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Panic! at the Disco performing in June 2006
Background information
Origin	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Genre(s)	Rock, dance, disputed subgenres
Years active	2005 - Present
Label(s)	Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen
Website	Official website
Members
Brendon Urie Ryan Ross Jon Walker Spencer Smith
Former members
Brent Wilson

Panic! at the Disco (often shortened to merely Panic!, P!ATD, P!@tD, or PATD) is a band that originated in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Their sound incorporates elements of pop, electronica, dance, and rock, along with many others. Their 2005 debut album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, reached #13 on the US Billboard 200, and has sold over 1.6 million copies since its September 2005 release.

Contents 1 History 1.1 2005: Origins and signing 1.2 2006: Debut album and departure of Brent Wilson 1.3 2007-2008: Second album 2 Performances 2.1 Style 3 Band members 3.1 Current members 3.2 Former members 4 Discography 4.1 Albums 4.2 Singles 4.3 Videography 4.4 DVD 5 Awards 6 References 7 External links

History

2005: Origins and signing

The band was formed in the suburban area of Summerlin, Las Vegas, by the two childhood friends Ryan Ross on the guitar and Spencer Smith on the drums. Since the age of thirteen, the two played Blink-182 covers in bands of different formations. Ryan and Spencer then created a band under the name of "Summer League", possibly a reference to the suburb in which they lived, with childhood friends Brent Wilson, and Trevor who would later leave the band.

It was at Palo Verde High School where Brent met Brendon Urie. Wilson had asked Urie to try out as guitarist for Panic!, as they were looking for a replacement at the time. Originally, Urie was not the band's lead singer. Rather, the position belonged to current guitarist and lyricist, Ryan Ross. However, when the band heard him sing backup during a rehearsal, they were impressed with his vocal abilities and unanimously decided to make him the singer, the band then settled on the name 'Panic! at the Disco.' They got the name from the lyrics of a song called "Panic", by Name Taken: Panic at the disco / Sat back and took it so slow / Are you nervous? Are you shaking? / Save compliments to praise complation / We don't have to feel we fit in / We can move back / We can leave them. ^[1] Although the band often says that the name comes from the song Panic by The Smiths, it was revealed that the Name Taken song did lend inspiration, but that the song by The Smiths is easier to explain to those who are unaware of Name Taken.

In order to promote their music, the band contacted Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz through LiveJournal, and sent him a link to their PureVolume site. Wentz was apparently so impressed that he took a trip to Las Vegas to meet the band in person. After seeing them practice in their garage, he asked if they would sign with his Fueled by Ramen imprint label Decaydance.

2006: Debut album and departure of Brent Wilson

Panic! at the Disco released their debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out on September 27th 2005, quickly building up a fan base through PureVolume and MySpace, though achieving little commercial recognition. After a consistent presence in PureVolume's top 10 signed artists, and reaching number one in MySpace's indie charts, Panic! at the Disco were featured on MTV's Total Request Live on January 17th 2006, where they premiered their music video for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies." Featuring Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque and an eerie circus wedding theme, the video débuted at #10 on the TRL countdown, later winning the Video of the Year award at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, beating out major artists such as Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The single itself, released April 27th 2006, peaked at #7 in the US charts.

The band was originally third-billed for the Truckstops & Statelines Winter Tour in early 2006, which was headlined by The Academy Is... and included Acceptance as direct support and Hellogoodbye on the line-up. Due to their alarming increase in popularity before and during the tour, the band ended up getting pushed above Acceptance to second-billed every night playing right before the headliner and "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" outsold The Academy Is...'s debut album, "Almost Here" during the tour.

Their second single, "But It's Better If You Do", was released in the UK on May 1st, 2006 where it debuted, and peaked, at #23. The accompanying music video, released the previous month, portrays the band playing in a speakeasy in 1930's America, which, according to Urie, shows "the dark and secluded style of Panic." ^[2]

The band officially announced the departure of their bassist, Brent Wilson, with a message on the band's website on 17 May 2006. Wilson has since claimed that the decision to leave was not his, and that he was fired without warning for monetary reasons, though the rest of the band deny this.^[3][4] Wilson is now demanding a cut in royalties, and has threatened he will take his former band to court if need be.^[5]

Just days after Wilson's departure, the band embarked on their first headlining tour through Europe, with long-time friend, Jon Walker, filling in for the summer tour as a temporary bassist while a permanent replacement was sought. All of the dates were sold out, with some, notably Manchester, selling out in a matter of hours. Upon their return, the band embarked on a two-month North American headlining tour with supporting acts The Hush Sound, OK Go, The Dresden Dolls, and Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque, still retaining Jon Walker as a temporary bassist. On July 3rd of that year, the band's MySpace profile was edited to list Walker as bassist/vocals, and he became a permanent member of Panic! at the Disco.

