Brendon Urie - Panic! At The Disco (28/01/2014)
Six short, beer-drenched and volunteer-music-journalism-laced years ago, a local community television station gave a handful of eager young folks and myself a chance to shoot an interview with Panic! At The Disco vocalist Brendon Urie, and now ex-bassist Jon Walker. Tucked somewhere in the labyrinthine back rooms of Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, Urie proved the more talkative and ebullient of the two as they discussed their classic-pop-inspired second studio album Pretty. Odd.
Over a decade-and-a-half later, nothing in the way of enthusiasm seems to have changed. Patched down the line from a destination I fail to query, the recently married front man is open and excitable from go-to-whoa in discussing his band’s latest album Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!, the workings behind their trademark musical eclecticism, and the trepadatious prospect of being a Dad.
“Oh jeez, kids… Yeah, I don’t know about kids! I have nine or ten nieces and nephews collectively, so that’s enough. I get to be like the cool uncle and then not have to worry about disciplining them, changing diapers, or any of that shit (laughs). I kind of prefer that.”
It’s tricky to pin Panic’s heavily electronic Too Rare… as a musical departure when the band are yet to truly arrive at a consistent sound across their four very different studio offerings. Infamously blending a myriad of styles across their music, Brendan explains as to whether or not there is a conscious effort behind constructing an entirely new noise for each release.
“Honestly, I get bored pretty easily of repeating sounds or songs. I like surprising myself and keeping the recording process exciting. I think a way to do that is try something you’ve never tried before. It’s always a challenge, but the end gain or reward is so much greater. It just ends up being way more exciting, and it definitely happened again this time around, I’m super proud of this album.”
With a new direction of musical venture taken for each release, Panic’s live sets tend to draw predominant influence from that on which they are currently creatively focussed. Brendon elaborates on how the new material has affected their live sound.
“We’ve kind of gone back to how (songs) sound on the record. Songs evolve so much live when you play them, so a lot of times I forgot how it actually sounded on the record. I had to go back and listen, and be like “Oh shit! I was doing this melody completely different!”.
“We play a couple of songs from Pretty. Odd., and try to do a mixture of all four albums, really. We’re playing, like, twenty songs. There’s six new ones, we try and do a good mix, and keep the energy pretty high for the live show so we make people super tired!”
With new material inevitably comes new criticism, and Panic! At The Disco are no strangers to naysayers.
“From the first record critics had a bad taste in their mouth about us. They were like “Oh, they’re these fuckin’ little, spoiled bastards who made a record”, and didn’t really know much about us. We were kind of the under dogs, but not in the best way at all. I think a lot of people hatred it because we were young, and a part of this scene called ‘emo’.”
“We kind of got a bad rap, but I never took it to heart, honestly. I never let it get me down or anything. I kind of accepted the challenge, like “Well fuck you! I’m gonna keep doing what I’m gonna do”. If I really let it affect me they would have won, so I just don’t give a shit. Now if they love it or they hate it then I’m doing a good job! If someone’s just like “Oh, the record’s okay”, then I’m not doing my job. I like to polarize people for sure.”
Rapidly changing sound aside, a history of intelligent and well constructed lyrics have also long since set Brendan and his band apart from countless flash-in-the-plan ‘emo’ bands that died off many moons ago. Quotes from modern and classical literature regularly appear in Panic liners, and with Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! taken verbatim from Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Brendan elaborates on how outside sources make their way in to his creative process.
“I didn’t really have an album title when all the songs were done, and I was really struggling with it. I was actually watching (Fear and Loathing…) the movie. I have read the book, but I was just so tired, so I just spent a day getting high and watching movies. Then Jonny Depp said that line and I was like “Holy fuck, that’s kind of sweet”. I told our management and they were cool with it, so it just kind of worked out, y’know?”
“Sometimes I will try to work in a quote I thought was cool from a book or a movie, and sometimes that’ll start a song off. It makes it more strong if you have a really colourful title. Makes it awesome!”
In keeping with influences, Brendon freely discusses what has recently inspired him, and his positive take on the future of music in general.
“There’s all kinds of stuff that inspires, like new music. Lately I’ve been kind of stoked on just how music is going in general. Pop music especially. It’s getting so different and I love it. I love hip hop, I love pop music, I love rock music. I love how a lot of stuff is changing the rules and changing the boundaries of song writing, and what that genre can be.”
