Panic at the Disco, four barely legal guys more concerned with making music than impressing anyone with their masculinity, have never seemed very interested in hedging their bets with safe styling or simplified pop songs.

They chased Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz online until he gave in and started a record label in order to sign them. It was a good gamble: Their 2005 debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, sold 1.7 million copies, primarily on the strength of “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” the band’s inescapable single that berated cheaters who “haven’t heard of closing the goddamned door.” Then they toured with such a flamboyant and sexual stage show that even Rolling Stone was compelled to ask singer Brendon Urie and guitarist Ryan Ross if they were dating.

Panic’s bass player, Jon Walker, and drummer Spencer Smith talked with Out about the band’s sophomore release, Pretty. Odd., their boyhood sleepovers and how much they wouldn’t care if all the rumors were actually true.

Out: The video for “Build God, Then We’ll Talk” was one of the most awesomely perverse things I’ve ever seen.
Jon Walker: The pornomime!
Spencer Smith: We love that video.
Walker: We weren’t even planning on releasing that as a single.
Smith: I don’t even think it could get played on MTV, so it ended up just an internet release. But YouTube’s bigger than anything in the world anyway. We never get asked about it!

Am I going to love the new one for “Nine in the Afternoon” as much? Is it as kinky?
Smith: It’s not as kinky.
Walker: It’s not as sexual in the sense that there’s no mime having mimed sex with a decently hot girl.
Smith: It’s definitely the most interactive video that we’ve ever been in. In the first couple videos we made, Brendon was really the only person in it.
Walker: We’re all in this one equally. And there are more colors in it than we’ve ever seen.
Smith: More sets. More time spent filming than any of the other videos had the budget for before.

How would you describe the look?
Walker: Pretty… Pretty odd.
Smith: [Smiling] Pretty odd.
Walker: You’ll have to see it.

Your last tour included a script where Brendon referred to Ryan as his lover and then chased him across the stage, trying to kiss him. Someone at Logo even called it the gayest stage show they had ever seen.
Smith: That’s awesome. I guess a lot of bands we like, they just had more interesting stage shows. It seems that a lot of things get thrown into that type of view if it’s not the most masculine thing. We just don’t like going on stage with skull bandanas and ripped jeans and cut-off t-shirts showing off our muscles.
Walker: We don’t have any.
Smith: We don’t have any! That’s the problem. We can’t do that.

So you had to resort to costumes?
Smith: We had to resort to costumes. We wore some of the costumes from Gangs of New York, which I don’t think anybody would have classified as the gayest movie ever they’ve ever seen! But as soon as we put them on… We laugh that off. I guess we can’t make everybody happy.

I think you made some people very happy.
Smith: We made ourselves happy.
Walker: We played some pretty big places for only having one record out, and more than anything we wanted to make things as visually entertaining as possible. Brendon had this little character he was for the whole show. We had different moments where weird shit happened. I don’t know. I don’t think it was too gay.
Smith: Also the interaction between band members is something you don’t see as much as you used to. We really are good friends, and there are a lot of bands that hate each other. But you used to have these whatever, like Jimmy Page and –
Walker: And Robert Plant, fucking hugging each other on the stage –
Smith: Singing into the same microphone.
Walker: Singing into the same goddamned microphone!
Smith: Yeah. Band interaction, I guess, can sometimes be confused for homosexuality. But it’s not, in our case.

Do you think your gay fans are confused about you?
Smith: Me and Ryan just, over the past summer, both recently purchased our first houses. We used the same interior decorator, and she thought Ryan was gay for the first three months! And I had to tell her that he had had a girlfriend for a year and a half. So — we have talked about it. For whatever reason our personal taste and preference in art and for videos and artwork appeals like that.
Walker: I think everybody’s just too afraid to have a good time. Everybody’s gotta loosen up a little bit.
Smith: We don’t care who likes us — or who dislikes us.
Walker: And what’s the problem if Ryan and Brendon were actually dating, you know? There’s not really any problem with that.
Smith: Because they might be.

What’s the gayest thing Panic has ever done?
Walker: That’s such a mean word!

I mean it in the good way, I promise!
Smith: Well, here’s the thing. I’ve known Ryan since I was five years old, and we used to live down the street from each other, so we would sleep over. So I can say that I’ve slept in a twin-sized bed with Ryan Ross — more than once.

How was it?
Smith: I got great sleep. It was tight. It was uncomfortable, because there’s not a lot of room, but…

Ryan Ross — good in bed?
Smith: I’m not going to answer that!

