The band started out while Jae Laffer (then known by his actual first name, Justin) and Drew Wootton were still at high school in Kalamunda, an outer suburb of Perth, Western Australia.

[1] The duo added Drew's younger brother Myles on drums, Paul Otway on bass and Jules Douglas on slide guitar, keyboards and vocals and formed The Panics.

A House on a Street in a Town I'm From was released in 2003 to local critical praise and included the single "Kid You're a Dreamer", which was used as the credits theme music for the Australian drama The Surgeon on Network Ten.

[6] The band toured Australia for the first time and also played a series of gigs with Morrissey, Gomez, Grandaddy, The Church and Badly Drawn Boy.

In late 2004, the band headed back to England for a second UK tour, including supporting the Happy Mondays at a sold-out show to over 12,000 people on Clapham Common in London.

In February 2007 The Panics signed with Dew Process,[8] and on 13 October 2007, the band released their third studio album, Cruel Guards which peaked at number 18 on the ARIA Charts and was certified gold.

The orchestra features many performers not unaccustomed to this form of cross-over with many, notably Michael Ingle, having previously played with Ben Lee and The Cat Empire.

[citation needed] The film premiered at the Perth International Arts Festival in February 2014 where The Panics performed the score live to a sold-out audience.

Before recording their next album, the band had some time off with Laffer saying in 2016 "The members felt as though they were running low on steam, unable to produce much fruitful work.

Upon release, lead singer Jae Laffer spoke with Double J saying there is a "beauty of making a record after a significant break [as] you've evolved as a person from when you were writing your last batch of songs", adding "You experience some new things that you haven't touched on before, musically and lyrically.