A Tough One

Panic! At The Disco are not a band who shy away from the spotlight, or controversy. Their live show is often described as a spectacle, and since they hit the airwaves in 2004, they've been nothing if not candid about their relationships and with each other.

After recording the debut that saw them skyrocket to fame (A Fever You Can't Sweat Out), the former Blink-182 cover band kicked out original bassist, Brent Wilson, who then threatened the remaining members with a lawsuit. Then in 2009, after dropping the exclamation point, and having recorded and toured their second album, Pretty. Odd. in 2008, bassist Jon Walker and founding member Ryan Ross departed the band, saying they had “creatively evolved in different directions”.

This left just Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith to, exclamation point back intact, write the band's third, Vices & Virtues. By the fourth record, last year's Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die, they had recruited a new bassist, Dallon Weekes, but in time for the tour lost original drummer, Spencer Smith, who left the group to battle the alcohol and prescription drug addiction he'd struggled with since 2008. That left only charismatic vocalist Brendon Urie to carry the Panic! At The Disco moniker.

As it stands, Smith is still not ready to be back on the road and will be missing Panic! At The Disco's Soundwave stint, but Urie says that they will be working together again, just as soon as Smith is ready.

“He is still back home getting all the help that he really needs. I was actually really impressed too, that he was able to take those steps. I've never been in that position, but as a friend, just watching him over the years, I know that that was a really difficult decision, but we're all really proud of him.

“We didn't want to cancel tours, that was a big deal, and he understood that, and he didn't wanna impede on that progress as well, so it was really a mutual decision that we had to come to. It was a tough one. You know when your friend's personal and business [lives] collide, it's kinda tough. Everything is moving forward positively and I'm glad that it is, because a lot of times it doesn't for a lot of bands.”

Their fans too, have shown their support.

“It's been kind of amazing their support for him, just going through this tough time. It's really nice to see that when they make shirts that say like 'Team Spencer' or they say 'We will support you' and 'Love you', it's really nice, it's really good. But he definitely understands that we want to move on, as this time is with the record. We definitely didn't want to cancel any shows, so we have our friend Dan [Pawlovich] who's filling in for him for the time.”

But Urie likes to put a positive spin on all the line-up changes.

“Every drummer's different, every musician is different, every artist is different. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing, it's just different. I like changing dynamics, I like change a little bit, I like to be thrown into an uncomfortable position. It's a huge learning experience when you're thrown into something out of your comfort zone. My first love is just music; I've loved it for so long and I've been doing it for so long that I didn't wanna betray myself by not doing it, by just giving up, so that was really a huge decision to make, and ultimately a tough one, but important.”

The changes in line-up may also be to blame for the evolution in their sound: from cabaret-style pop-punk to '60s-inspired guitar-pop, back to pop-punk, and then to the synth-heavy songs like Miss Jackson on Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die. The changes have meant that Urie has had to take the songwriting reins, but he doesn't like to get too comfortable, he says. 

“I get bored pretty easily, which I think is a good thing. It's fun to kind of surprise yourself with the work that you do, especially when it's something creative, when you're creating art, you're making music or you're painting or whatever it may be. I think it's fun to step outside of your comfort zone and see just what you can accomplish in that regard. Trying to find ways, like a conscious effort to find ways to do that is always a fun time. Especially because I love all kinds of different music so there's an endless range of stuff that we could do in the future, so that's exciting as well.”

His habit of getting bored easily meant that this time around he spent time experimenting with production and using synthesiser to expand the depth of their sound. 

“I've been a fan of a lot of synth, y'know, electronic dance music, for a very long time. For the last couple of years I've been trying to get better as a producer, just working on computers. My set-up at home is very primitive I guess – for lack of a better word, it's pretty barbarian… So hopefully it'll evolve in the future, I'm hoping to build a studio in the near future, but in the last couple years I've just been using a keyboard and whatever synths I could get from friend.”

The latest album takes a quote from Hunter S Thompson's 1971 book Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas as its title, as a kind of ode to the city in which Urie and his current and former bandmates grew up.

“It kind of worked out because a lot of the songs were about growing up in Vegas. About things that I went through. I felt comfortable now being able to talk about it because I felt that I had grown and I was a different person. I was changing, kind of growing up and growing out of some phase in my life. And I was changing and I wanted to be able to touch on that stuff, like growing up in Vegas and how it affected me, and trying to tell my story.

“I was watching that movie. It kind of makes sense because I was struggling with that album title for quite a while, and when Johnny Depp's character [Raoul Duke] says it I laughed… I'm a huge visual learner, I'm a huge movie fanatic. I love films, and I love cinematography, I love the way that a lot of movies are presented: Coen Brothers films like The Big Lebowski and stuff like that are some of my favourites.

“I watched a lot of those while I was writing for this record, and they're really inspiring to me, with dialogue, lyrics and stuff, and just situational awareness, and plots, and how you build a story, and it kind of challenged me to do that with each song.”

And despite all of their troubles, Urie is really looking forward to heading to Australia again.

“I love it. I love it all. I love Australia. From the first time we went, I've always been a fan. There's just something about it, the people are just amazing, the shows have always been really amazing. It's just a really good time, and overall a really good vibe.

“There's so many bands I want to see, and it sucks because some of them, I don't know if I'm going to be able to. I looked at our schedule and I'm gonna try to ditch out on some stuff to watch the bands. I think it's going to be awesome. And my wife's going to be coming up too, so we're gonna spend some time; she's never been to Australia before, and I always brag about it. I keep saying 'We're gonna retire there!' so she's really excited too. It's going to be a lot of fun.”