Panic Room are on tour again in June, playing songs from their excellent new album Incarnate. The support for their show at London’s Borderline on June 14th will be the talented Matt Stevens.
The tour also includes shows in Bath, Reading, Liverpool, Bilston, Derby and Preston – full details on their tour page.
Panic Room came to Gloucester Guildhall on the penultimate date of the first leg of their spring tour, following on from the release of the well-received fourth album “Incarnate” and a successful appearance at the HRH Prog festival in Pwllheli back in March. With no support there was a long wait until they rolled the now-familiar intro tape of Luna Rossa’s “Gasp” and the band finally hit the stage an hour and a half after the doors opened.
The setlist was a very interesting mix of old and new. The new album “Incarnate” naturally features heavily, with no fewer than eight of the album’s ten songs in the set. They opened with the atmospheric “Into Temptation” lead into album’s rockiest number “Velocity”, then “Start the Sound” with Adam O’Sullivan’s volume control guitar work and some very imaginative drumming from Gavin Griffiths.
The middle part of the set the band ran through an eclectic mix of older numbers, with some established favourites alongside a few unexpected choices. The extended “Chameleon” with a jazzy solo from Adam O’Sullivan and a great flute solo from Anne-Marie was a particular highlight. Anne-Marie’s spirited take on “I Am A Cat” demonstrated how obviously she enjoyed singing that one live, and made its inclusion in the set more than welcome.
The closing part of the main set showcased more of the new album, including the soaring ballad “All That We Are”, ending with the massive brooding epic “Dust”. Unlike some acts, Panic Room have never been a band that rely on the same standards tour after tour, and the way they’re willing to mix things up keeps things fresh. The first two (of four!) encores bore this out, with two of the rockier numbers from “Skin” presented in the acoustic arrangements we’d heard at the Incarnate launch party back in February. They followed that with another couple of new numbers, with a very powerful version of Incarnate’s title track closing the evening.
This was a superb gig. Panic Room are now back up to the level they’d reached before Paul Davies left the band a year ago, and it’s great to see them firing on all cylinders again. It’s taken new guitarist Adam O’Sullivan a few gigs to find his feet, but he now fits the band perfectly; he more than does the older songs justice, and makes his mark on the new material with his more laid-back jazz-inflected style. The new material comes over very well live, if anything more strongly than on record.
The band return in June for the second leg which includes shows in Bath, Reading, Bilston, London and Preston, among others.
The consequence of having a photo pass for a three-day rock festival is you end up taking an awful lot of photos; indeed I took over 900 on the Saturday. I’ve used a few to illustrate my review, and here are a few more, all from Saturday. Here’s Dim Koskinas of September Code, the opening band of the day.
Jane Setter of Crimson Sky
HRH Prog 2 is a residential rock festival held in this year the former Butlins holiday camp at Hafan-Y-Mor just outside Pwllheli in north Wales, following on from the successful first festival held in Rotherham a year ago.
It’s certainly a long way from anywhere, at the end of miles and miles of single-carriageway roads winding through the Welsh hills, or an equally winding single-track railway line, and it certainly wasn’t the organisers’ fault that part of the train journey was by replacement bus because the tracks had been washed away in a storm. There were complaints from some quarters that it was an inconvenient location. But it was an equal opportunity inconvenience; it takes just as long wherever you’re coming from. Continue reading
Panic Room had something of a troubled 2013. Several years hard work paid off with a growing reputation and audience for their powerful and sophisticated mix of rock, folk, jazz and metal. Then their year began with the departure of the lead guitarist, founder member Paul Davies. While Morpheus Rising’s Pete Harwood did a sterling job standing in on their already-booked tour, his commitments to his own band ruled out any longer-term involvement. So they initially announced that they’d be writing their fourth album as a four-piece. Then around the time the band were ready to enter the studio they announced the recruitment of Adam O’Sullivan, bringing the band back up to full strength.
In a rock band the lead guitarist can often be as important as the singer, so how would the new-look Panic Room sound?
Hard rocking opener “Velocity” with its spiralling guitar riff is close to the feel of their last album, but with the next few numbers a rather different sound emerges. It’s a step away from the rich wall of sound that characterised the last couple of Panic Room albums, with a lighter, more pared-back feel that has as much in common with Panic Room’s acoustic side-project Luna Rossa than it does with 2012′s “Skin”. In places there are echoes of the début “Visionary Position” and the singer-songwriter feel of Anne-Marie Helder’s 2006 solo record “The Contact”, and it’s notable that Anne-Marie has sole songwriting credit for half of the ten songs.
