When punk rock meets the sea - ladies, gentlemen and those who love their rock and roll with a salty twist, come meet Melbourne's very own BEACH PANIC!
Comprising Tom Mitchell (aka Daddy Longlegs) and Daniel Marinakis (aka Dr M. Flamingo), and joined by Daniel's long-term parter and visual artist Yannica Stakelbeck-Keily (aka Tequila Sunrise), BEACH PANIC! started life miles away from their current hip-shaking selves; from hardcore roots as members of Melbourne heavies Belle Haven, to more colourful waters tinged with some Tarantino-esque 50s and 60s tones, BEACH PANIC! bring healthy jolts of heartfelt charisma and rattling grooves that shoot straight to the ears and the heart.
Like a dreamy watercolour slightly singed at the edges, BEACH PANIC! have evolved their jangly grit with recent tunes Tsunami of Love and Dance 'Till Your Feet Bleed, with the latter this week getting the visual treatment with a brand new clip leaping out into the world. And with the end of summer plus a heap of news on the horizon for the band, including their debut EP release and a support with rap-rock chameleons Redhook next month, what better time to chat songs, sounds and beach tips with Daddy Longlegs and Dr M. Flamingo! Go suss out Tiana's interview with the gents below.
TIANA SPETER: Hi and thank you oh so much for chatting today! I’ve been falling in love with your new tune ‘Dance ‘Till Your Feet Bleed’, and I feel it’s fitting given the narrative behind the song. How did this snazzy tune about falling in love come to life?
DADDY LONGLEGS: Musically, we were trying to find what kind of songs and sounds we wanted to play the most and this is the first jingle we came up with. We didn’t change it from the first demo of it we made, we were stoked with it from the get go. Some of the lyrics were inspired by a wild night out we had last year and some are just a deep honest look at that beating heart we all have inside ourselves.
TIANA: And what’s the reaction been like to the track’s release, has it been a positive experience for you?
DADDY LONGLEGS: It’s been a positive experience to release this song for sure. We started working on the song over six months ago and have been eager to get out to the world ever since. We love it, our friends love it and we hope you love it too.
DANCE 'TILL YOUR FEET BLEET (BEACH PANIC!)
TIANA: The new track seems to be kicking around some punchy punk-rock but with a wallop of dance-tastic grooves. And with your influences ranging from The B-52s to DZ Deathrays, there’s little wonder your tunes are so dang likable. What’s your sonic aesthetic from an insider’s perspective, how would you describe BEACH PANIC! to someone who had never head your tunes before?
DR M. FLAMINGO: We like to call it ‘Surf Inspired Punk Rock’ because it isn’t exactly Surf Rock but definitely has certain beachy flavours. To put it into a few buzz words, loud, proud, toe tappin’ and hip shakin’.
TIANA: BEACH PANIC! evolved from some slightly different roots – emo/post-hardcore roots in fact. What was it that drew you from that sort of world into more upbeat and colourful musical waters?
DADDY LONGLEGS: As a plant must grow from a tiny seed, as do most musicians have the desire to evolve past the first sounds they create. We love the emo music we grew up with still. But we love music from the entire spectrum. From glam rock classics to musical theatre to trap to disco I could go on forever but you get the idea. BEACH PANIC! Is the realest and most current version of our music tastes, it simply is just the most raw natural thing that comes to us when we pick up an instrument.
TIANA: Speaking of colourful, there’s a significant amount of poppin’ art associated with BEACH PANIC!, thanks in part to the exceedingly talented Yannica Stakelbeck-Keily (aka Tequila Sunrise). There’s an obvious love of visual art coming through here, is this something that inevitably helps shape and guide the band musically? And I suppose the follow-up question to that is: where does BEACH PANIC! find musical inspiration overall from a songwriting perspective?
DADDY LONGLEGS + DR M. FLAMINGO: Our third member and visual artist, Tequila Sunrise is just as much a member of this band as the boys are. Except her instrument is the paintbrush and her songs are on canvas. For the most part, the music and visuals are separate creatively, we pull inspiration from each other by trying to out do each other (in a very healthy way) it isn’t as simple as creating music based off of Tequila’s art or her creating visuals based off our music its more like a collaboration to the larger picture we want to portray in the BP! Experiment. We can’t help but right wholeheartedly and honestly.
