THE PANICS & WASO Like A Welcome Guest The Panics team with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for its latest Pops In The Park instalment this Saturday, February 20. BOB GORDON speaks with vocalist, Jae Laffer. Many bands dream of teaming up with a full symphony orchestra. For a songwriter it is like taking songs to their zenith. It’s really just a pipedream for the majority of groups, but for The Panics it’s a cool fit that will see them join WASO in Kings Park this weekend. The dream is a reality, as vocalist Jae Laffer is in the process of discovering. “With all the stuff we’ve grown up with – and I was just saying to someone in the orchestra then – when we got offered to do it you instantly think of those great albums like The Beatles’ Revolver, with the orchestra on Eleanor Rigby and that kind of thing. It is a dream, in a way. “If we could have we would have made records with orchestras, so it is a pipedream in that sense. You could never otherwise afford it or find the kind of time to do that kind of thing. We were just flattered just to be offered the whole thing, mostly The Panics hiVgg heZX^Va ZkZcih 9EB?D >7O 87D: Zm BZc 6i Ldg` EZg[dgb^c\ cZl hdc\h ]^h XaVhh^X B:C 6I LDG@ ]îh/ 9dlc JcYZg! L]d 8Vc >i 7Z Cdl! DkZg`âa½ J^khiZWo '.j^ CWhY^ ;Wij[hd >ej[b" C_ZbWdZ I>M/ K:CJ: .'*%&.(% P;F 8EOI GZijgc Wn edejaVg YZbVcY EZg[dgb^c\ i]Z bjh^X d[ A:9 O:EE:A>C ej[b" Dj^ F[hj^ I>M/ K:CJ: .)))&%*& M/ K:CJ: .)(%*.,+ IWjkhZWo (&j^ CWhY^ 9^Whb[i >ej[b" Dj^ F[hj^ I>M/ K:CJ: .)))&%*& IkdZWo ('ij CWhY^ M/ K:CJ: .''&%--* I>8@:IH CDL DC H6A: ;GDB K:CJ:H 7D8H DJIA:IH E= .)-)&&(( ?7D CEII EZg[dgb^c\ ]^h hdad ]îh 8DA9 8=>H:A [VkdjgîZh M/ K:CJ: .''&%--* IWjkhZWo (&j^ CWhY^ CkdZWh_d] M[_h ekjZeeh ej[b" C_ZbWdZ I>M/ K:CJ: .'*%&.(% IkdZWo ('ij CWhY^ HWl[dimeeZ >ej[b" HWl[dimeeZ I>M/ K:CJ: .*(,+%*) I>8@:IH CDL DC H6A: ;GDB K:CJ:H 7D8H DJIA:IH E= .)-)&&(( FI;K:E ;9>E “WHEN WE GOT OFFERED TO DO IT YOU INSTANTLY THINK OF THOSE GREAT ALBUMS LIKE THE BEATLES’ REVOLVER, WITH THE ORCHESTRA ON ELEANOR RIGBY. IT IS A DREAM, IN A WAY.” 6aa dg^\^cVa a^cZje " EZg[dgb^c\ Vaa i]Z^g ]îh bdgZ### ;jc`n Idlc! 9dcÉi I>EM ej[b" Dj^ F[hj^ I>M/ K:CJ: .)))&%*& I>8@:IH CDL DC H6A: ;GDB K:CJ:H 7D8H DJIA:IH E= .)-)&&(( I>M/ K:CJ: .'.*+%.- IkdZWo ('ij CWhY^ FWY[ HeWZ JWl[hd" C[Z_dW I>M/ K:CJ: .)&.'&(( I>8@:IH ;GDB I=: K:CJ:H lll#hiVggheZX^VaZkZcih#Xdb#Vj 22 that people would sit down and work out arrangements of our stuff. That blows my mind. “The arrangers have certainly had a lot of fun with the songs. I feel really flattered.” Importantly this pairing doesn’t merely equate ‘rock band plus orchestra’. The Panics’ music has a range that an entity such as WASO can breathe in, between, within and beyond. “ The only concern when we got asked was that horrible sound that can be a rock band with these kind of crazy strings going on in the background,” Laffer says. “Where there’s just some band and they’re trying to make a thing around it. It was just impor tant for us that to know that if it was going to work there had to be a really inclusive feel, that the band and the orchestra would be feeding off each other and us leaving space for the orchestra arrangements to really come through and be part of the song. We wanted there to be no separation between the orchestra and the band – it’s about everyone playing a song together. “ What I’ve heard so far sounds great and it’s so relieving to see that all we have to do is play as we always do, but just hang back at times and turn around to the orchestra and really work with them. It seems to be working. “The way that we’ve written and recorded songs in the past, it does lend itself to that. There’s a lot of space in the music and it’s just about bringing out the atmospheres in the songs that we’ve recorded already. A few of them were made for it with a few others it’s just good fun.” Eight of WASO’s favoured arrangers have contributed orchestral scores for The Panics songs. It seems there’s always surprises in store for both audience and band. “Yeah, two of the faster, rockier songs… they’re the ones that I thought were going to be hard,” Laffer explains. “Give Me Some Good Luck from the first album and Live Without from Cruel Guards, it was like, ‘how are they gonna sound with strings?’. But they’ve done a really good job of making them really percussive. “There’s ones that I thought were going to be really hard work but have been easy and with a song like The General Calling they’ve taken some of the melodies out of it…it sounds like it could be on a Bruce Lee soundtrack (laughs). It’s really fun, really cool and I’m glad that it’s out there, loud and proud. We’ve been grinning.” Hittin’ the town since 1985