Cruel Guards

Background

The Panics commenced work on the album in 2006, after finishing touring & promoting the band's last album, Sleeps Like a Curse. The band relocated from their hometown of Perth to Melbourne and set up a studio in a house in Collingwood. The album was written and demoed in Melbourne before the band went to BJB Studios in Sydney where they started working on the record with Scott Horsecroft. Cruel Guards was produced by The Panics and Horsecroft with additional recordings in New York City and Melbourne. The album was mixed by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Beth Orton) in New York.

The album was Triple J's feature album for the week of 8 October 2007 (Triple J review) and went on to win the 2007 J Award.

"It was amazing to win that award. We celebrated for days with the Triple J staff and then just fell over." - Drew Wootton

Cruel Guards debuted at #18 on the ARIA Album Charts and reached #4 on the Australian Album Charts. The album achieving gold status (sales of 35,000) within six months of its release. The album was nominated for three ARIA Awards - 'Best Adult Contemporary Album'; 'Best Producer' (The Panics & Scott Horsecroft) and 'Best Engineer Record' (Scott Horsecroft), with "Don't Fight It" nominated for 'Best Breakthrough Artist - Single'.

"Don't Fight It" is the first song to be lifted from the album and has received significant airplay on Triple J and community radio stations across Australia. The song was voted in to the number ten position in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2007 and reached #43 on the ARIA singles chart. The track has since received airplay on major commercial stations, such as Triple M and Nova. It was also featured on an episode of the Australian television drama series Underbelly and on the Underbelly soundtrack album.

"Don't Fight It" has also been nominated for 'Best Breakthrough Artist Single' at the 2008 ARIA Awards.

Track listing

All tracks written by Jae Laffer, Paul Otway, Drew Wootton, Myles Wootton and Julian Grigor.

1. "Get Us Home" - 4:16
2. "Ruins" - 3:42
3. "Creaks" - 4:02
4. "Don't Fight It" - 5:01
5. "Feeling is Gone" - 3:23
6. "Cruel Guards" - 5:15
7. "Live Without" - 4:17
8. "Something in the Garden" - 4:57
9. "Confess" - 3:49
10. "Sundowner" - 5:18

iTunes Bonus Track Version:

1. "My Best Mistake" - 3:13
2. "In Your Head" - 4:02
3. "Cash" - 4:15
4. "Kid You're a Dreamer" - 3:20

Bonus EP Join the Dots

Limited copies of the album included an EP of covers called Join The Dots.

1. "Lazyitis" (Mark Day, Paul Davis, Paul Ryder, Gary Whelan, Shaun Ryder, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Sly Stone, David Essex) - 3:56
2. "One Too Many Mornings" (Bob Dylan) - 2:28
3. "Factory Girl" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 2:31
4. "Who By Fire" (Leonard Cohen) - 3:04
5. "Just Like A Woman" (Dylan) - 4:47

The Panics

Additional musicians