Panther Style – featuring members of Mary Tyler Morphine, Dyslexic Apaches, Siderunners, and Reptoids – have just released their new video for the track “Dynasty.” The song is taken from their upcoming new EP, due out on May 10th, via Triple Helix Records Co. Head into the article below for the new video and read more from Panther Style.
Stream the EP here.
“Bring earplugs and be ready for fireworks,” says Melissa Koehl, guitarist of Chicago-based Panther Style, talking about the band’s eponymous new EP. First recorded seven years ago at Chicago’s famed Electrical Audio, the collection of songs mirror the ups and downs of a band first formed 19 years ago that has truly been through it all – relationships, jobs, family, children – and come out more bonded than ever.
“There has been musical downtime during our band’s history, but we never stopped being in good relationship with each other. The love and friendship comes first and the music is a beautiful byproduct of that,” adds guitarist Al Rodis.
Along with fellow bandmates Jeanne McClure (lead vocals, bass) and Dan Lutger (drums), the eclectic four-piece are veterans of the Midwest scene having collectively logged time in indie and DIY rock acts Mary Tyler Morphine, Dyslexic Apaches, Siderunners and Reptoids, where Koehl would later ask Jeanne and Dan to join.
Drawn together by a love of The Cult, Failure, The Posies, New Order, U2, Van Halen, and Chicago legends Naked Raygun, the quartet behind Panther Style have cultivated a palette of groovy riff rock that’s as heavy as it is dancey, and as reliant on rhythm as it is distortion. Or, as McClure likes to call it, “A mix of UK Merseyside shoe gazer greatness and solid cock rock. The best of both worlds.”
The EP is led by first single “Dynasty,” a layered, lush rock opus teeming with angst and trepidation, and was arguably the most complex song for the band to tackle. It’s paired with an emotive video that was the vision of artist and long-time friend Yeva Dashevsky.
““Dynasty” made me feel that frustration of how the world currently works that could lead us to our dooms, but yet maybe we can all wake up and see we’re heading towards the cliff and recover,” says Lutger. “I was thinking about how in every election for both sides, we’re told ‘But wait, I’m different and I’m going to solve all these problems!’ And no matter who wins, nothing improves, no promises are kept. It’s always the same thing every cycle and breaking free of that cycle depends on us recognizing how broken the system currently is, and how both sides are being misled, as opposed to blaming the other side. We need to start looking at this problem as a systemic one at a higher level.”
McClure adds, “I totally agree with the dystopian themes with a tag of hope. I was going through a lot of different emotions while working on the music and writing the lyrics. The idea of safe environments vs chaotic ones and how to best navigate between the two really influenced the way the track was pieced together. In the end, I wanted to embrace the clear-cut definition between what is truth and what is fact. Truth can include facts, but also beliefs. Life in general is much more manageable when you’re relying on information that’s indisputable. That became my takeaway from Dynasty.”
Directed and Produced by Yeva Dashevsky. Awarded an honorable mention at the 2024 Prague International Music Video Awards. For Koehl, who’s married to Lutger, creating the latest tracks was also a moment of personal triumph that dovetailed with her personal life. Koehl has a hypermobility condition known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and currently works as a physical therapist helping others with EDS. “Years ago, I was very close to having to go on disability because of severe symptoms that no one could explain. I had to do years of research to get diagnosed and learn how to manage in order to be able to do what I’m doing in the band now, and my work outside of the band,” she explains.
Within the heavy themes, there are also moments of levity and joy such as a cover of The Cult’s “Love Removal Machine”. A barn-burner featuring Adam Gimenez of Iron Point on keyboards, one of a few key personnel on the album that helped the band push any boundaries to end up in unchartered waters and with a renewed sense of purpose.
Another was Greg Norman who engineered the record with Panther Style from the hallowed halls of Electrical Audio, the studio founded by legendary musician/engineer Steve Albini, where the walls talk of stories recording albums for the likes of Nirvana, the Pixies, The Jesus Lizard and many more beyond-holy artists. “I will never forget that experience,” says Lutger. “I’ve never felt more connected to the band. Electrical is all about capturing the band as much or more than the song itself.”
McClure agrees, “I feel like this record is even more collaborative than the last one. Everyone involved really got their chance to shine.”
A final key was Marshall Gallagher who mixed the new material while not on the road or recording with his own band, Teenage Wrist. “Marshall helped us more than anyone we’ve ever recorded with, to polish our sound in a way we never thought could happen,” says Lutger. “It was a dream come true to be able to work with him.” Teenage Wrist themselves are inspired by the 90s alternative sound that members of Panther Style played in clubs back in the 90s. Gallagher also remixed “Fingers Crossed” from the band’s previous LP, ¡Emergencia!, which appears on the new EP. He has also mixed Volume II of the upcoming Reptoids double EP release, Invasion.
The EP also features a new mix by famed Ratt and Alice Cooper producer, Beau Hill, of ¡Emergencia!’s “Seeing… Just Not Believing.” “Beau reached out after a radio station tipped him off about us and that track and he wanted to do a mix of it. Being an enormous Ratt fanatic I was floored. Of course, we jumped at the chance.” says Lutger.
To celebrate the release, Panther Style is playing on Saturday, May 11 at Live Wire Lounge in Chicago, IL. with Sun Volume and Moon Machine.
Dynasty tracklisting:
01 Dynasty
02 Love Removal Machine (Cult Cover)
03 Fingers Crossed (Marshall Gallagher Mix)
04 Seeing… Just Not Believing (Beau Hill R.A.T.T. Treatment Mix)
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