The success of their first two singles helped catapult their debut album to to the top of the Billboard Independent chart and to #13 on the Billboard 200 in July 2006. The video for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" has been streamed from YouTube almost 8 million times and the song itself is also the most requested song on New York City radio station Z-100,^{[citation needed]} leading Urie to say he feels the song and video have been overplayed; "[It] isn't the only song we've written."^{[citation needed]}

Towards the end of July 2006 Panic! at the Disco released their third music video, "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off." The video features people with fish tank helmets walking the streets of what appears to be a studio back lot. The video only shows the band in one shot, reportedly because they felt that their looks were distracting from their music.

In early August 2006, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out went platinum, having sold over one million albums.

During Panic!'s opening song on August 25, 2006 at the Carling Weekend: Reading Festival, an unknown audience member threw a bottle at the stage, which struck and temporarily knocked out Brendon Urie, forcing the band to stop playing. After some minutes, he got back up and shouted to the crowd, "You can't take me out! Let's see how well you guys do with my left side", and continued with the same song. ^[6] In a phone interview Ryan Ross stated that "We [Panic!] were kinda expecting that [The bottling] going into the Reading, because we heard that that's kinda a tradition they have over there" and then continued by saying that "We walked on and we were kinda expecting that to keep our heads up the whole time, and unfortunately Brendon, he was catching bottles coming towards me and Jon and then he was dodging them himself, and kinda just didn't see one coming that I saw and it got him pretty good, and I dunno that's the only time anything like that's ever happened so hopefully we won't have to worry about anything like that too much." ^[7]

The band embarked on a world tour in the later part of 2006. It included dates in Australia, New Zealand, and continental Europe. On November 7, 2006, they kicked off their first-ever arena tour with Bloc Party (who shortly dropped out because of drummer Matt Tong suffering a collapsed lung) and Jack's Mannequin. The Plain White T's were added to the next few weeks of The Nothing Rhymes With Circus Tour. They opened up the shows beginning in New York through November 26 in Iowa. After that, Cobra Starship were on the tour through December 9 in San Diego. The band appeared along with Fall Out Boy, Marilyn Manson, and other bands on the special edition soundtrack of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas covering "This Is Halloween", which was re-released in 3D on October 20.

Their most recent and final single from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, "Build God, Then We'll Talk", was released on March 5, 2007. The accompanying music video portrays the fallacy of relationships.

2007-2008: Second album

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with You Don't Have to Worry.... (Discuss)

In May 2007 it was announced that a Smashing Pumpkins Tribute LP would be released, compiled by MySpace and Spin. The LP features Panic!'s cover of "Tonight, Tonight" and was included free in the June 26, 2007 issue of Spin. ^[8]

Panic! at the Disco have recently been performing new songs (three in total) from their upcoming album, at the various festivals they are performing at before going into recording. Panic! have been playing two songs under the working titles "Nine in the Afternoon" and "Middle of Summer".^[9] Three of the new songs has been officially titled, "It's True Love", "Middle of Summer" and "Nine in the Afternoon" as stated by Ryan Ross in an interview with MTV, yet it seems that "It's True Love", may not appear in the second album. "We hadn't played a show in a while, and we wanted to play something new, but that song's probably not even going to make the record at this point", said Ryan Ross "We've changed a lot of what we want to do with the record. And I feel like we're happier with the new songs we have so far than we ever were with any of the old songs on the last record." ^[10]

Another song, first mentioned by Pete Wentz, has also been announced; it is titled "Things Have Changed".

When asked by MTV in an interview why Panic! had scrapped their whole record and chose to rewrite it Ryan Ross explained "We were just piecing stuff together up in the cabin. We would take lyrics, and we didn't really have ... a band set up", he explained. "We were just writing on pianos and guitars separately and just throwing other things in there, and it didn't really sound like a band, it sounded like a film score." Ryan then continued "We went through a stage of writing that just happened because we were on tour for so long, and we were sick of those old songs so much that we decided to write songs that were really complicated and challenging for us. Then we realized that it's not going to be any fun to play these live either, so we decided to ditch the whole project. There was a story line throughout the whole record, a short story, and we decided to put that on the shelf and just start playing as a band, and it's been a lot better." As for the new album at this point "We've got about six or seven songs that are pretty much complete ... and [they're] a lot more uplifting. They've got a more positive outlook to them. It's kind of hard to write a bunch of sad songs if you're not sad anymore. I guess they're pretty different than the songs on the first album. I mean, we wrote those songs like three to four years ago, so obviously we've changed a lot in terms of everything — what we like and what we think is good." Spencer Smith then commented on when Panic! plan to release some of the new album "We want to have the new single out by the end of the year, probably around Christmas. And then have the album out in February. We hope." ^[11]

