have for each other, not just as a band, but as a chosen family. Even on tour, when most artists might want a break and a breather, Panic Shack choose to share rooms. “We still want to spend all of our time together, which maybe for other people is crazy, but we never get bored of each other,” Lawrence says. For this reason, “Thelma & Louise”, a tender yet punchy cut, was always destined to take its place on the tracklist, with them “not seeing it any other way.”

“We wrote all the songs alongside each other, so it just felt like the most natural place for it. It’s a bit more of a ballad if we were ever to have one. We discussed how we were going to order the album and it just had to be that one – it just made sense.”

With their debut album release fast approaching, and Glastonbury, SXSW, and huge support slots under their belt, Panic Shack have two main goals yet to hit: touring the world, and making their music a full time job. “It’s a humble goal, but I feel like it’s hard for working class musicians to achieve that – I think we’re close, we just need to keep pushing,” Lawrence concludes”.

I am ending with a positive review for Panic Shack. An album that was shown so much love, it is important to see what critics thought of. Panic Shack were recently on Later… with Jools Holland and have these great European gigs ahead. An authentic and hugely fun debut album, Panic Shack is one of this year’s very best. This is what CLASH noted about Panic Shack:

“Within about 10 seconds of Panic Shack’s debut album erupting in your ear lobes you know this band are The Real Deal. Unbelievably entertaining guitar pop that fuses Ramones style chug with clipped Buzzcocks guitar lines, the Cardiff band blend this with lyrics that are thought-provoking and side-splittingly funny in equal measure.

A debut album that is extremely difficult to fault, Panic Shack aim for all-killer and no-filler. ‘Girl Band Starter Pack’ is a breathless opener, ‘Gok Wan’ is a Runaways-style middle finger to toxic tabloid culture, and ‘Tit School’ is an Amyl and the Sniffers adjacent celebration of working class women (and Double Ds).

A record so evocatively laden with peaks that it makes the Alps look like as a flat as a plastic football pitch, ‘Panic Shack’ is basically the most fun you’ll have with a British debut this year. How could you fail to love an album with a track called ‘We Need To Talk About Dennis’, for example? And if ‘Unhinged’ doesn’t move you, well it’s time for a hip replacement.

A girl gang unafraid to race close to the edge – why else did they write a song called ‘Thelma & Louise’ – Panic Shack are bound by a cause. There’s no lack of conscious punk doing the rounds right now, but where the Cardiff band do it differently is by remembering that this is supposed to be fun. Favouring gig venues over lecture halls, Panic Shack have crafted a riveting debut album, one that leaves you grinning like an idiot while they take down all the sh*t this world can throw at them. An absolute gem, crafted by four absolute gems.

8/10”.

One of my favourite bands, it has been a pleasure including them in Spotlight: Revisited. Such an amazing and tight-knit force, Sarah Harvey, Meg Fretwell, Romi Lawrence and Em Smith are simply amazing. One of the most important bands out there, it will be exciting seeing what 2026 holds in store. Even though they have been together a while and working hard to get where they are, I feel their very best days…