Sorry, that was a really cheap set-up.
Smith: [Laughing] Yeah.
Walker: I slept with Ryan in a twin bed less than two months ago! It was the most comfortable sleep I’ve ever had.

Pretty. Odd. (Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen) will be released on March 25, and Panic will headline this year’s Honda Civic Tour starting April 10.

Source: Out.com

You would think people wouldn’t get this worked up over a single punctuation mark.

Then again, you’re probably not familiar with the inner-machinations of Panic at the Disco fans.

To wit: On Thursday, Panic revealed that their new album would be called Pretty. Odd., bringing to end a solid month of speculation and message-board hysteria. Of course, they also unveiled a brand-new logo to accompany that new album … one that did away with their much-maligned exclamation point. This, of course, shouldn’t have been a big deal — the simple removal of a bizarre bit of punctuation — except it totally was, quickly becoming the most-discussed topic on fan sites around the world (sample missive: “u CANT take the *!* are u insane!”).

It became such an issue that Panic (it feels so strange not adding a “!” after that) were forced to discuss the “exclamation thing” with MTV News following a press conference in Torrance, California, where they were announced as the headliners of the 2008 Honda Civic Tour. So, really, guys: What was the reason for dropping the “!”?

“At least for me, it got a little bit annoying to try to write that every time you’re typing the name,” guitarist Ryan Ross said. “It was never part of the name to us. … People started writing it, and then it ended up in more and more things like that, so there it was. When we started doing new promo stuff for this album, we just told everyone not to use it anymore.”

“We wrote it that way once, when we first started the band, and then … people kept writing it that way, and it was a freakin’ whirlwind,” frontman Brendon Urie added. “We never made a big deal out of pulling it off the name. … I mean, every time I write [our name], I never put an exclamation point in there.”

So there you have it. The lack of an exclamation point is totally not a big deal (!). The band didn’t even use it themselves (!). You don’t need to freak out (!). Seriously (!). Calm down (!).

But while we’re on the subject of punctuation-related shenanigans, let’s talk about the album title, Pretty. Odd. It has, like, two periods in it. For no real reason. What’s the deal with that?

“It just happened one night. We were working on a new song, and we weren’t even talking about album titles, but it was just something I wrote down, and I brought it up to the guys,” Ross explained “Like, Pretty. Odd. And then they all liked it, and that was a couple of months ago, so we just kept it since then.”

“And it’s more fun with punctuation,” drummer Spencer Smith added.

Indeed, it is. Oh, and as for the Honda Civic Tour, it kicks off April 10 in San Francisco and runs until June 14 in Anaheim, California. (It will, presumably, leave the state of California at some point.) Motion City Soundtrack and Panic’s labelmates the Hush Sound are also coming along for the ride, plus a fourth, yet-unannounced artist (mysterious!).

At the event, Panic unveiled their custom-designed Honda Civic (it had a hot-air balloon and several flowers painted on it … for real) and played an acoustic set, featuring new songs “We’re So Starving” and “Nine in the Afternoon,” plus the debut of “When The Day Met the Night,” a very Beatles-y tune, in which Urie sung lines like “When the moon fell in love with the sun/ All was golden in the sky/ All was golden when the day met the night” over a spirally, Abbey Road-era guitar line.

So it’s fitting, then, that the band is on its way to London to put the finishing touches on Pretty. Odd. at the actual Abbey Road Studios. And the guys are totally pumped to be working in the Beatles’ own haunt — just don’t expect them to use any exclamation points to convey that excitement.

“I know that a lot of the gear that they used is still there,” Smith said. “And being able to go there and actually use that stuff and sit in the same control room and live room that they did … it’s going to be a great experience, for sure.”

Source: MTV.com

Hate to say we told you so, but … well, we told you so.

Just before Christmas, MTV News went to the set of Panic at the Disco’s video for “Nine in the Afternoon,” the first single from their still-untitled new album. During that visit, we noticed the guys in the band were all wearing sashes that read “Pretty Odd,” about which we wrote, “Perhaps that’s another clue in the ongoing Web site mystery? Or, even something simpler, like maybe the title of the record?” .

At the time, Panic tried to downplay the whole “Pretty Odd” thing, but late last night, as a part of the ever-evolving series of word puzzles they’ve been posting on their Web site, they mentioned it again, along with a date: 03.25.08. So, were they trying to tell us that the title of their album was, in fact, Pretty Odd?

