ROLLING STONE INTERVIEWS PANIC!



This isn't really a question just something we all want to hear. Representatives of the band confirmed that you were once again a band, that PANIC! has returned. I just really wanna hear you guys confirm it for the world.

Ashley Perry: (laughs) Yeah, PANIC! is once again a band. We never stopped being a band but I guess a lot of people can misinterpret a hiatus for a break-up.

Gabriel Hunter: We always told people that we were just taking a break, a hiatus that didn't have a definite date to return. I mean, I think it took a little longer than we had liked but now we're back.

Now we've come to Nashville, Tennessee, where the two of you were born and grew up in. Nashville has an amazing music history, enriched in country music. Although you guys grew up and became rockers. What was the scene that allowed you to get signed when you're in a world that's country?

Ashley: The cool thing about Nashville and the surrounding areas, is that there's a lot of different music. You got your indie scene, your punk rock scene. There's a lot of different music scenes here. It's obvious that country music is the most known genre here, but it's not just limited to that scene. This is very much a music town. A lot of kids around here are already in bands when their thirteen years old, and it's normal.

Let's go back for a second to the start of this band. There has always been a bit of a dispute with who are the founders of PANIC!. How did this band begin?

Gabriel: I think the common belief is that the founders of this band were Ashley and Ryan Ross Hernandez, which is false.

Ashley: Yeah, I mean Ryan was the last member to come into the band. We were already in talks with record labels and doing pre-production work for our debut album when Ryan joined the band.

Gabriel: To be honest, the band just grew between the period of time when we formed PANIC! and our first record came out.

Ashley: PANIC! was formed by Nick Asher, Josh and Joey Fallon, and myself. We started off as a four-piece, but during the recording of We Are the Directors of This Dramatic Love Story, Nick had to leave the band, so in the middle of recording we were left without a bassist. When Nick left, that was when Gabriel came in. We had met through our vocal coach, and at the time he was in this cover band, but I knew that he played a whole bunch of instruments, bass being one of them. So I asked him to just come in and record bass, kind of as just a one off thing, until we could find a permanent replacement for Nick.

Gabriel: Right around that time while I was recording bass for them, the cover band I was in broke up. Then they offered me to join PANIC!, which was pretty much an offer I couldn't refuse. (chuckles)

Ashley: Then of course, Nick came back during our first tour post recording the album, and we had Hunter move to rhythm guitar.

Then how did Ryan Ross Hernandez come into the band? It sounds like at this point, you guys were already recording songs, and had a full band. What was the reasoning behind having him join?

Ashley: That's actually a funny story how we met Ryan. We were in New York City, to meet with our label at the time. We're talking like November of 2004. There was this really bad snow storm in New York, and we were going back to Nashville but we ended up getting stuck at the airport. Ryan was also on his way to Nashville but he was on a different flight, but he of course he was also stuck. At that point we were already on the brick of singing a record deal, but Ryan already had a deal as a solo artist. When I think back to when I met Ryan, it amazes me that he has gone from that quiet, shy kid to such a eccentric character now.

Gabriel: It didn't take long for us to notice that Ryan was an amazing guitar player. He could listen to a song once and he could already make it out on guitar. It was really a no-brainer to have Ryan join the band on lead guitar. And once he joined us in studio we found out he had a good voice in addition to being a songwriter, which really gave us a special dynamic in having two vocalists. We were a unique band, we had two vocalists and three guitarists, then bassist and drummer. All six of us brought something special to the band. It wasn't ever Ashley's band or Ryan's. PANIC! was always a band. It still is a band.

Ashley: Yeah, that's a common belief that's wrong. I just think when someone does most of the talking or is in the front of the stage and band photos, that they're the leader or leaders. Everything about this band has always been everyone involving having a say in things.

Obviously in 2008, Ryan made the decision to leave the band. After his departure, was there ever a sense that the band was over with then?

Ashley: Not at all. As we said before, Ryan wasn't an original founder of this band. Obviously, we have to thank him a great deal because he did teach us all something. When people say Ryan Ross Hernandez is a musical genius, it's not an exaggeration. He has a musical encyclopedia in his brain. He could joke a lot, he could act a certain way around people, but he is one of the most intelligent people I've met. He taught me a lot about songwriting, about singing. We thank him for all he did for this band both musically, and behind the scenes for us.

Gabriel: I think our favorite record is Broken Down on Memory Lane, which is the album we released in 2009, when Ryan had already left. He did come back to co-produce the record with us, but he had no input in the lyrics, he never grabbed an instrument. That album is pretty damn good in my mind, and it was post the Ryan Ross Hernandez era in PANIC!.

I recall around the time that you were making Broken Down on Memory Lane, that you guys said there was a lot of strife going on within the band already. Was that an influence for taking the hiatus?

Gabriel: The entire process of making Broken Down on Memory Lane was emotionally difficult, but we needed it. To us it didn't feel like we were making a record. It felt as though we were mending the tearing in the band.

