PANIC AT THE DISCO
PRETTY TIED UP
by Scott McLennan
Reflecting the title of his band’s second album, Pretty. Odd., Panic At The Disco drummer Spencer Smith is sitting in New York reflecting on the strange day he’s having. Not only has the Las Vegas act’s new record rocketed into the upper echelons of charts around the world, the popularity of refreshing new single Nine In The Afternoon has brought with it some interesting opportunities.
“This morning we’re in New York and we actually had a rehearsal for Saturday Night Live,” Spencer reveals. “Obviously a lot of the great people are no longer on it, but Christopher Walken is hosting this week and we had to shoot some promos for him where we’re standing there and he’s talking about us being the musical guests. It was a pretty interesting morning to wake up and stand next to Christopher Walken! He told us today that he’s 70 years old, so for a 70-year-old man he’s doing pretty well. We were trying to get in a clip with him on Saturday Night Live, but they wouldn’t let us.
“We really haven’t met that many people who are musically influential,” Spencer adds, “but we’d love to meet Paul McCartney.”
It’s not hard to understand why. From The Beatles video pastiches of Nine In The Afternoon through to the magical mystery tour de force of Pretty. Odd., it’s obvious the band have moved beyond the popular yet restricted emo styles peddled on their 2006 debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Oasis attempted a similarly mighty orchestral tribute to The Beatles on 1997’s Be Here Now, however songwriter Noel Gallagher later admitted that it was a “fucking shit” album made by “a bunch of guys on coke”. Hopefully Panic At The Disco’s opus won’t be as easily dismissed in the years to come.
“Well I don’t know man – I hope not either!” Spencer laughs. “But I can tell you that there was no cocaine involved in our album, which is probably a good thing. If it grows from the ground it’s probably not that bad for you, but no pills and powders.
“But anyway, as people listen to the album we tried as hard as we could to pick our moments. There’s four or five songs that are pretty much just rock‘n’roll songs with only five instruments or whatever, but then there was others where we thought that if we were going to have strings, we’re going to have fucking strings. Hopefully there’s a good balance and we’re conscious that excessive orchestration can be over the top and become a problem.”
Away from the Sergeant Pepper’s strings, the video for Nine In The Afternoon is similarly rich in humorous Beatles appropriations. From the A Hard Day’s Night fan mania through to the animal masks of I Am The Walrus, it’s obvious the Panic lads are revelling in the chance to have some fun, dress as a marching band and don fake moustaches. While Spencer regularly showcases a beard, less hirsute guitarist Ryan Ross and frontman Brendon Urie enjoyed the moustache experience.
“I know Ryan’s been complaining about not being able to grow a good moustache for a while now,” Spencer chuckles. “When Brendon grows one and gets a tan during summer he looks like he was born in Mexico. He ends up looking like a professional soccer player. I think having the gigantic pirate moustache gave his self-esteem a boost when talking to the ladies. You saw the girls in the video – there was some lookers in there!”
An awesome deluxe edition of Pretty. Odd. proves the band has not only upped their musical flourishes, but also their visual creativity. Like recent limited edition albums from Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, the package contains additional artwork, multiple music formats and a lavish presentation case.
“We always wanted to include the vinyl with the deluxe edition because technically it’s probably the best way to listen to our album since it’s analogue. Even for us it’s fun to listen in, but it’s such a subtle difference. The art within it was kind of what we focussed on – we took the concept of creating a page of illustration and art for every song lyric. We wanted to be way more elaborate, but for what you get it’s pretty cool and I hope fans are happy with it.”
When Panic At The Disco toured Australia in 2006, the band was introduced to legal gambling for the first time. Not only was Brendon’s Brisbane interview schedule held up due to his blackjack fixation, the band has now released promotional playing cards to promote Pretty. Odd. Spencer courteously refuses to blame gambling experiences in Australia for leading the band astray.
“The first time we went to Australia was the first time that me and Brendon had ever gambled. We grew up in Las Vegas but we’re still not old enough [to gamble in the US] and we both turn 21 in the next few months. In Australia there were blackjack tables everywhere and it was just bad news for us! We always play dice and cards for cash on the tour bus in the States but now there was a legal place where we could sit down and play. It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of long nights on that tour. Was I up or down at the end? It’s so hard to say because even if you’re down, the excitement and fun you have getting to that point completely makes up for it. We haven’t been back in a long time so we’ve been saving up for it and now we’re going to hit the casinos again with out piggybanks and hopefully come out on top.”
Panic At The Disco play Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Mon Aug 25. Pretty. Odd. is out now through Warner.