There are plenty of moments where the space in the mix gives individual members the chance to shine. There’s some inventive drumming from Gavin Griffiths, and some great understated Fender Rhodes from Jon Edwards across much of the album. Adam O’Sullivan’s guitar isn’t always prominent, though he does have his spotlight moments. Much of his playing has a strong jazz flavour, with some great bluesy rippling flourishes. A good example is on “Nothing New” where his guitar work duels with some equally jazzy piano runs from Jon Edwards. The one moment towards the end of the album where he cuts loose with a rock-style solo, it’s superb. Yet again Anne-Marie’s vocals are everything you’d expect from someone voted Best Female Singer by readers of Prog magazine, hitting the sweet spot between melody and expressiveness.
Much of the strongest material comes in the second half of the album. The atmospheric “Into Temptation” with its eastern-sounding vibe is reminiscent of parts of “Endgame” from the band’s début. The following three numbers “All The We Are”, “Searching”, and the soaring “Close The Door” all demonstrate Anne-Marie’s talents as a singer-songwriter.
The album closes with the dark and brooding “Dust”, an ambitiously progressive piece sounding like Massive Attack crossed with late-period Led Zeppelin, building on a repeated motif keeps going round and round in your head even after the album has finished playing.
At this stage in their career, Panic Room could easily have attempted a retread of the well-regarded “Skin”. But that would have been a mistake, and they should be applauded for not simply repeating a successful formula. It’s not quite perfect; the album might have benefited from one or two out-and-out rockers in the vein of Skin’s “Hiding the World” or Satellite’s “Dark Star” to add variety and raise the energy level. But it does feel like the beginning of a new chapter for the band. This is album by a band not afraid to try something slightly different, and there is much to like about it, especially after repeated listens. It’s still unmistakably Panic Room, but with their sophisticated sound it’s a record with a wider crossover potential too.
Panic Room have released a promo with teasers from the forthcoming album “Incarnate”, to be released on 10th March.
I went to so many gigs in 2013 I ended up losing count; everything from local cover bands in pubs to rock monsters in enormodomes, and everything in between. There have been a few gigs outside my usual comfort zone, such as The Damned and The Orb; I even went to see Iron Maiden at the O2 Arena, a band I last saw in 1982. I even went to see a Fleetwood Mac tribute band…
Picking a best-of list out of all those gigs is a hard one, but these six stand out as ones to remember for all the right reasons.
Marillion – UK Convention Saturday
Marillion’s fan conventions are always amazing experiences, with a hall full of hardcore fans and three sets with completely different setlists over the three nights. The end result is an electric atmosphere that few regular gigs can approach. All three nights in Wolverhampton were amazing experiences, but for me the best of the three was Saturday, with the dark, intense concept album “Brave” played in its entirety.
I got to see Fish four times this year, twice in his spring tour before the band went into the studio to record the album, and twice in the autumn on the tour to promote the album. All were great shows, with the big man on superb form, the London gig in May was a real standout.
Steve Hackett – Hammersmith Apollo
I wasn’t entirely convinced by Steve Hackett’s restatement of his Genesis legacy in the studio; the re-recorded versions seemed to add little to the much-loved favourites. But live it was a completely different experience; a triumphant and uplifting celebration of the magnificent music that deservedly won many standing ovations. The Guardian completely missed the point.
Panic Room + Morpheus Rising – Manchester Sound Control
Panic Room have had a few ups and downs this year, forced to regroup following the departure of lead guitarist and founder member Paul Davies. Their tour in early summer featured Morpheus Rising’s Pete Harwood standing in guitar doing double duty with both the headliners and his own band. The tour ended with two superb shows in Bilston and Manchester demonstrating the band’s ability to triumph over adversity, with great support from Morpheus Rising, themselves premiering a lot of new material.
Mostly Autumn + Chantel McGregor, Islington O2 Academy
Mostly Autumn have been a bit hit-and-miss as live band during 2013, with fluctuating lineups from gig to gig due to various members’ other commitments. But the stars aligned when they came to London in Ocober. Chantel McGregor’s incendiary opening set gave the whole show the feel of a co-headliner, and Mostly Autumn’s barnstorming set had to be one of the best shows they’ve done in the past two or three years.
Steven Wilson, Royal Albert Hall
Steve Wilson came to London’s most prestigious major venue with his band including Theo Travis, Guthie Govan, Nick Beggs and Zappa alumnus Chad Wakerman, with the combined virtuosity you’d expect from a top-flight jazz ensemble rather than typical rock band. They proceed to delivere a mesmerising set drawn almost entirely from Steve Wilson’s three recent solo work, reinventing 70s Mellotron-drenched progressive rock to make it relevant to the 21st century. There are still people missing Porcupine Tree, but on the strength of shows like this, his new band are very good trade.
