"Retooled Panic! at the Disco finds musical freedom"

[06-02-2011] M LIVE

Cinema has been key to the seven-year history of the pop band Panic! at the Disco, as seen in the videos for songs such as "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" and "Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off."

Drummer Spencer Smith said fans can expect nothing less when the retooled Panic! at the Disco hits The Fillmore Detroit stage on Saturday.

"I think we're such big fans of film and it's something that we have always loved and sometimes used as inspiration for the music," Smith told The Flint Journal.

"Doing the stage shows and doing the videos, obviously the music it comes first and the music has to be there. Once you're done with the record and you move on to the really fun stuff that we love to do, we're always referencing different film and different movies for our videos or for our stage set. It's something that definitely plays a big part in our music."

That theme is followed on its third album, 2011's "Vices and Virtues," which debuted at No. 7 on The Billboard 200 album chart. The first single, "The Ballad of Mona Lisa," picks up where the songs "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" and "Nine in the Afternoon" left off. It is the first album for Smith and lead singer Brendon Urie since the departure of fellow original members Ryan Ross (guitar) and Jon Walker (bass). Smith explained the shakeup was a positive thing.

"Coming from going through a change in the lineup, we knew we had the opportunity to do anything we wanted," he said. "Even though it was still Panic, it felt like a fresh start. We knew the fans would sort of see it that way as well.

Smith stopped short of calling Panic! at the Disco a duo as the band has been performing with bassist Dallon Weekes, formerly of The Brobecks, and Ian Crawford, ex-member of The Cab.

"It's kind of up in the air," he said. "We've been playing with the same two friends of ours since the split. For the most part, it was initially started as they were going to play with us live. We knew that we were going to write this record by ourselves. We always wanted to leave the possibility open to work with other people.

“Now as we go on tour, I think we're going to start writing demos. We're fans of a lot of what they've done in the past.”

Panic! at the Disco recently received mainstream exposure when, with cartoonish costumes, Mark Ballas and Chelsea Kane danced to "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" on "Dancing with the Stars." They were chided for their adventurous attitude, but Smith got a kick out of it.

Smith, who spoke to The Flint Journal prior to the tour, guarantees that the Panic! at the Disco show will be a fun thing to watch. The band will serve up a collection of old and new material during its 90-minute set.

"It's going to be interesting putting a set list together," he said. "There are a couple songs on the new record that we definitely want to play that are pretty different than some of the older stuff ... I think we'll have a pretty good mix of all three records.”


- Christina Fuoco Karasinski