When Panic! At the Disco split in half in 2009, it obviously wasn’t the best move for ensuring the continued popularity of the group.

And even though singer Brendan Urie and drummer Spencer Smith stayed together and decided to move forward (while guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker went off to form their own band), it was a big enough change that fans might no longer consider Panic! At the Disco to be the same band and turn away from the group.

But as Urie explained in a phone interview, creative issues meant the group basically had no choice but to split up.

“I don’t think anybody is the bad guy in this scenario. It happens sometimes,” he said. “You realize that if we would have stayed together and tried to do a record, we wouldn’t have been happy with it. We would have probably been at each other’s throats.” Read the full article »

Breaking up is hard to do, as the old Neil Sedaka song goes. However, when guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker left alt-rock hit machine Panic! At the Disco, the two remaining members — singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith — adopted the “let’s stay together” approach of Al Green. I spoke with Smith about the revised lineup and their new album, Vices & Virtues.

How has the departure of Ryan and Jon affected your songwriting process?

The biggest change was lyrics. Ryan wrote a lot of those in the past, but each of us would contribute in some way.

So how do you come up with lyrics?

For this album, we had some stuff we wanted to talk about from the split. It would be weird if we didn’t talk about it because it was such a major event in our lives. Sometimes it’s a book or a movie or something going on in our lives, such as a relationship, that makes its way into a song. Read the full article »

When Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie was 18-years- old, he told his parents he had no plans to further his education and would be moving out with three other wide-eyed dreamers into a room, in a basement, to live on a diet of theatrical pomp music and callow faith. “I was definitely acting like a little asshole, I wasn’t the nicest kid,” he says from a hotel room in Sydney.

Eight years later, the Las Vegas lads turned their nascent hope into a two-million-selling debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, an ARIA #1 with 2008’s Pretty.Odd and a third record which subsequently split the quartet directly down their monolithic middle.

Urie and drummer Spencer Smith kept the moniker and the sound whilst guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker went on to become The Young Veins before dividing again to seek an even more self-governed path as solo artists.

“They basically told us, ‘hey we’re gonna start this new band,’ and we said, ‘that’s totally cool, whatever you guys want to do’.” The 24-year-old had felt the need for the split as soon as the band had started work on the most recent album, Vices & Virtues in 2009. Read the full article »

Panic! at the Disco, a band of kids fresh from high school, came out of Las Vegas in ’05, with a pop/rock/emo sound, Internet buzz, a world of energy and a fistful of smart songs. They signed to Decaydance Records, the label run by Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy; their debut CD, “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” and the sophomore release, “Pretty. Odd.” spawned hit singles and videos and reached lofty positions on album charts.

Two years ago, it looked like the wheels might fall off the bandwagon when founding member/guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker left. But drummer/co-founder Spencer Smith and singer/multi-instrumentalist Brendon Urie pressed on. They wrote like crazy and, in March, released the third Panic! at the Disco studio album, “Vices & Virtues” (Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen).

Panic! at the Disco will work Backstage Live Tuesday. The lineup includes Smith, Urie, bassist Dallon Weekes and guitarist Ian Crawford. Smith talked about going through the changes.

“We were in a unique situation after the first album. It was completely unexpected what happened with us,” he said. “It was us at 19 years old. We went through changes anybody would go through. If we hadn’t had the success we did, we probably wouldn’t be in a band together. Me and Ryan grew up together. I saw him last night and it’s good; we’re still friends. Read the full article »

Following their first two albums, Panic! At The Disco were riding a wave of success in 2009.

However, the band seemed all but finished when it was divided by guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker leaving due to creative differences. The two remaining members, Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith, were nevertheless able to bounce back and release Vices & Virtues, an album that has been dubbed their most mature and complete LP to date.

While in Australia on the Counter Revolution tour, LUNA had the opportunity to talk to drummer Spencer Smith about Australia, the new album, the split and the possibility of new members.

The band reached unpredictable levels of success from their first album hit I Write Sins Not Tragedies, but they claimed that not long before ,they were just another band practicing in a garage. In fact Smith and Urie have come a long way from when the band started which they did so, as Smith says, so they didn’t have to get jobs.

“We figured we would rather play music than work at McDonalds or something.” Read the full article »

There aren’t many acts that could survive the turbulence of half the band quitting, but despite predictions that Panic! At the Disco would slink into chart purgatory, singer Brendan Urie and drummer Spencer Smith have defied the odds by not just surviving, but thriving as a two piece.

Making the brave move to reinstate the exclamation mark and hark back to the sound that made them famous, Panic! are back riding the high and lapping up the critical praise from their latest album ‘Vices and Virtues’, while their ever loyal army of fans grows bigger with each release. Ahead of their Soundwave Counter Revolution shows this month, we talk to Spencer about changes and vices.

MTV: Hi Spencer! You guys are heading down under pretty soon – it’s been a long time since you’ve been to Oz….
Spencer: It’s been too long, I know. It’s been longer than I would’ve liked… it actually looked like for a few weeks that it wasn’t going to happen because the festival [Soundwave Counter Revolution] was going to be cancelled. So that was a real disappointment for us because we love coming to Australia. And luckily they were able to sort it out. Read the full article »

When a teenage Brendan Urie announced to his mum and dad that he was dropping out of high school to become a rock star, things didn’t pan out too well… To be blunt, they kicked him out. And in drummer Spencer Smith’s case, it was pretty much the same scene. Several years and three albums later, though, their band is pop-rock juggernaut Panic! At The Disco – and the lads’ parents are very proud of their sons indeed. According to Smith, all’s forgiven and forgotten.

