Panama Kings

On a massively cold December evening I took the trek up to Birmingham to see some of the fastest rising stars in the spiraling galaxy of music that is now Belfast: Panama Kings, supporting Dodgy, the one-time Glastonbury crowd-pleasers turned middle-aged booze-rockers, at an unbelievably Baltic Barfly, expecting to be impressed by a band which continues to write innovative and ridiculously catchy indie pop.

I’m pleased to report that I wasn’t disappointed, as, despite the arctic conditions and minute crowd, Panama Kings played a great set which seemed to transform a previously skeptical and over-aged crowd into a merry sea of nodders. As a relatively obscure Northern Irish outfit, it was unsurprising that the audience didn’t really know what to expect, however their driving, almost disco beats and sometimes synth-led, sometimes guitar-led melodies seemed to impress even the most wizened of Dodgy fans, who’d come to hear a band who are virtually the polar opposite of Panama Kings.

For those of us who were familiar with them, the previous single ‘Young Blood’ and the current single ‘Children’ sounded better than ever, with singer Niall Kennedy more belligerent and brilliant the more they play, writing more and more pissed-off lyrics and coming up with a disturbingly regular stream of music which is, I would argue, more interesting and downright enjoyable that the vast majority of music out there in the indieverse.

Panama Kings managed the impressive feat of filling the massive Barfly PA with their jerky, jaggedy synths, guitars, drums and fossilized electric organs, with Niall’s vocals shouting their disapproval over the whole ensemble, mixing all their influences and undeniably unique sound into a monolith of music, which was disconcertingly easy to find yourself dancing embarrassingly to. They flew through their set, no doubt because of the distinct danger of hypothermia, but also because of their energy together, which I would partly put down to the close proximity of everyone in the Belfast scene: there’s a real drive from everyone to get to where they want to go, but to enjoy their journey on the way.

At a time when, and I quote from their guitarist Stuart Bell, “you have to ride a pheasant and play an electric harp” to get signed, Panama Kings are giving it loads to get there, and with songs as strong as ‘Mischief’, ‘Toe The Party Line’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Die’ backing up what are excellent singles, they have as much chance as they possibly could of being snapped up by any record label with the balls to sign anything other than Girls Aloud rip-offs in the near future. The band seems to be perfectly placed in the evolving music scene of Belfast to put out the music they want to, to try and reach the most receptive audiences they can, and from what I saw in Birmingham, English crowds will be equally receptive given a little more familiarity with the band in front of them. For Panama Kings it’s definitely a positive thing not to be swallowed up in the heaving mess of obscurity that is the current London scene, and as more and more important people decide to take an expedition over to Belfast, who knows, perhaps they could be coming to a venue/ record store/ illegal torrent website near you soon.