panic shack - “grin & bear it”
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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.”
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.