Biography by Polly Coufos

Sometimes you know an album is going to be great as soon as you hear the beginning of the first song. Think back to favourite albums and how they stood bold and proud from the first note, inviting you to fall in love with them.

Get Us Home, the lead track from The Panics’ first album on Dew Process is one such song. It kicks off with a big drum roll and a soaring string section, invoking the spirit of classic Motown and Phil Spector.

Deliriously catchy, not quite dance, not quite pop, and totally infectious. Get Us Home is followed by nine other songs, including first single Don’t Fight It that keep up the quality to the last note.

The Panics formed in high school when Jae Laffer and Drew Wootton met on the first day of term. Laffer said, "You just look at someone and go alright you can be my friend - you've got the same haircut as me".

It’s since been a slow and steady build for The Panics. Since forming in Perth , big things have been predicted for the band. After being spotted playing in a pub by Happy Mondays’ Gaz Whelan and Pete Carroll, following The Mondays’ performance at The Big Day Out in 2000, they were signed to their UK/Australian littleBIGMAN records label.

The Panics released a stream of quality EPs and albums with littleBIGMAN, including A House On A Street In A Town I'm From , Crack In The Wall  and  Sleeps Like A Curse (2005) which was nominated for a prestigious J Award. The band went on to spend time in England, performing at the UK’s In The City Music convention twice (the late Tony Wilson was a fan) and supporting The Happy Mondays. They also recorded live performances for the BBC.

Jae Laffer is very satisfied with Cruel Guards and does not flinch at its up-front boldness and ambition. “I’m proud to be in a band that keeps getting better and that people take seriously. We didn’t take any silly shortcuts to get radio airplay. I’m glad we stuck to our guns and stuck to the core values of what we are about. A really cool song should do the work for you.”

The album was completed at BJB studios in Sydney earlier this year. The basis of several of the tracks stem from home recordings the band put down in the house they share in Collingwood while further additions were made during sessions in New York City. The production chores were handled by the band and Scott Horscroft (The Sleepy Jackson, Silverchair) and mixed by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Beth Orton).

At the heart of the beauty of Cruel Guards is its unmistakable ‘Australianness’. There is a sense of space and scale that speaks of only one country. Musically the link may not be obvious but there is the same sense of our wide brown land that runs through the best work of The Triffids, The Go Betweens and Nick Cave.

“They were onto a good thing and were never pop stars because of it but it showed the importance of embracing where you’re from and who you are,” Laffer says. “There aren’t obvious lyrical references to Australia in the lyrics, but we are proud to fly our flag and we’d like to carry on in the tradition of our favourite groups who went away but continued to identify with this country.”

littleBIGMAN created the perfect nurturing environment The Panics needed to improve their craft. Now they feel they are at a point where they can stand on any stage and look any sized audience in the eye and deliver. Dew Process is a natural fit with the major success they have enjoyed with the likes of Sarah Blasko, The Grates and Bernard Fanning.

“I’m really proud of everything we’ve done but I’d like this album to be instantly appealing. We want to be able to continue what we are doing but expand the audience,” Laffer explains.

The Panics are unique. They have been allowed to grow and blossom. And blossom they have. This bunch of songs has immediate appeal and lasting beauty.

“Hopefully it will make people raise an eyebrow. We didn’t want to just give Panics fans something they are used to. I’d rather people were surprised and hopefully see that there aren’t any other guitar groups in this country making records like this.”

Cruel Guards is released on October 13 through Dew Process/UMA.