The following interview was conducted in the latter parts of 2006, and is comprised almost entirely of questions compiled from fan submissions on this very website. We want to thank the band, Panic! at the Disco, as well as their management team for helping us put this interview together.

What is with the makeup you wear during your performances on tour and other shows? Why do you feel the need to wear it?

Ryan: “I feel pretty, oh so pretty…”

Spencer: We always want our fans to be entertained and to feel like they came to see a show. What’s weird is I can’t understand why it bothers anyone.

When did the band decide to make a switch from seemingly normal clothes and nothing on stage to the costumes, makeup, and circus act? Do you ever think that the theatrics you put into your live show all of the sudden will make people think you’re a “gimmick” band? If you don’t, why isn’t it a gimmick?

Spencer: We switched when we were able to headline and control the overall show. When you’re an opening band, you have a very short set and limited stage room. You’re also not making enough to pay for gas, let alone a crew and production so it doesn’t make sense to half ass it. I don’t get why trying to do the best show possible for our fans makes us a “gimmick” band. The album doesn’t wear makeup. If you liked the album before we had make up on. Why would it suddenly become worse?

Do you ever think that the over-the-top props and add-ons will overshadow the music you’re playing on stage?

Spencer: Hopefully the music will stand up on its own. Otherwise, I’m going to need a REALLY tall drum riser and a giant fire-breathing lizard next tour.

Your initial first tour was with Acceptance and Cartel in small venues and clubs. Now you’re selling out arena tours. Which one do you like doing better if you were given the choice? Why? Would you ever go back and do a small venue tour if given the opportunity?

Spencer: We definitely like arenas better because we can put on a full show with big production. We’ve only done two headline tours so I’m sure at some point we’ll want to so something smaller.

You opted to not play Warped Tour this year. Instead you chose your own tour and Lollapalooza. What brought about that decision?

Spencer: We wanted to do a headline tour to be able to do a full show for our fans. Lollapalooza was added at the end of our tour.

Since you chose Lollapalooza, who had bands like Radiohead, Cursive and The Shins over Warped Tour who were known for featuring The Academy Is.. Underoath, and Motion City Soundtrack this summer, which group do you see yourselves being able to associate with more? The Lollapalooza bands and crowd or the Warped Tour bands and crowd?

Spencer: We didn’t choose Lollapalooza over Warped tour. We chose headlining over Warped. We have nothing against Warped tour, we just wanted to headline. Lollapalooza was only one date. Whoever our fans like is fine with us, as long as they like us. I don’t care if they also like the Decemberists or Britney Spears or Brand New. The bands we like are all from different scenes as well.

At the Reading and Leeds Festival in the UK, a member in the crowd threw a bottle at Brendon and hit him which resulted in him being knocked to the ground. What are your feelings and take on the incident?

Spencer: That sucked. We’re lucky he wasn’t hurt badly. Hating a band is everyone’s right but it’s not cool to throw shit on stage. It’s like throwing a suckerpunch.

During your live shows, you’ve covered Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins. You’ve also covered Queen, who’s front man, Freddie Mercury, is considered to be one of the greatest showmen in the history of rock music and hard to hold a candle to. Do you think covering these bands, who are held to such high regard, are doing them justice? Is Mercury a big influence on Brendon’s performances during shows?

Spencer: We added the covers because we only have an album worth of material and we didn’t want to shortchange our fans. We chose those songs because we love them and, hopefully, we turned some kids on to some great bands. We all love Queen but Brendon’s more influenced by Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”. He slays “Killer Queen” on Guitar Hero.

On tour, are there any special requests that you ask for backstage? Anything that you must have on the tour bus to get by each day? Are there any rituals as a band or individually that you do before/after/during shows each night?

Ryan: Capri Sun!

Jon: We are pretty low maintenance when it comes to our dressing room. pb and j, fruit, water, red bull ... all the living essentials ... we put on 90s alternative hits before the show to get warmed up. Usually we get some type of buffalo-styled chicken for after we play.

Were there any songs that didn’t make it onto A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out? If so, do you ever think they’ll see the light of day, like a possible B-sides album?

Ryan: No, I don’t like to throw things away so just we worked and re-worked each song until we were happy with it. We’re writing the new album now and I’m approaching everything the same way.

Where do you get the inspiration from for your lyrics?

Ryan: oscar wilde once said no great artist ever sees things as they really are, if he did, he would cease to be an artist, and, two things every artist should avoid are modernity of form and modernity of subject matter. I like both these ideas and so I like to start with characters and a storyline. If the characters are interesting and the storyline is strong, the lyrics start writing themselves.

