Current members:| * Brendon Urie – lead vocals, guitar, piano, bass guitar (2004–present)| * Spencer Smith – drums, percussion (2004–present) Former members: | * Brent Wilson – bass guitar (2004–2006)| * Ryan Ross - lead guitar, vocals, lyricist, piano (2004-2009)| * Jon Walker - bass guitar, vocals, guitar (2006-2009) Touring members:| * Eric Ronick – keyboards, vocals (2006–2008)| * Ian Crawford – guitar, vocals (2009–present)| * Dallon Weekes – bass guitar, vocals (2009–present) Although the band officially formed as Panic! at the Disco in 2004, the first incarnation of the band was formed in 2002 under the name “Pet Salamander”, with Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brent Wilson, and Trevor Howell. It was during this time that Ryan Ross wrote “Time To Dance” and “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, so it could be considered that the band formed in 2002. In 2005, Panic! at the Disco, which at the time included Urie, Smith, guitarist/lyricist/vocalist Ryan Ross, and bassist Brent Wilson, was discovered by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, who, after hearing demos the band uploaded to PureVolume, went to Las Vegas to hear the band play in their garage. He immediately signed them to his Fueled By Ramen label imprint, Decaydance. After their debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, was released, bassist Brent Wilson left the band. Although he claims he was fired, the other members deny this. The success of their first two singles helped catapult their debut album to the top of the Billboard Independent chart and to #13 on the Billboard 200 in July 2006. With Jon Walker filling in as temporary bassist, the band embarked on their first headlining tour through Europe. All of the dates sold out within hours. Immediately after returning, they did the same in North America. On July 3, Jon Walker became the permanent bassist of Panic! at the Disco. In early 2007, Panic! at the Disco began writing their follow up album but, after months of work, decided to rewrite the entire album from scratch in July 2007. While speaking to MTV, Ryan Ross explained that, before the decision to start over was made, the album had lacked a band set up and that it “sounded like a film score.” He also explained that the new songs have “a more positive outlook to them.” On January 9, the exclamation point (!) in the band’s name was dropped. They defended the decision to drop the exclamation point during an interview with MTV: “It was never part of the name to us. (…) When we started doing new promo stuff for this album, we just told everyone not to use it anymore.” Panic (sans “!”) later confirmed that the second album was titled Pretty. Odd. with a release date of March 25, 2008. On June 26, it was announced that the band would send their new single, “New Perspective”, to rock radio on August 18. The Single was also a part of the soundtrack for the movie Jennifer’s Body. On July 6th, 2009, an announcement was put up on the band’s official website and myspace page, stating that Ryan Ross and Jon Walker would be leaving the band to pursue their own musical interests. Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith, however, will stay and continue playing as Panic! at the Disco, with the exclamation point re-added. Fans can hear a snippet of Panic!’s demo entitled “Oh Glory” on the band’s official website. Smith revealed exclusively to MTV News that — for the immediate future, at least — he and Urie have tapped a pair of their friends to join the band for their upcoming dates with Blink-182. Replacing Ross on guitar is Ian Crawford, who spent time with Panic!’s Decaydance labelmates the Cab. And on bass, it’ll be singer/songwriter Dallon Weekes, mastermind behind Utah-based indie act the Brobecks. “Yeah, we’ve taken on a couple of new guys for the tour. They’re friends, so the decision was easy. Plus, we’re really excited to play with them as musicians,” Smith said. “Ian is probably the most talented guitar player that me and Brendon have ever played with, and Dallon is a really nice guy and a really great bassist. It’s new. Like I said, we’re really excited.” Recently the band has told interviewers that they are in the early stages of writing and recording a follow-up album to Pretty. Odd… Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus will work with the band on at least one new track. |
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