Panic! At The Disco

Members: Brendon Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith

Active: 2005-present

Panic! at the Disco is a pop punk/electronica/emo/rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, whose 2005 debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out made the Billboard 200 album chart's album of the day, selling more than 500,000 copies to date.

HISTORY

The band was first formed in the suburbs of Las Vegas by childhood friends Ryan Ross on guitar and Spencer Smith on drums. The duo would originally play blink-182 covers until they recruited fellow schoolmates Brent Wilson on bass and Brendon Urie on vocals and guitar. Their name was taken from a line in the song Panic (by Name Taken), in reference to a song of the same name by The Smiths.

In order to get their music heard, the band left comments through LiveJournal to Pete Wentz's (of Fall Out Boy), linking him to their PureVolume site. Wentz was so impressed that he drove to Las Vegas to meet them personally. Then he referred them to Fueled by Ramen Records, who signed them (while they were still in high school) to Wentz's imprint label Decaydance. They recorded their debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out in College Park, Maryland with producer Matt Squire, who had earlier produced Thrice.

Lately the band has attracted a considerable amount of publicity, especially with Spin magazine, naming them as their band of the day in early October 2005. The band has also increased in popularity due to their online presence, with PureVolume having them consistently in their Top 10 signed band list and reaching #1 on the MySpace chart.

When A Fever You Can't Sweat Out was released, it debuted at #112 on the Billboard 200 album charts, at #6 on the Billboard independent chart, and #1 Billboard heatseeker chart, with nearly 10,000 in first week sales. The band started their first North American tour, supporting Acceptance, Hellogoodbye and The Academy Is... in September 2005, as well as The Academy Is... in the United Kingdom in January 2006.

Panic! at the Disco was featured on MTV's TRL on January 17, 2006, where they premiered their music video for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", directed by Shane Drake. The group did not especially like the idea of appearing on TRL, due to the fact that a lot of fans would consider this move "mainstream". They posted a journal on their official website stating that it wasn't meant to happen, and they were against the idea and they apologize, but they received a lot of publicity as a result. The video for I Write Sins Not Tragedies, featuring Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque, has an eerie circus wedding theme. It recently debuted at #10 on the TRL countdown, catapulting the album to the top of the Billboard independent chart and to #17 on the Billboard 200 in late April 2006.

Urie and Smith recently made a cameo appearance in Fall Out Boy's latest video for their single A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More "Touch Me", alongside William Beckett from The Academy Is....

Their latest single "But It's Better If You Do" has a storyline involving Panic! playing in an illegal strip club in the 1930's in America. It came out on May 1st in the UK and reached #23.

Panic! At the Disco's video of I Write Sins Not Tragedies is among YouTube's most-viewed videos. Posted three months ago, it has been streamed more than 5.4 million times.

On May 17, 2006, Panic! At the Disco made an official announcement via their website announcing the departure of their bassist Brent Wilson. No official reason was given for the departure of Wilson, however, they do state that the new bassist is a long-time friend of the band, named Jon Walker, who has previously opened for bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers.

ALBUMS

2005 - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

SINGLES

200 - I Write Sins Not Tragedies

2006 - The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage

2006 - But It's Better If You Do