You say one of your main influences are Radiohead. Where do you see them coming across in the music that you play?

Ryan: I don’t remember us saying that but if we did, what we meant was that we’re influenced by what they’ve done in creating something that’s their own rather than being influenced musically by them per se. We like a lot of bands, none of which have much in common other than they are unique unto themselves and they write great songs. So if someone asks if we’re influenced by Radiohead or Counting Crows or Third Eye Blind or Tom Waits and we say yes, it doesn’t mean we want to sound like them it just means we admire the way they do things.

Will the next record be more like the second half of your debut CD, or will there be more electronic “dancy” songs?

Ryan: We wrote “Fever” in chronological order so the next one will probably be a progression from the second half of the album. Of course, Brendon’s been in Africa for the last month and a half with Madonna trying to adopt a child so it could sound like tribal drums mashed up with like a virgin.

Are there any tentative album titles or song titles for the next record yet?

Spencer: We have a couple of possibles, “Panic! at the Disco is…Here” or “the devil and pete wentz are raging inside me” or does that give away that we think pete wentz is god? Actually, we’ve just started writing for it so we don’t have titles yet but this has me thinking…

What news can you give us about the new album you’ll be putting out? Possible recording times/length of the recording/producer selection?

Spencer: Depending on whether or not we are done with the writing, we hope to go in in May. We want the record to have 14 songs. 7 and 7, like the drink.

There are many references to the writings of Chuck Palanuhik. Was this accidental, or intentional? Have you ever been contacted from his estate for the allusions and quotes? Will this be a continued theme on the new album?

Ryan: “Time to Dance” is about a book he wrote called “Invisible Monsters” and the title of the “The Only Difference…” is from “Survivor”. They were definitely intentional and written around the time I was reading these books. No one’s called from the estate so far.

Spencer: Every lyric in “Build God” is a direct ripoff of Jurassic Park 2: the Lost World” from the director’s cut.

There are also many references found in A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out to the movie, Closer. Any personal connection or story as to why there are so many lines and references to the movie in your album?

Spencer: There are two song titles and that’s only because the quote is so long we had to break it into two (“Lying is the most fun… and But its better if you do”. It was pretty much a case of timing. We were trying to think of titles for the album and we saw Closer and liked that line-no deeper meaning than that.

What is the ideal of “making it” in the music industry to the members of Panic! At the Disco?
Is the fame you’ve achieved everything you all thought it would be?

Spencer: We never even considered we’d be famous when we were making the album so its hard to know what we thought it would be like except maybe what we saw in a Young Jeezy video.

Ryan: We didn’t want to be on the radio at first.

Who do you feel you owe most of your success to? Would you owe it to Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, the mainstream media such as radio and MTV, yourselves, or someone/something else?

Spencer: I’d like to thank members of the academy, Johnny Minardi, livejournal.com.

Ryan: It started with kids liking the songs and telling other kids about them so we pretty much owe it to them. Lots of other people helped - success has many fathers, failure many sons.

Do you feel that Brendon’s comment to MTV about emo being bullshit has alienated any of your fans who are told by the media outlets that you’re an “emo” band?

Brendon: It was NME, not MTV. NME thrives on beef. The writer spent two days with us trying to get us to talk shit about My Chem, the Killers and Fall Out Boy and what he got out of us was a quote taken out of context.

Spencer: I would hope that if someone likes our band that likes emo, they would continue to like us even if we don’t consider ourselves emo. Brendon didn’t mean emo bands are bullshit, he meant emo is a bullshit term because its so vague. Particularly in the UK, it’s used to describe too many types of bands. It’s not like Underoath and Hello Goodbye sound even remotely similar, yet they’re both called emo.

Is there a fear of possibly failing or dropping off the face of the earth with the music scene that you’re in (since the mainstream’s musical tastes and fads change every few years)?

Ryan: Our goal wasn’t to become part of the mainstream music scene so if we disappear from it but are making records we’re still proud of, I won’t consider that failing.

A lot of different bands have spoken out about you all achieving fame almost overnight instead of “paying your dues” of living in a van and eating off the 99 cent Taco Bell menu 7 days a week. How do you feel about the bands that criticize you for it? What would be your response to them?

Ryan: We still eat off the 99 cent Taco Bell menu 7 days a week.

