While in Australia on the Counter Revolution tour, LUNA had the opportunity to talk to drummer Spencer Smith about Australia, the new album, the split and the possibility of new members.
The band reached unpredictable levels of success from their first album hit I Write Sins Not Tragedies, but they claimed that not long before ,they were just another band practicing in a garage. In fact Smith and Urie have come a long way from when the band started which they did so, as Smith says, so they didn’t have to get jobs.
“We figured we would rather play music than work at McDonalds or something.”
Although they were keen to play in Australia the band almost didn’t made it down under after the original tour Soundwave Revolution was cancelled, however after a worrying few weeks Smith was grateful that they were able to play the current tour.
“The whole festival was up in the air as of a month ago when it got cancelled and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to make it down, which is unfortunate because Australia has always been one of our favourite places so we really wanted to come and get stuff worked out,” said Smith.
Panic! was also keen to promote the new album which was released in March. This album, though, is not as popular as their debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out which Smith described as a “once in a lifetime experience.”
“We didn’t know if fans were even going to care or had any interest in what we were doing,” he explained, “But then to go on tour and see the fans signing the words to the new songs on Vices just as much as the old songs was positive reinforcement.”
One thing that fans were happy with was Smith and Urie’s decision to keep the name instead of forming an entirely new project. However, the possibility of not continuing as Panic! was considered by the pair.
“That’s something that we thought about for a while, but at the end of the day it just felt like what we wanted to do with the band was more in line with what we had done in the past, it just seemed natural to keep going.”
Although they were able to keep going it is not often that when bands have a split such as this that they can release another album, let alone one the calibre ofVices. Whilst most bands feel a certain animosity towards their former members, Smith explained that he and Ryan are still able to keep in contact.
“Me and Ryan grew up together and at a certain point we just emailed or texted each other and said ‘this is fucking bullshit what are we doing?’
“We were not being friends for the reason that we had different opinions on where we wanted this band to go and we weren’t in a band anymore so I said we should just hang.”
Also on the agenda for Panic! is the possibility of new members joining the fray. Two current touring members of the band guitarist Ian Crawford (formerly of The Cab) and bassist Dallon Weekes (from The Brobecks) could possibly, according to Smith, becoming full-time fixtures in the Panic! line-up.
“We don’t have a set plan yet but those guys could potentially become permanent members.”
If this were to happen it would be very interesting to see how the new memberscontribute to the band’s next release. The past three albums have been spaced three years apart in 2005, 2008 and 2011 respectively, but Smith hopes that they will be able to break this trend and put out their next album sooner rather than later.
“We’d like to have that gap shortened a little bit. We’re hoping to get back in the studio after our next US tour in November so hopefully we will be able to release an album in less than three years time.”
There is no doubt that Panic! At The Disco’s future is bright and certainly interesting and we will be eagerly awaiting news on Forrs: http://lunamagazine.com.au/interviews/6417
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