Interview with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco

When I walked into Brendon Urie’s dressing room, he was excitedly chatting about his and Miley Cyrus’ “situation.” That day, Panic! at the Disco’s new album Too Weird to Live, too Rare to Die! had reached number two on the Billboard chart, just below Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz. Brendon quickly brought me up to speed. “She started off by saying ‘congrats’ and then I tweeted a picture of myself doing ‘the Miley’ saying ‘you too!’ Then she hit me back and said ‘let’s celebrate’ and that’s when I just said, ‘I’m down you sexy bitch.’ Which is a bold move… I’ve never met her.” Considering what he’d said, he reflected, “This could go sour… I hope it’s a verified account,” laughing.

TOO WEIRD TO LIVE, TO RARE TO DIE HR-sm The band’s brand new album Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! is clearly on a positive trajectory. Panic! has always kept fans on their toes, each album having a distinctly different sound from the previous, but Brendon isn’t worried about turning people off. “So far the reception has been really polarized,” Brendon considered. “There’s no middle ground. I’ve either heard, ‘I love it’ or ‘I hate it so much.’ Which is awesome. I love when people get a strong opinion about our music.”

When Brendon first dug into this record, he wasn’t sure how he would write the lyrics, but it ended up being the most personal record to date. “It’s surprising when you’re that open with yourself. It’s one of the hardest things,” Brendon reflected. He pointed out that the first song on the album, “This is Gospel,” was one of the first ones he wrote for the record and also one of the most personal. “It ended up being this huge therapy for me,” he considered. “It actually lifts this burden off of my shoulders and I don’t feel guilty; I can talk about it. I feel free after I’ve done that. It’s like artist therapy, as cliché as it is.”

“That being said, when we play the songs, its really cool to see people singing your really confessional lyrics back to you. It’s really nice… It’s strange. This whole job is strange!” Brendon laughed. “To call it a ‘job’ too is weird. This whole thing is weird, but I’m weird so I love it. It’s a perfect marriage.”

Speaking of strange, I took this opportunity to ask Brendon about the video for the album’s first single, “Miss Jackson” (feat. LOLO) which they also performed live on The Queen Latifah Show. Brendon explained to the video’s director, Jordan Bahat, that although the song was about something he actually went through, he wanted to do something totally different for the video and bring a narrative. His requirements for the video?

“One, I want to tell a story with it. Two, I want a shiney jacket.”

When I hinted at the sword for the third requirement, Brendon exclaimed, “I wish the sword was my idea! [Bahat] went all Quentin Tarantino on me.” Continuing, he explained that after first hearing Bahat’s idea for the video, he said, “Ahh man this is really cool. Do we have a kicker? I want a shocker at the end. Shyamalan twist. Maybe something a little more graphic.” Then, not even five minutes later, Bahat emailed back with, “Ok, we’re gonna cut her head off.” The video features Katrina Bowden from 30 Rock, who is beheaded in the final scene. Brendon assured us that she was “such a good sport.”

Too Rare to Live, Too Weird to Die! is also the first of Panic! at the Disco’s album to prominently feature their hometown of Las Vegas. “For a few years I’ve wanted to write songs that were more personally about the town I grew up in,” Brendon clarified, “but I wanted to write it from a perspective where it was a fresh point of view and I was older and I wasn’t so bitter towards Vegas.” When the band was forming, its members were too young to go to clubs or even play shows in their hometown, which embittered them towards “Sin City.” Aside from being more lyrically centered on the band’s hometown, the sound of TRTLTWTD draws inspiration from the Vegas clubs. “I wanted to make a record that was a party, dance record,” Brendon explained, “that made me feel the way I felt in that epiphany of a moment where I was so enthralled in the whole movement of the club. Everyone’s dancing like no one’s watching.” That vibe is the most prevalent in the song “Vegas Lights,” which Brendon describes as “the homage to the city I grew up in.”

The band just wrapped up a tour with friends Fall Out Boy and had such a great time that Brendon told Pete Wentz (of Fall Out Boy) the other day, “You gotta take us to UK in March.” Brendon gushed that touring with Fall Out Boy again, “felt like hanging out like old times. It was kind of strange. That familiar feeling in a modern setting was really cool. … It’s kind of like a summer camp, basically. Just dudes, old friends hanging out.”

The band will be heading on tour with New Politics in Europe starting November 10th. Brendon couldn’t say enough good things about their new tour mates. “I’ve seen them play live a few times and they’re phenomenal… It makes our job easier so we don’t have to lie on stage.” Brendon puts on a cheesy announcer voice and holds an invisible microphone to his mouth, “Did you guys like this band?”

Brendon clearly couldn’t be more excited for the success of his new album, to be touring, and life in general. “Everything is really good. I’m just stoked. Just really excited.”

Find their new album Too Rare to Live, Too Weird to Die! on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Google Music. Listen to their QLShow Radio playlist below!

 

patd playlist QLShow Radio: Panic! at the DiscoStream Panic! at the Disco’s playlist on Spotify

  1. “To Be Someone (Didn’t We Have a Nice Time)” by The Jam
  2. “Faithfully” by Journey
  3. “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding” by Elvis Costello
  4. “Just The Two Of Us” by Bill Withers
  5. “The Next Episode” by Dr. Dre
  6. “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5
  7. “One More Time” by Daft Punk
  8. “Dancing In The Dark” by Bruce Springsteen
  9. “Call Your Girlfriend” by Robyn
  10. “Right Back” by Sublime
  11. “Concrete Jungle” by Bob Marley
  12. “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” by Billy Joel
  13. “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” by Arcade Fire
  14. “I’ve Got The World On A String” by Frank Sinatra
  15. “I Disappear” by The Faint

 



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