Well, sort of.

Turns out, it’s Pretty. Odd. That’s according to a spokesperson for Atlantic Records, who confirmed the title to MTV News Thursday morning (January 10). And, yes, the album will hit stores on March 25.

The confirmation of the title comes on the same day that Panic (who have officially dropped the “!” from their name) are scheduled to hold a news conference at the American Honda Motor Co. in Torrance, California. They’re announcing that they’ll headline the 2008 Honda Civic Tour, following in the footsteps of their pals Fall Out Boy, who headlined the 2007 version of the jaunt.

Source: MTV.com

The Panic At The Disco story is now the stuff of pop legends as their Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, broke through the Internet and propelled the band to platinum status with more than 1.6 million in sales.

“The Internet’s been great for us. Without it, we wouldn’t have gotten noticed,” acknowledges band founder and chief songwriter/lyricist Ryan Ross, who signed to Pete Wentz’ Decaydance imprint on influential indie label Fueled by Ramen for the album’s release in 2005. The rest is pop history on a global scale.

With songs like the Top 10 single, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” and nonstop touring, first with bands like Fall Out Boy, then on their own as headliners, Panic At The Disco saw A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out land in the Top 15 of the sales charts. The colorful video for the clip, featuring San Francisco’s Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque, quickly became number one on MTV and was awarded top honors with “Video of the Year” at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2006. “It’s been so unbelievable, so much has happened,” marvels drummer Spencer Smith, who started the band with childhood pal Ross in the Las Vegas suburbs.

“Most of that first record is based on what I was going through in my life at the time,” says Ryan. “I was trying to figure out what I believed in, the kind of relationships I wanted to have, those types of things.” This time around, Ross, who prefers to be out of the spotlight as he composes words for frontman Brendon Urie, has a better idea of what he wants to express.

“For our first album, we started writing not having a good idea of what we wanted the whole album to sound like,” says Smith. “We kind of went in a completely different direction halfway through. Now we’ve had the time to think it through a little more.”

For their second album, they have taken a completely different approach in recording. Instead of relying on computer software, the band is writing on acoustic guitars, recording the album live in the studio and also incorporating horn and string orchestral arrangements. Their influences have also shifted gears on this record, looking to albums their parents listened to for inspiration: the Beach Boys, the Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles.

“We want to make music like that, simple and timeless. We’re working on bettering ourselves as musicians,” concludes Ross. “We want to continue to improve. I admire a band like The Beatles, who came onto the scene as a pop act, but turned out to be one of the greatest musical entities ever.”

Those are some lofty ambitions, but after this past year, who’s going to tell Panic At The Disco dreams don’t come true?

Source: hondacivictour.com

Panic will be playing their new material live on this year’s environmentally friendly 8th Annual Honda Civic Tour, which they’ll be headlining (the tour starts April 10th at San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre and wraps June 14th’s at Anaheim’s Honda Center; full dates will be announced later).

While we take a moment to mourn the loss of the Las Vegas group’s exclamation point, Rock Daily would like to honor those bands who have made excellent use of it: !!!, Against Me!, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Los Campesinos!, Neu!, the Go! Team and, of course, Wham!.

Source: RollingStone.com

The upcoming jaunt begins April 10 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, and wraps June 14 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Although a full list of cities, dates and support acts won’t be released until early February when tickets go on sale, rock acts Motion City Soundtrack and the Hush Sound are expected to join the lineup, a source close to the tour tells Billboard.com.

The 2008 Honda Civic Tour will visit primarily theaters and scaled-down arenas in the United States and Canada, with Live Nation promoting the bulk of dates. Tickets will be priced between $25 and $35, with $1 of every ticket sold going to a fund designated for nonprofit, green-friendly tour partners Reverb and Global Inheritance.

As in years past, a one-of-a-kind Honda Civic Hybrid, designed by members of Panic!, will be showcased at each tour stop. Concertgoers can enter to win the vehicle at special computer kiosks at each show, or by registering at hondacivictour.com.

The trek will also feature “eco spots,” where fans can educate themselves about such environmental-friendly issues as solar backpacks and re-usable water bottles, according to the trek’s executive producer, Marketing Factory CEO Rob Tonkin.

“We wanted to make [the Honda Civic Tour] more about what fans can do to make a difference,” Tonkin tells Billboard.com.

