Ryan Ross
Photo: MTV News

Despite what you may have read, Ryan Ross isn't a drug addict. He isn't a troublemaker or a "rock star" either. He wasn't the reason Panic! at the Disco split up. He's just a guy with a new band (and a new album) who just so happens to also be carrying around a ton of baggage. And he'll happily discuss all of it with you.

"I don't take myself very seriously. I gave up on trying to prove anything to people. If something is funny to me, it's funny," he said. "I don't really take anything very seriously, I guess, unless it's about the band. I would say my main goal is to be one of the top 20 most-hated people on the Internet. I'm well on my way."

He probably is. For reasons that he can't seem to comprehend, Ross — who, along with former Panic! bassist Jon Walker, left their former bandmates behind to start the Young Veins earlier this summer — has been saddled with a bit of a bad-boy tag, mostly by kids who now claim to be his former fans. Which is why every time he posts a blurry photo on his Twitter account or cracks a joke about getting married in a shotgun ceremony, it's not only taken as gospel, but as more proof that he's lost his mind.

And he has absolutely no problem with any of that.

"See, that's another thing — comedy doesn't come across that well on Twitter. I would've figured, come on, if I'm as bad as people think I am, I would've had a way better wedding than that. I wouldn't have done it over Twitter," Ross laughed. "So, no. I did not get married. We thought it would be funny — nobody else thought it was funny. Friends of mine were like, 'Congratulations!' and I was like, 'Dude, are you serious — you actually thought it was a legitimate thing?' People didn't think it was funny."

And rather than try to address any of the rumors surrounding him, Ross has instead decided to disappear from public view, throwing himself headlong into finishing the Veins' debut, Take a Vacation. It's a decision that's only caused his legend to grow exponentially. To a lot of Panic! fans, Ross is a spook story — the dark yin to Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith's bright and shiny yang. He's basically a mystery — albeit one with a very active Twitter presence.

But now, with Vacation done, he's starting the long climb back into the spotlight. And though the Veins currently don't have a label (they're in the process of shopping the finished disc) or any solid tour plans, Ross is ready to welcome his fans — both current and former — back into his world. He just hopes they're ready.

"I hope that our other fans love [the record]. I hope the kids from Panic! like it too," he said. "I think it's more accessible and maybe better than our last record was. In terms of pop songs, I think they're better pop songs. It's not like we're trying to do this cooler than cool new bands — it's pop songs, you know?"

• Panic at the Disco

Panic! at the Disco's Brendon Urie
Photo: MTV News

There is a lyric in Panic! at the Disco's "New Perspective" — the first single off the "Jennifer's Body" soundtrack — that's edited out of the radio version (and the accompanying music video), but if you're a fan of the band, you know the line we're talking about: its the one where frontman Brendon Urie pleads with the subject of his song to cut all the foreplay and just, well, make with the sexual favors.

It's a rather, uh, straightforward lyric, one that seems somewhat out of place with the rest of Panic's flowery canon. So, when MTV News sat down with Urie recently, I had to ask what the inspiration was for the line. As it turns out, at least part of it was a tribute to Megan Fox, who stars in "Jennifer's Body" as a very sexy succubus.

"I guess that lyric is kind of the through line for the movie, because the movie has a lot of sexual — not even innuendo. Just, like, blatant sexuality. No beating around the bush — it's just right there, so it kind of fits," Urie laughed. "That song was written about a dream I had. I wrote the verse down and we worked on the rest of the song together, and that line, well, it's about a dream."

Actually, the similarities between the song and the film are pretty much coincidental, as Urie and his Panic! mate Spencer Smith never even saw the film when they were writing "New Perspective." In fact, they didn't even know the song had made the cut until they were invited to an early screening.

"I think we had written it, like, a month before — they asked us for some stuff and we were like, 'Yeah, we have a song.' We didn't get to see a screening of the film at all. They basically told us, 'Yeah, it's about a girl who's possessed, and she eats boys,' and that was about it, so we just wondered if it was going to fit," Urie said. "And we finally saw an early screening of it, we got to see the song in the film and, luckily, it works out. It's during a scene when they're getting ready for prom, basically. It's in the background to a montage. It's pretty cool."

Still, Urie realizes the marketing potential that comes with joining phrases like "Megan Fox" and "blatant sexuality," which is why, at the end of our interview, when we jokingly asked him if "Jennifer's Body" was nothing but scenes of a scantily clad Fox seducing men and women, he laughed, then paused for a second, and answered:

"Well, yes, that's basically what it is. That's what I'm saying."

Check out everything we've got on "Jennifer's Body."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

• Panic at the Disco

Panic! at the Disco's Spencer Smith and Brendon Urie
Photo: MTV News/ Akshay Bhansali

On Sunday night at the MTV Video Music Awards, as Kanye West bum-rushed Taylor Swift's Best Female Video acceptance speech, there were millions of viewers who probably felt empathy for the country singer. But there were only a handful who could relate to her situation — and one of those was Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie.

