Hear the new single from Chichester/Bognor Regis band Open Plan Panic Room

Chichester/Bognor Regis band Open Plan Panic Room launch their new single at a gig at the Richmond in Chichester on May 31.
Open Plan Panic RoomOpen Plan Panic Room
Open Plan Panic Room

Band frontman Ash Prince said the evening would start at nine, with Open Plan Panic Room on from about ten for an hour.

“We are going to try to get all of our songs that people like to listen to in that hour,” Ash said. “We have a set that lasts about two-and-a-half hours, but we will collapse that into an hour, which is very doable. We like a challenge!”

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The band’s name was just one that some of the members liked and somehow stuck: “We had trouble coming up with all sorts of different names, and we just liked the sound of this one.”

Open Plan Panic RoomOpen Plan Panic Room
Open Plan Panic Room

The band is a five-piece and has been going since last September.

“It’s relatively new, but we are extremely tight already. We were already tight within a couple of months. I think it is just the diverse mix of people within the band that got us to that point so quickly.

“We all come from different genres. Our bass player tends to draw more on funk and indie. I am more from the rock genre. We have two guitarists. One is a massive fan of people like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, people like that. The other guitarist is just someone who likes pieces 
of music.

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“We are all from Chichester and Bognor. Myself and Paul, one of the guitarists, went to school together. We formed a smaller band just really as an after-school activity. When I left school, I went to Chichester College and mentioned it to him and he joined our band that we were in at college. We have been drifting in and out of each other’s lives, and then one day we just thought that we should form a band.

“As a band, we do a lot of our own stuff. We do our own material. We really want to get our own material out there. But we do do a lot of covers. We get a lot of gigs by doing covers. We love entertaining people. That’s what it is all about really. We do a wide range of well-known songs that range from The Beatles to Queen and right the way through to Pulp and The Kaiser Chiefs. We are constantly looking for gigs, constantly doing open-mic nights. We probably do something like eight to ten gigs a month, but we want to do more.

“We have just recorded our first single. It’s an original called Holding On, written by Paul. At the moment, Paul is the main songwriter for 
the band.”

The Richmond gig will be the launch party for the single.

As a band, Ash is convinced they are going all the way to the top: “We want it to be full-time. For us it not just about getting out there for a night out. It really is about entertaining people and being the best band we can. There is a lot of competition out there, but that is great. Instead of sticking to just one genre, we like to give people a wide range of music they are going to like. We always like to pick covers people will know.”

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But at the same time, they are not afraid to slip in some of their own music, Ash says. “We want to be putting our own music out there, but we know we have got to earn it first, and so that’s why we mix it up at gigs. The range of music we do makes us special, and we desperately want to go on recording.”

The band are: Ash Prince – vocals; Paul Dickson – guitar; Matt Fearnley – guitar; Reg Greetham – bass; and Darren Gadd – drums. More details on www.openplanpanicroom.wix.com/oppr

.

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