cameron james sado

969 Razer Interview (Part 1) (2006)

Is Brendon a virgin?    

Ryan: “NOT ANYMORE.”

How do they feel about being sex symbols?

Ryan: “I dunno, I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror, and I was like SHIT.”

The Killers vs. P!ATD

Pete Wentz had a bit of a feud with The Killers in late 2005–2006 and Panic! at the Disco got dragged into it even though they didn’t do anything. Brandon Flowers seemed like he was mostly trying to get at Pete by going after his babies. Here are some interview quotes & stuff from this season…

The article above is from NME in spring 2006. I remember Pete’s posts happening in September 2005, but I thought it was on like his journal or the FOB journal (Q Magazine reported that it was on Pete’s blog, so journalist explanations were all over the map). Anyways, he said “It’s funny the way you talk about sharing an A&R guy like it matters.” 

part of Pete’s post on 9/23/05: i hope none of THE OTHER las vegas BANDs get jealous that there is another gem out in the middle of the desert… bloom. come to life. picked from the stem. FUCKing wasting my time on FLOWERS.

pete’s 10/5/06 post: there is no beef. just seitan. just getting rattled over nothing. get down with the sickness.just too much make up and no hearts just egos on the sleeves over here in fall out boy land. the new panic record hypes itself, so i will shut my damn mouth.“a kid who tells on another kid is a dead kid”.- petey

Some interview quotes from P!ATD

Spencer in a fall 2005 interview: “There was actually another interview I did a week ago where somebody asked if we thought we were the next Killers, and we get that all the time. It’s kind of weird, and kind of laughable that what city you’re from—especially a city like Las Vegas where not a lot of bands over the past three years have really come out and done well—it’s kind of weird to think that people honestly give that a thought, and maybe go ‘Oh, you’re from Las Vegas? You must sound like the Killers.’”

Ryan in early 2006: “Pete kind of threw us into the middle of that one. It really didn’t have anything to do with us, because we don’t hate the Killers or anything like that.”

Rolling Stone to Ryan: Are you friends with the Killers? They’re from Vegas. Ryan: I’ve never met them…

NME (spring 2006):  Didn’t Wentz drag you into his feud with Brandon Flowers? We didn’t really have anything to do with that,’ says Ryan nervously. “That’s just how he is – people either love or hate Pete. We happen to love him. He’s always been there for us.’ ‘Uh-huh,’ begins Brendon. ‘There aren’t many label bosses in this country who’ll take a call at 3am.’

Pete told MTV in April that he’d like to go out to dinner with Brandon and make peace. This did not happen lol.

Here’s an excerpt from the July 2006 NME magazine that I scanned the cover from above:

“All those bands, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, they’re only influenced by each other,” says Dave. “Each other and Blink-182. How can that be a good thing?!”

“You don’t realize what you could be getting yourselves into with Fall Out Boy and what kind of impact it could have in a way that you don’t really want,” warns Brandon… “Culturally, if it gets as big as it is in America, it could change an entire generation of people growing up here. Emo, pop-punk — whatever you want to call it — is dangerous. We don’t wanna dislike anyone, and we’ve still never met Fall Out Boy, but there’s a creature inside me that wants to beat all those bands to death. They just all go into the happy-emo funnel and everyone loves ‘em without thinking.”

Pete Wentz responded to that article by saying: “Honestly, I like Brandon a lot from what I’ve read in interviews. He’s sharp. I don’t think people would take as much notice if he wasn’t. I respect that. I kinda like how he called Fall Out Boy ‘dangerous’… I kind of think of it this way: How could you feel like a superhero if you didn’t have an arch-nemesis?”

Some of P!ATD’s next interview quotes (from multiple magazines):

Brendon Urie: "I think that’s probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life. I think that’s stupid. We’re probably the most innocent, least threatening people that I know. That’s funny, I think. I’ll agree with them, sure — I’m dangerous.”

Brendon: “We’re really harmless and innocent in a way. It’s a shame that he (Flowers) feels that way really.”

Spencer: “I would highly doubt that any members of The Killers has been to one of our shows. I doubt that they’ve listened to our CD straight through, like we have theirs. I’ve seen their band live, we’re putting on more of a show than they have ever put on.”

Brendon: “I won’t say that I hate them as people because I’ve never met them. And I’m still a fan of their album, but I’ll say that it’s very disheartening to hear that they don’t like our band for these reasons, and that they talk so much shit.”