See, back at the 2006 VMAs, Urie and his bandmates had to deal with a stage-rusher of their own: a fired up filmmaker named Sixx who crashed their Video of the Year acceptance speech, complained that MTV never gave him a show, and pimped a (now defunct) Web site before being escorted off stage by security.

So on Sunday night, while Urie watched the show from a New York hotel room, he felt pretty bad for her ... and he also felt something very similar to déjà vu.

"I watched the rerun [of the show] from our hotel room," he said. "I [started watching] like five minutes before that happened, and Taylor got that award, and then all of a sudden it was like, 'Wow! Déjà vu!' Like, 'Hey, I remember that happening to us in 2006!'

"I felt for her," he continued. "Yeah totally, I think everybody did. Like, man, I feel really bad. That kind of sucks."

But Urie was quick to point out that his situation was different than Swift's. After all, say what you will about the guy who stormed the stage when Panic won, he was polite about it.

"It is a different situation, because what happened to us was, we walked up, and were gonna grab the mic, and he just came up — Sixx was his name, I still remember his name — and he just came up, grabbed the microphone and plugged his stuff, and he wasn't rude to us at all," Urie laughed. "He was just like, 'Hey, give it up for these guys, they're dong a great job. Also, check out my Web site.' He just plugged his stuff. So it was totally a different situation, than, getting bashed for your video, saying somebody else should win.

"But, hey, at least [Kanye] apologized."

• Panic at the Disco
• Kanye West
• Taylor Swift

Blink-182's Mark Hoppus performing in Cincinnati, OH on Thursday
Photo: Gil Kaufman/MTV News

CINCINNATI — Imagine going to see Kim Kardashian at a book signing and having her show up in a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt. Now, picture going to see the reunited Blink-182 and making it all the way through their 90-minute set without hearing a single poop or pee joke. Unthinkable, right?

Well, that's what happened Thursday night at Riverbend Music Center in front of more than 20,000 screaming fans at what the band said was the biggest crowd on their summer tour to date. Gig #13 turned out to be a lucky one for Travis, Tom and Mark, as the adoring, mostly teen and pre-teen crowd showered them with love and vocal assistance while the boys returned the favor with their typical F-bomb-filled stage patter and frenzied pop-punk classics.

The show opened with a bang, as the band blazed through "Feeling This," "What's My Age Again?" and the moody, Cure-like "I Miss You" in front of a towering set made up of six round video screens that looked like the inside of a giant spaceship. Though many in the crowd looked like they were barely out of grade school when Blink called it quits five years ago, they shouted along to the bouncy "Stay Together for the Kids" like it was the anthem of their youth.

	Blink-182, Fall Out Boy And Panic! Rock Out In Cincinnati

Maybe it's a function of time and distance, but all three band members seemed both more accomplished at their instruments and, yes, more mature this time around. Despite his barrage of F-bombs and taunts to the crowd about local sports heroes, singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge's voice sounded slightly less nasal and more robust than in the past and his guitar playing was more nuanced. Drummer Travis Barker showed off his clearly amped-up abilities, tossing in some nuanced, jazzy fills on "Stockholm Syndrome" and blowing minds during the encore with an athletic drum solo that featured him floating on his drum riser over the stage, tilted down at a 30-degree angle and spinning around in an homage to Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee.

DeLonge and bassist/singer Mark Hoppus played off of each other all night, with cross-talk that provided proof that whatever animus broke the band up five years ago, they've overcome it and are loving playing together again. They gave each other a bro-hug on behalf of the audience before "Adam's Song," which kept building and building until it sounded like the place was going to explode. And, in a moment that rarely ever happens at big rock shows, Hoppus not only thanked the opening acts, he actually sang bits of songs from each, albeit with made-up garbled lyrics.

By the time they got to "All the Small Things" and "Josie," the band's pop-punk theatrics took a back seat to the roaring vocals from the crowd, who treated both songs like they were classic rock anthems from the 1970s. The smiles on Tom and Mark's faces as the show ended said it all.

Co-headliners Fall Out Boy played a no-nonsense 45 minutes of speedy arena-pop that verged from '80s glam metal to, well, '80s pop, courtesy of their unironic cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." And for an audience that was barely born when Blink first rolled out, the amount of buy-in on the cheesy FM radio staple's soaring chorus was truly impressive — helped, no doubt, by a vocal assist from Panic! At The Disco singer Brendon Urie.

Otherwise, FOB stuck to what they do best: big-hearted, stomping anthems like "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race," the dino rock of "I Don't Care" and "I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me," which spotlighted drummer Andy Hurley's thundering chops.