The band planned to have producer Danny Elfman, who worked on the original Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, but have since been confirmed to have moved on to producer Rob Mathes, who worked on the re-release of the soundtrack, which Panic! was featured in with a cover of "This Is Halloween". ^[12] In Rob's blog he writes about working with Panic!; this is an excerpt: Rob has spent much of this year working with the MTV Video of The Year winners Panic! At The Disco. Their first record landed them on the cover of Rolling Stone and sold 2 million copies globally. Rob co-produced and arranged their version of Danny Elfman’s “This Is Halloween” for the re-release of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas last year. He and the band hit it off. They did not want the Rock Producer of the moment to do their next record (normally the way of most bands). They wrote a number of new songs both more musically exploratory and intricate than their first record and wanted a musician and composer that could help them essentially do anything they wanted musically from working with orchestra to getting post-modern guitar sounds. The project is one that Rob calls “the most significant music project I have done in a while in that it is young and intense, adventurous and endlessly creative. Working with these young kids has made me look at music the way I did when I discovered early records by The Who and Brian Eno-period David Bowie when I was 16. For this project I am also filled with “gratitude”. ^[13]

On November 19th on the NBC drama Heroes a recorded portion of Panic!'s song "Nine in the Afternoon" was played during a scene where Claire Bennet is practicing for a pep rally. ^[14][15]

On December 11, 2007 it was announced on Billboard.com that Panic!'s second album is set to be released on March 25, 2008. Later that day Panic!'s MySpace posted a bulletin with a link to their website which was completely white and blank. Though many fans have discovered that by clicking the 'view source' option in the internet browser there is a message from the band that reads

"Oh, hello Glad you could make it Did you have any trouble finding the place? Hope you enjoy"

The website currently has an image which is rumored to be the title of the new album. It has a fill-in-the-letters, crossword style, which says "_O_ _D_N_ _H_V_ _T_ _ _ _R_Y_". If you go down about half way on the page, it reveals the other letter of the fill-in, which does in fact say, "You Don't Have to Worry...". In addition, highlighting the page reveals a clock in the top left corner. It was later updated to be a blank white page with the title "YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY...". A look at the source code reveals the message "Oh, back so soon?" They have also changed their MySpace profile's layout to a white theme. Many fans believe that this is symbolic of The Beatles white album (entitled so for having nothing but a white cover). The title of the album has not yet been released.

It is also believed that "Nine in the Afternoon" will be released as a single in December 2007 or January 2008. This date has not been confirmed, however. The song is believed to be the new single because it has appeared on Heroes, fully recorded, though only a portion of it was played.

Now on their site, the image of blank puzzle pieces with one missing. Also, in their source code it now reads:

"Oh, back so soon?
It's really nice to see you again"

As of December 18, 2007 the puzzle now has the the numbers 1:1:08 in the corner that was once left blank. This is most likely hinting that the band will release a the new single "Nine in the Afternoon" on January 1, 2008. If you mouse over the top left piece of the puzzle, you will hear a short clip in which Brendon sings "Ohhh, honey it's been so long". It is not a snippet of "Nine in the Afternoon". Finally, the source code now reads,

"Oh, back so soon?
It's really nice to see you again
Care for an hors d'oeuvre?"

Note: Where it reads "Care for an hors d'oeuvre" it is most likely refering to the fact that an hors d'oeuvre is a starter or an appetizer, like the sound clip on the top left puzzle piece. It is a starter or preview of what is to come. A hors d'oeuvre also means a year off work.

Their site now says "Happy Holidays!!" when the source is clicked, and the sound clip is becoming more clear, drums and guitars can now be heard in the background and the words are more clear. "oh and how it's been so long"

There is also now a new shaded square in the puzzle, when hovered over you hear Brendon sing "we're so sorry we've been gone"

Performances

Panic! at the Disco is known for old-style circus shows, where they bring an entourage of contortionists and dancers on stage with them as they perform.

They also had a notable performance in Times Square during the New Year's Eve celebrations in December 2006/January 2007 with Carson Daly. They performed two of their hit songs, "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" (Last performance in 2006) and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" (First performance in 2007). Although both songs include swear words Panic! at the Disco sang censored versions of the songs, because the event was performed on live network television.