“This generation is coming up with dub step and moombathon, all this cool fuckin’ shit! I really love that stuff. I love how it’s still progressing, and music is still surviving, art’s still surviving. Fashion included, all that stuff is still thriving and I think it bodes well for the future. A really good future is ahead of us for art.”
As a man who so regularly changes up what he’s trying to create, the Las Vegas born Urie discusses finding the boundaries of where Panic! At The Disco ends, and something entirely different begins.
“I try to incorporate as many genres as I can! My ADHD just wants me to do it (laughs). On this record we have a couple of songs that incorporate some of those (dub step) synths in there. I think for the most part it’s not necessarily if a song is too far removed, but if it’s not as exciting as the other songs. The most exciting songs we have to me end up on the album. I write fifteen or sixteen, sometimes twenty songs about one theme once I get it going for an album, then the best ten or eleven make it on the album.”
“This time around it was (solely) writing for the album. I’d been writing for a while, and had three or four demos that I really loved, and thought “Okay, this is how I want to start the album for sure!”. They all had this central theme of growing up and things I’d gone through around Vegas. I really wanted to attack that because I hadn’t yet, so I was able to approach song writing in that form.”
“For this record everything was written for the album, nothing was plucked from an old place, or something laying around. Whereas past albums been, like our last album Vices And Virtues, I had a couple ideas laying in a hard drive and was like “Oh, I could write something based off of this. This is a good part”. Everything for this album was written fresh and new."
Touring with Soundwave festival in 2014, it’s easy to see how Panic! At The Disco are definitely in the minority amidst the slew of far heavier hardcore/ metal bands that dominate the line up. Brendon is excitedly clear that he thrives on elitists and who may wish him harm from the crowd.
“I hope we have that! I’ll show them my metal skills, man! I’ll fucking bust out the Cannibal Corpse like [puts on commanding metal growl] “FUCK YOU GUYS!”. It’ll be heavy as shit. I’ll do it all, I don’t give a shit! I fucking love haters, I mean I got fucking bottled at a festival on our first time over in The U.K. You can’t fucking bring me down, dude! Say whatever you want, attack me however you want, I’m still better than you. I’m still in this band and I still fucking love what I do!”
“I love it, everybody on this bill for Soundwave makes me so excited! I love metal, I love punk music. I saw Green Day’s playing, and I was like “Fuck yeah!” Placebo’s playing? Fuck yeah! All these cool metal bands, I’m gonna see all these mother fuckers! I’m gonna be there head banging the fuck out of it!”
Todd Gingell
Over a decade-and-a-half later, nothing in the way of enthusiasm seems to have changed. Patched down the line from a destination I fail to query, the recently married front man is open and excitable from go-to-whoa in discussing his band’s latest album Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!, the workings behind their trademark musical eclecticism, and the trepadatious prospect of being a Dad.
“Oh jeez, kids… Yeah, I don’t know about kids! I have nine or ten nieces and nephews collectively, so that’s enough. I get to be like the cool uncle and then not have to worry about disciplining them, changing diapers, or any of that shit (laughs). I kind of prefer that.”
It’s tricky to pin Panic’s heavily electronic Too Rare… as a musical departure when the band are yet to truly arrive at a consistent sound across their four very different studio offerings. Infamously blending a myriad of styles across their music, Brendan explains as to whether or not there is a conscious effort behind constructing an entirely new noise for each release.
“Honestly, I get bored pretty easily of repeating sounds or songs. I like surprising myself and keeping the recording process exciting. I think a way to do that is try something you’ve never tried before. It’s always a challenge, but the end gain or reward is so much greater. It just ends up being way more exciting, and it definitely happened again this time around, I’m super proud of this album.”
With a new direction of musical venture taken for each release, Panic’s live sets tend to draw predominant influence from that on which they are currently creatively focussed. Brendon elaborates on how the new material has affected their live sound.
“We’ve kind of gone back to how (songs) sound on the record. Songs evolve so much live when you play them, so a lot of times I forgot how it actually sounded on the record. I had to go back and listen, and be like “Oh shit! I was doing this melody completely different!”.
“We play a couple of songs from Pretty. Odd., and try to do a mixture of all four albums, really. We’re playing, like, twenty songs. There’s six new ones, we try and do a good mix, and keep the energy pretty high for the live show so we make people super tired!”
With new material inevitably comes new criticism, and Panic! At The Disco are no strangers to naysayers.
