Melancholic punk-rock trio Pandamic are coming in hottt with their newest EP, 'How To Be Happy', which features the crankin' singles 'Bus' and 'Sweater'.
With non-stop headbangs, soaring choruses, raucous riffs, rumbling basslines, and relentless drumbeats, Pandamic peddle upbeat punk rock your older brother would approve with an arms-crossed head nod.Lead singer Rhys reflects on the songs that made the final cut on 'How To Be Happy'. "When I'm feeling down, I tend to write pretty sad songs, but when I create something, it makes me feel happy.
"So as sad as a song may seem I feel like it's able to make anyone who can relate to it happy.
"The feeling of not being alone. The reassurance that someone else has felt what you feel. . . Knowing that someone else has gotten through it, so you can too.
"This being said we felt like 'How To Be Happy' would be a perfect name for the record."
Here, the band list their favourite stops along the Bruce Highway for a crab sanga and an unhealthy dose of Australiana.
1: The Caves General Store @ The Caves
This one is close to where we would jam when Pandamic first started and it was always an essential stop on any tour that passed through this area.Probably the only service station in Australia that still sells porno mags. When you walk through the plastic hangin' drapes at the front door, it feels like you've just stepped into a homestyle panty in 1969.
There's Vegemite, salt and pepper, and an anti-NSW photo print-out on the wall that's sort of similar to one of those co-worker copy-paste emails threads that ya dad would be sending around on his Hotmail account to his co-workers back in the day.
Also, this store has the BEST crab sangas I've ever had in my life mate! They're not here to f... spiders when it comes to crab sandwiches; there's gotta be at least one whole mudcrab between two beautiful thick slices of buttered white bread.
With a beautiful old pub next door and a church straight across from it, it's gotta be the only place on the Bruce Highway where you can eat, sin and pray in the space of half an hour. Rare as rocking horse sh.t if you ask me.
2: Crab Servo @ Miriam Vale
This is a close contender for number #1 – a humble servo in an outback rural town. True blue, deadset Australiana! You can get a roo pie, crocodile pie, a crab sanga or pie; basically any Australian resident animal is inside a pie or a sandwich at this servo.There's a couple record-sized crabs taxidermied, hangin' up on the walls as well. Don't touch any of 'em tho' 'cause the staff will yell at ya.
And no matter how much you promise yourself you won't, you'll ALWAYS spend ya last $7 on a crab sanga at this servo on ya way home to Rocky. There's just nothing you can do about it. Life's funny.
Sadly, nowadays, the contents of all the crab sangas are but mere sand crabs. Long gone are the days of mudcrab sandwiches at the Miriam Vale Big Crab Servo.
3: Marmor BP
Before we re-located the band to Brisbane/ Sunshine Coast, we made a bunch of road trips down the coast to play shows and on the way home, this one was always the last stop before Rocky.This servo even survived Cyclone Marcia! Deadset, it was reduced to a pile of rubble, but they had a sign out the front saying 'We're still here Marcia, ya bitch' – an iconic piece of Australian history really.
4: Gin Gin
The town so nice, they named it twice!5: Rockhampton Mobil Servo On Southside
We all spent a fair chunk of our lives at this servo as teens! It was the first place I bought a bag of weed.A staple of nightlife for all walks of life in Rockhampton, this place has seen more sh.t than a toilet seat. Nothing like downing your weight in fried foods under some fluorescent lighting to cap off a night of debauchery.
This place is GUARANTEED to have what you NEED: a museum of forgotten functionality; burnt DVDs of movies you've never heard of; a 'So Fresh' CD from 20 years ago; or a fresh set of speed dealer sunnies!
You'll find these timeless treasures all over the joint like tally ho's and you'll be more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs if you end up here after dark. You're even more likely to end up with black eye than a meat pie!
Dream gig would've been to play in the dining area. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and this essential and monumental institution has now become a Puma.
Pandamic launch the 'How To Be Happy' EP at King Lear's Throne (Brisbane) 10 December. The band support The Terrys at The Triffid (Brisbane) 28 January, Miami Marketta (Gold Coast) 10 March, and Solbar (Sunshine Coast) 12 March.
