Playing live around town for less than a year, the shadowy character known as Panic Bomber has already developed some minor lore. Legend has it that once upon a time, Richard Haig was a local rock musician who got fed up with the grind of being hustled off stage in time for the night's main event — a DJ. So he turned to dance music himself, supposedly in some kind of act of defiance that's explained, sort of, in a treatise on his website. Whatever. The music he makes, regardless of the reasoning behind it, is slick and dance-floor-friendly, working up to a funky electro-house groove that's rough enough around the edges to belie its creator's rock roots. And unable to fully relinquish a band's spectacle of performance, Haig's devised a pretty sweet light-up costume to boot. Look out for him at a more discerning — hmmm, some would say "hip" — dance club near you.
Panic Bomber live at The Vagabond: