Ryan Ross Hernandez finds it "odd and slightly amusing" that his band, PANIC!, is already on their fourth studio album.

After all, it's been only five years since the Nashville-based six some released their major-label debut, the gold-selling I Rather Die Than Have Another Broken Heart, and since that time they've put out just three other albums. Yet, founding member Hernandez' doesn't feel that its too soon for the band's upcoming plans

"We need a break. From PANIC!. From each other. Just as much as I feel fans need a break from us as well," Hernandez says. "I know some artist can put our records every six months and have them sell millions of records but PANIC! is different. We don't just put new material out for the heck of it, we don't write for the heck of it either. We really need to be inspired to record new stuff and write. Like with the latest album, it just all came out naturally because we'd gone through so much in-between Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner and even while recording Broken Down on Memory Lane. We hate using technology to create music, so I feel if we'd attempt to put out a record next year, it will suck! PANIC!, is kind of a different group."

Indeed, the mentioning of no new recording plans for the foreseeable future is fanning the flames on PANIC! fan sites with rumors that the band (which also includes lead vocalist and main lyricist Ashley Perry, guitarist Gabriel Hunter, guitarist Josh Fallon, bassist Nick Asher and drummer Joey Fallon) might be pondering a breakup or a split from their label.

Hernandez, guitarist, occasional lead vocalist and songwriter for the group, record producer and all-around media darling, takes on these issues head-on.

Q: Whenever a band mentions the word 'break' or releases of compilation albums, two things come to mind: A) the band is breaking up or B) the group is leaving its label. Any truth on either of these fronts?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "I'd say no to both. We're not leaving our label 'cause I know we owe them, like one more record of new material still. And as to the breaking up, people want us to say 'we're breaking up' or 'we're taking a hiatus.' It's just that we've been doing this for five years, and we need a break. But I must clarify that we are taking a break from recording new material in 2010, we aren't taking a break from touring next year. You will defiantly see us touring next year, but we will probably just tour for one or two months then take a two month break before starting a whole new tour. That's the plan for 2010."

"People want an answer of when we'll be back recording something, and I think it's impossible…it's unfair to say when we'll do PANIC! again. It's hard to be creative. You just feel compressed all the time. We just want to let ourselves decompress."

Q: The new record, Broken Down on Memory Lane, is a more mature album, and you also abandon your older sound. Did that just kind of happen naturally or did you want to leave pop/punk behind?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "Ahh. Interesting. I feel like only two of the songs on the album have a pop-sound. Can't say pop-punk because I feel those two are more pop/rock than punk but…I don't know…I just only look at the lyrics, so they remind me of more of the older stuff. But as we grow up as human-begins and a band our sound will grow with us as well, so all but one of us have hit the 25-year old mark so we still have a lot of growing up to do. But it's interesting to see how we've involved."

Q: You have mentioned in the past that you would really like to release a cover album with PANIC!. Have you spoken with the other members about it? And if you have, is there any possibility we can hear it in the near-future?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "I have spoken with them about it and their all for it. But I'd rather release like a cover-EP or something of that kind instead of a full-length cover album. So, I feel its very possible that we do release some-sort of cover material, but to be honest I just don't see it happening in the near-future."

Q: Has gaining the success your band has recevied, has it changed your writing in any way? Do you find lyrics are coming our different?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "For the first nine months after Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner was released, I couldn't write at all, and then all of a sudden I started writing again, mostly due to a rough break-up [From Ashley Perry, a bandmate in PANIC!]. I think it made me look at the world in a different way. We have a very selfish culture, and we all embrace it. I wrote songs like 'Fucking MySpace Whore' about that, from a third person point of view but even though the song had great success, I ended up hitting after a while because if I had just waited a couple of months I would have been able to write it, in first person which what I believe is my writing view because I'm the only one that knows how I feel."

"I hate explaining lyrics 'cause it feel like 'whatever.' But 'MySpace' was about looking at a picture of yourself in the mirror, like the ultimate form of narcissism."

Q: On the new record, you don't write lyrics anymore and you don't equally share lead vocal time with Ashley, as a matter of fact you take a backing vocalist/guitarist role. What made the band come to the decision to have Ashley Perry become both the primary lead vocalist and lyricist?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "I don't know, I mean like the sound on the record it just came naturally. On the three previous records, Ashley and I would be able to write tons of songs together because we were in the same place, emotionally, plus we spent like everyday together. But with the writing on Broken Down on Memory Lane, it was more like we had different opinions and we didn't much time together outside of the recording studio because we still had some rough patches we hadn't resolved. Thankfully by the end of the album being made, we were able to become friends again, more than just bandmates which was great."

"But we had both written songs, separately and I remember like two days before we were going to go into pre-production I went over to Ashley's house and we compared lyrics. But, instantly when I started reading her lyrics they were very angry, very emotion-driven while mine were more reserved, less straight-forward than her lyrics. Even though she had only written two songs, and I had written about six, I told her that her lyrics told better the personal stories, we wanted to present on this record. The more mature sound we wanted. There is one song on it [Writing in Stone Across a Personal Map], that we both wrote fully together. Overall I just felt that one, Ashley wrote ten songs by herself and two, her voice is much more superior than mine. So, it would honestly, been unfair if she didn't get the credit she deserved. Hopefully now that she is lead vocalist, she gets more respect than previously. She doesn't get enough credit."

Q: Your life is pretty much very kept under covers, only on occasions an open book, on your songs. Do you ever plan to be more open of your personal life - do you think that you should have less mystique than rock stars did back in the day?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "Fuck no! There is no way I want my personal life out in the open. If anything I would want to keep it more closed. Like all of PANIC!, we are a band that feels there's a limit between being close with your fans and being completely out in the open and not be able to have a personal life at all."

"With paparazzi and camera phones and the world becoming more globalized, I worry about over saturation and overexposure. I worry about being in too many places, and there being too much of me out in the world. I'd get sick of me, so I try not to let that happen."

"But I do feel there is something's, fans have a right to know about because they've already about them to some extent. For example, I think my suicide attempt, my overdose, I feel those are some things that the fans should know more about. And they will once I decide a upon a respectful media outlet that it willing to give me time to express myself."

Q: I hear that bandmate, bassist Nick Asher wants to play near melodic hardcore-type songs and that he has a melodic hardcore side project on the horizon. Is this something you encourage, and might PANIC! incorporate more metal-type songs in their repertoire?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "See, I don't know when PANIC! going to do anything again. Man, whenever you say something for sure, you always set it in stone. But no, there is no way PANIC! is gonna get any heavier than it is right now. We feel very comfortable with what we are doing right now."

"I do encourage Nick to take his melodic 'core side out and go do something with it. I think he's working on something, but I'm not sure. He told me he was, but I don't know how much they're working on it. But I totally encourage that. Just as much as I encourage Gabriel Hunter's pop/punk work with Breaking Dawn at Sunset. Just as much as I'm pushing for Ashley to release some solo material. I'll support them with whatever any of them want to do outside of the band. And I'll help them how ever I can."

Q: I know your probably sick and tired of this question but a lot of fans keep asking, Where do some of the song titles come from?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "Song titles are all inside jokes or references to the songs. They're not random, especially not on the new record. We choose them at the last minute before the record goes to print and then it just pisses everybody off." [laughs]

Q: What advise would you give to a fan who has formed a band to help them get noticed? How should they self-promote their band? Any tips you'd give them?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "For every band it's different. My one tip would be, don't listen to what other people are telling you as far as, 'You guys need to sound more like this, you need to be more like this.' You can't just get big on the Internet, and you might not get big if you just go around in a van.

"You need all the right things going on, and you have to put your heart into it 100 percent. That's how it worked with PANIC!, and then it just spread by word of mouth, until the second record when we had a number-two hit in the USA charts, and I don't know how to make that happen."

Q: What projects, other than PANIC! are you working on or will begin to work on in the near future? Both music-wise and other business endeavors.

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "A lot of stuff. My second solo album and most likely final solo record will be released around February, right now aiming for a Valentine's Day release date. But I'm a bit iffy about just the whole future of my solo career so I might just not release the album and just walk out. Depending on my current status with Spice Records."

"Various charity work. I really want to do a real big show with other bands and artist for 'Limelight on Hunger' around January of the coming year. I'm planing on coming out with some sort of events, maybe like a tour around high schools to talk about my depression problems and my prescription drug overdose."

"Something, that I've been working on for sometime now. I've been writing in collaboration with some very good friends, a screenplay for a possible film. Which is the project I'm most excited for. I feel that if we get the proper support we can surely make something real big."

"To go back to musical projects, the duet project between Ashley and I, is still on. Currently untitled, we plan to begin writing for it soon. So, sometime late next year, I think we will finally release something. We know a lot of people are excited to hear it, but we are taking a very laid back, relaxing approach to it. For the project, we really are going to fight with labels because we want some pretty demanding things 'cause we feel that project could be just as big as PANIC! is."

"And of course, I still want to expand my producing. If musicians are willing to stand me for months and months, which is a pretty big task to handle! Aside from that, maybe do some collaborations with other musicians, although I'm very picky with who I work with. I mean, personally I have to enjoy the others music for me to lend my vocals or write a song with them. Same thing goes with producing."

Q: Last question - A lot of your fans want to know this because of your history of bad relationships, are you currently romantically involved with anyone?

Ryan Ross Hernandez: "This gets another fuck no! I rarely do something purely for pleasure, I can be very close-fisted and parsimonious. Due to painful separations previously where I've been taking to the top then tossed to the side like nothing. I have become very cautious about becoming involved in close relationships and sharing my feelings. I admit that I crave love and affection, but getting close to someone or saying 'I love you' is difficult for me. I have been romantically involved with people who do not value me. Before I get into another relationship I have to learn to love and value myself before I can find happiness in love again. I know there are more heartbreaks to come, but right now I'm in the mindset to be able to handle a heartbreak. But hey, I'm happy right now. I'm just enjoying touring, it's really fun right now that I'm to experience with 20/20 vision and not by what sleeping pills and red wine made me see."