Panic! At The Disco

Panic! At The Disco

Panic! At The Disco is an American band from Las Vegas, United States, active from 2004 to 2023. It forms in 2004, with childhood friends Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brent Wilson and Brendon Urie among the original members. The group’s line-up changes over time, and from 2015 it operates as the solo project of Brendon Urie until it ends in 2023.

Early releases and breakthrough

The band records its first demos while the members are still in high school. It then releases its debut studio album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, in 2005. The album becomes widely known through the single “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” and is certified triple platinum in the United States.

Line-up changes and later albums

In 2006, founding bassist Brent Wilson leaves during an extensive world tour and is replaced by Jon Walker. The second album, Pretty. Odd., follows in 2008 and is preceded by “Nine in the Afternoon”; it marks a clear shift in the band’s sound from the debut.

In 2009, Ross and Walker leave to form the Young Veins, leaving Urie and Smith as the remaining members. The group continues as a duo and releases “New Perspective” for the film Jennifer’s Body. During this period, bassist Dallon Weekes and guitarist Ian Crawford join as touring musicians, and Weekes later becomes a full-time member in 2010.

From duo to solo project

The third album, Vices & Virtues, is recorded by Urie and Smith in 2010 and released in 2011, with production by John Feldmann and Butch Walker. Crawford leaves after the tour cycle for the album ends in 2012. The fourth album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!, is released in 2013 and is recorded by Urie, Smith and Weekes. Before that album appears, Smith leaves the group informally because of health and drug-related issues, leaving Urie and Weekes as the remaining members. The duo then works with touring musicians Kenneth Harris and Dan Pawlovich for live performances.

Smith formally leaves in 2015, and Weekes returns to being a touring member, after which Panic! At The Disco becomes Urie’s solo project. Weekes later leaves in 2017.

Final albums

In 2015, “Hallelujah” appears as the first single from Death of a Bachelor, released in 2016. In 2018, the band releases “Say Amen (Saturday Night)” as the lead single from Pray for the Wicked, which follows later that year. The seventh studio album, Viva Las Vengeance, is released in 2022. In 2023, Urie announces that Panic! At The Disco is disbanding after the conclusion of the Viva Las Vengeance Tour.

Style and labels

The band is associated with alternative rock, baroque pop, chamber pop, electropop, emo and emo pop, and is also tagged as alternative, rock, pop punk, indie and emo. It releases music through Fueled by Ramen and DCD2.