Ryan: “I don’t understand why Brandon Flowers keeps taking shots at us. Maybe he feels threatened, but he seems to be doing just fine on his own. It’s pretty dumb. I mean, we’re from the same town, and we’ve never met him. His comments don’t really bother me, I’m just curious as to why he puts so much effort into talking sh—.”

Dose (a Canadian magazine) asked Brendon Urie who would win in a cage fight if they fought The Killers: ”Our drummer is a big fan of WWF, so he knows a lot of moves. That could be dangerous right there.”

Brandon Flowers in July 2006 to AOL Music:

“I’d like to take it all back. These people are just doing what they want to do, just like I am. I’m actually a nice person and I love people. I just am opinionated, and sometimes jealous. It’s not something I’m proud of…  I don’t even know what [P!ATD’S] music’s like, or if I would even like it. That made me feel even worse, to think they could have been fans of ours and I hurt their feelings. That’s just stupid.”

Spencer to NME in October 2006: 

“The whole feud thing was odd because we’ve never even met them. I still like The Killers and would like to meet anybody in the band. A year ago they were the big hot band from Vegas and a year later we’re the big hot band, and I think he said in his apology that he was jealous.”

Those are just some of the mentions in print interviews… and that doesn’t include video or radio interviews, but hopefully it gives a general idea of what P!ATD was facing. This happened as they were first entering the public eye, so it did lump them in with Fall Out Boy even more and created a particular image.

The feud between The Killers and Fall Out Boy was brought up yet again in a 2008 Q Magazine interview with The Killers. Brandon Flowers replied that that dispute “ended up being in bad taste in so many ways. It wasn’t a good look for us. It also associated us with bands we didn’t want to be associated with. We’ve moved on.”

The story of how Panic! at the Disco was conceived has been told in several different ways that allude to the truth—albeit slightly incomplete— with details shifting between each telling of the tale. To be brief, former founding member and lyricist of Panic! at the Disco, Ryan Ross, somehow made online contact with infamous bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy; this quickly led to Wentz signing Panic! and their overnight superstardom. However, the details behind how they made contact, and what was said, are eternally changing and never told quite the same way twice.

Totaling nearly 14,000 words and citing from (roughly) 200 sources, this leviathan of a dissertation will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the origins of Panic! at the Disco—and that first fateful meeting between two of the most influential poets in emo-rock history. 🌹📚🎪

Read the full essay here.

A Tumblr post reviewing a recent Panic! at the Disco concert, which has amassed over 15,000 notes, alleges that “It was just awful… It was like watching an elderly dog. We were like, he needs to be put down for his own good.” Panic! at the Disco— once an emo-rock four-piece— has become the pop-oriented solo endeavor of its single remaining member, Brendon Urie. Fan favor of Urie—the singular mind behind the current iteration of the group— appears to be low. One Tumblr user, in a post that has amassed over 40,000 notes, describes modern Panic! at the Disco as sounding like a “rejected Imagine Dragons guitar track with a thousand horns added on top.” Another post, which has over 15,000 notes, reads, “We should’ve killed Brendon Urie in 2013 when he called Fiona Apple a bitch.” A final Tumblr post, with 3,000 notes, simply reads, “Brendon Urie is a domestic terrorist.”

So, how did we get here?

In the words of MTV writer James Montgomery, “The history of Panic! at the Disco is a complicated one, filled with firings and departures…”. To be more precise, vocalist Brendon Urie slowly became the sole creative contributor to Panic! at the Disco. But beyond mere sonic shake-ups, the dicey circumstances under which each member vanished from Panic! form a clear and rather unflattering pattern.

To understand what happened to Panic! at the Disco, we must return to the very beginning of these alterations— that of Brent Wilson’s removal from the band.

One might wonder why a story so incredibly niche is even remotely relevant, especially sixteen years later. But what happened to Wilson—or, at the very least, many similar aspects of what occurred—would repeat itself again and again, the band cannibalizing itself until only one member was left standing. The curious case of Brent Wilson, in all its obscurity, serves as the first instance of this cannibalization. Thus, by understanding Brent Wilson, we can better understand how and why things went so wrong with the band. So, let’s begin.

THE CABIN IN MT. CHARLESTON

here’s more about the cabin album specifically

The cabin season began around the start of March. (The guys were estimating dates by 2008, so I’m only looking at the info that we had while the actual events were happening: Brendon said at the end of January that he’d be meeting up with the band in about a month, Jon posted on February 19th that he’d be living with the other guys in a house within the next couple weeks to write music, and Ryan posted on February 27th that he would be meeting up with the band in a few days at the cabin to begin working on songs).

