I think I might have jinxed Panic! At the Disco.
Last week, I spoke to Panic! guitarist Ryan Ross while he and his bandmates—vocalist Brendon Urie, bassist Brent Wilson and drummer Spencer Smith—were on the road in Florida. Talking on a cell phone, Ross' signal kept breaking up. But the connection was clear for long enough to hear him talk about how things have been going for the band as they zigzag across the U.S. with the Nintendo Fusion Tour.
"It's been tough on us," Ross said. "The tour is set up for buses, but we're in our van. We drive all night and sleep in four-hour shifts."
After hearing only every other word from Ross, we agreed to continue the conversation via e-mail. I didn't hear from him for a few days so I checked the band's website (www.panicatthedisco.com). "Bad news," wrote Adam Samiljan of Fueled By Ramen, Panic!'s record label. "The Panic! At the Disco touring machine is broken down en route to Saturday's show in Houston and has to cancel the show."
"We think it was the serpentine belt," Daniel Griffith, the band's tour manager, said. "Triple-A towed us to a shop last night. We're in Louisiana right now, trying to make it to the Edgefest in Dallas tomorrow morning."
Vehicular troubles aside, Panic! is on a roll. This time last year, the young band had never even played in public. Now they are touring with Fall Out Boy, the Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack and Boys Night Out, drawing thousands of teens to every venue they hit.
Panic!, like another band from Las Vegas with an equal love for sweeping synthesizers and buzzing guitars (hint: their name begins with "K" and ends with "illers"), was discovered thanks to having their songs posted online. Ross posted a link to the band's PureVolume web page on the LiveJournal forum of Fall Out Boy. Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy's bassist, decided to check it out.
"When we talked to Pete," said Smith, "he said kids do that all the time, and he never has time to check them out, but for some reason he just decided to listen to ours."
Impressed with what he heard, Wentz contacted Panic! and came to Vegas to watch a practice. From there, things moved quickly. Panic!—with only three songs and not a single live gig under its belt—was signed to Wentz's Fueled By Ramen imprint, Decaydance. The band was sent to Maryland to record its debut album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, and soon the boys were booked to join the Take Cover Tour in August. Panic! played their first show ever at The Alley on West Sahara Avenue, only one day before hitting the road.
A Fever is an impressive accomplishment for a group of teenagers. It features punk-pop gems augmented with distorted synths, trumpets, cellos and electronic rhythms. Rolling Stone gave it 3 1/2 stars, and it debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers and New Alternative Artist charts.
Panic! is somewhat the odd band out on the Nintendo Fusion Tour. While the more seasoned acts are traveling in tour buses, Panic! is cramped in a van. Groups such as Fall Out Boy have years of experience on the road; the boys from Vegas have only been doing it for a few months. Another new thing for Panic! is dealing with the media on a regular basis.
"Before the record, we'd get occasional, random interviews for webzines or something," said Smith. "Now, we do one or two interviews a day."
The current tour brings Panic! back home for a sold-out show at the House of Blues. But for the boys, their homecoming is bittersweet; they have to be in Sacramento, California, the next day, which means driving out of town as soon as they finish playing. "It's a little disappointing," Smith said. "We're a little mad."