PANIC SHACK 

SHARE NEW SINGLE “GRIN & BEAR IT”

 VIA BRACE YOURSELF RECORDS - LISTEN

OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO PREMIERES TODAY - WATCH

DEBUT HEADLINE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR BEGINS JUNE 9th

INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES AND A DOZEN FESTIVALS SET FOR 2026, SUPPORTING THE SEX PISTOLS AND SUPER FURRY ANIMALS

PERFORMING AT CBGB FESTIVAL, SUMMERFEST, GREEN MAN FESTIVAL, LATITUDE, AND MORE

“The upstarts from Cardiff’s underground are a fizzy, riffy, irreverently hilarious bundle 

of buzzsaw guitars, vim and vinegar.”

 - THE GUARDIAN

"A brilliant new punk force [and] a word-of-mouth sensation." 

- NME

"Within about 10 seconds of Panic Shack’s debut album erupting in your earlobes, 

you know this band is The Real Deal." 

- CLASH

“Crammed full of razor-sharp wit and zippy indie-punk, Panic Shack’s self-titled debut is an absolute riot of sound and colour.” 

- KERRANG

“Their world is one that mixes brilliant, hedonistic fun with righteous anger, all told through hugely fun punk songs that present a proper gang.” 

- ROLLING STONE UK

Today, Cardiff quintet Panic Shack return with their first new music since the release of their self-titled debut album, which landed in July 2025 via Brace Yourself Records and saw the band achieve a Top 40 album in the UK. It comes in the guise of a fizzy punk barnstormer “grin & bear it” and arrives on the eve of the group’s first-ever North American headline tour.

“grin & bear it,” almost appeared on last year’s Panic Shack LP and finds the band linking up with producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, Amyl & the Sniffers, Yard Act) for a maelstrom of blazing, beefy guitars and righteous fury as vocalist Sarah Harvey tears apart the rat race cribbing from lyrics scribbled on a scrap of paper during a long, lonely nightshift in 2023.

“This song has had many iterations, seen many a practice room and taken many forms,” explain the band, completed by Meg Fretwell, Romi Lawrence, Emily Smith, and Nick Doherty-Williams. “It’s a song that we’ve felt really passionate about getting right, but the music was never fully hitting. We reworked it from the start of the year in any spare time we had around working our jobs and gigging (as we almost always do), which really helped to emphasise the song's meaning. It almost made it onto our debut album, but it just wasn’t where it needed to be; we felt it didn’t have enough grit - until now. We really clicked with Ross in the studio and are super proud of what the track has become; it sounds massive.”

The track is joined by an accompanying video, shot during Panic Shack’s recent headline German tour, that perfectly captures the chaos and camaraderie the band have wrought in the wake of their debut album last year, and will continue to bring across the UK, Europe, and North America this summer.

“We took this to another level when recording the video. Went full method,” they say. “The whole video is filmed and directed by us while on our recent tour in Germany. We left no graffiti’d wall un-lip synced in front of, no green room relaxed in, every cool monument photo op used as a backdrop, it was work work work, grind grind grind… but of course we had a blast doing it.”

WATCH “GRIN & BEAR IT”

LISTEN TO “GRIN & BEAR IT”

Panic Shack landed in July 2025 to widespread critical acclaim including support at UK press from the likes of The Guardian, Rolling Stone UK, NME, DIY, Kerrang, Dork, Clash, The Line of Best Fit, Mashable and more, while three of the album’s singles - “Gok Wan,” “Girl Band Starter Pack” and “Thelma & Louise” - were playlisted at BBC 6 Music, where the band also taped a session for Huw Stephens, before making their UK national TV debut with an appearance on Later With… Jools Holland in November 2025, where they shredded through an incendiary take on “Gok Wan.”

The album entered the Official UK Albums Chart at #32, as well as #1 in the Official Downloads Chart, #1 in the Rock & Metal Albums Chart, #2 in the Official Independent Albums Chart, #4 in the Official Vinyl Albums Chart and #5 in the Physical Albums Chart, before seeing the band play their biggest headline shows to date in December 2025 at Brixton Electric in London and The Great Hall in Cardiff.

The single lands on the eve of a busy summer for the band on the live front. with a headline tour of North America kicking off on June 9th in Washington, DC, and running through June 29th when it wraps in Los Angeles. Panic Shack return for a further run of US dates opening for The Sex Pistols in September, when they’ll also play CBGB Festival. Meanwhile, they also play shows across the UK and Europe this summer, including opening for the Super Furry Animals in Llangollen, further UK shows with The Sex Pistols, UK festivals including Green Man and Latitude, and further European dates in Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. 

“We’re really excited to play ‘grin & bear it’ live this summer,” says the band. “It’s always a buzz to see how fans react to the songs, hopefully it’ll give people a release, where they can let loose with with us and maybe even let out a big fat scream.” Please find a full touring itinerary further below and watch this space for more from Panic Shack as 2026 develops.