At one point, bassist Pete Wentz stopped to thank Blink for bringing the band out on tour with them, saying he grew up on the band's Dude Ranch album and referring to them as "big brothers."

Pharrell protégés Chester French opened with a 20-minute set of caffeinated synth-pop that included their homage to sexy shoes, "Jimmy Choos," and sexier groupies, "Bebe Buell."

With new guitarist Ian Crawford (the Cab) and bassist Dallon Weekes (the Brobecks) in tow, Panic! At the Disco 2.0 played a 40-minute blitz of their signature paisley pop. But in place of the foppish, ruffled shirts, psychedelic circus performers and modern dandy look they began shedding more than a year ago, the streamlined quartet came out in slim, shiny dark suits and played a lean set with a more rock-edged sound.  

From "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off," to "Camisado" and "That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)," the band drove a little harder and faster than they used to, with singer Urie engaging in a bit of sexually charged banter with his young admirers. The band also showed off their new single, the sing-songy pop tune "New Perspective," which gave mop-topped guitarist Crawford a chance to show off a few vintage 1984 guitar tricks.

All in all, it was a super-charged, triumphant night for the bands and their fans, especially a trio of Blink fanatics who were at the very front and center of the barriers. Wearing a coonskin cap, Kentucky native Brandon Rogers, 21, said he hadn't slept for three days in anticipation of seeing Blink for the first time. "Their music defined our childhood year," he said. "They represent our age."

He was joined by pal Jonathan Dooley, also sweating it out under a coonskin cap, and 18-year-old Rebecca Schweingruber, who said she'd been listening to Blink since fifth grade and had left home at 3 a.m. to make sure she was first in line to enter the venue. "I was so stoked about this show, my brother and I partied for two days before we came down," she said.

• Blink-182, Fall Out Boy And Panic! At The Disco Rock Out In Cincinnati, Ohio

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Mark Hoppus
Photo: MTV News

Earlier this month, Panic! at the Disco drummer Spencer Smith told MTV News that he hoped to hand Blink-182's Mark Hoppus a few of his demos while the two bands toured together.

Smith's goal was to convince Hoppus — who, what with his work with All Time Low, Motion City Soundtrack and the Michael Jackson estate, has suddenly become a rather hot commodity — to produce a couple of tracks on the new Panic! album.

Well, those demos must have been plenty convincing. On Tuesday, MTV News spoke to Hoppus, who confirmed that he'd be producing at least one song on the upcoming Panic! disc, and he'd like to do even more, if Smith and frontman Brendon Urie will let him.

"I've heard a few of Panic! at the Disco's demos for the new album, and they're really strong," Hoppus said. "There's one track in particular that I know I'm committing to produce for them, and hopefully I'll get to do a bunch more. I know they're talking to a bunch of producers, and that's always kind of a touchy subject, especially when you're on tour with people, and they're like, 'Oh yeah, we're recording a new album, would you do a little work on it?' "

Earlier, Smith had told MTV News that Panic! hope to begin recording their new album later this fall, after completing their run of shows with Blink. And Hoppus could be following them right off the road and into the studio. Because while he didn't go into great depth while talking about the Panic! demos, it's easy to tell he heard something special in one particular tune that has him plenty psyched to start work.

"It's one of those songs that, even in the demo stages, you can tell is gonna be a gigantic song," Hoppus said. "It's really catchy. It's one of those songs you hear one time, and you just remember the hook for the rest of the day. I think it's what everybody loves about Panic! at the Disco, so yeah, I'm excited about that."

• Panic at the Disco
• blink-182

Panic! at the Disco's Spencer Smith
Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images

It was the one question that dogged Panic! at the Disco the entire time they were promoting 2008's Pretty. Odd. album: Why did they decide to drop the exclamation point from their name?

In retrospect, it seems like a pretty dumb thing to focus on — especially since Pretty. Odd. was pretty great — but when Panic! became plain, old Panic, it turned into one gigantic, yearlong headache for the guys in the band.

"It's amazing because we never necessarily got asked about it that much when it was in there," drummer Spencer Smith told MTV News. "And then all of a sudden, we decided to take it away for Pretty. Odd., and we were asked about that in, I think, every interview for a couple months."

So after having to answer pointed, punctuation-related questions for the better part of a year, why on Earth did Smith and frontman Brendon Urie decided to bring the exclamation point back? Well, as it turns out, for old time's sake.

"For me and Brendon, there were aspects of our first album that did sort of go away on Pretty. Odd. that we'd like to bring back to our band. There's some theatricality and some different styles of music, and we want to make a record that is drawing from both our previous albums," Smith said. "And it just seemed like it would be a fun thing for our fans. Hopefully, there's less of a big deal [made] about it coming back than there was about it going away. It seems like a new chapter, so having that as part of the band seemed like something we could bring back ... to reinforce that Panic! at the Disco is not breaking up, it's still going."