“From the first record critics had a bad taste in their mouth about us. They were like “Oh, they’re these fuckin’ little, spoiled bastards who made a record”, and didn’t really know much about us. We were kind of the under dogs, but not in the best way at all. I think a lot of people hatred it because we were young, and a part of this scene called ‘emo’.”
“We kind of got a bad rap, but I never took it to heart, honestly. I never let it get me down or anything. I kind of accepted the challenge, like “Well fuck you! I’m gonna keep doing what I’m gonna do”. If I really let it affect me they would have won, so I just don’t give a shit. Now if they love it or they hate it then I’m doing a good job! If someone’s just like “Oh, the record’s okay”, then I’m not doing my job. I like to polarize people for sure.”
Rapidly changing sound aside, a history of intelligent and well constructed lyrics have also long since set Brendan and his band apart from countless flash-in-the-plan ‘emo’ bands that died off many moons ago. Quotes from modern and classical literature regularly appear in Panic liners, and with Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! taken verbatim from Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Brendan elaborates on how outside sources make their way in to his creative process.
“I didn’t really have an album title when all the songs were done, and I was really struggling with it. I was actually watching (Fear and Loathing…) the movie. I have read the book, but I was just so tired, so I just spent a day getting high and watching movies. Then Jonny Depp said that line and I was like “Holy fuck, that’s kind of sweet”. I told our management and they were cool with it, so it just kind of worked out, y’know?”
“Sometimes I will try to work in a quote I thought was cool from a book or a movie, and sometimes that’ll start a song off. It makes it more strong if you have a really colourful title. Makes it awesome!”
In keeping with influences, Brendon freely discusses what has recently inspired him, and his positive take on the future of music in general.
“There’s all kinds of stuff that inspires, like new music. Lately I’ve been kind of stoked on just how music is going in general. Pop music especially. It’s getting so different and I love it. I love hip hop, I love pop music, I love rock music. I love how a lot of stuff is changing the rules and changing the boundaries of song writing, and what that genre can be.”
“This generation is coming up with dub step and moombathon, all this cool fuckin’ shit! I really love that stuff. I love how it’s still progressing, and music is still surviving, art’s still surviving. Fashion included, all that stuff is still thriving and I think it bodes well for the future. A really good future is ahead of us for art.”
As a man who so regularly changes up what he’s trying to create, the Las Vegas born Urie discusses finding the boundaries of where Panic! At The Disco ends, and something entirely different begins.
“I try to incorporate as many genres as I can! My ADHD just wants me to do it (laughs). On this record we have a couple of songs that incorporate some of those (dub step) synths in there. I think for the most part it’s not necessarily if a song is too far removed, but if it’s not as exciting as the other songs. The most exciting songs we have to me end up on the album. I write fifteen or sixteen, sometimes twenty songs about one theme once I get it going for an album, then the best ten or eleven make it on the album.”
“This time around it was (solely) writing for the album. I’d been writing for a while, and had three or four demos that I really loved, and thought “Okay, this is how I want to start the album for sure!”. They all had this central theme of growing up and things I’d gone through around Vegas. I really wanted to attack that because I hadn’t yet, so I was able to approach song writing in that form.”
“For this record everything was written for the album, nothing was plucked from an old place, or something laying around. Whereas past albums been, like our last album Vices And Virtues, I had a couple ideas laying in a hard drive and was like “Oh, I could write something based off of this. This is a good part”. Everything for this album was written fresh and new."
Touring with Soundwave festival in 2014, it’s easy to see how Panic! At The Disco are definitely in the minority amidst the slew of far heavier hardcore/ metal bands that dominate the line up. Brendon is excitedly clear that he thrives on elitists and who may wish him harm from the crowd.
“I hope we have that! I’ll show them my metal skills, man! I’ll fucking bust out the Cannibal Corpse like [puts on commanding metal growl] “FUCK YOU GUYS!”. It’ll be heavy as shit. I’ll do it all, I don’t give a shit! I fucking love haters, I mean I got fucking bottled at a festival on our first time over in The U.K. You can’t fucking bring me down, dude! Say whatever you want, attack me however you want, I’m still better than you. I’m still in this band and I still fucking love what I do!”
“I love it, everybody on this bill for Soundwave makes me so excited! I love metal, I love punk music. I saw Green Day’s playing, and I was like “Fuck yeah!” Placebo’s playing? Fuck yeah! All these cool metal bands, I’m gonna see all these mother fuckers! I’m gonna be there head banging the fuck out of it!”
Todd Gingell