★ PANIC SHACK LIVE 2026 ★

MAY

28 - Brussels, BE - Les Nuits Botanique

29 - Hellendoorn, NL - Dauwpop Festival †

JUNE

9 - Washington, DC - The Atlantis

10 - Somerville, MA - The Rockwell

12 - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA

13 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge

14 - New Kensington, PA - Preserving Underground

16 - Toronto, ON - Hard Luck Bar

18 - Chicago, IL - Cobra Lounge

19 - Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest Festival †

21 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive

24 - Portland, OR - Polaris Hall

25 - Vancouver, BC - The Cobalt

26 - Seattle, WA - Baba Yaga

28 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop

29 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon

JULY

2 - Llangollen, UK - Live at Llangollen #

5 - Ewijk, NL - Down The Rabbit Hole Festival †

11 - Halifax, UK - Piece Hall *

26 - Southwold, UK - Latitude Festival †

AUGUST

1 - Cardiff, UK - Cardiff Castle *

15 & 16 - Winchester, UK - Boomtown Festival †

23 - Crickhowell, UK - Green Man Festival †

28 - La Tour-de-peilz, CH - Nox Orae Festival †

30 - Lisbon, PT - Meo Kalorama Festival †

SEPTEMBER

11 - Dallas, TX - Longhorn Ballroom & Backyard Amphitheater *

12 - Austin, TX - Emo's *

13 - Houston, TX - House of Blues Houston *

15 - Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works *

17 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater *

20 - Ottawa, ON - CityFolk Festival †

21 - Toronto, ON - HISTORY *

22 - Montréal, QC - L'Olympia *

24 - Quebec City, QC - L'Anti *

25 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall *

26 - New York, NY - CBGB Festival †

† = Festival Appearance

* = w/ Sex Pistols

# = w/ Super Furry Animals

ABOUT PANIC SHACK:

If there's one thing Panic Shack know, it's how to have a good time. Comprised of Sarah Harvey (vocals), Meg Fretwell (guitar/backing vocals), Romi Lawrence (guitar/backing vocals), Em Smith (bass/backing vocals) and Nick Williams (drums), the band formed in 2018 as a middle-finger to the “members-only club” atmosphere of indie and punk scenes – not just because they’re male-dominated, but because they make playing music seem out of reach or, even worse, boring. “Boys make it look so hard,” Em says, rolling her eyes. “Whenever I see someone on the floor fiddling with their pedals with a face like a slapped arse, I think, you're making this look so unattainable, and it’s actually so fucking easy.”

This carefree approach gives Panic Shack’s music the same effect as popping a bottle of Prosecco – explosive, intoxicating, and delightfully chaotic. The band became familiar faces in and around Cardiff, where Em, Sarah, Meg, and Romi met through orbiting the same gig network. With barely any music available online, they built a word-of-mouth following off the back of their live shows, which have been praised for fusing “thrashy early LA-style punk with choreography that owes something to the Go-Go’s and Iron Maiden all at once” (The Guardian). That quickly snowballed into tours with the likes of Bob Vylan and Soft Play, and festival appearances at Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Green Man, End of the Road, SXSW, and more. Released in 2022, their acclaimed Baby Shack EP bottled the lightning they have on stage, cementing their ability to blend killer hooks with a contagious sense of humour. The first vinyl pressing – splattered pink, obviously – sold out almost instantly.

Released last July, Panic Shack’s self-titled debut album represented a serious level up. For the band, it’s felt like a long time coming. “When we recorded our EP we were very new not only to the band, but to our instruments,” says Romi. “This time, we wanted to prove ourselves.” Reflecting their rapid growth over the last few years, Panic Shack expanded their gutsy punk sound into fuller territory, packed with vocal harmonies, synths, electronic experimentation, and even a trumpet at one point. Keen to reflect the “party vibe” that underpins their modus operandi, the songs embrace poppier melodies and more dancefloor-friendly rhythms inspired partly by Australian duo Confidence Man. “We sound nothing like that, but it's our version of it,” says Meg. “We’ve been shoehorned into being called a punk band, but that’s not all we’re about.”

Irresistible because of their simplicity and charming because of their familiarity, Panic Shack are the answer to a question that, quite frankly, isn’t asked often enough: what if the funniest girls you know started a band? The sonic equivalent to a coming-of-age film unfolding over a single night, Panic Shack takes the shape of a bender, beginning by approaching a bar and ending with an impassioned speech at sunrise about how much you love your friends. Swerving the expected topics of sex and romance, the entire album revolves around the ionic bond between the four girls. 

“This band has taken us on the most mental journey that nobody else will fully understand,” says Meg. It’s only right, then, that their debut marks a celebration of that as much as it does the start of a new journey entirely. “We've always wanted people to come in and be part of our world, and this album is every part of who Panic Shack are. The party side, the angry side… It’s a story about us, really,” Sarah explains. “That’s why we named it after the band. We can't help but be ourselves.”

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