Panic Shack – I Don’t Really Like It (Clwb Creative Records)
Cardiff punks Panic Shack release a third single for 2020 taking aim at mansplainers and patronisers with I Don’t Really Like It, out now on Clwb Creative Records.
Artist: Panic Shack
Track: I Don’t Really Like It
Label: Clwb Creative Records
Released: 30 September 2020
Find it: Spotify
Mansplain (verb): the explanation of something by a man who has incomplete knowledge of a topic, typically to a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronising and with the mistaken assumption he knows more than the person he’s talking to.
Since Rebecca Solnit’s 2008 essay Men Explain Things To Me giving an example of being spoken down to in this way the neologism ‘mansplain’ for that type of experience has gained momentum, seemingly everywhere. Perhaps it’s more prevalent, or perhaps we finally have the language to better express what’s happening – mostly between men and women, but of course an assumption, an experience, and a resultant feeling which isn’t confined to a gender binary.
On single I Don’t Really Like It Cardiff punks Panic Shack take on this experience. Despite lyrically being reserved, making use of repetition and layers, the track lacks no impact. And, really, what else needs saying when you’re being talked over, talked down to, and the conversation has veered into condescension? In just these few lines the band say so very much.
With a creeping bassline reminiscent of Surfer Rosa-era Pixies, the kick in of the beat signals a picking up of the pace so by the time we’re hitting the half-way mark the simple refrain has taken on a more urgent tone. Filling out with guitars the track spills over with the frustration before gathering itself back in and slowing back down.
About the track the band say, “We wrote I Don’t Really Like It as a song that could be about anyone and everyone. This single is a bit of a change in direction for us. It’s literally 4 lines but it makes an impact.
“Most may assume it’s directed at men from a woman’s perspective (I mean a LOT of our songs are) but who it’s actually about is a secret. Basically this song is for anyone who has felt spoken down to, patronised or ‘mansplained’ to… You get the picture.
“It was recorded at Rat Trap Studios with Tom [Rees – of Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard] the week before lockdown… unbeknown to us that would be the only time we get to perform the song for the foreseeable.”
The video echoes the creepy and uncomfortable refrain of the track and was directed by Jaydon Martin and Cornelia Van Rijswijk. The band say of the video, “We shot our scenes from our respective homes in Cardiff during lockdown. What you see outside of the television screen in the vid was all filmed in Brisbane, Australia by fellow friends and creatives Jaydon Martin and Cornelia Van Rijswijk. We’ve yet to meet our googly eyed stalker, but we reckon he did a great job!”
The track follows on from two earlier singles this year – Jiu Jits You and Who’s Got My Lighter. Just three singles in and Panic Shack are establishing themselves as a band with the smart-witted vitriol of Hole and the melodic range of The Slits – a band to watch, and love, and turn to, and no mistake.
I Don’t Really Like It from Panic Shack is out now on all digital platforms.
Find Panic Shack: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
Image: Sian Adler/Trigger Happy Creative
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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