On excursion throughout the United Kingdom, Panic Shack attempted a web-based experiment for the hell of it.
“we’re gonna do that dance in each and every inexperienced room til we get in reality just right, practice us on tiktok to look the growth xxxxx,” the Cardiff punk band wrote on Instagram in Might 2025, posting a video of participants Sarah Harvey, Meg Fretwell, Romi Lawrence, and Emily Smith doing a dance to Janet Jackson’s “Leave out You A lot.”
More than one renditions on TikTok, 100,000 fans, and 15.4 million perspectives later, Panic Shack had been all over the place FYPs. And they have simply launched their debut album.
Shaped in 2018, Panic Shack emerged from “having a pipe dream while at paintings,” in keeping with Harvey, and a shared love of karaoke and going to pals’ gigs. A rambunctious, jubilant, loud punk outfit from the Welsh capital, Panic Shack brings perpetual Thelma and Louise power to bangers about ride-or-die friendship, telling jerks to GTFO, bullshit frame symbol expectancies, smoking rollies, meal offers, London dudes, and the scary ick.
Mashable sat down with lead vocalist Harvey and guitarist/vocalist Fretwell to speak via their viral luck and what to anticipate from their first actual, self-titled LP.
Panic Shack stole TikTok’s center with a dance
“everybody be quiet my display is on.”
Credit score: Panic Shack / TikTok
“everybody be quiet my display is on,” wrote TikTok consumer Morgana on a Panic Shack video. “Why is that this so addictive to observe? I believe I watch every of those a minimum of 10x,” wrote welsh_witchery on any other. “Do you do divorce events x,” added Eviebop.
Possibly you have got found out Panic Shack at certainly one of their are living presentations. Or possibly you are some of the hundreds who’ve discovered them via their collection of “Leave out You A lot” dances posted since Might.
The dance was once in the beginning choreographed by means of Ohio-based dance teacher Jezebel Shuvani (@JezFever). Posting to TikTok in February, she described it as impressed by means of the overall scene from Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers, wherein Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), Future (Constance Wu), Mercedes (Keke Palmer), and Annabelle (Lili Reinhart) do their very own choreography to Janet Jackson’s 1989 banger. (The artist’s unique “Leave out You A lot” video itself is ablaze with strikes.)
Fretwell had noticed the dance JezFever had posted on TikTok and pitched it to her Panic Shack bandmates, Harvey, Lawrence, and Smith, who had been all on board (who would not be?). Discovering tiny corners, sunny rooftops, and cramped corridors in venues throughout Manchester, Brighton, Norwich, Leeds, and extra, Panic Shack carved out time to throw down strikes with out fail. They even dragged drummer Nick Doherty-Williams into one.
“I used to be like, ladies, we will have to check out that after we’re on excursion in combination. And we simply did it, and didn’t be expecting it to take off,” Fretwell tells Mashable. “It was once so loopy, as a result of such a lot of persons are, like, you are advertising and marketing geniuses! Who’s operating this? I believe the combo of our level outfits and the other places and the consistency of doing it on a daily basis while we had been on excursion was once in reality the name of the game mixture. We completely didn’t be expecting it to move viral. JezFever and the troupe are so lush as neatly, we’ve got were given a web-based friendship with those ladies.”
Credit score: Ren Faulkner
The dance boosted Panic Shack’s on-line fanbase tenfold, with a cursory calculation of the band’s “Leave out You A lot” movies sitting at 15.4 million perspectives on my own. The feedback are stuffed with outdated trustworthy and glossy new lovers, the latter of whom have additionally discovered their approach to Panic Shack’s YouTube channel. “Somebody else right here as a result of they had been mesmerized by means of their TikToks? Now I’m hooked on their tune,” writes one commenter, and they are now not on my own.
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“You could not write it, like, it would now not have come at a greater time,” says Fretwell. “Truthfully, earlier than the dance, we had like, 6,000 fans earlier than we went on excursion, and we got here off excursion with over 100,000 fans. It is relatively actually mind-blowing.”
“It is attention-grabbing, as a result of we’ve got had a large following for a very long time only for our are living presentations and now it is in reality attention-grabbing interpreting who is aware of us from TikTok or from a are living display,” she provides.