Meanwhile, Panic! fans should be in for a treat when seeing the band in concert, as most new songs “are definitely more geared toward playing live,” guitarist/lyricist Ryan Ross told Billboard.com in December. “We just wanted the record to sound like four people playing a song,” he explained, citing such classic rock influences as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys.

Although Panic! has become known for its elaborate stage setup and elaborate costumes, Ross noted that future shows would be different. “We’re not going to do a circus show again,” he assured.

Source: RollingStone.com

Start your engines as Panic At The Disco leaves Sin City for center stage as headliner for the 8th annual Honda Civic Tour. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. announced the participation of the platinum-selling, MTV Video Music Award-winning band today at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif. The event featured the unveiling of the Panic At The Disco customized and autographed Honda Civic Hybrid and a surprise performance by the Las Vegas-bred quartet which was hosted by Honda Civic Tour alum Mark Hoppus of +44 and Blink-182.

The Honda Civic Tour (HCT) continues to provide fans with a unique, interactive concert experience, allowing them to get up close and personal with their favorite bands. Panic At The Disco (PATD) will take the stage with material from their highly anticipated sophomore album, PRETTY. ODD., the follow-up to 2005’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Advance word on the new disc promises songs particularly well suited to live performance, which Honda Civic Tour fans will be the first to confirm as the band brings their dynamic stage show to intimate venues throughout the U.S. The tour kicks off April 10th in San Francisco at the Warfield Theatre and will close with an unforgettable performance at The Honda Center in Anaheim, Ca. on June 14th. Full schedule, on-sale dates and support acts will be announced at a later date.

Over the past seven years nearly two million fans have enjoyed the HCT experience, and the tour has developed a reputation for putting fans first as an entertainment brand backed by Honda. The eighth year demonstrates the consistent annual commitment Honda has made to developing and supporting emerging music artists. This commitment will be demonstrated yet again with tickets priced for maximum affordability.

Said Panic At The Disco lead singer Brendon Urie: “We’re taking advice from Fall Out Boy, who headlined the Honda Civic Tour last year, on how to make this year’s tour even better. Those guys set the bar pretty high, but we’re really looking forward to hitting the road again and are definitely up for the challenge.” Guitarist Ryan Ross commented: “We were just kids when we went to see Good Charlotte and New Found Glory in Vegas during the ‘03 Civic Tour so it’s pretty amazing to now be headlining.”

Beyond great music, this year’s Honda Civic Tour is also deploying an environmental action plan. In the tradition of the past three Honda Civic Tours featuring the Civic Hybrid, the ‘08 trek is aimed at effecting positive environmental change. New for this year, nonprofits Reverb (a leader in the “greening” of concert tours) and Global Inheritance (a champion of progressive causes with a tight connection to youth subcultures) have been selected by Panic At The Disco. They are collaborating to engage audiences in fun, fan-friendly, interactive exhibits during the tour. Additionally, this collective will make a substantial contribution to a cause to be determined by the end of the tour. The concept chosen will be selected on its merit to make a lasting impact on the generation-defining environmental movement in the name of the 2008 Honda Civic Tour with Panic At The Disco.

Tickets will equal action. For every Honda Civic Tour Panic At The Disco ticket purchased, $1 will go into a fund designated for non-profit tour partners Reverb and Global Inheritance. Being green does not get any easier than buying a ticket to the ‘08 Honda Civic Tour!

In keeping with one of the Honda Civic Tour’s most exciting traditions, Panic At The Disco has designed a special, one-of-a-kind Honda Civic Hybrid to be showcased at each stop of the tour. Fans will have the opportunity throughout the tour to enter to win this green machine, which has been autographed by the band, making it the ultimate in HCT memorabilia. The PATD-personalized hybrid was unveiled to select Honda associates and the press at today’s announcement event.

The most up to date HCT news can be found at www.hondacivictour.com, and, on Jan. 30, beginning at 10 a.m. PST fans can register online to participate in a ticket pre-sale.

Panic At The Disco’s platinum-selling debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen), spawned multiple radio and video hits, among them “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” which went to #1 on MTV and was named Video of the Year at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. The band has previously been featured on the covers of Rolling Stone, Spin and Alternative Press and is nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Boxed or Limited Edition Package” for A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out at the upcoming awards ceremony taking place on February 10th.

Past Honda Civic Tour headliners include The Black Eyed Peas, Blink-182, Everclear, Incubus, Good Charlotte and New Found Glory, Dashboard Confessional, Maroon 5, and most recently, Fall Out Boy.

