THE PANICS
Several years ago, the five Perth lads from The Panics decided to pack their bags, cross the Nullarbor and move to Melbourne - and they've been copping flak back home ever since. It's a curse shared by many Brisbane expats, but singer and guitarist Jae Laffer isn't too troubled by it.
By Nate Shea
"They love to have a dig," Jae affirms from his home in Melbourne. "The first time around there will be a lot of praise for you, but they like to just keep you from the top of the pile and make sure you don't get too big for your boots. People will talk to you like they want you to know that you're not as great as you probably think you are. But we've never been too upset by anything."
Jae believes it's natural for creative people to be on the search for more fertile grounds and stretch their borders past the safe and usual. "When any creative type gets any energy and gets the feeling that they want to shake their life up a bit, the first thing they're going to do is look for a bigger city. I think that's human nature," he states.
Perth reminds him of leaner times, and while they don't gig more often in Melbourne, he finds the city culturally nurturing. "I spent a lot of years in Perth. I dropped out of school and just did shit jobs for a couple of years. Perth always reminds me of the time there where I was struggling to find things to do, and how to be creative. We don't play here [Melbourne] more than we do the other cities. We use it more as an environment to work in, and it's really good like that."
All five are shacked up in a house in Collingwood, and despite living, rehearsing, recording and touring together, the band manage to get along swimmingly. "I don't know what goes on with this group, we're pretty casual. It's too easy really," says Laffer. "We walk out the same front door, hit the road; it's nice to have a communal space somewhere and we can all communicate easily."
While the band has made a nest in Melbourne, they have become increasingly absent of late, spending more and more time travelling the world. With The Panics now a household name in Australia, they have set about extending themselves across the globe, and Jae can already sense the band making strong inroads. "You can only go by a general feeling, but yeah, particularly in England," explains Laffer, in relation to the band's growing international profile. "People seem to know about us on a very ground level, [but] we're obviously not famous or anything," he says with a laugh. "I think we'll spend a hell of a lot more time there over the next year or two...it's nice to be able to do gigs somewhere and play to a crowd that's so far away from home."
'Cruel Guards' is out now though Dew Process.
Friday May 2 at The Sound Lounge, Currumbin, Saturday May 3 at The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley and Sunday May 4 at The J, Noosa. The Panics will also play at this year's Splendour in the Grass at Belongil Fields, Byron Bay (August 2-3). |