Live, they have also performed cover versions of Third Eye Blind's "Slow Motion", Radiohead's "Karma Police", Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight", two versions of Counting Crows' "Round Here", K-Ci and Jojo's "All My Life", Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time", Nelly Furtado's "Maneater", Queen's "Killer Queen", The Beatles's "Eleanor Rigby", Blink-182's "What's My Age Again?", and The Band's "The Weight". ^[16]

Style

Panic! at the Disco, like many bands within Decaydance Records including Fall Out Boy, are subject to wide debate about their musical genres. The main reason for this is the wide variety of different musical elements in their debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. While Panic! has been called an emo band ^{[17][18][19][20][21]}, they themselves do not consider their music emo as stated in an interview with NME, "Emo is bullshit. We want to be the new Radiohead". However, some point out that they are signed to a record label owned by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, a band considered by many to be emo. Also, their circus-esque attire during shows (Although Panic! has gone on record to say they only dress up because they only have one record worth of songs) is used as evidence. In the collector's edition of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, Panic! stated that they are "Just rock", a thought shared by many of their fans (of which many think of emo as being an insult). However Panic! have gone on record many times saying that their second album would be completely different from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, as Rolling Stone wrote in an article: "The group cemented its current direction with a song called "Nine in the Afternoon". "It’s influenced by the music our parents listened to: the Beach Boys, the Kinks, the Beatles", says Ross. "Our new songs are more like classic rock than modern rock. We got older and started listening to different music – and this seems like the natural thing to do right now."^[22]

Band members

Current members

• Brendon Urie - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards (2005-present)
• Ryan Ross - lead guitar, backing vocals (2005-present)
• Jon Walker - bass, backing vocals (2006-present)
• Spencer Smith - drums, percussion (2005-present)

Former members

• Brent Wilson - bass (2005-2006)

Discography

Albums

Album info	Chart positions				RIAA Certification
	US Billboard 200	US Independent Chart	UK Albums Chart	Australia
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out Released: September 27, 2005 Label: Decaydance Records/Fueled by Ramen	13	1	17	11	Platinum
Live Session EP (iTunes Music Store exclusive) Released: June 13, 2006 Label: Decaydance Records/Fueled by Ramen					N/A
You Don't Have to Worry... Released: March 25, 2008 Label: Decaydance Records/Fueled by Ramen					N/A

Singles

Year	Song	U.S.	U.S. Modern Rock	UK	AUS	Album
2005	"The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage"	77	5	-	-	A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2006	"I Write Sins Not Tragedies"	7	12	25	12	A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2006	"But It's Better If You Do"	104	-	23	15	A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2006	"Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off"	104	28	39	26	A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2007	"Build God, Then We'll Talk"	-	-	-	-	A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2008	"Nine in the Afternoon"	-	-	-	-	You Don't Have to Worry...

Videography

• "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" (2006)
• "But It's Better If You Do" (2006)
• "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" (2006)
• "Build God, Then We'll Talk" (2007)
• "Nine in the Afternoon" (2008) ^[23]

DVD

Panic! at the Disco released a limited edition collector's set. Only 25,000 of these were made worldwide and currently about 1,200 are left for sale in mint condition. The box contains a DVD of their live concert in Denver, a limited edition CD of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, pictures of the band, a blank diary, a poster, lyric cards, tour program, a phenakistoscope, and a certificate of authenticity.

Awards

• MTV Video Music Awards:

• Won: Video of the Year (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
• Nominated: Best Group Video (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
• Nominated: Best Rock Video (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
• Nominated: Best New Artist in a Video (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
• Nominated: Best Art Direction in a Video (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"

• TMF Awards:

• Won: Best Video International (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"

• NME Awards:

• Worst Band 2007^[24]

• Grammy Awards:

• Nominated: Best Boxed or Limited Special Edition Package (2007) for their limited edition Collector's Box

References

External links

• Official website
• Panic! at the Disco at MySpace
• Panic! at the Disco at MySpace (UK profile)
• Panic! at the Disco at Last.fm
• Panic! at the Disco's profile at PureVolume
• Panic! at the Disco discography at MusicBrainz

v • d • e Panic! at the Disco
Brendon Urie • Ryan Ross • Jon Walker • Spencer Smith Brent Wilson
Studio albums	A Fever You Can't Sweat Out • You Don't Have to Worry...
EPs	Live Session EP
Singles	"The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage" • "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" • "But It's Better If You Do" • "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" • "Build God, Then We'll Talk" • "Nine in the Afternoon"