Panic Shack return with latest single ‘Gok Wan’

Welsh punk quartet Panic Shack have returned with their first new material in over two years, in the form of ‘Gok Wan’, a searing examination of the toxic culture surrounding body image and fad diets.

The band’s new offering marks their first official release since their 2022 single ‘Meal Deal’ and ‘Baby Shack’ EP, and is taken from their forthcoming debut album (ooh-er!). The gut-punch of a single also sees them re-appropriating infamous phrases from the era (such as the frankly awful line, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”) in an energised, empowering anthem. “Growing up in the ’00s we were bombarded with constant images of super skinny models and ‘IT girls’ as well as TV shows all about ‘looking good’ and ‘being thin’. We wanted to write a song that embodied the ludicrous nature of what we were consuming as literal children and how it affected us then and to this day,” the band have explained in a press release.

“We dug deep into our shared memories of that time, bought some trashy magazines at the corner shop and watched some old shows on YouTube, ‘Trinny and Susannah’ and ‘Ten Years Younger’ being a couple… but honestly there are SO MANY to choose from. It was shocking to watch them back. The stark difference to what’s acceptable now, discussing women’s bodies with such negativity felt satirical, albeit a plus knowing things have come along a fair bit since then. We took headlines from the magazines and worked a few into the lyrics, ‘fat or pregnant’ being one, yes that’s a genuine magazine headline.

“The title ‘Gok Wan’ comes from the show he presented How To Look Good Naked which in all honestly was one of the better shows, in terms of negativity but still obviously had the main focus on women’s bodies. No hate to Gok (Trinny and Susannah didn’t have the same ring to it for a title), it was the time we lived in and through but it was still shit, it still shaped our little teenager minds into this grown up hellscape of constantly focusing on how we look rather than what we do.”

The track - which comes accompanied by a raw new video, directed by Ren Faulkner and choreographed by Lauren Fretwell - also lands ahead of the band’s upcoming headline tour, which kick off in May. Check out the video for ‘Gok Wan’, and find their tour dates, below.