EQ Magazine - June 2008 - (Page 18)

Panic At The Disco (left to right): Spencer Smith, Ryan Ross, Brendon Urie, Jon Walker. THE PANIC IS ON Panic At The Disco Takes Cues from the Golden Age of Rock For Pretty. Odd. By Janice Brown fter communing with the spirits of ’60s rock, Panic At The Disco’s sophomore effort, Pretty. Odd [Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen], is more reminiscent of the Beatles and the Beach Boys than Fall Out Boy or the myriad other modern rock radio darlings the band is regularly lumped together with. It’s an ambitious album that fully transcends the trendy pop-punk sound of the Las Vegas quartet’s smash-hit debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Having retreated to the mountains outside of their hometown following an intense period of touring, Panic At The Disco was determined to shed some of their emo-rock skin, and instead, focus on writing an album that would reflect their admiration for the music of their parents’ generation (the group’s members are all under, or barely of, the legal drinking age). “We talked about how all of our favorite records, sonically, were probably from between 1965 and 1970,” says guitarist and main lyricist Ryan Ross. “That was where A 18 EQ JUNE 2008 www.eqmag.com PHOTO BY JENNIFER TZAR we started—thinking about how to make a record that sounded more timeless than our first album.” Drawing inspiration from the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Plastic Ono Band, as well as the lush and eccentric scores of group hero Danny Elfman, Panic At The Disco decided to stand on the shoulders of giants to look for its future sound. As a result, the story behind the making of Pretty. Odd is one of traditional analog-recording tools, classic studio techniques, an affinity for Beatles-era production effects, and elaborate arrangements utilizing non-traditional rock instruments. Recognizing that they could not concoct songs to the scale of their imaginations alone, Panic sought the council of musical mentor/producer Rob Mathes—the orchestral arranger for the likes of Lou Reed, Jay-Z, Yo Yo Ma, Ghostface Killah, Pavarotti, and Avril Lavigne. Mathes had done his fair share of producing in the past, though pretty consistently for artists of the adult contemporary ilk http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - June 2008

EQ Magazine - June 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board 3 Doors Down, Hard-Fi, Paul Manousos Tool Box Panic at the Disco Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Cakewalk Projects Apple Loops Utility SSL Duende Mini JBL LSR4326/PAK & LSR4312SP Holophone H3-D Creation Audio Labs MW1 Studio Tool Amp Modeler Roundup Eventide Timefactor, Electro-Harmonix Stereo Pedals, Korg Pandora PX5D Room with a Vu: Blues Tunes Studios, Silverlake, CA

EQ Magazine - June 2008

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