Taking a breather mid exhilarating run with band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Meg Fretwell, one quarter of Cardiff punk darlings Panic Shack talks with Buzz Magazine’s Emma Way about the band’s upcoming hometown headliner and how tired Indie rock ‘n’ roll boy bands kicked the four piece into picking up their instruments.
Listen, watch or read the full conversation below.
Buzz In Conversation with Panic Shack – Buzz Music Podcast
How’s the Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard tour going?
Yeah, it’s really good. We started in Edinburgh. So it was a bit of a drive to get up there. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have been very kind. They have taken our gear, our guitars and amps and stuff, which has been a godsend because we couldn’t hire a van in time to get all our gear up. So they’ve been so helpful. There’s a really good reception for both of us at the shows. Glasgow in particular. They were raring for it! We’ve just done four dates, and we drove back from Liverpool on Saturday night after a gig. We’re just resting up now, well I’m resting up. The girls (Sarah, Romi and Emily) are in work. It’s like having to squeeze in work between the doors. And we’re going back out tomorrow to Bristol.
How did you spend Baby Shack‘s EP release day?
We woke up in Glasgow. We had gone out the night before and had a little celebrate and a dance. And then we went to Newcastle that day. So that was really fun. Everyone like up north are really like down to earth. It reminds me a lot of people from Wales. There’s definitely that kind of like community kind of feel to it. EP day was just a lot of driving. And actually, we didn’t stay out too late that night. We all stayed in a hostel and ordered vegan burgers and watched Dirty Dancing. I’ve never seen it before.
I feel like I’ve seen that film like seven times!
Romi, our other guitarist and Sarah the singer had. I think Emily our bassist had too. It was just really cute because they were explaining it. I like to talk in films. Sarah obviously likes to talk in films as you’ve heard on one of our songs called ‘The Ick’, where she got shushed in the cinema. They were filling me in on what was going on in the film the whole time. It was just a wholesome night so we weren’t going crazy and partying. We were in bed at like, 10.
What are your tour essentials?
We have to take face wipes because skincare unfortunately goes out the window. Biodegradable face wipes, well we try. My new essential has been a neck pillow. Mine is Pusheen. This has saved me this year. This has been an essential for travelling. Um, sunglasses. We all have to have our glasses. That is one essential thing just because when you wake up in the morning, you’re not looking or feeling your best. You can just chuck your sunglasses on and feel sassy but also, it covers a lot.
Who would win a fight: a baby sized man or a man sized baby?
Okay, let me I need to get my head around this… a baby sized man for sure. I would want the baby sized man to win. That would be more impressive for me to watch. I would be rooting for the baby sized man.
I heard that you first thought about starting the band at Green Man Festival. So what was it about festivals that started that?
It was amazing watching other bands and just thinking ‘I could have a go at that’. Green Man was the official catalyst of it but we had previously known each other from going to gigs in Cardiff, a lot of those gigs were watching Indie rock ‘n’ roll boy bands and we were just so tired of it. We thought we could bring a lot more to the table as we loved dancing and would always make up dances with each other. We had a lot of ideas before we had the music so the music kind of came secondary to us. It was definitely about what outfits we wanted to wear, what dances we would do on stage or what kind of gimmicks we would get up and do. And it was kind of like, oh, actually, we’re pretty good at doing the music bit too. It’s been a natural growth and we’ve brought a lot of our fans alongside to see it as well.
How does it feel to have these songs out, how long have you been playing them live?
Even though we got together a month after Green Man we didn’t tell anyone except our close friends that we had started practising band stuff because mainly we didn’t want people to take the piss out of us. ‘Jiu Jits You’ was the first song we ever wrote. We wrote that in 2018. Our first gig was October 2019, or the end of September. So we’ve had the songs I would say about three years, which seems absolutely wild to say that to you now because they’re only just coming out.
We started recording in March 2020 just before COVID and recorded with them with Tom Reese (Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard). ‘Jiu Jits You’ and ‘I don’t really like it’ we released in lockdown, but as a physical recording, we didn’t want to do it until we knew that we could have that traction to actually go out there and gig with it.
It’s been a little bit difficult to like fully move on from those songs and get into writing new music whilst they’ve still been there. So now they’re released our main focus is finishing and recording new songs.
How’s writing (new songs) going so far?
Good. We’ve got a lot of new songs, and some of them we do play at gigs. But for us to officially finish new songs and add all those finishing touches we’re probably going to need a week off. With the last songs, we went away for a week. We stayed in a cottage and wrote and finished them all.
What can we expect from your headline gig in Cardiff?
Lots of fun for a start. It’s gonna be sold out and if it’s anything even a little bit like the Sŵn Festival we just played. It was a lovely full room. People were really going for it. There’s going to be lots of choreographed dancing. It’s really exciting because it’s the first time in a long time that we’ve put on a headline show. I think matching outfits, that’s another thing and I think we’re gonna do. I think we might go for a denim theme.
Panic Shack play Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff Saturday 7th May (tickets: sold out Info: here) Debut EP Baby Shack is out now. Info: here.