An Interview With... Panic State

All you need to know about next years FIFA soundtrack stars Panic State (hopefully).

Here at Middle Eight, we are keen to showcase up and coming artists who are working hard to make themselves heard.

Recently, we spoke to noise-pop trio Panic State whose infectious upbeat tunes are as energetic as they are catchy.

The bands most recent tune 'viral love' was released on February 19 and is another dose of lively indie rock. A toe-tapping opening riff is followed with rapid vocals creating an aggressive yet absorbing banger.

The bands Instagram bio reads "we just want a song on FIFA tbh x"; both 'viral love' and their 2020 single 'Turn Around' are perfect tunes to smash your controller to after conceding a sweaty, 90th minute equaliser, so listen up, EA.

With reports that Barry, Camden pub The Monarch regular, has stated "these lot are alright ya know" big things are surely coming the way of Panic State in 2021. The band have at least another five releases planned for the year and whilst they may try to distract you with pelvic thrusts on their Insta, attention must be turned to their already impressive back catalogue and what the future has in store for the boys.

Find out more about Panic State below!

Who are you and where are you based?

We're Tom (Vocals and Bass), Scott (Guitar) and Daniel (Drums). We're based between London and Cambridge with our studio based in Cambridge, where we record and produce our music and other content.

How would you describe the music you make?

We love to write songs that are hugely energetic with an upbeat instrumental and catchy lyrics that are designed to be relatable. Something (we love to think is) unique about us is our high energy level and sense of fun that comes through in our recorded songs and especially our live shows!

How did you first get into music?

Scott and Daniel both started playing their instruments to avoid having to sing in front of their music class at the age of fourteen. Had that not happened, both of them would probably still be haunted by their vocal performance, vowing to never sing or touch a musical instrument ever again.

Tom has quite a musical family, most people play an instrument of some sort. He began piano lessons when he was six, then at secondary school he picked up guitar and taught himself how to play. If he hadn't done anything with music, he'd probably be sitting at home, wallowing in a pit of self-pity, maybe working in a pub to pay off the tabs he runs up.

Who are your main musical influences?

Originally we were all into Muse quite a lot, and a lot of our early stuff was massively influenced by them. But recently we've moved away from that and we've got a playlist of some indie 'bangers' that we go to for inspirations with loads of bands like Arctic Monkeys, OK Go, The White Stripes, Cleopatrick and Foals. I think we just want our songs to go on FIFA tbh x

Listen to 'viral love' here!

Which artists do you currently have on repeat?

Bloc Party, The Amazons, 'Back Foot' by Dinosaur Pile Up and 'Party in the USA' by Miley Cyrus because it's possibly the best song ever written.

What separates you from other artists?

We like to think our social media presence is quite unique, using Instagram as our main social media platform, we regularly post original content separate from our music, as well as personalised stories and DMs to bridge us with our followers, creating an intimate connection and trying to build a fun community. We try to showcase our humour, heavily adopting meme culture to bring relatability to everything we post, as well as displaying a different side to our music taste with our Quarantine Covers!

What are your plans for the future?

We're planning on another five releases later in the year so we're keeping ourselves busy. We have 'viral love' coming out on 19th February for the first release and we're really excited to share it with everyone. We're also going to keep growing on social media and increase our presence on there to keep people engaged with our stuff, and hopefully we'll be able to do a gig at some point this year because we really miss playing live shows.

A reminder that 'viral love' is out NOW and is another stunning effort from Panic State. Listen to the tune here and follow the trio on Instagram. Panic State merch, including that bath towel you wanted, is available here.

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