I began using the name Panic Bomber only a few years after graduating from the University of Miami. I was regularly protesting the aftermath of the second Iraq war, the Afghanistan invasion, and participating in Occupy Wall Street rallies. I fancied myself a bit of a rabble-rouser (and still do). It was the era of Vice Magazine, mustaches, and kickball: irony was in. I was confrontational, iconoclastic, and chose the artist name Panic Bomber as a stick in the eye of the war on terror.
I got used to the name, as did my audience, but my music never grew into it as I had imagined it might; in fact, the opposite happened — I moved away from it, artistically. My music became more dancefloor-oriented, and my lyrics more personal rather than overtly political. In the last few years, I’ve found myself feeling like I need to excuse or apologize for my artist name, and the last thing I want to be apologetic about is my art. I’m still proud of my work as Panic Bomber, but I no longer identify with the moniker as a catch-all for my most significant body of work. So here we are, a bit late to come around to it, but I am retiring the name for new music and will be releasing under my given name, Richard Haig.
