A Breath Of Fresh Air

The Panda Band are enjoying the fresh air after locking themselves away in their Perth studio to work on second album ‘Charisma Weapon’ for what seems like a very, very long time.

They first caught our attention with 2004 indie-pop single ‘Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town’ and subsequent album ‘This Vital Chapter’.  They toured extensively in Australia and the U.S. But when it came to recording album number two, things didn’t go so smoothly.
Lead singer Damian Crosbie describes it as a “perfect storm of bad stuff for a band,” including multiple band members coming and going. But he’s quick to add that “if people like the album, then whatever we went through was kind of worth it.”

‘Charisma Weapon’ was recorded in the band’s own studio and is released on their own label Bam*Boo.  It’s a level of control that many bands dream about, but Damian says it’s not without challenges. “It’s got its good points and its bad points…I don’t have deadlines as such, and because we don’t have a label saying, ‘it’s gotta be due by here’, it dragged on a lot longer than a lot of people wanted it to, i.e. the other members in my band.  But for things like vocals it’s really comfortable, because I’m just by myself recording it all.”

His social life also suffered. “Everything that came up I was like, ‘no I’ve got to work on the album’, so I’d never end up going out or seeing anyone.  I had to actually make an effort to do that after a few months and go OK, it’s probably not good that I’m not getting any perspective or fresh air.”

When it came time to mix the album the band travelled to Brisbane where they spent two weeks working with award-winning producer Magoo on his property near Fernvale. It was still early days when The Panda Band released their first album, ‘This Vital Chapter’.  They didn’t have many performances under their belt, and Damian admits they weren’t thinking about how things would sound live.  That’s not the case with ‘Charisma Weapon’. “This one’s probably a bit more in your face. It’s pretty loud…I think it’s a bit more dynamic.  We’ve had a lot of time on the road since the last album and it’s influenced the songs.”

The Panda Band play The Globe Saturday August 6.