The treasured tunes of Panchiko with support from Dead Calm at the Fremont
Like many sold-out concerts at the Fremont Theater, the line on May 10 was wrapped around the block. Upon entering the venue, the lobby was buzzing with chatter. Excited fans were taking pictures, some lining up to get merch or heading straight to the bar.
The excitement, however, wasn’t just for any concert. British cyber indie rock band Panchiko was about to grace the Fremont stage, their presence highly anticipated by fans in Luis Obispo.
Walking through the door, the sound of a familiar jangling guitar riff filled the air. It was off of “Jemma,” a track from Liam McCay under his musical persona of Dead Calm. The song seems to be his signature opening song for all his live shows this year, ringing out in recognition from a show I attended in February where he opened for Kitty Craft in San Diego.
Dead Calm is a side project from McCay, one in an extensive list. Most known by the alias signcrushesmotorist, his recorded tracks offer gut-wrenching lyrics complemented by stripped down midwest emo melodies.
Live, he transforms his fuzzily produced ballads, which usually sound like sitting in your childhood bedroom and rotting in nostalgia and self pity, into mosh pit-inducing, headbanging, screaming anthems when he’s on stage.
Mirroring a bit from our first encounter in February, he stepped up to the microphone and looked out into the audience. He asked the crowd to repeat after him.
“I want everyone to say I am not stressed,” McCay said.
After having the crowd repeat it with increasing intensity, he ripped the mic off the stand and began to yell. “I want everyone to say I am calm, I am dead calm,” blending seamlessly into his most known track “Bleed.”
Behind a tangle of wires, amps and instruments, white blow-up letters spelled out P-A-N-C-H-I-K-O across the stage . As the lights dimmed, the crowd came to life.
Owain Davies (vocals/guitar), Andy Wright (guitar), Shaun Ferreday (bass) and John Schofield (drums) took the stage. Clad in flannels and baseball caps, the smiles on their faces were what I noticed first.
For about 20 years after it’s creation, Panchiko’s unique buzzing synths and electronic guitar hums went undiscovered. Their first EP “D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L” was released in 2000, and the band disbanded shortly after.
With the EP failing to take off, they faded into the makings of a ‘normal’ life.
Fast forward to 2016, someone found one of 30 CDs they’d distributed in a Nottingham, England thrift store and posted it to 4chan, an anonymous imageboard site.
The band quickly grew a following and soon enough, Davies and the rest of the band picked up on their own apparent reemergence.
Back on stage, it seemed that the quartet had been waiting for this moment since they were just a group of teenagers recording music on a digital eight track recorder in 1997.
Layered with stunning projections and visuals, Davies sounded like he did in recordings from 20 years ago. With the same wavering tone, songs like “Laputa,” “Gingko” and my personal favorite “All I Wanted,” the sound was mesmerizing.
No matter what song descended upon the audience, there was always a mosh in the pit. People thrashed and threw each other around, limbs flailing and sweaty, people crowd surfed and climbed on shoulders all while simultaneously screaming the lyrics.
Panchiko doesn’t try to be like any other band. They don’t fit in any one container.
Their most recent EP “Mac’s Omelet” is a beautifully mastered and produced four track sonic garden of melodies. It differs from that of “D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L” and their first album “Failed At Maths” but from the first track, the distinct waves of Panchiko are clear. With sweet waning guitar, driving distortion and nuanced lyrics – they haven’t lost their touch.
Their US tour will come to a close on May 14th in Anaheim, California and they’ll be embarking on their UK tour this coming October.
