In an ongoing effort to reach out to the youth of today, we did a Panic (no exclamation point anymore) at the Disco interview with Brendon Urie, the lead singer, to preview their show at DAR Constitution Hall tonight. Several PR proof reads and punctuation changes later, this is what we ended up with.
BYT: So let’s start off with a question that’s been burning on a lot of people’s minds: what’s with all the songs about weddings?
Brendon: Weddings?
BYT: Yeah, on your last album there were several references to weddings, marriage, affairs. I think it just struck people my age as curious that 18 and 19 year olds would have so much interest in bridesmaids and waiters gossiping at receptions.
BU:I haven’t thought about it that much. Ryan writes most of our lyrics so I guess you’d have to ask him. I know a lot of his songs are about personal things. His dad was sick for a long time and died when we were on our first tour. But some songs are you know…just songs about nothing…or I guess just imagination.
BYT: What are the songs on your new album about? I haven’t heard it.
BU:Different stuff, nothing in particular. No weddings though.
BYT: Well, your last album had a very big sound – some electronic, some cabaret – but all of it very big. Is this one a lot different?
BU:It’s got a lot of orchestra on it. We wanted to do something different and interesting to us. But I think our fans will still really like it.
BYT: You recorded some of in London, right? What was that like?
BU:I liked London.
BYT: Anything specifically?
BU:The people were cool. I hadn’t really traveled very much when we weren’t on tour so it was cool to spend some time in a new city.
BYT: Your first album was recorded in College Park, Maryland. So I imagine this was more fun?
BU:Yeah, there was nothing to do in College Park. Nothing at all.
BYT: Well, D.C. isn’t too far from College Park and there’s tons of stuff to do here. Did you go out in D.C. at all?
BU:No. We just stayed in the studio and recorded.
BYT: I think you’ve spawned a lot of imitators. Young kids with emo bands with really long song titles. And let’s be honest – most of them aren’t gonna make it. What’s your advice to young(er) bands?
BU:Just keep playing. I think we’re a lot better now than we used to be just from practice. If you enjoy it then you’ll probably keep doing it. I mean, look, I know we’re really lucky and we’ve had success and that’s not the typical experience. I feel like people should know that too.
BYT: How about your stage show? Has that changed? You had a big carnival or maybe circus atmosphere with performers and dancing girls.
BU:We’ve scaled back our live show a lot. It will still have a lot of fun elements but we’re more focused on the music and less on the stage show. We’re not wearing the ridiculous eye makeup anymore either.
BYT: A sad day for all of us. I, for one, enjoyed the dancing girls and the eye makeup and that much-maligned exclamation point. But, hey, things change. See the less exclamatory but still fun Panic at the Disco tonight at Constitution Hall.
All I got from this article was condescension. Way to propagate the “hipster douchebag” stereotype, BYT.
April 30, 2008 at 11:45 amthe big problem with this band is they are over produced.
if they didn’t have such a radio ready sound and the singer pulled back on his goat bleating style i would probably like them. the egdes, if any, are too polished and smooth.
i’d like to hear what they could do with a four track.
Aren’t these the scrote-douches who never heard of the Beatles or something?
Of course no one has heard of the Tielman Brothers, who, were they not brown, no one would have heard of the Beatles, and probably the Stones.
April 30, 2008 at 2:05 pmWhite boys who should have been spanked as children.
This shit makes me gag.
April 30, 2008 at 2:26 pmlol panic at the disco
April 30, 2008 at 2:36 pmits like, you guys posted this article maybe to make fun of a “fake” band or whatever.
and then like, you really get behind this new quasi’post punk music that is equally as contrived. and throw dance parties that seriously STILL play those old joy division songs…and
im just like…i dunno. what else should i expect from this website i guess. i guess it claims to be more than it really is…it claims to have am interest in art. but i think its really just about playing it safe until youre thirty, and fabricating a young wild youth for you to remember and embellish.
April 30, 2008 at 3:31 pmor maybe … you shouldn’t read too much into a 200 word interview.
the band is passing through town.
people like them.
we spoke to them for 10 minutes.
done.
sometimes, that is REALLY all there is to it.
I did this interview. The band was really busy and some of the initial interview answers had to be scrubbed by their PR. For the record, i loved their first album, have hung out with them and think their great guys with some great songs. I’m not sure why this is getting labelled “hipster snobbery”. I’m too old to be hip, too middle class to be a snob and I really like Panic at the Disco.
April 30, 2008 at 8:01 pmI don’t see how this is making fun of them. They answered the questions in about the most boring manner possible.
I mean come on: “I liked London.” Then the question about the new album and “nothing in particular.”
Christ. There’s a whole hell of a lot of things BYT likes which I think suck and am not quiet about it but to try to call them out on what was a shitty interview because the dummy giving it seems retarded isn’t a leap I’d make.
April 30, 2008 at 8:27 pm
i wish i could hate them, but they are just so damn catchy.
April 30, 2008 at 11:08 am