I spent this night awake. It's 05:36 am, but the sun has been up since about 3 am. I find that pretty cool. I didn't go to bed tonight because I was too busy checking out interviews on the internet with this cool band called Panic! At The Disco. My fascination with this band started around '06 when they released A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, but my passion for their music ceased for a while after having replayed their record time and time again.
This past year that passion has grown strong again, and this time to full extent. I'm listening to their second record Pretty. Odd a lot, and as opposed to most fans of their first record I think it's amazing. Their music makes me feel good about myself and as a musician I find that their music, though kicking through such an old tired genre, is still very inventive, different and interesting.
What is tragic about this band is that their bassist Jon and guitarist Ryan left the band after touring with their second record. There are many reasons why I think this is a tragedy. Number one is the fact that Ryan wrote most lyrics and melodies for the band. He also contributed with the visual aspect to a great extent. This makes him an inspiration to me. Number two is that I think Ryan and the singer Brendon complimented each other very well as performers.
While Ryan seems to be the shy type, playing his instrument in a quite anonymous manner, letting the music speak for itself, Brendon is a fullblown entertainer. Even though they still made as big of impacts on stage, their different ways of performing created a wider audience and, in my personal opinion, a better show. Ryan's new band The Young Veins didn't work out in my opinion because Ryan lacks that entertaining, full on live performer skill that Brendon possesses. Brendon has a way of voicing Ryan's words that not even the writer himself seems to manage.
Panic! At The Disco as they are now, though, are becoming slightly promiscuous with the guys they're playing with nowadays. The guitarist and bassist play in almost the same transparent way as Brendon, which could be a great thing. With these guys, it seems to slightly backfire and it makes their performances less fluid and well thought out as they were before Ryan and Jon left.
So I feel upset about the fact that it's not all four of them anymore. They were just so great together.
xo /Freeny
