![\"PANIC-AT-THE-DISCO-Issue-No31\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/PANIC-AT-THE-DISCO-Issue-No31.jpg\")
PANIC! AT THE DISCO<\/b><\/h1>\nPANIC! AT THE DISCO<\/b><\/h1>\nThe members of Panic! at the\u00a0Disco haven\u2019t limited their experimentation to their instruments, as evidenced by their fourth album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!<\/i> (a quote from Hunter S. Thompson\u2019s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas<\/i>, as well as a nod to their hometown). Produced by Butch Walker, the album allowed frontman Brendon Urie to become more ambitious in the studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was working with new programs, trying to make myself a better songwriter, but also trying to learn producing,\u201d says Urie. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a better person to do that with than Butch Walker. He is an amazing mentor to me. He\u2019s so willing to answer any questions. I was like a little kid: \u2018Oh, Mr. Walker, how do you do this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
While learning from the production master, Urie also broadened his songwriting technique by experimenting with synthesizers. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a fan but never really knew how to work synthesizers,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of times the sound would dictate a song instead of a lyric, which was pretty exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyrics, however, still play a central role in Panic!\u2019s songwriting. For Too Weird<\/i>, Urie wanted the songs to be confessional but not too personal. \u201cI was writing a song about a\u00a0girl, so the lyrics were true to a memory I was trying to get off my chest. I didn\u2019t want to reveal her real name,\u201d says Urie of the single \u201cMiss Jackson.\u201d \u201cSomeone mentioned, \u2018It would be cool to use a celebrity name.\u2019 I was looking at videos, and Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Nasty\u2019 came on. I started singing \u2018Miss Jackson\u2019 as a joke. As I was laughing, I was like, \u2018Wow, I\u2019m actually in love with this. It makes me excited about the song.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The band also used their newfound studio knowledge on \u201cMiss Jackson\u201d by taking the opening hook\u2014written and sung by Lauren \u201cLolo\u201d Pritchard\u2014and \u201ctreating it like a hip-hop song where we sample it. It was a new experience\u2014but it\u2019s an awesome idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Urie is encouraged by the results of his inaugural studio efforts, but remains quick to credit his mentors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like working in the studio. I love doing collaborative stuff as well as my own stuff,\u201d says Urie. \u201cBut it was validating when Butch Walker told me, \u2018These are good, let\u2019s just add this part.\u2019 A lot of the songs are pretty true to the demos I recorded, which is flattering. But everything got to that point because Butch and [engineer] Jake Sinclair were showing me these tricks of the trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Amanda Farah<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PANIC! AT THE DISCO The emo-pop rockers expand their studio skills on a new album\u00a0 The members of Panic! at the\u00a0Disco haven\u2019t limited their experimentation to their instruments, as evidenced by their fourth album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! (a quote from Hunter S. Thompson\u2019s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[7328,2406],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11754,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11752\/revisions\/11754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}