Panic Shack Zeche Carl Essen 16th April 2026

 

Friday morning and my phone pinged informing me that I had another addition to my email inbox. So much of what I get is junk of a promotional nature, daily notifications of gigs from a multitude of promotors and/or ticket agents. Approximately one in ten though is of interest and this one was. Sent by Peter,  Aural Sculptors' Rhineland correspondent, this was a gig, a very recent gig in fact.

I duly downloaded the file at the end of the working day and gave it a listen. Last Thursday Panic Shack played a gig in Essen as part of a short German tour and this was I was now listening to. Now, Panic Shack are an entirely new name to me. I decided to listen to the full show before looking then up to find out a bit more of what they are about.

My first impressions were very positive. Panic Shack make a good noise. It is good original material in a punk vein. Their songs address a number of feminist issues in an irreverent way, their lyrics are direct and delivered with attitude and humour in equal measure. The track 'Gok Wan'* challenges the physical 'ideal' that TV and and style/fashion magazines would have young women strive for.

 

'Gok Wan' Panic Shack

Later With Jools Holland

November 2025

'I squat for two hours a day

Not enough to keep the red ring of shame away

If my stomach is flat and my ass is perky

Maybe I can get everybody to like me

Fingers for dinner, starving yourself

Trinny and Susannah stacked on the shelf

Vertical stripes and skipping meals

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.'

Another track pockets bemoans the absence of pockets in clothing designed for women. This presumably being intended not to ruin the line of the garment.. but it does mean that the wearer end up carrying a bag.

When the music slows, the band move into a post-punk territory. One reviewer mentioned a hint of the Young, Marble Giants, which I can kind of pick up with a song like 'We Need To Talk About Dennis'.

At this point I did look them up and discovered they are a five piece that formed in Cardiff back in 2018. Their debut album, also called 'Panic Shack' was released last year following on from a handful of singles. It doesn't take long to go through their entire output and having done so I was left with the impression of a modern Slits. No bad thing at all and that band's influence was confirmed in a short interview that I read online. When asked if their could play any gig with anyone they answered that they would go back to 1977 to play with The Clash and The Slits.

In an environment of increasing toxic masculinity and incels, the world can do with more bands like Panic Shack.

* Gok Wan is a British TV presenter and fashion consultant who hosted a popular TV series in the UK called 'How To Look Good Naked'.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-QK1jQbfZZD2pEsPG

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-zvHa6nnR5YxtroUP

Thanks again to Peter for the share and to David Devant for photo of the band at the Zeche Carl in Esssen used for the front cover.

The Stranglers (O2 Academy Oxford 2012) and Dionne Warwick (Rainbow Room New York 31st December 1996) - Got It Covered! #3

 

We are talking 'Walk On By' here. The song in the hands of The Stranglers is one of those rare examples of a cover version that if not an improvement on the original (and let's face it a Hal David/Burt Bacharach/Dionne Warwick collaboration rates pretty high on a Quality Control scale) brings something totally original to the new version. Of course it is the instrumental break in The Stranglers' version that takes the song to another level and most especially Dave Greenfield's contribution to the track. By the time of it's UK release in 1978, whilst a significant number of music journalists had good reason to treat the band with disdain, none among them had any doubts when it came to the band's musicality. On no other song released up to that point had the bands musical competence been showcased to such stunning effect. On top of that, that The Stranglers chose to cover a 1964 behemoth of the 'easy listening' genre would also raise a few eyebrows for sure (although the song had been a live inclusion in the set prior to the studio recording). How was in that it only peaked at 21 in the UK charts... too long for airplay?

Here's the band in Oxford playing the track in March 2012.

MP3: https://we.tl/t-CCYYd27V0ev1ASmf

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-pr43fsXweXrdHnFz

With music composed by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David, 'Walk On By' was offered to Dionne Warwick in late 1963. Upon release in 1964 it made number 6 in the US Billboard chart. Moreover, it was a Grammy Award nominated single and Warwick's 1964 original was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1988. Unsurprisingly, the song has been a cover of choice for many established artists (as well as pub singers!), notably Isaac Hayes, Gloria Gaynor, Cyndi Lauper and Gabrielle... and The Stranglers.

I wonder how many downloads this recording will get! Not many I am sure, but pause for a second. Whilst music from the Bacharach/David stable may not be entirely aligned with your musical taste (I am with you on this!), take a look at the track listing. There is no doubt about it after scanning that set list that B/D as a song writing team were second to none.

MP3: https://we.tl/t-Oo9NtXZp9zpqyn8v

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Z4FqkEqhkEjeqaA3

Theatre Verdure Nice 20th April 1985

 

A couple of days premature with this anniversary gig down in the south of France. A little incomplete setwise, missing 'Golden Brown' and 'Strange Little Girl'.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-MCcraQ1Rn1uV3wC6

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Ogn320o74q2wBYBC

Sex Pistols Censored (Sounds 28th May 1977)

 

The Sounds issue of 4th June 1977 carried the above apology for the clear censorship of the advert that appeared on the back page of the previous week's issue for the Pistol's new single 'God Save The Queen'. It would appear that the printer's used by Sounds refused to print the advert in its original form which prompted the decision to alter the design by removing the image of Queen Elizabeth from Jamie Reid's now iconic design. And this was the version of the advert that spared the monarch the safety pin through the nose!

