Brace Yourself Records (label)
04 March 2025 (released)
12 h
Panic Shack have recently release their latest single ‘Gok Wan’ inspired by 00’s body image culture and it is their best track yet.
The track starts with a this rattling drum sound often found across the punk genre and always allures to the start of a great song.
References to 00’s toxic diet culture are jammed packed into these lyrics including Trinny and Susannah magazines and the ever-controversial Kate Moss quote “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” hammer home the purpose of this track.
As we reach the chorus, these power-house rockers chant over and over ‘I look good / This is all I do / My body is yours / Enjoy the view’ which also reflects the way women have been perceived in the media for decades and touches on toxicity the male gaze. Around these lyrics is a gruelling, dominant guitar riff mirroring the same anger found within the vocals.
I think this track really does serve as an important reminder people who grew up in the same era is myself and the band, and maybe it wasn’t so obvious at the time, but the culture around weight loss within the media was incredibly damaging. Something I believe most of us still carry with us, and maybe suggests why my generations are now such advocates for body positivity across the board.
Clearly Panic Shack felt this way when writing ‘Gok Wan’ as they told Kerrang “growing up in the ’00s we were bombarded with constant images of super skinny models and ‘IT girls’ as well as TV shows all about ‘looking good’ and ‘being thin’. We wanted to write a song that embodied the ludicrous nature of what we were consuming as literal children and how it affected us then and to this day.”
The band are set to embark on a live tour, titled ‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job’ in May this year.
