Facebook: Here’s a little peek behind the scenes of our Vices & Virtues photoshoot from earlier this year. Watch closely to catch who the goat-man from the album cover is!

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 »

From a strict Mormon upbringing to penning songs like Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking her Clothes Off, the past six years have left Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie pinching himself.

“I still have moments of disbelief,” Urie said. “I grew up in a pretty religious, strict kind of household with five kids. Then somehow Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) signed my band and we’ve travelled the world – how does that sort of thing even happen?”

Surprisingly easily, apparently.

“About six or seven years ago, I guess, I had just met the guys and we were writing a bit,” Urie said. Read the full article »

Bursting onto the scene with ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’ in 2005, Panic! at the Disco soon became a household name, selling out Australian shows in minutes. ‘Pretty. Odd’ followed in 2008 and saw them play massive arenas. A line up change and a bit of downtime later, Panic! at the Disco emerged with new album ‘Vices & Virtues’ in March. The band is now set to headline Counter Revolution and we had a chance to chat with drummer Spencer Smith about it all.

Hey. How’s it going?
Hey. Pretty good, how are you?

Good thanks. So what have you guys been up to lately?
We got back from some festival shows in Europe. Also a couple of U.S. special shows that we did. We’ve been off for maybe two weeks and getting ready to head to Jakarta tomorrow night, and from there, we go to Australia.

Originally slated to appear at Soundwave Revolution, Panic! at the Disco are set to headline its replacement Counter Revolution. What are you most looking forward to about the tour?
Australia has become one of our favourite places. We’ve been lucky to go there on each tour cycle, but this is going to be the first time we’re going there since our latest record came out. It’s always fun for us to take the trip, and kind of get to see this place that we’re really come to like. The crowd has always been really good for us. We’re looking forward to the shows. I mean we were expecting something different a couple months ago, and then with everything, that got changed around. That being said, it’s still going to be a good time. Looking forward to getting through the flight and going for it. Read the full article »

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 »

“It all happened pretty quickly,” Brendon Urie says of those crazy days just about six years ago, when the end of high school and the beginning of Panic! at the Disco smashed together.

“All through my senior year, luckily I didn’t have too many hard classes, just a lot of electives. I was able to spend most of my time at the practice space,” Urie recalls of his waning days at Palo Verde High School.

“I’m ashamed to say it, but I had kind of slacked off and focused on the band for the last few months of high school. Three days after the last day, we drove down to Maryland and recorded our first record.”

But the Las Vegas-born band’s career has been fast and turbulent ever since. As they head into the House of Blues for a homecoming show on Saturday — Urie currently is fulfilling his teenage dream of living near a California beach — Panic! is still struggling to match its initial success. The original Vegas-born lineup has split into two bands, and buyers have been slow to warm up to the third Panic! album helmed by Urie and Spencer Smith.

“It’s still always amazing to play a place like the House of Blues where we saw plenty of shows growing up,” Urie says, especially for a Mormon lad who wasn’t routinely allowed to attend every concert that came to town. “The first time we played it was kind of surreal.” Read the full article »

Panic! at the Disco is back. Yeah, the band may be only a pair now since guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker left in 2009, but their new album, Vices & Virtues, is their best yet. Singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith left behind the 70′s feel on their sophomore album, Pretty. Odd., and returned to their electronic roots from their debut (A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out) for Vices, though the new album is a fresh sound on its own.

Now with a new tour that makes its way to the Valley Friday, June 17 at the Marquee Theatre, the band seems stronger than ever — confident in their sound and ready to excite old fans as well as attract some new ones. They’ll be bringing along Fun, with former The Format singer Nate Ruess, and you can read Ruess’ favorite spots in the Valley in the June 16 issue of Phoenix New Times.

Urie may have sprained his ankle within a couple weeks of the tour’s launch, but he’s doing better and recently talked to Up on the Sun about the album and show. You can also check out Fun and Panic! at the Disco’s new song, “C’mon,” after the jump.

New Times: How’s your foot doing?
Brendon Urie: My foot is doing a lot better. There’s a part in the show where I like to run back and get in the middle of the crowd to be face-to-face with the fans. I sprinted and ran down the stairs and rolled my ankle. It was the size of a pool ball. Now I can move my ankle. That was something I’m just bummed happened so early in the tour. The tour just started, so I didn’t want to cancel. Read the full article »

In the following phone interview Panic! At The Disco drummer Spencer Smith ties up some loose ends about the band’s new album, Vices & Virtues, and how the lineup change has redefined the duo.

First off, congratulations on the No. 7 debut.

Oh, thanks man.

I know you’ve kept a low profile the last couple years. Was that something you were expecting at all?

I think that when we split a couple years ago it sort of felt like a new thing, even though we were still Panic! For us, it was an opportunity to take the record and the band wherever we wanted to and we knew that fans would sort of listen to it as a new thing, knowing it was going to be different or not knowing what to expect. It took us a little while to figure out how we worked, just the two of us writing. Also once we got into writing we wanted to make sure we were happy with exactly where the record was going and everything. It just took a little bit longer than we would have liked.
Read the full article »

According to Panic! at the Disco drummer Spencer Smith, reintroducing the exclamation mark back into their name symbolizes a return to form for the band, who released ‘Vices & Virtues’ last month.

“On this record, me and [singer/multi-instrumentalist] Brendon [Urie] wanted to do some things we got away from on the second record, I guess it might have something to do with that,” he tells Spinner. “Even though it’s the same name, it’s kind of like we are different band. This is a fresh start.”

When Panic! at the Disco released 2005′s ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’ critics dismissed the group as a flash-in-the-pan emo band. But fans connected with the group’s carnival aesthetic, confessional lyrics, and unique blend of orchestral instruments and rock guitars, and the debut album went platinum. Read the full article »

Brendon Urie from Panic! At The Disco and Butch Walker work in the studio with the West Los Angeles Children’s Choir on the song ‘Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…)’