Sounds (28th May 1977)

In contrast the printers used by Sounds' rival music weekly, the New Musical Express, had no such qualms... or if they did, the concerns were not enough to stop  the presses.

New Musical Express (28th May 1977)

Looking back from a vantage point that is almost 50 years distant from these events, it is hard to believe the intensity of the furore that surrounded that song. At the same time it is wonderful to think that for a time, a very, very short time, the Sex Pistols and punk really did rattle the Establishment. But as I said it was only for a very short time and pretty soon the corporate music and entertainment business reeled in all things punk and brought it to heel. The music of course remained and much of it was brilliant, but unlike those early months of 1977 the music industry largely called the shots and it was back to business as usual... only with better music!

P**k Rock Versus Local Councils (Sounds 4th June 1977)

Sounds 4th June 1977

June 1977 was noticeably cooler than June 1976. Nevertheless, there was no shortage of local council officials up and down the country who were getting decidedly hot under the collar about this punk rock thing that was seeping out of the big cities into the provincial towns over which they held sway.

Two tours that have now entered the annals (careful with the typing there!) of British punk history, namely the 'Rats On The Road' tour and The Damned's 'The Damned Can Now Play Three Chords, The Adverts Can Play One. Hear All Four Of Them At...' tour were badly mauled by cancellations imposed by over zealous councillor's and entertainment organisations executives.

It is funny to think that now that punk turns 50 that all three of those scandalous bands mentioned in the cutting at the top of this post (The Stranglers, The Damned and Sex Pistols) have all subsequently gone on to play the Royal Albert Hall in London, a monument of The Establishment and its traditions and values if ever there was one! How times change.

Stiff Little Fingers (The Academy Dublin 13th November 2015) and the Specials (The Warfield San Francisco 16th September 2016) - Got It Covered! #2

 

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-q2jo0PCfV3dazcct

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-n7Kc9RkNpKirFrgA

This pairing is a little unusual in that both original and cover appeared on albums within 12 months of each other. The song is ‘Doesn’t Make It Alright’ and the original is by The Specials, appearing on their eponymous first album from 1979. The song was covered the following year by Stiff Little Fingers who recorded the track for inclusion on their second studio album ‘Nobody’s Heroes’. Much of SLF’s first album was related to ‘The Troubles’, a theme that was carried over to a lesser extent on the second album. Nevertheless, whilst not directly related to or referencing the situation in Northern Ireland, the song could as much be about the extremes of sectarianism as about racism within black and white communities. Equally, the sentiments of the song could be applied to the prejudice experienced by the Irish community from sections of the English community, tensions heightened by the mainland activities of the IRA in the mid to late 1970s.

Of SLF's version, Jake Burns had this to say on 'Song By Song'.

'The first Specials album had just come out and we were on the same label so we had become quite friendly with some of the guys. We were big admirers of what they were doing and what they were trying to do - I'd seen them live quite a few times before they got round to making the record and that song in particular had always struck me as incredibly powerful when they played it live.

Burns had some initial misgivings from his fellow band members to overcome when it came to taking on the song, given the fact that the original had only just been released. But his will prevailed...

'... so in fine Stiff Little Fingers fashion we took a really well thought out, pretty song and beat the living crap out of it! Obviously Terry's singing style is quite offhand and nonchalant and I wanted to put a bit more urgency into what I thought was an exceptional lyric.'

For The Specials the song serves as a manifesto in musical form. ‘Doesn’t Make It Alright’ is everything that that band stood for from formation right up to the loss of Terry Hall. The Specials were one of the reasons why ‘Rock Against Racism’ was wound up… not for any negative reasons, far from it. Founding figure, Red Saunders set the organisation in motion to encourage and facilitate the coming together of black and white bands on the same billings in order to bring black and white music fans together under one roof. Five years down the line, it was the success of the multiracial Specials that lead him to the realisation that RAR has achieved its aim, exceeded it in fact in that in The Specials, black and white musicians were sharing the same stage let alone gig billing. This was something very rare even in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.

The song has stood the test of time and remains as a potent 5 minute 48 second (SLF)/3 minute 36 second (The Specials) message against ignorance and hate.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-kM7tCy1cd32oKfQV

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-BYM3eZ7p0voQmDHo

Halle Festival Belgium 16th July 2005

 

Here is a 'Norfolk Coast' heavy set from the band's appearance at the Halle Festival in Belgium back in the summer of 2005. An early outing for 'Sommat Outanowt' here. A decent sounding recording for a Saturday morning. Many thanks to Yesican for sharing this file. Much appreciated!

WAV: https://we.tl/t-N0x6tfLgCsgvVgOf

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-x6XUVNSNs8yzvSR2