Ryan Ross Talks About Leaving Panic! At The Disco

Just last week fans of the band Panic! At The Disco were heartbroken and shocked as news of Jon Walker and Ryan Ross leaving the band were announced. The two left the band to “embark on a musical excursion of their own”. But according to Ross the split had been in the works for a while it just took everyone a while to realize it.

“It's been a little while, a few months since we started thinking that this might be the best thing to do," Ross told MTV News late Monday. "Jon and I had been writing a bunch of stuff on the road, and it just got to a point when we were off tour, when we were talking about getting together and working on this stuff, that it became pretty apparent that we all weren't wanting to go in the same direction. There was a period where we weren't really talking to each other all that much, and Jon and I were just living at my house and continuing to write. And we kind of realized we needed to get over not speaking and figure out what was actually going on. So we all sat down and pretty much came to the conclusion that the best thing for everyone was to do what we did."

Ross said the split was largely due to creative differences between him and Panic! front man Brendon Urie. Brendon wanted to explore more polished pop sound much like their demo they released last week. While Ross wanted to explore more retro-inspired music. Or as Ross put it “Brendon’s more of a Peter Gabriel fan and I’m more of a Ray Davies fan.”

"Brendon has always been a fan of pop music, but that's such a broad term, because I guess I would say I would be too, but in a different way. Jon and I are still very much influenced by the Beatles and Beach Boys stuff and the Kinks and stuff like that," Ross said. "And so that's the stuff we were writing at my house... That's the stuff we're going to make now. I haven't heard any of Brendon and Spencer Smith’s stuff, to be honest."

Eventually those differences came to a head. Late last month Ross and Smith had lunch with each other and cleared the air. They both realized that the best thing was for them to go their separate ways. He said while he hasn’t heard any of the new Panic! stuff, he wishes Urie and Smith the best and considers them both to be his friends. The same however cannot be said for his former boss, Pete Wentz, who seems to have clearly aligned himself with Urie and Smith.

"I haven't spoken to him in a while, since this happened. I guess I've been meaning to call him back. He called me, but I've missed a lot of phone calls this week," Ross said. "We're not sure [whether Ross' and Walker's new band will be on Wentz's Decaydance Records]. I'll have to talk to him, but obviously from what's happening online, I think he's... he's written a lot about them. I don't know if they're working together on their stuff. I'm not really sure, but it's been awhile since we've spoken. It's strange. It's kind of weird."

Pete Wentz has yet to agree to make a comment about this. Even though the relationship with Wentz might be finished Ross still considers the split with Panic! to be a “good and healthy” thing. He and Walker are writing and recording a few songs at a quick pace and it’ll be soon that they’ll be revealing the songs. The only thing that bothers him is how some of the Panic! fans have treated him since the split. He says they’ve treated him as a bad guy in the whole scenario and doesn’t think that it is fair.

"That was probably the worst part, at least for us, knowing people were going to be upset," he said. "I hope nobody blames anybody. It seems like, because those guys are sticking with the name, that it looked like it's mine and Jon's fault. I think a lot of people blamed us for quitting or ruining the band, and that part didn't really seem fair, because it wasn't the case. Musically, it got to a roadblock, and we were going one way and they were going the other. But fans will be able to hear it soon enough. And then maybe they'll change their minds."