UNIVERSAL CITY, California – If you’re Panic! at the Disco, how do you end a year in which you went from relative unknowns to one of the hottest bands on the planet?
“I might get a tattoo that just says ‘2006,’ ’cause it was such
a big year,” bassist Jon Walker said. “Really, just the whole year in general has been amazing to us.”
So a tattoo (maybe?) and “a little time off for the holidays,” added drummer Spencer Smith. “Then we’re going to start writing a new record over the winter and hopefully we have something out next fall.”
Panic are also releasing one more single from A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, “Build God, Then We’ll Talk,” which is as much a treat to themselves as it is to their fans.
“It’s the last song we wrote for this record. It’s all of our favorite song and we’ve wanted it to be a single pretty much ever since,” guitarist Ryan Ross explained. “That’s probably the most exciting one for us, but it’s kind of like we’re doing it for us. I don’t know if it’s going to be a huge hit or whatever.”
Ross described the song as a story he wrote about prostitution and living in Las Vegas, and he said the already-completed video is somewhat literal. “We’re not sure it’s ever going to get on MTV,” he said. “There’s dry humping, excessive drug use, pretty much anything vulgar.”
As for that next album, Panic have formulated some ideas, but have yet to write any complete songs.
“We’ve been talking about it for the past couple of months and we started writing lyrics a little bit, so I’ve got a little bit to go off of,” Ross said. “We’re gonna be home in January kind of doing our homework before we all get together.”
“Our last record, we felt somewhat rushed,” Smith added. “Luckily we’re actually going to have a little more time, so we’re more excited than anything to start writing. And, like, the last song on the record is our favorite song, so kind of going from there is where we’ll be. I guess that’s the best way to describe it.”
While in Los Angeles recently for KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas festival, the band took some meetings with potential producers.
“We’ve had some different ideas, but a lot of our favorite kind of people we’d like to work with aren’t the regular producers you may think of,” Smith said. “We want to work with some people who don’t even produce records, like Danny Elfman and [people] like that, who just do a lot of film scores. But we haven’t made a 100 percent decision yet.”
In the meantime, Smith is excited to share that he’s taking piano and drum lessons. “I haven’t taken lessons in three years, so watch out for that,” he warned.
“I’m finishing up a semester at community college,” Walker interrupted, mocking his band mate.
“I think I’m going to get a job,” Ross added.
Look out 2007.