Ryan said they went to the cabin to avoid distractions. Some articles made it sound like the band was isolated in a tiny rustic cabin in the wilderness for 2 months straight, but that definitely wasn’t the case. The cabin was huge, the band left many times, and people visited them as well. I guess perspective matters here… Ryan said they sometimes wouldn’t leave the cabin or see anyone else for 4-5 days. Someone who experienced 2020 would probably roll their eyes like that’s nbd, but it was a drastic switch for a band that was used to being together in the midst of a very busy, long run of touring where they’d see thousands of people and several states/countries in 4-5 days. The guys talked about losing their minds in isolation at the cabin. 

The band wasn’t completely cut off from the world, though. I just really want to make that clear because I think some fanfics might have given people the wrong idea haha. Shane was at the cabin to document stuff, Eric visited them, Shane filmed a music video for Eric there, Rock Sound said the guys went skiing, a few international magazines did photoshoots, random friends visited, the band left to see The Cab’s show, Brendon talked about going home to eat meals with his family sometimes, Shane filmed a music video at the cabin with P!ATD & The Cab (here’s more about that), Jon was in Chicago in mid-April, and Brendon & Ryan might have been spotted at Jet Nightclub in Vegas a few days earlier with Pete & Ashlee. Ryan later talked about how all four guys also went camping at Red Rock Canyon with some friends this spring… he said they had a bonfire and slept outside. Brendon mentioned to Kerrang this year that he loved camping and could easily live in the rough for a week.

Brendon told a journalist this spring that Spencer & Jon took turns cooking at the cabin and the band walked over to the lodge for a meal everyday. Ryan mentioned that last part in another interview too and added that there was still snow on the ground. They also had to leave their cabin for 4 days each month because someone else needed to rent it. 

THE ATLANTA SHOW

On March 27th the band posted “Hey Everybody, so we really didn’t expect to do anything like this until we were done writing and out of the studio, but we just decided to play a show in Atlanta this Friday March 30th. The best part is, it’s a free show. It’s the kick off for the NCAA Final Four Weekend in Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. The event starts around 7pm, were on closer to 9, and there are gonna be fireworks as well.”

Here’s my tag for that event and then here’s a playlist with some of the videos that are left. Zack had the video of the band on the plane ride to Atlanta on his youtube, but I heard Shane filmed it. Zack also uploaded this clip of Spencer from this trip.

Brendon did a solo version of Round Here for the Atlanta show, which was all sorts of emotional… I loved that cover in spring 2006. The band also brought back their Karma Police cover. Here’s a rough idea of how the show went.

side story: the book club members were super grateful that Ryan had started that club, but they didn’t have a way to contact him or let him know. (the girl who ran the club now did have a way to contact the band, but she seemed like she wouldn’t abuse that privilege just to chat). Stephanie was super involved in the book club and shared a story from the Atlanta show about how she and a couple other girls were walking somewhere after the fireworks and saw the band. The guys kept walking as Brendon paused to explain they couldn’t stop for pictures… then Stephanie yelled to Ryan in the distance to thank him for the book club. He waved, so he totally heard her. This letter from the book club to the band briefly mentions the same moment.

Anyways, Shane filmed the Atlanta show and then some of his pictures were added to a photo album a few days later for this specific event (but that felt way different from how Jon had run monthly photo albums in summer & fall 2006 with some of his own pictures). The band mentioned during an interview in Atlanta that they’d be at the cabin for another month before leaving for Los Angeles.

THE TRANSITION FROM THE CABIN TO LOS ANGELES

The band headed to the LA / North Hollywood / Burbank area by early May to record their demos (I heard they were at Fairfax Studios but idk for sure). Jon said they lived in some run-down apartments. Pete Wentz later talked about Ryan living with him while the band worked on the second album. I don’t know for sure that he was talking about May 2007… just saying it makes sense that it would’ve been while the band was in LA instead of Vegas.

There were pictures of the band at a Cinco de Mayo party at Pete’s house, a fan ran into Brendon & Jon at Six Flags, and the guys were spotted in other parts of the LA area in early May too. It looked like Shane went with them to document more stuff. Some of his pictures from the band’s whole writing process were shared at the end of May. Fans were updated on May 29th that the band was finishing up writing and would begin recording in a few weeks. The album’s expected release was early September by this point. MTV had shared some news during the second week of May that P!ATD had written 8 songs for their untitled second album so far and were slated to begin tracking on June 1st, with no specific release date set yet.