Ashley: For me especially, the writing process which we did here in Nashville was torturing for me. I had a lot of bundled up feelings which were hard to get out to write. It was also the first time that we were doing a full length record and I was writing everything by myself. The anger I had inside me I was able to get out when I wrote the songs that are on that album.

Gabriel: It was tough hearing the lyrics for the first time. Every member of the band, even Ryan who was just producing with us, knew that she was talking about us, all of us. We needed it to be like that though. It wouldn't have worked any other way.

Ashley: We made the decision to take the hiatus during the US tour we did after Broken Down on Memory Lane was released. During that tour was when things really escalated. It was almost like war lines were made within the band both on stage and behind the scenes. We were all constantly getting in arguments and picking sides. It wasn't a five marriage anymore, it was every man for themselves. Which doesn't work when you're in band.

Internal problems never seemed to be too far from PANIC!. In the spring of 2008, you guys canceled a tour in Europe. What was the reason behind that?

Ashley: First off, we never didn't love our fans. It was just getting difficult for us to be together. Ryan and myself had dated and we had a break up. And that was the tour during which he told us that he was leaving the band, and that's when we knew we needed a breather. It's no different than what we would have experienced in college or whatever, but just magnified by the fact that millions of people are watching.

There's always been a difference between you Ashley, and Ryan Ross Hernandez. He started off as a solo artist and that's where his passion has always been . You on the other hand, have always said that you preferred doing something with a band aspect rather than something solo. Will we ever hear of a Ashley Perry solo project?

Ashley: (laughs) No, that's very doubtful. I don't mind doing things on my own, like music videos, or photoshoots, or guest spots on other people's records. But my passion is still with PANIC!.

So when you made the announcement to the public that PANIC! was taking a hiatus from music, what did each of you go on to do afterwards?

Ashley: I think we all just spent a lot of time with our families and friends. Things happened so fast for us, that for four years it was all just recording and touring. It's difficult to balance all that. So it was good to just spend a year, year in a half, just taking time for ourselves. Which we all needed.

Gabriel: Yeah, it was pretty much the same for me. I got a chance to travel a bit with my girlfriend. I think bands need that.

When was it that you got together and decided that you wanted to end the hiatus and start PANIC! again?

Ashley: Last December, I think. We all kept in contact for the most part, but last December was when we all decided to meet up and just talk. Mostly about the future of this band. Obviously, since you only see the two of us here that talk didn't go down very well, but we just wanted to give everyone the option if they wanted to keep this band going. We're still good friends, especially with Nick and Joey, but we respect all their decision to want to move on to other things.

Gabriel: I think Ashley and I had talked about a month before we all met up at her place, and we both agreed that we were still very passionate about PANIC!.

PANIC! is back. Reduced to just the two of you, but you're back. So what can we expect from PANIC! 3.0?

Ashley: (laughs) PANIC! 3.0. I like that. Hmm.... What to expect from PANIC!? You know, we're just gonna continue making and playing music we love. Now you have a lot of new awesome bands, so hopefully our fans still care about is and support what we do.

Is there a new PANIC! record in the works?

Gabriel: I think we could say we're in pre-production for a new record.

Ashley: Yeah, we just wanna be set when we finally get into the studio. We already want to be signed to a record label before then because we just don't want to focus on anything else but music when we start working on the new record. We already have a few songs written and some demos going. We're hoping to get into the studio soon, then hopefully have a new record out late this year or early next.

Gabriel: We were talking earlier and we might release a little EP or something, with some new music before we release a full-length.

Is Ryan Ross Hernandez gonna come back to produce the album?

Ashely: We've talked with me a little bit. I know Hunter visited him in LA a few months ago, and we talked on the phone not too long ago either. Honestly, I'm not sure. If we were to call in a co-producer, it probably would be Ryan. He is the only person who not only knows what we want but he is a musical genius.

Gabriel: Ryan is a mad scientist. If you want to make an amazing record and you don't call Ryan Ross Hernandez, I'm sorry but you're an idiot. (chuckles)

Can you give us any hint of how the record might sound?

Ashley: I think it's gonna keep showing the progression of this band. It's good when a band keeps progressing and maturing with each release. Which is what we've done so far and will continue to do. It's been two years since we released Broken Down on Memory Lane, and we're not gonna try and recreate that album or any of our previous ones. We're just gonna keep growing as a band, naturally and organically in all aspects.

Gabriel: It's going to be much easier to decide things like sound now, because it's just two inputs. It's not five or six people like it use to be. Ashley and I have a similar musical taste, but I do listen to a bit more soul and R&B music. So I'm not sure how it's gonna sound. Except that it still will probably be built around rock music.

And lyrically, what might the themes be?

Ashley: Well we've gone through a lot these last two years. Be it individually and as a band, so of course the songs on this coming record will be very personal and introspective. It wouldn't be right to the fans if we just came back from this band turmoil and wrote songs that weren't personal and autobiographical.

Finally, do you have anything you want to say to your fans?

Ashley: Thank you. I don't think any other fans have had to put up with all that ours have. We thank them for always supporting us. If we didn't feel that they still wanted us to be a band and be making music, we wouldn't have returned to PANIC! again. This is where our hearts are and this is what we love to do.