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Brendon Interview
Here's an interview with Brendon from when they were in Brazil back in November. Keep in mind that it went from English-Portuguese-English.
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It’s not easy being in front of a band who said goodbye to half of its members not too long ago. Just ask Brendon Urie, the singer of Panic! At The Disco. He swears the exit of guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker, in July 2009, was in good terms, “with no drama”. And like that, he’s been living under a new perspective, like the title of their new single. Brendon told us how he’s writing without the help of Panic!’s formers members, his love for surfing, making new friends and the taste of beer before a show. Cheers to the new Panic!
Let’s talk about the exit of Ryan Ross and Jon Walker. Why did they leave the band?
Brendon: It was an entirely musical decision. We thought about it for a year. We wanted to do different things regarding our sound. We all agreed: ”Ryan and Jon want to do this and Spencer and I will keep doing the Panic thing”. It was a mutual agreement. Couldn’t have been better. There was no drama and we’re still friends.
Ryan and Jon have another band now, The Young Veins. Have you heard their songs?
Only a couple of demos, they’re cool. I consider myself a big fan of Ryan’s ability to write. It won’t surprise me if it turns out to be something really creative. He’s talented. He and Jon will do great.
You still keep in touch?
We exchange text messages sometimes. I talked to Jon a few weeks ago about getting together for a drink, to hang out... They were finalizing the album and getting ready for a tour. We were also getting ready to come to Brazil and start on the next album. It’s hard to get together because of our schedules. But we’ll do that soon.
Is it true the new Panic! album will be released at the beginning of 2010?
That’s what we’re hoping for. We don’t want it to come out much later than that.
What are you doing at the moment?
We’re writing. We have 14 songs. It’s different from our other albums, back then we wanted to write enough songs for an album. Now, we have more songs to choose from, to pick the best ones…
How’s the writing process without Ryan and Jon?
It’s a different situation. We’ve been recording with our friend, John Feldmann. We’re going to work hard in the next few months to try and finish everything as soon as possible.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I spent some time with our friend Shane in California at the beginning of the year. We started surfing months ago and we had fun. I loved it because I’ve wanted to surf since I was a kid. I used to listen to Sublime when I was nine, I loved reggae. I felt like I was a “beach’s rat”, that it was where I should be. I just bought a bicycle, I hadn’t ridden a bicycle since I was 10 or 11 years old. It’s been really fun.
You’ve played big festivals like Lollapalooza, the Warped Tour… How are things backstage? Do you talk to other bands?
Sometimes. If we know the band we’ll go out together. Usually we just talk to each other, make jokes or something to warm up, have a beer… In good spirits to get on stage with a lot of energy. [laughs]
New Perspective, from the Jennifer’s Body soundtrack, is about a dream you had?
Yes. It’s about when I was in Las Vegas with my dog Humphrey Bogart. I’d spend the whole day with him. At night, I’d relax with him and have a drink. I passed out and had an intense vivid dream. I only remembered part of it and wrote it down. I wrote some words and changed it a bit to get the right vibe. Then I played in on the acoustic guitar and wrote the first verse in half an hour. Spencer and I sat down and finished the song. At the time we were working with John Feldmann, who recorded the song. That was the first song we worked on together, we got his vibe. That was how we became such good friends. It was fun because that was the first time me and Spencer wrote a song away from Ryan and Jon. It felt weird, but cool.
-- The Return of the Exclamation Mark --
Brendon explains the return of the exclamation mark to the band’s name in July of this year: “We missed it. It was funny when removed the punctuation. Then we were unsure about it: ‘Should we have done that? We liked it. Why not keep it?’ We caused a commotion by getting rid of it. People wouldn’t stop asking why. We thought it would be fun to bring it back. As if it was a big deal, but it isn’t.” [laughs]
-- Rock Love Magazine (Brazil) - December 2009 // patdonline.com