“Panic Is the Norm,” out now from Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice, started as her words. Crockett wrote the lyrics from her own experience as a widowed mother, and instead of turning that into something heavy or sad, she wrote it mean and funny, the kind of humor you only get after life has knocked you down enough times that getting back up stops being dramatic and just becomes routine.
Nathan took that and built a track that never once feels like it is carrying weight. It is loud from the first bars, piano and guitar trading punches, full of swagger. Clayton Doley sits behind the keys and brings a chaotic, Jerry Lee Lewis kind of energy that shoves the whole thing into proper rock and roll, somewhere between southern rock and blues but with a rawness that feels current rather than retro.
“You don’t always get a break,” Nathan said about the song. “You just get better at running.” That line pretty much sums up what the track is doing musically too, it does not slow down long enough to let you catch your breath either.
Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice have built their name on live shows that hit hard, and this single keeps that same rough edge intact even as the songwriting gets sharper. “Panic Is the Norm” is not polished and it is not trying to be. It is the sound of a band that knows exactly what makes them work and has no interest in smoothing that out.
Photo Credit: Nathan Bryce.
