Panic! At The Disco

Panic! At The Disco

Best known for their cabaret-esque hit, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, Panic! At The Disco have been dabbling in a kind of genre-blending few have experimented with before. While most toss this unique band into the same bin as Fall Out Boy, or else brand them as “emo”, Brendon Urie, vocalist for the band, says, “We don’t think of ourselves as emo at all. Definitely not. We’re generally based in rock music, which is such a broad term. But to us it’s just a label that fits a lot of bands that are really bad, so it’s, you know, kind of an insulting thing to be called emo sometimes.”

And as for being clumped together with Fall Out Boy, the bassist of which signed them to his label, Panic! At The Disco must also disagree.

Jon Walker, new replacement bassist for Panic! says, “Even with me, there was definitely preconceived notions of lumping them with Fall Out Boy. But as soon as I saw them live I felt like such an idiot for ever telling my friends that I didn’t like this band before I had heard their songs.”

They also feel that their song and video, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, is overplayed. “It’s like people don’t realize we have a whole album of songs. ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ isn’t the only song we’ve written,” says Urie.

Ryan Ross and Spencer Smith had grown up together, and when they were twelve received a guitar and drumset, respectively. Their first year of playing they claim they mostly covered Blink-182 songs. They christened their band Pet Salamander, and later, The Summer League.

Brent Wilson, who was at the time jamming on the bass with Ross and Smith met future singer Brendon Urie in a guitar class at school. He invited Urie to come play with his band, and sometime before they put out their first demos, Ross, who had always been lead singer, invited Urie to step up to the mic.

Panic! At The Disco, living proof that technology is slowly shaping our world. This music group, based in the Las Vegas suburbs, got its start when guitarist Ryan Ross posted a handful of their demos on Pete Wentz’s (Fall Out Boy) Live Journal. Wentz contacted the boys of Panic! and told them he was in the area and wanted to come and see them play. Soon after, Panic! At The Disco was the first band to be signed to Wentz’s label, Decaydance.

The online community seemed split down the middle: some liked the innovative idea of a band making it big through the cyber world, while others felt and still feel today that it’s not fair, because bands like Panic! jumped ahead without going through the grueling months of trying to break into the music industry. In the words of drummer Spencer Smith, “It seems like a lot of bands start out and it takes them a year of playing local shows and practicing five times a week to get to the point where…they write great songs and do great things. That’s fine, but we were just at that point before we played shows…if we did bad [because of that], then that sucks, sorry.”

Ryan Ross is the mastermind behind all of Panic!’s lyrics. He found inspiration for songs on their album in a variety of forms, from a breakup to his father’s alcoholism, and also some references to the author Chuch Palahniuk’s works. They+ arranged their album very specifically: the first half being futuristic, the second half being sounds from the past, a cabaret-type feel if you will. “We didn’t want to write eleven of the same songs,” Ross explains.

Bassist Brent Wilson’s departure from the band was announced officially on May 17, 2006 on the band’s website. While the band claims it was for musical reasons, stating that Wilson did not write or perform the bass parts for the album, the ex-band member says it’s for economic reasons. He is currently demanding a cut of royalties for the album, and if a consensus cannot be reached, has threatened to take his former band-mates to court.

Wilson’s replacement, Jon Walker, played his first show with Panic! when the ex-bassist didn’t show up for the gig, and he’s been performing with them ever since, now considered a member of the Panic! family. Pre-Panic!, Walker was a roadie for The Academy Is…Most fans were supportive of Walker’s admittance into the band: a Live Journal community called “teamjonwalker” was started, and he is fondly nicknamed “JWalk”.

Panic! At The Disco’s debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, went platinum in August, selling over a million copies. They were also performers on MTV’s Video Music Awards, and left the building with an award for best video of the year for “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, quite an honor for a band who’s first ever album has just had its first birthday on September 27. The aforementioned video also reached number one on MTV, though the band was leery about having their music aired on this channel. They have shot three music videos in all: “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, “But It’s Better If You Do”, and “Lying is the Most Fun…” Soon they will be working on producing the last video for their debut album: “Build God, Then We’ll Talk.” In order to understand just how popular this group is, you just have to look at their Australian tour, where tickets sold out in presales.

But it would seem that despite all of these accomplishments, the boys of Panic! are still about the music. Ross wants the band to be recognized for their talent, not their appearance. He says, “It’s such a bum-out when people only have a poster of you because you’re good-looking. The Backstreet Boys’ songs were cheesy. They could sing, but nobody really liked them for their music. That waters down what’s important. I think we’re gonna start covering our faces!” And he’s serious about the matter; in their latest music video, “Lying is the Most Fun…” the band only appeared in one scene, because they felt that the focus should be on the music.

Panic! At The Disco is currently on an arena tour throughout the U.S.