TIANA: From a personal perspective, what sort of music did you grow up listening to? Was there a particular band or artist who influenced you back in the day and led to you pursuing a career in music?
DADDY LONGLEGS: Daddys rock ‘n’ roll collection was a good place to start. Otherwise we’ve just found little gems of inspiration and influence along the way. Jeff Buckley was pretty damn cool.
DR M. FLAMINGO: The first song I heard that made me have that head turning oh this makes sense moment was Highway To Hell by AC/DC in grade 2 show and tell at music class. The next major event funnily enough was the first Guitar Hero game made me pick up a real guitar and life has not been the same since.
TIANA: Now while we’ve chatted already about ‘Dance ‘Till Your Feet Bleed’, it’s not the first time we’ve heard from you, with the rollicking ‘Tsunami of Love’ springing to life previously (which I honestly had on repeat for an unholy amount of time when I first heard it). It certainly calls to mind some cinematic 50s and 60s vibes, and strikes a slight difference to ‘Dance ‘Till Your Feet Bleed’. Do you feel like these two tracks give a good insight into what we can expect from your EP ‘Ride The Tiger’ due out next month?
DADDY LONGLEGS: I believe each song on our debut EP stands alone as an individual. I believe they all feel sit comfortably under the same BEACH PANIC! umbrella but they will all have their own little quirks. So they are a little bit of an insight but you can expect a bit more bang for your buck.
DR M. FLAMINGO: I think the recurring theme of the Ride The Tiger and Beach Panic! As a whole is just being unapologetic, it’s loud, it’s cheeky, it’s brash and it’s our hearts on our sleeves. It super important to us, all of us have been yearning for a platform to be people we’ve always wanted to be. It’s here baby.
TSUNAMI OF LOVE (BEACH PANIC!)
TIANA: While the obvious upcoming highlight is the release of your debut EP in September…are there any other things bubbling away in the near future for BEACH PANIC! that you can reveal?
DADDY LONGLEGS: New songs, videos, shows… it’s all coming your way soon, Baby!
DR M. FLAMINGO: The beauty of our project is that we love making music together, we have to actively stop ourselves from creating, the same goes for Tequila, much more music coming sooner then you think and even more ambitious projects.
TIANA: So to nearly wrap things up here….as we have firmly established: you are part of a rad band called BEACH PANIC!. What items do you take with you when you head for a beach day to avoid any panic when you get there?
DR DADDY LONGLEGS: Always slip slop slap with some 50+. Or zinc oxide because those chemicals are bad for you. Take a wide brimmed hat, extra protection. Take a puppy dog, always a great conversation starter. Take a water pistol *pew pew* and always take an astronaut suit in case you rip it up all the way into the stratosphere.
DR M. FLAMINGO: Ride The Tiger started off as a saying we shared together during incredibly tough times in our lives. It’s the concept that LIFE is a hungry tiger and sometimes you’ll find yourself trapped with her on a deserted beach, your only option to survive is to jump on and ride her, she will try throw you off but you just gotta roll with it and hang on for dear life. So I’d say some sort of large feline saddle would be a great investment to bring and maybe some water.
TIANA: And finally, with a song like ‘Dance ‘till Your Feet Bleed’, I feel this question is fitting to close out our chat: what song is guaranteed to get you dancing til your feet bleed?
DADDY LONGLEGS: “It Wasn’t me” - Shaggy
DR M. FLAMINGO: “I’m too sexy” - Right Said Fred
BEACH PANIC! WILL BE UNVEILING THEIR DEBUT EP 'RIDE THE TIGER' TO SHAKE YOUR HIPS AND YOUR SPEAKERS ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20.
PLUS IF YOU'RE IN MELBOURNE, YOU CAN CATCH THEM LIVE IN ACTION ALONGSIDE SYDNEY LEGENDS REDHOOK AT THE WORKERS CLUB IN MELBOURNE ON SEPTEMBER 14.
FOR MORE INFO, HEAD HERE.
BY TIANA SPETER