Spencer: I eat jr bacon cheeseburgers off Wendy’s value menu by choice. It’s such a hard a question to answer because we didn’t plan on not paying our dues.

Ryan: We planned on being a small, touring band. We signed a very small record deal and we chose managers who were known for building things by touring and the internet so we could make the album we wanted to make without a&r interference. When radio started playing the record, it wasn’t because of a big label, it was just kids calling up wanting to hear it, which is what every band wants. Our ability to control how fast we grew became out of our hands. At the same time, we’re not a DIY punk band. It would be ridiculous for us to pretend we are.

Do you hold any hostility toward Will from Cartel for his comments in Alternative Press?

Spencer: Not at all. I never read or heard what his comments were, I only heard he made some comments. When you’re being interviewed, sometimes things come out the wrong way. I understand that from experience.

In addition to other bands, many message board users as well as music fans, also criticize Panic! Why do you think there is so much hate surrounding the band besides the instant fame and success that you’ve received?

Spencer: I don’t really know. Other than the question being the answer, I have no idea why. People naturally love the underdog and we’re not the underdog anymore. Do you know that Morrissey song “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful”? Maybe that has something to do with it.

Most of your fan base are "younger screaming girls," most of whom initially found you on MTV and through Fall Out Boy. What do you honestly think of the majority of the fans that you have?

Spencer: That’s a pretty tough way to put a question. We’re very grateful we have as many fans as we have. I think sometimes younger fans choose what they like without pretense-they just hear something they like and that’s it. They don’t have house payments, car payments and other things to worry about so they can invest more of themselves in the bands they like.

You’ve made comments regarding not wanting fans to love you purely for your “boyish good looks” – however, you can’t turn away from those that do. How do you balance this dichotomy?

Ryan: I made that comment when we things first started happening fast and I think I was questioning whether people were listening to the songs or not. I think an actor like Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt has probably felt the same way at some point. When you’re a songwriter or musician, you want people to like your music. Doing interviews is not something we ever planned on and we’re not professional interviewees. Sometimes things come out that are taken the wrong way.

Do you ever worry about the new fans you gain from the media attention that you all receive will turn off fans that you’ve had since the beginning? What do you think of the fans you’ve had since conception who are now unwilling to go to shows to avoid the masses of screaming fan girls that are there?

Ryan: That’s kind of a strange question since the questions beforehand have basically been saying we’ve had “instant fame” It’s somewhat contradictory isn’t it? I hope the early fans-the ones that saw us first of five on the Acceptance tour or the ones that got into us from “Time to Dance” on purevolume will give our second album a chance.

Does it ever creep you out that fans have begun knowing more about each of your lives than any of you do individually? What is your personal take on having your life under the microscope for so many of your fans to see? Is keeping things private hard for you all to do now since you have so many fans and the internet makes everything readily available for them?

Ryan: I think celebrities make too much [of] a big deal about not having any privacy. I think if you don’t put the drama out there people make it up for you. I don’t have a myspace profile but there are plenty of fake Ryan Ross profiles. The shit people make up is much crazier that what really goes on. I’ve heard that I’m dating Hillary Duff right now and that I got kicked out of the band. My fake life definitely makes it more interesting for me.

What do you think about the fans that have tracked down your past girlfriends have begun idolizing them and giving each their own cult following via the internet?

Ryan: It’s Disgusting. Why would people idolize someone who doesn’t do anything and saying you’re a model/photographer with a digital camera and photoshop does not count as an artist.

Spencer: That’s some weird shit.

Many of your fans used to make their Myspace/Messenger Screennames/various message board names *their name*! At the Disco. What is your take on that little internet phenomenon your band name started?

Spencer: my screen name is jasontate!atthedisco actually. It’s cool, whatever kids that like our music wanna do with our name is fine with us.

Many fans, as well as non-fans, entertain the thoughts that members of the band may be homosexual due to pictures that have been taken of the band during shows and posted on the internet, as well as some of the actions of the band members. What is your response to this kind of blatant stereotyping (and ignorance)?

Ryan: We’re not gay, not that there’s anything wrong with it.

Many think that from your responses and comments to interviews you have done, that you’ve become unappreciative of the fame you’ve received as well as the fans that you have/had. What response can you give to this?

Spencer: I don’t think we are unappreciative. As Ryan said before, we’re not necessarily good at doing interviews so I think a lot of it might be that. I think there’s also some a bunch of things we never said or did that float around on message boards and become fact after awhile that contribute to the backlash.

