Quote:
Before Panic at the Disco lost their exclamation point and started dressing like hippies, they could have been quite easily confused with Victorian dandies who had been hitting the absinthe a little too hard. And yet they went platinum and conquered MTV and MySpace alike with a decidedly weird, amazingly confident dance-rock-cabaret debut album, 2005's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, recorded before anyone in the band was old enough to drink (half their members still aren't legal).
At last week's announcement that the band would headline the Honda Civic Tour, I got a chance to chat with the rhythm section, Jon Walker and Spencer Smith, about Panic's much-anticipated sophomore release, Pretty. Odd., their boyhood sleepovers and how much they wouldn't care if all the gay rumors about them were actually true.
But what I found most fascinating even in our brief interview was how the guys were perfectly happy to answer any gay question I threw at them, whether completely serious or totally flippant. They were, in fact, the most casually accepting artists I think I've ever interviewed. I don't know whether it's simply a product of being more generationally evolved or they're just ridiculously cool dudes, but they seemed to genuinely not consider the way they seem very queer on-stage or off to be that big of a deal.
In that way, they're not at all like earlier emo-punk bands that deliberately played gay on stage just to ******** with the heads of their fans (or their fans' parents) -- including Fall Out Boy, whose frontman, Pete Wentz, started his own record label to sign Panic when no one else thought they'd be even an indie hit. The way this group talks about their live shows -- which have included elaborate make-up, flamboyant costumes and scripted interludes where they re-enacted dreams of chasing a lover for a perfect kiss -- and their own sexuality isn't intended to push buttons or prove a point. It seems simply a genuine reflection of their own creative tendencies.
Anyway, enough of my typically obsessive overthinking! Here, go read my Q&A with one-half of Panic at the Disco and decide for yourself.
A few other highlights from my buddies at Buzznet, who were a few feet away talking to Brendon and Ryan at the same time I was interviewing Jon and Spencer:
> Brendon and Ryan burst into the Beatles' "Birthday," plus 100 percent of Panic agrees: The best and most consistent rumors about the band are that Ryan and Brendon are dating. "It's obviously completely true," Ryan says, and Brendon responds, "Why wouldn't it be?"
> Someone in the audience asks if anyone in the band is available, and the boys all point to Brendon, the sole member without a girlfriend.
Plus I posted some more video clips at YouTube from the announcement, including Brendon singing the Super Mario Brothers theme song like a champion dork.
At last week's announcement that the band would headline the Honda Civic Tour, I got a chance to chat with the rhythm section, Jon Walker and Spencer Smith, about Panic's much-anticipated sophomore release, Pretty. Odd., their boyhood sleepovers and how much they wouldn't care if all the gay rumors about them were actually true.
But what I found most fascinating even in our brief interview was how the guys were perfectly happy to answer any gay question I threw at them, whether completely serious or totally flippant. They were, in fact, the most casually accepting artists I think I've ever interviewed. I don't know whether it's simply a product of being more generationally evolved or they're just ridiculously cool dudes, but they seemed to genuinely not consider the way they seem very queer on-stage or off to be that big of a deal.
In that way, they're not at all like earlier emo-punk bands that deliberately played gay on stage just to ******** with the heads of their fans (or their fans' parents) -- including Fall Out Boy, whose frontman, Pete Wentz, started his own record label to sign Panic when no one else thought they'd be even an indie hit. The way this group talks about their live shows -- which have included elaborate make-up, flamboyant costumes and scripted interludes where they re-enacted dreams of chasing a lover for a perfect kiss -- and their own sexuality isn't intended to push buttons or prove a point. It seems simply a genuine reflection of their own creative tendencies.
Anyway, enough of my typically obsessive overthinking! Here, go read my Q&A with one-half of Panic at the Disco and decide for yourself.
A few other highlights from my buddies at Buzznet, who were a few feet away talking to Brendon and Ryan at the same time I was interviewing Jon and Spencer:
> Brendon and Ryan burst into the Beatles' "Birthday," plus 100 percent of Panic agrees: The best and most consistent rumors about the band are that Ryan and Brendon are dating. "It's obviously completely true," Ryan says, and Brendon responds, "Why wouldn't it be?"
> Someone in the audience asks if anyone in the band is available, and the boys all point to Brendon, the sole member without a girlfriend.
Plus I posted some more video clips at YouTube from the announcement, including Brendon singing the Super Mario Brothers theme song like a champion dork.
They're so awesome.
I love Spencer's stories about Ryan's decorator and how they used to have sleep overs. That's so cute heart