“Yeah, everything is fine with mum and dad now!” he laughs. “I think they were probably more surprised at our success than we were. They were almost shocked that we were able to turn this dream into a real band and into a real job. I was just a kid that was obsessed with listening to my records and collecting all kinds of things to do with my favourite bands, and I think they thought it was just a phase. They have been very supportive in the last few years, but it took some time,” he continues. “The rest of the Las Vegas scene was kind of the same in that respect. Once we started doing proper tours and became more than just a ‘local’ band, things changed. The problem with that town is that there’s a lot of venues, but they’ll open just to close a year later. It’s frustrating for a band trying to establish themselves – there’s no good, solid foundation there for them at all. I still think it’s a pretty big issue for Las Vegas.”

Not that that impacts Panic! At The Disco anymore. As Smith points out, the band is no longer considered a ‘local’ act; with their now-gruelling touring and recording schedules, it’s become next to impossible to keep up with what’s going on in the music scene back home. “Unless you’re like The Killers or something, there’s a lot of metal bands in our hometown!” chuckles Smith. “I don’t think it matters where you come from or where you’re based geographically anymore. You’re not required to start off as a really big local band before you’re able to move on to national touring. That doesn’t matter anymore because of the internet, obviously – you can generate a lot of buzz for yourself without really having a local fanbase first. I’m not really sure anymore who’s doing good things back in Las Vegas, because we’re hardly ever there anyway. To be honest, when it comes to most of the bands that I like and admire, I have no clue where they’re from! It’s just not relevant anymore – that’s how much has changed in the industry since we started out.” Read the full article »

During your split from Panic you stayed very quiet. Is there anything that you would love the fans to know that you never got the chance to say?

I didn’t really understand everything that was going on while it was going on.The band was experiencing creative and personal differences even before I joined which made for a complicated working relationship. It was extremely hard for me to walk away from not only my good friends but the passion and hard work I put into the project.

You began The Young Veins, released a record, and then decided that it wasn’t working. What was the reason behind that?

Ryan and I already had quite a few songs in the works intended for consideration on the next Panic album.  Our collaboration was evolving which was especially motivating during and after the split.  I really enjoyed the material and was hopeful that our new venture would create a balanced partnership but our differences made that difficult.

I really enjoyed all three Panic records, for different reasons, but many fans have expressed that they really miss you being in the band. Is there any chance that all four of you will magically end up together again?

For now, I enjoy the freedom of working on my own but making Pretty. Odd. was one of the greatest times of my life. For the most part, we (Rob Mathes included) were on the same page, working together in the studio and having a lot of fun in the process.  None of us will ever be in that place again but hopefully it had enough impact on each of us to consider  working together again if the opportunity presents itself.

What is your favorite memory from the past 5 years?

I’ve had so many great memories but going on safari in South Africa was a highlight. We saw all kinds of animals in their natural habitat and an amazing sunset. We woke up early the next day to catch the big cats before they went to sleep, followed by delicious coffee and muffins at sunrise. The next night was my last show with Panic.

If you want to know more about what Jon’s up to now, read the full interview at Buzznet.com.

Panic! at the Disco may be down to a duo, but this indie pop act’s sounding better than ever.

These days, Panic! at the Disco features front man Brendan Urie and drummer Spencer Smith. The band’s creating a stir with its mix of pop, punk, electro and rock sounds, and its very theatrical videos.

The Las Vegas rockers are taking the revamped outfit on the road with their album Vices and Virtues — and their eerily good video, “The Ballad of Mona Lisa.”

Tuesday, Panic! at the Disco shows off its new music at the Ogden. The show is sold out.

The band’s set to play, despite Urie’s recent stage accident.

“Luckily, I didn’t break my foot, but I did have a bad sprain,” Urie said. “I usually go out into the crowd to do something acoustic. We were playing Pompano Beach and I was sprinting back to stage. Read the full article »

When Panic! at the Disco debuted in 2005, it was at the peak of the same emo/pop/punk frenzy that birthed acts like Fall Out Boy. Sure, P!ATD didn’t quite fit the mold. There was also a decidedly different baroque grandeur to the band’s freshman effort, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. And then three years later, the group went in a completely different direction on Pretty. Odd. Like the title implied, it contained an idiosyncratic mash-up of the band’s original sound with tripped out psychedelic and alternative rock elements. Fast forward to its new album Vices & Virtues and the Las Vegas-based boys find themselves at a stylistic melting pot between the first two projects.

“The best of both worlds idea is partly true; we definitely wanted to express some of the ideas that were older, plus some of these songs were written between the first and second record,” considers front man/multi-instrumentalist Brendon Urie. “We paid some homage to the older stuff, but are always excited to push something new sonically and lyrically.”

It’s impossible not to hear bits of the Cars to the Killers mixed in with some pop/punk rebellion across the current collection, thanks in part to split production duties from John Feldmann (Goldfinger front man and producer of the Used, Good Charlotte and Plain White T’s) and Butch Walker (former Marvelous 3 leader turned knob twirler for Weezer, Pink and Avril Lavigne).

“Both were amazing to work with, just very different,” notes Urie. “John is a workaholic and I mean that in the best sense because he pushed us and gave us a drive. With Butch, he has such amazing equipment and guitars that it was like being a kid in a candy store. We spent more time focusing on what mics make this sound and how that reverb sounds. We also listened to a lot of bands we hadn’t listened to in the past, like Peter Gabriel and XTC, and newer bands like Arcade Fire, Fun and Steel Train.” Read the full article »