Perth-based quartet Shy Panther are set to release their debut LP.
'Pippen' is the first single from the album, drawing inspiration from pop culture; specifically, the surrealism of Wes Anderson's psychedelic masterpiece 'The Life Aquatic'.
We had a web-chat with vocalist Dan Fragomeni.
Your debut LP is about to be released, are you pumped?
[Dan] Hell yeah! It’s been a bloody long time coming.
What inspired this album?
It’s a bit of a mixed bag. I guess musically we’ve been into a mix of '60s/ '70s film soundtracks, krautrock. Lyrically, some of what’s on the album stems from films as well as real-life stuff.
The songs on the album have been formulated over the course of a three-ish year period, so the things that have inspired the lyrical content (and musical content) on the album have probably been a culmination of a wide variety of things over that time frame.
What was the recording process like? Were you faced with any challenges?
The process has been pretty bloody long to be honest, haha! We’ve faced a number of challenges along the way that are probably pretty common for a lot of bands at this level; time/ lack of it, being the big one.
We’ve all been pretty busy with other stuff in our lives, so finding that balance has been tricky. The bacon doesn’t put itself on the table, but we’ve found a pretty good rhythm now.
Coming off the bench after a couple of years on the sideline and then trying to put an album together has definitely been a big challenge. We had to loosen up the quads and hammies a bit.
A chunk of the songs on the album are songs we’ve had for ages, so trying to revisit and realise all the ideas we had has also been pretty challenging. Recording/ mixing the album ourselves has also proved to be a challenge with no real deadlines or financial pressure to get things done.
It’s been a really good learning experience for us though and we’ve all learnt a lot of stuff that we can apply on the next record.
Single 'Pippen' is already out, what does the lyrical content mean?
The lyrical content is pretty weird, very image heavy and very open to interpretation. It’s loosely based on the Wes Anderson film, 'The Life Aquatic'. That movie is visually great and I wanted to try and encapsulate that as descriptively as possible in this song. And who doesn’t like anything associated with Bill Murray?
While the lyrics are pretty nonsensical, there are themes embedded in there somewhere for the listener to dig out, but I’m sure they’ll find them. Kinda like Where’s Wally. Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen.
In November you are playing at The Sewing Room (a new Perth venue); what do you have installed for the show?
Well, we’ve got a bunch of different, really beautiful fabrics that we’re hoping to get stitched up; we’re thinking tight seams, strong hems. The type of things sewing dreams are made of!
We should also have a couple of new tracks to take for a spin and then just give the tunes off the album one final spit and polish before we release them. The venue’s been in the works for a while, so we’re really excited to check it out.
How long have Shy Panther been playing together?
We started the band in 2009 and had our first gigs in 2010. There’s been a few line-up changes over the years; we were a bit stop-start for a couple of years while we spent a fair bit of time going through puberty, but we good [sic] now.
How was Shy Panther formed? And what inspired you all to start a band?
It’s a pretty boring story really; Dan, Rhien and Rhien’s older brother Kynan (Pappa Panther) started jamming and forming an overall style for the band, put a pinch of Ben in, shook it all about, poured gently, and that’s how the concoction came about.
We all shared similar musical tastes and wanted to make a band influenced by trip-hop and it sorta just evolved from there. Like we said, there’s been a couple of recipe tweaks over the years, but we're still in business.
For someone who isn't familiar with your music, how would you describe your sound?
It’s a little hard to pin down what exactly our sound is to be honest and that’s still something we’re trying to figure out, and something that’s always evolving.
The album has a bit of a '60s aesthetic to it and we’ve definitely put a strong emphasis on creating specific sounds using analogue instruments, steering away from the more electronic-based 2012 EP.
In the past, Shy Panther have played at Groovin The Moo and Parklife; what was that like?
Those were great experiences that we were really lucky to get at [sic]. It’s something we hope to do more of in the future.
From performing at a festival to your own headline, which one do you prefer?
We love putting on our own shows; there’s always something nice about playing your own shows to familiar faces. Probably because Mum will still tell us it was a good show, even if it was shit. Y’know?
Over the next three, six months, what's next for Shy Panther?
Dan’s birthday is coming up in December, so that’s exciting for him. He’s really looking forward to it. But from a band perspective, we plan to have the new record out in late November-ish, with some shows to coincide with that, and then once we’ve packed down the Christmas tree, we’ll be getting started on the next album.
