PANIC SHACK + PLANTOID – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 23.3.24
There was something rather continental going down at The Prince Albert in town today. Those passing the venue, which is located a stone’s throw from Brighton mainline railway station, would have noted the vibrant atmosphere radiating out of the brightly painted building. Many would have simply followed their noses as there was tasty cooking on the go and beers freely flowing. A team from the five generations family owned SON Estrella Galicia brewery were hosting a micro-festival here this afternoon and evening.
We were invited to attend this positive impact event that was featuring a night of live music, DJ sets, and a by invitation only presentation titled “What does your beer sound like?”. More on that at the end of this article….
It was ultimately the live music that drew us into Brighton today. Two contrasting bands were on the menu tonight with the headliners Panic Shack being the greatest pull. Support came in the form of local outfit Plantoid.
We had attended the afternoon presentation and then went off site and trundled down to Resident in order to hear what the legendary Jah Wobble had to say during his in conversation event. You can read our account of this HERE. After our dose of Wobble, we made our way back to The Prince Albert in time to catch both bands. So let’s go straight to the headliners Panic Shack who I have previously encountered on a number of occasions including ‘Rebellion’ festival in Blackpool and at ‘Latitude’ festival in Suffolk.
Cardiff based Panic Shack are a real fun band and always a joy to witness. They consist of Sarah Harvey (lead vocals), Meg Fretwell (guitar and bv’s), Romi Lawrence (guitar and bv’s), Emily Smith (bass) and drummer Nick Doherty-Williams, who incidentally played his first ever gig with the band at the aforementioned ‘Rebellion’ gig. Panic Shack formed back in 2018 and are very much a DIY outfit and they come armed with brash, off-kilter songs with witty lyrics and killer hooks. They have steadily been building an army of loyal fans and as a result this Welsh punk quintet have crashed through the UK music scene with a tidal wave of ear-crunching noise. It’s no wonder that tonight’s gig is sold out.
Panic Shack shows are reasonably raw, although they are certainly getting slicker the more gigs they play. They have thus far sadly only released one single, ‘Meal Deal’ as well as one EP titled ‘Baby Shack’, but the EP does contain six solid tunes. I really do think it is time for them to drop an album this year. For me, the idea of expanding the EP onto side two of an album and then releasing new tunes on side one would be the way forward! They could easily do it as they play us a handful of as yet unreleased tunes that are just as consistent as their EP.
We are treated to a lively dozen song set that runs from 10pm to 10:43pm. Being sold out means the venue is rammed and the happy sardines accept everything that is thrown at them, beginning with the unreleased and comical ‘Tit School’, and followed by their 2022 ‘Meal Deal’ single. Next up is the tune that turned me onto the band this being ‘Mannequin Man’, the first of all six tunes played from their 2022 ‘Baby Shack’ EP. As always there’s a decent guitar intro and they adopt several different mannequin poses during this number.
After this Sarah informs us that the next tune, the unreleased ‘ParTy SD’ is about “being hungover” and then mid tune she comes into the crowd for some extra joyful interaction. They segued straight into ‘I Don’t Really Like It’, the second cull from their ‘Baby Shack’ EP, with the earworm lyrics “Hey, hey, hey, hey; Hey, when you look at me like that; I don’t really like it”. This features a trio of vocal harmonies and a beat that speeds up. It’s fair to say that Panic Shack are going down a storm, but they always do! They really look like they are enjoying it and having fun.
Next up is ‘Jiu Jits You’ (from ‘Baby Shack’) which is a faster more urgent affair and this segues straight into the unreleased ‘Jelly Baby’ which features more energetic dancing from the girls. 2022’s ‘Baby’ with its repeated “I don’t wanna hold your baby” lyrics and decent rumbly Fender Precision bass notes is their next choice and is about “all the babies out there!”. A couple of unreleased tunes follow in the form of the fast and furious ‘Do Something’, the set highlight for me that we are informed is about when they “got drunk” and it’s about a “washing line” too, and this was swiftly followed by arguably their unreleased anthem the grunge bass laden ‘Cash Piggy’. They signed off with the final two tunes from their EP, these being ‘The Ick’ and ‘Who’s Got My Lighter?’
As always it’s been fun all the way. Right then gang…it’s album recording time please x
Panic Shack:
Sarah Harvey – lead vocals
Meg Fretwell – guitar and bv’s
Romi Lawrence – guitar and bv’s
Emily Smith – bass
Nick Doherty-Williams – drums
Panic Shack setlist:
‘Tit School’ (unreleased)
‘Meal Deal’ (a 2022 single)
‘Mannequin Man’ (from 2022 ‘Baby Shack’ EP)
‘ParTy SD’ (unreleased)
‘I Don’t Really Like It’ (from 2022 ‘Baby Shack’ EP)
‘Jiu Jits You’ (from 2022 ‘Baby Shack’ EP)
‘Jelly Baby’ (unreleased)
‘Baby’ (from 2022 ‘Baby Shack’ EP)
‘Do Something’ (unreleased)
‘Cash Piggy’ (unreleased)
‘The Ick’ (from 2022 ‘Baby Shack’ EP)
‘Who’s Got My Lighter?’ (from 2022 ‘Baby Shack’ EP)
As mentioned earlier, support tonight comes from Brighton based prog and jazzy psych outfit Plantoid who are Chloe Spence on vocals and rhythm guitar, Tom Coyne on lead guitar, Louis Bradshaw on drums, Bernardo Larisch on bass, and another guy on tom toms, maracas a plus tambourine. We first caught up with these at last November’s ‘Mutations Festival’ and then again at the ‘Lewes Psych Fest’ back in January. They seem to enjoy playing festivals as they will be one of the circa 450 acts appearing at May’s ‘Great Escape‘ new music festival. Last month they dropped their debut LP in the form of ‘Terrapath’, for which they played a special Bella Union outstore event at the Alphabet.
Tonight their set runs from 8:25pm until 9:08pm. This features powerful vocal deliveries from Chloe especially on their rock filled opener, but the next selection is totally different and has a funky jazz vibe going down. I guess this isn’t that surprising when you learn that their influences range from Miles Davis to Todd Rundgren, so jazz infused indie prog rock it is then. Their energy flowed off The Prince Albert stage and into the crowd, a vast majority of which enjoyed what was being offered, but in all honesty once again they weren’t to my taste, but don’t let me stop you from checking them out!
Prior to our jaunt down to Resident we were in the capable hands of the SON Estrella Galicia team who have since 2009 created events that offer a twist on the traditional concert experience in Spain, Brazil, Portugal and the USA. They have since become well established in the London scene with 4 events in the past 18 months at Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney including high profile performances and attendees including Los Bitchos, Teleman, Dream Wife, Prima Queen, DEADLETTER and more. Brighton is now getting in on the action and today is their first jaunt down here. Estrella Galicia’s beer experts this afternoon provided an exclusive ‘What Does Your Beer Sound Like?’ tasting workshop, showcasing the brand’s artisanal and multi-sensory approach to their craft. It was educational as well as tasty. They cleverly likened the four beer ingredients to that of members of a band, drums, bass, guitars and vocals were matched to water, hops, malt and yeast. Those present got to choose the sounds that they preferred and we via the laptop presentation combined the sounds and made a tune. Whilst this was going on in our secluded room, elsewhere in the venue there were DJ sets from Kike Louie, Lee Petryszyn and Henry WP for the event.
