PANIC SHACK REVIEW

Panic Shack are a group borne out of a group of friends slowly losing their interest in going to see indie boy bands, who hypocritically fawned independence, yet seemed to offer all the same. The group, with a line-up of Sarah Harvey, Meg Fretwell, Romi Lawrence, Em Smith and Ed Barker, had a pipedream of a band that initially seemed difficult to reach but, since 2018, they have quickly grown an excitable fanbase beyond their home of Cardiff as winningly independent. Independent acts must fill up their calendars to reach more people, and so they have been working extensively and taking advantage of every chance waved at them – their singles often feature on BBC Music’s ‘Introducing’ feature across their radio stations, and they’re a frequent festival presence, such as at this year’s Reading and Leeds Festival, and when not headlining they’ve jumped at supporting Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard. Despite the fact Meg and Romi had learnt how to play a guitar from scratch, they quickly became a talented and must-see outfit; their sell-out shows are a showcase of all the fun that can be had when you get to decide everything about your group for yourself – with matching outfits and especially-choregraphed dancing.

With their first gig in October 2019, it’s a shame lockdown soon after quashed their plans to ramp up their performances, as they had cottoned on early to the revival of the spoken-word style now popular with groups such as Dry Cleaning and Yard Act. They hope to inspire girls into performing and writing their own music and rail against the elitist and male tradition of the rock music industry, captivating for their admittance of rudimentary skills yet still producing great music all the same. Sure, their indie music fandom seeps through – there’s a touch of the ferocity of the Arctic Monkeys’ debut and the effect of their witty, down-to-earth lyricism set to music reminds me of John Cooper Clarke – but the carefree and genial approach of Panic Shack is at once refreshingly escapist yet immediately relatable to the teenage life stories of their intended audience. Through songs such as ‘Mannequin Man’, poking fun at rigid ideals of masculinity, and ‘The Ick’, a song about unusual turn-offs in relationships like “putting the milk in first”, they have presented even supposed mundanity is a fertile ground for songwriting that anyone can do. Words by: Billy Edwards Design by: Alexa Price