Panic Shack celebrates pleasure, calls out hate within the feedback
Credit score: Ren Faulkner
Having skilled poisonous trolls and hateful feedback up to now, Panic Shack skilled the (sadly) uncommon marvel this is being ladies on the web surrounded by means of positivity, amusing, and empowerment — all whilst being their original selves.
“We nearly could not consider that folks had been being so great to us within the feedback,” says Fretwell.”Some other people have in reality emotional reactions to the dance as neatly. It completely, once more, is not our aim, however I am simply so happy that folks have discovered such a lot pleasure from it.”
“We are being ourselves and I believe that will get misplaced in social media relatively so much,” provides Harvey. “And our friendship, as neatly, most definitely shone via slightly bit, because it at all times does with the band, and simply after we’re placing out.”
Alas, there are nonetheless dickheads on-line. In true punk shape, Panic Shack incessantly makes use of humour to name out misogynist feedback on TikTok movies — together with the attempted and true TikTok technique of highlighting heinous feedback to call and disgrace them in new movies. In July, the band did send-ups of Robert Palmer’s 1985 “Hooked on Love” video; Shania Twain famously gender-flipped the video in 1997 for “Guy! I Really feel Like a Lady.” Panic Shack’s personal punk model sees the band pin troll feedback and weigh down a lip-synch of Palmer’s music.
“From time to time we love to focus on probably the most troll feedback, simply because it is simply our approach of coping with it, in reality,” says Fretwell. “We’ve got gained such a lot of troll feedback through the years, have not we, Sarz? Even again then, years in the past, that is how we’d take care of it.”
“We do not want sympathy. We are doing it simply to combat again and display display them up slightly bit,” says Harvey.
“We’ve got had some in reality terrible stuff stated about us over time, and it is simply all misogyny,” provides Fretwell. “Necessarily, it is like, no matter they wish to hide it because it, the basis of it’s misogyny. Do not assume they prefer seeing ladies having amusing, or now not doing one thing for male consideration, for the male gaze.”
Panic Shack assists in keeping are living presentations and on-line moments separate
Credit score: Ren Faulkner
From time to time artists see on-line moments as an accompaniment to their are living presentations — Charli XCX’s “Apple” dance is the end of the TikTok-to-stage iceberg. On the other hand, extra incessantly than now not, there is a beautiful cast line between what occurs on an artist’s on-line platforms and what occurs on level. For Panic Shack, it is the latter, particularly on the subject of their viral dance — you are going to now not see it on level.
“Other people have requested. Other people had been like, can that be the encore? And I believe we’ve got at all times simply stated that is for the web’s eyes most effective, in reality,” says Fretwell. “TikTok and on-line is sort of a separate entity, in particular the TikTok app. It is someplace we will be able to simply try to check out other types of like, content material, I guess. However yeah, the are living display’s not anything were given not anything to do with it in reality.”
“It is been thrown round a little bit, however then I believe we simply concept it would not really feel original for us to try this on level,” says Harvey. “I suppose a part of the are living display is the tune and, yeah, amusing and video games. However I believe the dance would simply…if other people had been there, the gig, had been there for tune, and so they noticed us do this, they might be like, what? To be truthful they might most definitely adore it.”
Panic Shack launched their debut album on July 18, with an enormous UK and Eu excursion forward of them. On Friday, Panic Shack is enjoying a release day gig and operating a pop-up merch store in Cardiff’s The Sustainable Studio. However first? Smartly-earned bevs. “Meg stated she’s were given a bottle of Champagne for us to pop,” says Harvey. “I have been booking a different bottle of Champagne I were given for my birthday that I have now not discovered a reason why to drink, so I will be able to’t wait to pop it with the women,” says Fretwell.
What can other people be expecting from the self-titled unlock? “Loads extra calling other people out nearer to house, plenty of feminine friendship vibes, simply to step into the Panic Shack international, in reality, simply from begin to end,” says Harvey.
“It is very similar to, welcome to our universe, you recognize?” provides Fretwell. “We do need everybody to be part of it. We wish other people to really feel like they may be able to be pals with us.”