The band seemed to consider their time in LA as an extension of the cabin season, so I’m lumping it all together too. This led to some confusion for journalists, though. (Example: sometimes the band said they were in the cabin for 2 months, but other times they said 3-5 months because they were maybe considering their individual work towards the start of the year and/or the time in LA… or they were just estimating dates ha. So all of their contradictory statements aren’t as confusing as they might seem). However, idk whether or not they were still in LA throughout June. Here’s what I do know about June:

The guys said in a couple interviews that they spent a month in LA. They were definitely there in early May.

Jon was back in Chicago in early June. He joined FOB onstage at their June 11th concert (most people just talked about his drastic haircut & lack of a beard).

Brendon & Ryan did an acoustic set with Mark Hoppus for FOB’s Vegas show on June 24th. Shane filmed this too. Ryan also came out to do his solo with Fall Out Boy! Here’s a tag for that whole event. 

Brendon was in LA when he got the last-minute call to fly to Vegas for that June 24th show.

Ryan said in an interview towards the start of August that the band had moved out of LA about a month earlier.

So… most of the time it sounded like they were maybe still doing stuff in LA in June but I’m not certain about anything. Thankfully events became very clear & well-documented by the second week of July when they scrapped the album and started over in Vegas.

OTHER RANDOM EVENTS FROM MARCH – JUNE

here’s a tag for misc pictures that includes January & February too. 

By the end of March the band had picked Rob Mathes as their producer, but he wasn’t confirmed yet. There was also a rumor that Muse was producing the album.

Ryan got Hobo, who showed up in the band’s pictures. Some fans honestly believed the rumor that the new puppy was named “Wedding” lol (because Ryan’s previous beagle was named “Shotgun”). Ryan said that Spencer’s mom helped look after his dog when he was busy.

Brendon’s birthday happened. Pete’s journal post said “also, happy birthday brendon urie. congratulations on turning 16!” Here’s one of the fan projects for his birthday.

Fans were already doing a lot of projects for the band this year, but it really escalated once people saw that Brendon was so kind about thanking fans for his gift (and Keltie also acknowledged the Valentine’s scrapbook on behalf of Ryan). People were trying to send chocolates, drawings, videos & attempts at songs, binders of poems, a “victorian” scrapbook for Ryan (just in case the other one had grown old by now?), yet another scrapbook, cards with a random thought that you were supposed to tape a penny onto, a fan cookbook, and just a ton of stuff ok. There was even a project to celebrate the anniversary of Jon joining the band.

P!ATD’s live cover of “Tonight, Tonight” was added to their myspace around May (probably to hype the Smashing Pumpkins tribute cd they were on that summer… it was a myspace/Helio thing that was available in a Spin magazine around late June / early July).

Brendon, Ryan, Shane, and Jacob were at the opening of the Pearl Theater at the Palms on April 21st.

Brendon went with Shane to watch Ian audition for The Cab… I think that was this spring? not sure.

Brendon & Ryan got tattoos so therefore some people assumed Spencer did too. Brendon’s was in April but I think Ryan’s happened a little later. Thomas Dutton introduced Ryan to Tom Waits in spring 2006 and Ryan later said he’d been considering getting the tattoos ever since then. 

Angels & Kings opened around early May. Other Decaydance bands invested in it, but the P!ATD guys weren’t old enough to legally own a bar yet. The “Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks” drink still sounded fitting, though… it had Johnnie Walker Black:

People.com listed Brendon as a single version of Pete Wentz lol.

Brendon was still talking about how much Freddie Mercury inspired him.

someone posted this as a myspace bulletin from the band in May.

there was a rumor that the band would have a song called “I Will Kill You” on the new soundtrack for The Simpsons Movie.

Fans online continued to freak out over the same few things: Ryan is still very skinny, Jon wears sandals, Keltie exists, the boys need to shave, yes everyone KNOWS Ryden is not real thanks but it’s an adorable idea so here’s 500 fanfics & bad manips, etc etc (I thought this was the funniest video). And then this video is a good example of the focus on the band’s facial hair haha.

I think Paulina’s birthday was sometime around this season… I heard she had a “P” themed party so Panic! at the Disco performed.

the P!ATD guys were in this Gym Class Heroes video and this video for The Cab too.

FBR+ became a thing and they had Live in Denver on the site (although a lot of us still just called it “the dvd”):