Panic Room are now taking pre-orders for their fourth album “Incarnate”, due for release in February 2014, via this link.
They are also excited to announce that they will be hosting an exalusive, limited 100-ticket-only Album Launch Party on 7th February 2014 at the grand hall of The Gate in Cardiff. This will sell out quickly!
Panic Room have also revealed the track listing of the new album:
Velocity
Start The Sound
Incarnate
Nothing New
The Waterfall
Into Temptation
All That We Are
Searching
Close The Door
Dust
Those of us who were able to get to their last two shows of 2013 will have heard five of those songs live; on a couple of listens these are sounding impressive.
Panic Room will also be touring in April and June to promote the album. There are still one or two dates still to be announced, but the dates so far include Gloucester, Bath and Reading.
Panic Room had originally intended a more extensive tour in November and December 2013. But the band’s decision not to book any further live dates until they had a new lead guitarist in place meant that they ended up putting the tour back until the new year, leaving the two already booked dates as their last live appear appearances of 2013.
The first of these took place in Shildon, a replacement for an earlier show in Darlington cancelled due to the unfortunate closure of the rock club. The replacement venue, Shildon Civic Hall is a typical modern multi-purpose arts centre, and despite the remote location still managed to attract enough of the faithful to make a decent crowd.
Laying out the hall with tables and chairs was probably a mistake. In theory the high stage should have meant people could stand at the front without blocking the views of those seated further back, but in practice it meant that almost everybody remained seated, which did rob the gig of a bit of energy.
Panic Room invited Winter in Eden, a band with a strong local following, to open the show, and by the number of t-shirts in evidence Winter in Eden’s fanbase swelled the crowd quite a bit. For those not familiar with their music, they could be described as “Nightwish with a British accent”, with a very impressive vocalist in Vicky Johnson, and more emphasis on lead guitar than many of the Euro symphonic metal acts.
Though marred slightly by poor sound (I thought they were a tad too loud), they put in a an energetic performance drawn heavily from their second album “Echoes of Betrayal”. The band have been in the studio recording their third album, and played one new number from it, sounding like an interesting progression of their sound.
For Panic Room fans the two big questions were “How was new guitarist?” and “What were the new songs like?”. After the departure of founding lead guitarist Paul Davies at the beginning of the year, the band played their spring tour with Morpheus Rising guitarist Pete Harwood standing in, who did a remarkably good job. This Shildon show marked the début of Adam O’Sullivan who joins as a permanent member of the band.
I think Adam made a good enough first impression. He’s still finding his feet to some extent, and probably needs a couple more gigs to grow into the role, but he’s clearly got the chops to do the guitar parts justice. He takes an interestingly different approach on some of the newer material, with volume-control atmospherics. One thing I noticed was he doesn’t play slide at all, which makes some older numbers, such as the cover of “Bitches Chrystal” sound a little different.
As for the new songs, they played no less than five numbers from the forthcoming album “Incarnate” due for release early in the new year. It’s difficult to judge new material on one listen, given Panic Room’s sophisticated and layered sound, but all five new songs sounded good, and they don’t sound like retreads of things the band have done before either. There are some classic Anne-Marie soaring melodies, some out-and-out rock, and some interestingly different arrangements that seem a step back from the wall-of-sound approach of SKIN.
Panic Room’s final gig of 2013 is their annual pre-Christmas show at The Robin 2 in Bilston on December 1st.
Anne-Marie Helder has posted on the Official Panic Room Facebook Group about progress on the new album (it’s almost finished) and forthcoming tour dates.
As Anne-Marie explains, the band had originally hoped to play a far more extensive tour in November, but things were overtaken by events, specifically the need to recruit a new guitarist. So the band have put back the tour into the new year, leaving the two already announced dates as the only remaining live appearances by Panic Room this year.
Those are on November 24th at Shildon Civic, with Winter in Eden supporting, and their annual Christmas show at Bilston Robin 2.
The Shildon one is an interesting one, with doors at 4pm, and finishing by 9pm, and with a very strong support it promises to be a spectacular evening. With the new album due for release in the new year, these two shows will be the first opportunity to hear some of the new material. It will also mark the debut of the band’s new lead guitarist, Adam O’Sullivan.
The band have announced the first couple of dates for next spring, including a visit to Norwich and a return to the Netherlands. There are more shows still to be announced.