The Panics

After taking a month off, The Panics have been racing through the country spreading the word for their latest release, Sleeps Like A Curse. On Thursday night at the Republic Bar & Café, Hobart was given a taste of their sweet, retro sounds and a chance to have a little wiggle on the dance floor.

The evening kicked off with the first of two support acts; Hailey, who has recently been making some frequent appearances on the live music scene and definitely earning herself a following drawing in a reasonable crowd with her awesome and unique voice.

Hailey’s set was followed by The Hammerheads. Oh, what fun these guys are! With their abundance of massive speakers, long hair and laid back attitude they threw the crowd into a time warp of metal sounds.

Before you knew it 2 hours had flown by and The Panics were muddling on and off stage setting up. Looking a little bit tired, and drained of enthusiasm it was easy for me to make the quick assumption that a performance by these guys was going to be anything but the grandeur I had been expecting…Note to self; never assume!

By the time all five members had scrambled onto the stage, it was clear The Panics were not going to let me down. Their exhausted facial expressions slowly cleared as the crowd grew tenfold and their music began to pour from the speakers. Instantly girls and guys alike began to dance, bop their heads or tap their feet. The windows of The Republic fogged up and by the end of the first song there was hardly enough room around the bar to scratch yourself.

Their skill as individual musicians was showcased from start to finish. Instrument changes were as smooth as they were going to get on such a small stage. Jae’s vocals were deep and ghostly lending a 60’s rock feel to some very folk and country influenced sounds. The slide guitar; played by Julian (keys and backing vocals) was a recent addition to the bands instrument repertoire, its use was subtle, but nonetheless a perfect accompliment to The Panics overall sound. The best part was how the guitarist seemed to be constantly rocking out to every song. He would grin through his beard at Jae and Myles (Drums) and appeared to maintain constant communication between band members.

As the evening drew to an end and the boys wrapped it up, shouts of “encore” came echoing from still eager punters and The Panics turned back to the stage for one last song before retiring to the bar. As they stood on stage for the last time that Thursday evening, I watched them intently and realised this is a band that has lived up to and even gone beyond all the good things I had heard about them and one that sounds better live than on radio (which is always a pleasant surprise).

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