In different interviews, you’ve said that your band name was taken from a Name Taken song, but in more recent interviews, you’ve stated Morrissey. Which one was it?

Spencer: It’s really both-I think Name Taken took it from the Smiths song. When we first started doing interviews, we were doing them with scene websites who knew Name Taken. As we got bigger, the magazines didn’t know who Name Taken was and everyone knows the Smiths song so it was just an easier answer. No band is too stoked on answering the “where’d the name come from” question too many times.

You’re doing a cover of the song, “This is Halloween“, from A Nightmare Before Christmas, which in recent years has turned into a scenster cult movie. Do you have any personal account as to why you accepted the offer to do the cover? If you were given another offer to do any score from an already existing movie what would it be?

Spencer: We’re huge fans of Danny Elfman’s scores and we weren’t planning on doing any new recording because we were on tour but when that opportunity happened, we couldn’t pass it up so we ended up doing it with an orchestra rather than Panic! style because it was easier to work on just arranging the vocals on the road.

Ryan: I’m a big fan of the scores of romeo and juliet, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, all the burton films, moulin rouge, and chicago.

What band that is in the scene, whether you’re associated with the band or not, do you think deserves of the same amount of fame that you all have been given?

Ryan: Forgive Durden and the Nurses

John: As Tall As Lions

Spencer: The Dear Hunter

Brendon: Forgive Durden

Jon Walker used to do episodes called TAITV with The Academy Is... Now he plays bass in Panic. Will there be any PATDtv episodes for fans to look forward to?

Spencer: Mike Carden has a copyright on TAITV so we’d have to pay him royalties (kidding).

Jon: patdtv would never work because there are too many letters.. but you may see some short clips here and there of us in the studio or playing catch.

What happened to the infamous rose vest Ryan used to wear during stage performances? Who is the designer of the vest?

Ryan: jake oliver and some students at FIT. Unfortunately, I lost it in new zealand.

If there was anything as a band, from playing in a garage to touring the world on headlining arena tours, that you would all do over or change, what would it be? Why?

Spencer: People always make a big deal about how we hadn’t played shows before we were signed and, really, we wish we could’ve so we could’ve been more comfortable when we went on our first national tour.

What made you decide to send demos to Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy? Do you think he can market anything or anyone given to him? Where do you think you’d be as a band had he not heard your demos and signed you to his Fueled by Ramen imprint, Decaydance?

Spencer: We were superfans. We had no idea how anything worked in the music business. We didn’t have any contacts whatsoever and only two songs. We liked their band and when you don’t think anything’s gonna come of it, it’s like ‘why not’?

Many rumors have gone around from Brent’s departure from the band. What is the real story behind it? Did he leave or was he kicked out? Is it true that he didn’t play any of the bass parts on the debut album? How is the lawsuit that he has against the band faring?

Spencer: I think pretty much everything has been said on this subject. It was not an easy thing to do because we were all friends but things were moving fast for the band and, at least in our opinion, Brent was not on the same page as the rest of us, as far as growing as a musician. He did not play the bass parts, Brendon played all of them. Brendon is a really good musician - if you saw our last tour, you saw him play guitar, piano and drums. We recorded our album on a very tight budget and tight budgets mean tight schedules. Having Brendon play the bass parts made the most sense, given our time constraints. As far as the lawsuit, we haven’t received anything about it. He was paid an equal share of all the tours he was on and, as far as I know, he’s been paid and is being paid all the royalties he’s owed.

Do you regret the comment made on MTV Canada about Brent being the first one drunk on New Years since it put the band in a bad light for saying it? What made you Jon give the response in the first place?

Jon: The truth is it just slipped out - you can tell from the way I covered my mouth right after that I realized I wasn’t supposed to say that. I think everyone has those moments, mine happened to be on camera.

Its old but i posted it cause i like it.

What's your first musical memory?

When I was about six, I was kind of a cowboy. I'd dress up in boots, straps, hat and bandanna, and my dad would take us to the rodeo. Whenever I'd go anywhere with my dad -- in his 1980 burgundy Dodge Ram -- he'd always listen to mix tapes of country-music stars like Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Willie Nelson. Those were the first songs I ever learned the words to.

How and why did you get your first guitar, at age twelve?

I was really into Blink-182 and punk bands like NOFX and MXPX. Originally, I wanted to learn how to play like Tom DeLonge. That was my first influence -- [Blink's] Dude Ranch.

