THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ja, Panik are back! Again! The German-Austrian alt-rockers’ last, experimental, exploratory pop album Die Gruppe Ja, Panik (2021) — which meandered in many directions — marked her surprising comeback after a seven-year creative break. Now, Don’t Play With The Rich Kids marks their return as a straight-shooting rock band.
We see Stefan Pabst, Sebastian Janata, Laura Landergott and Andreas Spechtl on the cover, gently wrapped in a cloth on the beach in the middle of nowhere. The fabric holds the band together on the inside — and at the same time shows a clear boundary on the outside: We are here, and you are there! And it seems almost impossible to get into this inner circle. The problem of the classism that is rampant worldwide can hardly be represented more elegantly.
Ja, Panik — who first played their way into all of our hearts with The Angst And The Money (2009) — used to want to destroy the system from the inside. Again and again, with the help of a lot of glam and joyfully performed auto-aggression, they have relaunched their brand, to put it in the advertising speak of the ’90s. Their nihilism is still an important brand core, but it is now presented in a much more reflective manner. And the completely natural negotiation of one’s own privileges seems to inspire the band in their new songs. After all, these rich kids are themselves.
Of course, this definitely needs to be seen on a global scale. We all know what a four-piece, left-wing political indie-rock band between Berlin and Vienna earns. And even though, according to Spechtl, there are still “1,000 battles fighting in his body” — none of which he says he can ever win — his new role as a Zen rocker and self-proclaimed kung fu fighter finds him surrounded and supported by his bandmates, and in excellent shape. And while many people their age now own houses in Brandenburg or condominiums in Berlin, how many can call themselves a member of Ja, Panik? Cultural capital like that, most people don’t even dare to dream of.”
