It’s never easy to recover from a band breakup, whether it’s because of musical differences or riffs in the friendships among members. So when Panic! at the Disco guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker left the band in 2009, lead singer and songwriter Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith not only wondered about the band’s fate but if the four, former bandmates would ever be friends again.

“At the very beginning, we didn’t talk,” drummer Spencer Smith tells AOL. “After a little while, I think we individually all realized we were good friends outside of the band. It was only because we were in this business together that caused us to have any of the disagreements that we did.”

Smith says that he and Ross reconnected “about nine months ago” and are now back on good terms. “Now it’s great, because we’re able to see each other, and we’ll go grab a drink some times,” he says. “It’s good because it was an amicable split. And it’s nice because when you go back to being friends apart from having to write music together, which is, I think, the best thing for us.”

While Smith is glad that things are good with his former bandmates, he and Urie spent the time soon after the split reflecting on how they should move forward. Although he admits that they considered making music under a new band name (like Ross and Walker’s post-Panic! project The Young Veins), Smith and Urie agreed that Panic! at the Disco was where they belonged.

“We talked about it and just realized that we were proud of what we worked for over the past five years and what we wanted to do was more in line with what Panic! was; so that made sense,” says Smith.

After spending most of 2010 in the studio writing and recording, ‘Vice & Virtues’ was born. The 10-track record reflects on how much Smith and Urie have grown up but also pays homage to the band’s 2005 debut ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’ and 2008′s ‘Pretty. Odd.’ Despite the nuances of their past, it creeps into the new record like the album’s first single, ‘The Ballad of Mona Lisa,’ which is an experiment with the band’s more electronic sound.

“We were on the same page for most of the writing, because we knew where we wanted to go,” says Smith. “It was also cool, because we brought back some of the electronic elements. We brought back the electric drums, keyboards and synth stuff that we didn’t do on the last record. That’s always fun because it’s kind of away from the instruments and just programming and doing it on music programs on the computer. And that’s just a totally different experience than coming up with something on the drum kit, so I had a lot of fun. The songs on this record are very much more in line with what me and Brendon have wanted to do for the last couple of years.”

Even though he loves ‘Vices & Virtues,’ Smith admits that ‘Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…)’ is his favorite track on the album, because it started out as a an idea that the band came up with before they broke up. “That’s the only idea we had from before we split and the only [un] original idea on the album,” he says. “All we had was the music, and we could never figure out what to do with it. We loved it as a guitar and drum line, but we were able to figure it out, write a chorus for it and turn it into a song that I really love. We actually have a kids choir singing at the end of it, so that’s just one song I’m totally proud of.”

Panic! at the Disco are so proud of ‘Vices & Virtues’ that it will release on March 22 — one week earlier than previously scheduled. While Smith admits that this was a label decision, he’s happy about not having to compete with a particular chart topper. “And now we don’t have to compete with Britney Spears,” says Smith with a chuckle.

But however many records the band sells, Smith just wants to make sure that Panic! at the Disco will be around for a fairly long time.

“I don’t think our goals are necessarily how many CDs we want to sell or how many places we want to play,” he says. “I think we just want to present ourselves as a real band and a career band — not just the big thing for four or five months with the one song and the guy in the top hat. I think we want to show that we’re a band that will be around for quite a while.”

Source: AOL Music