I kept begging my dad for a guitar. I picked out an off-brand, a Harmony, I think, out of the Sears Christmas catalog. It came with a battery-powered amp. It was $100 for everything.

Growing up, where'd you go to shows?

The first show I ever went to was a band called Strung Out. It was at this supersmall place called the Castle. There was a huge mosh pit. I was so small -- I was just trying not to get killed. After that, I was hooked.

Panic! singer Brendon Urie was raised Mormon. What rules has he broken while on the road?

He's definitely had some caffeine, and he's had a couple of drinks here and there, and maybe a couple of girls -- I don't know. [Laughs] I'm not saying. He's definitely not the good Mormon boy we once knew.

Did you see Pete Wentz's naked photos on the Internet?

[Laughs] Yeah, I did.

What'd you think?

He's hangin' out, showing his stuff. I thought it was hilarious. I could totally see him doing something like that -- that part didn't surprise me.

Are you friends with the Killers? They're from Vegas.

I've never met them, but I think the Killers' drummer takes his dog to our bass player's dad, who's a vet.

Have you trashed a hotel room?

We've trashed our bus! There's just shit everywhere, all the time. There's a box of pizza in front of me that's five days old. No one's gonna eat it. We haven't learned how to clean up yet.

Does it annoy you when everyone at the shows sings along?

At our first show ever, only three of our songs -- "Time to Dance," "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks" and "Camisado" -- were on the Internet, and people were singing along to every word. It was a shock; it was flattering. But on the first tour, it was weird. Some of the stuff is really personal, and I felt like people didn't understand what they were singing. There's not much I can do about that. People take lines and they'll ask me, "What does this mean?" I don't really answer them -- if it helps them relate to something, I don't want to take that away.

Does your dad like the songs you wrote about him?

We haven't really talked about it directly. I'm sure that he knows they're about him, and he hasn't acted differently toward me, like he's mad or disappointed. He plays the CD all the time -- it's kind of funny.

What's your ring tone?

I'm getting a new phone in five days, and I have my ring-tone plan down. I've got Sixpence None the Richer, "Kiss Me." That's one of those songs that you hate to love -- but I really do like it.

Other guilty pleasures?

Some people would say Counting Crows or Third Eye Blind would be a guilty pleasure, but they're two of my favorite bands -- I'm not ashamed of it. I really like [the Crows'] Across the Wire -- the live stuff -- and how [Adam Duritz] changed all the melodies.

That's how you get people to stop singing along.

That's true. We're working on new arrangements for the old songs, so we can change things up for our headlining tour. That'll be fun. For us, at least.

What's with the accordions on your record?

I like the sound of that instrument. The Amelie soundtrack is all accordions. I love that and Danny Elfman's Nightmare Before Christmas. Movie scores are my biggest influence.

Do you listen to classic rock?

I'm into Pink Floyd -- they had albums that were completely cohesive, like one continuous track. Queen's one of my favorite bands -- the theatrics! Freddie Mercury's my favorite vocalist of all time.

Does it piss you off when fans say to Brendon, "Your words move me"?

Well, I can't really get mad. If I was the singer, I wouldn't be able to write some of the stuff I write. He'll get the praise or he'll take the heat for it. I wouldn't be able to deliver that stuff. It's not that I'm afraid of it, but I'm not confident enough.

Or is it because you have a shitty voice?

That's the other reason.

A minute of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection.
I'm a half-completed crossword
Find your school: city state search
Oh look! Oh look! She's become a model now
Crash her wedding, she's wearing red shoes
but she hasn't a thing to wear
I'm a fighting man, but I've no hands
But if you like, I guess, I mean, I guess I could tie the boxing gloves on anyway
One boxing match in the church baby, a shotgun wedding
With boxing gloves instead of a shotgun, baby

Matrimony is Paving the Way for Preplanned Alchemy
As the rain falls, my umbrella doesn't always work
drip drop drip drop splish splashing in my brain
It's a flood honey, a real mach five
Oh dear, I fear a dreadful drizzle my dear
It's time to fly south with the mice
Dripping dripping dripping in my Sunday morning tea
One lump or two? How do you do? It's the monopoly guy
These mice aren't blind, baby, but I guess they don't see the light
But you know, maybe it's just dark or something baby, I don't know
It could be the wool pulled over their eyes
by father time or a gardening bird
I like to write but my hands aren't working for me
I've just created the unabated understatement of the century
It could be the wool pulled over my eyes
but that's just a refrain

~~!BYEAS!~~ luv kate