Produced by Marketing Factory, the Honda Civic Tour brings innovation and environmental consciousness to the masses by combining the hottest in automotive technology with the hottest in music.

For more information, visit the official Honda Civic Tour website at www.hondacivictour.com.

Source: biz.yahoo.com

Fast forward to yesterday, when Pete Wentz (who signed the over-the-top Vegas quartet to his Decaydance imprint) put up a blog entry in defense of his pals: “Not too sure that anyone gets that the new Panic! song is a joke,” he wrote. “Sell me a sense of humor. The new record is different than whatever you are thinking.” What led to Wentz’s latest defense of the band? A chronology of recent Panic! developments (and a possible solution to the latest puzzle) after the jump.

• December 12th: After going completely blank, Panic! at the Disco’s official site is replaced by a Wheel of Fortune-style puzzle, solved two days later with the words “You Don’t Have to Worry.” On the same day, an open call for extras goes up for the video accompanying the new single, “Nine in the Afternoon,” which they performed live at several gigs during ‘07.

• December 18th: A jigsaw puzzle appears on Panicatthedisco.com, along with a timestamp referring to 01:01:08. Speculation mounts that an announcement is coming in the new year and rumors begin circulating that the band is headlining the 2008 Honda Civic Tour.

• December 22nd: Pete Wentz posts a photo from the set of “Nine in the Afternoon” and says “this band has blown me away again.”

• December 25th: As a Christmas surprise, the puzzle pieces on the official site are updated with short clips of a new song.

• January 1st: Panic’s MySpace is updated with “We’re So Starving.” The song is a marked change from the band’s smash debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Though Panic! had confessed to abandoning their initial approach to Fever’s follow-up, telling RS last year, “Our new songs are more like classic rock than modern rock,” it didn’t stop a post about the song on Panic! LiveJournal community from garnering over 1,100 posts from mostly underwhelmed fans.

• January 7th: Pete Wentz comes to Panic’s defense, and the band’s site is updated again, with a new timestamp dated 01:10:08. Fans point out that date is also the day the Honda Civic Tour headliner will be announced. And just the other day Rock Daily received an invite to a “Special Announcement” from Panic! at the Disco, taking place January 10th at the American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Coincidence? Stay tuned for updates.

Source: RollingStone.com

“[It’s] truly is a dream come true for us,” said the band. “Over the next five days we will finish in the studio at home and make our way to Abbey Road Studios in London. There, we will record all of the strings, horns, whatchyamacallit’s, and so on. Then, we will mix the record at Abbey Road as well.”

Abbey Road was made famous in the 1950s, 60s and 70s by legendary British artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Dame Shirley Bassey and er, Cliff Richard.

The band’s as-yet-untitled new album will be released in the summer through Fueled by Ramen. However, if you can’t wait ’til then, they’ve posted a rough mix of new track Were So Starving on their MySpace page.

“This is not the final mix or version of the song,” they say.”It will undergo some change while we’re in London, but we wanted to show you something from what we’ve done so far. Hope you enjoy.”

Source: Kerrang.com

It looks like Panic! at the Disco fans will have to wait until March 25 for the Las Vegas rockers’ sophomore LP, the yet-untitled follow-up to 2005’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. But in the meantime, the band’s followers can preview what’s to come over at Panic’s MySpace page.

This week, Panic posted a rough demo of a new song, presumably from the forthcoming album, called “We’re So Starving” and, in a blog post, revealed that they’ll be wrapping things up at their home studio over the next five days. After that, it’s off to London, where the boys will record strings and horns for the record at the legendary Abbey Road Studios — which, according to the band, “truly is a dream come true for us.” The album will also be mixed at Abbey Road, the band said.

“We couldn’t be more excited to show all of you what we’ve been working on,” the post reads. “But before we do all that, we wanted to give you something for all of your patience over the last year.” The new track, which had gotten 45,000-plus plays by late Wednesday afternoon (January 2), is “not the final mix or version of the song, and it will undergo some change while we’re in London — but we wanted to show you something from what we’ve done so far.”

Panic! at the Disco recently shot a video in Los Angeles with director Shane Drake (who helmed the band’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” clip) for the album’s first single, “Nine in the Afternoon.” While the video’s concept remains something of a mystery, according to a “casting call” for the production, the clip required “40 extras total. … There are different periods, looks, wardrobe and hair changes.”

According to sources, the concept for the video involves “a series of bizarre yet fundamentally recognizable events with the bandmembers.”

Source: MTV.com