On March 22, 100 lucky fans were given the opportunity to participate in the second half of the Stride-Shift concert, landing in Los Angeles for a private Panic! At the Disco performance after seeing Cobra Starship in New York City the night before.
The event was part of Stride Shift’s “One Gum, Two Coasts, Two Bands” campaign, highlighting Stride’s newest product, a gum that “shifts” flavor mid-chew. Stride, the ridiculously long-lasting gum, recently debuted its flavor-changing gum in flavors Berry-to-Mint and Citrus-to-Mint.
Brendon Urie singing lead vocals and Spencer Smith playing drums for the Stride-Shift concert experience.
The bi-coastal event gave 100 fans a chance to attend two private rock concerts on both coasts with a guest. They were informed that they won the opportunity via a text message stating “Holy Shift! You’re a winner!”
Panic! At the Disco performed at the W Hotel’s rooftop club Drai’s and celebrated the duo’s latest album release (also unveiled on March 22), Vices and Virtues. In 2004, the band burst onto the American music charts as a four-piece group reveling in hits like “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies.” Five years later, members Ryan Ross and Jon Walker left the group.
Panic! now consists of original members Brendon Urie (lead vocals, guitar, piano) and Spencer Smith (drums). Taking some time to regroup and figure out the right course of action, Urie and Smith’s Vices and Virtues is the first album from the group in nearly three years.
Panic! At the Disco performing at Drai's Hollywood.
“When we split, you know, we didn’t know if we wanted to deal with a different project,” Smith told LA’s The Place. “We just decided that what we were wanting to do was where Panic! was coming from…[Brendon and I] were pretty like-minded where we wanted to go, so it was nice to just kind of do exactly what you wanted to do.”
Much to fans’ relief, they continued working together and recording music under the Panic! At the Disco moniker. The two even brought back the briefly-missing exclamation point in their name, after they dropped it in 2008.
“We definitely brought [the exclamation point] back,” Urie told LA’s The Place. “That was something that we kind of missed as well. We didn’t think about it when we took it away, but now we’re thinking about it.”
Smith added, “It was crazy how much people really noticed that and were aware.”
Spencer Smith and Brendon Urie getting ready for the Stride-Shift private concert.
For the new release, Urie and Smith looked to some new places for inspiration, including ’80s music like Peter Gabriel tunes, world music and dance pieces. The sound also incorporated keyboards and synthesizers, instruments that they had missed using on the previous album.
Vices and Virtues was produced by John Feldman (Good Charlotte, Goldfinger) and singer/songwriter/producer Butch Walker (Fall Out Boy, Avril Lavigne, Pink). Walker has worked with Urie before on the song “Open Happiness” for Coca-Cola; Urie and Smith joined Walker for his music video “Pretty Melody.”
“[Walker] has not only amazing equipment—guitars, amps, piano, all amazing—he is such a talented person, it is insane,” Urie explained. “Melody is a huge thing for our band. That’s what we concentrate most on—the melody and how it works in with the chords—and that’s kind of what he does too. He really focuses on melody, so that is really where we met eye to eye, and he was able to help us out a little bit.”
The catchy title for their latest outing came after Panic! had written all the lyrics and started seeing a pattern. They used many words with the same theme: regret, pride, logic, ambition and self-expression, all qualities in someone’s character, so they researched and found a list of these phrases titled “Vices and Virtues.”
The first single from the record is “The Ballad of Mona Lisa” and was released Feb. 1. Its music video shows another creative side of the guys with acting and playing a role, one that they enjoy but don’t necessarily want to make a career out of.
“I think that it is good we can make music videos, and that’s our outlet for acting because I think every musician wants to be an actor and every actor has a band, so it’s cool because everyone knows we’re not trained actors,” Smith revealed. “That’s perfect, and we take advantage of that.”
100 lucky winners were brought out to LA for the concert after a Stride-sponsored contest
Surprisingly for the first time ever the two appeared at the annual entertainment festival, South by Southwest in Austin. Promoting the album there and taking in the ambiance was an entirely new experience for Panic! At the Disco.
“It’s so cool. You can walk anywhere, 10 yards, then 10 more yards and you find different bands,” Urie said. “It’s really bizarre how everybody is so different but everybody just kind of gets along. Even if you don’t like the same music…it’s just this great community.”
Lately, Urie has rediscovered his love for Elvis Costello, and Smith has been enjoying music from The Strokes, Arcade Fire and Fleetwood Mac.
Gearing up for a brand new tour hitting Europe and traveling across the U.S., the planning phase has officially started.
“We’ve just started talking about ideas for dressing the stage and setting it up and what we want to bring up and what the theme would be, so that’s being talked about right now, and that’s always fun too,” Urie said. “Besides the music, besides the videos, talking about the live show is something we really take pride in.”
Panic! is taking its tour to major cities like Boston, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, and here in Los Angeles, hitting the area on June 21 at The Wiltern. And can fans count on the usual costumes, make-up and theatrics from past shows?
Urie laughed, “Of course. There will always be costumes.”
For more information on Panic! At the Disco, visit www.panicatthedisco.com and for details on Stride gum, visit www.stridegum.com.