And they are still very much going. Earlier in the week, Smith and Urie premiered "New Perspective," their first single since parting ways with guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker. It draws from the shiny, pop stuff they explored on their breakthrough A Fever You Can't Sweat Out disc, but it also hints at some of that "theatricality" Smith mentioned.

"It is a side of the new songs we're doing. It's nice to bridge the gap between what we were doing and the music we'll hopefully put out in the beginning of next year," he explained. "We're sort of figuring out what we want our record to be. We've demoed 10 or 11 songs, and it's everything from sort-of Frank Sinatra-style songs to, like, some of the electronic stuff we had on our first record, and, you know, the theatrical stuff, sort of like Queen, and then there's rock and roll stuff, too. Stuff like the Who. We're sort of figuring out what Panic! at the Disco is with me and Brendon."

And now that the exclamation point is back for good, we've gotta ask: Whose idea was it to include it in the name in the first place?

"I think Ryan may have brought it up, I don't remember, it was a few years ago. Ryan had put it on our PureVolume site — before we got signed, before Pete heard any of our songs — he typed it that way on the site, saying, 'Oh, that would be a cool thing,' and it completely stuck," Smith laughed. "I always thought it was a cool thing, but I think he always had a thing where, like, it wasn't actually supposed to be part of the name, so maybe it was him who brought up losing it. I don't know. Hopefully people won't freak out about it again."

• Panic at the Disco

Panic! at the Disco's Spencer Smith and Brendon Urie
Photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/ WireImage

For two weeks, Spencer Smith sat idly by while his former bandmate, guitarist Ryan Ross, spoke at length about leaving Panic! at the Disco and venturing out on a career of his own. Late Wednesday (July 29), that all changed.

Smith spoke with MTV News about splitting with Ross and bassist Jon Walker — echoing Ross' sentiments, he called the decision "beyond amicable" — and his and Brendon Urie's decision to carry on under the Panic! at the Disco mantle.

"I suppose it's inevitable that our two bands will always be linked now ... sort of like what happened when Blink-182 split, with Angels & Airwaves and +44, or At the Drive-In split into Sparta and the Mars Volta," Smith said. "But that's just a media thing, really, a way to add something to the story. Brendon and I are still friends with Ryan and Jon, we really like their new band [the Young Veins], they really like our band, and we hope fans like both of them. There's thousands of songs on my iPod, there's room for both our bands on it.

"And with Brendon and I, really, there was never any doubt that we were going to carry on as Panic! Honestly, we wanted to move forward as the band," Smith added. "We're working on an album now that, hopefully, takes the best parts from both of our records ... because we love them both and are really proud of them."

But before Smith and Urie could move forward as Panic!, they had to come to terms with the past — something that's proven to be tough, given the reaction most fans have had to the split.

"It's one of those things where, it's sad for us to know, but at the same time, it's sort of heartwarming to know there's people that love your band that much that they would genuinely be upset that we were splitting apart," Smith said. "And I think that there was absolutely no way to get around that, and we have to keep reminding ourselves of that. And also knowing that it was the right decision, and as me and Brendon are moving forward and I'm sure Ryan and Jon are moving forward too. ... It's unfortunate that there's no way to sort of get around the initial fan reaction, but it makes sense, and it's amazing that they care about our band that much to really feel that way. Hopefully over the next few months, the music will amend that."

Oh, and about that music. Smith revealed exclusively to MTV News that — for the immediate future, at least — he and Urie have tapped a pair of their friends to join the band for their upcoming dates with Blink-182. Replacing Ross on guitar is Ian Crawford, who spent time with Panic!'s Decaydance labelmates the Cab. And on bass, it'll be singer/songwriter Dallon Weekes, mastermind behind Utah-based indie act the Brobecks.

"Yeah, we've taken on a couple of new guys for the tour. They're friends, so the decision was easy. Plus, we're really excited to play with them as musicians," Smith said. "Ian is probably the most talented guitar player that me and Brendon have ever played with, and Dallon is a really nice guy and a really great bassist. It's new. Like I said, we're really excited."

• Panic at the Disco

Ryan Ross and Jon Walker
Photo: Skip Bolen

Nearly a month after parting ways with Panic! at the Disco "to embark on a musical excursion of their own," Ryan Ross and Jon Walker have finally decided on a name for that excursion. They're calling themselves the Young Veins.

Ross e-mailed MTV News late Monday night to make the announcement, which came two weeks to the day after he told us that he and Walker were at a loss for just what to call their new retro-leaning band. (Of course, we tried to help out the best we could.)

"We're going with the Young Veins," Ross wrote. "I hope you'll check us out."

For a time, they were also thinking about "the Guts," but decided it was "too punk" for their liking. Young Veins is a fitting name, one that sounds like it could've been lifted off one of the old Stax 45s from which Ross said he and Walker drew influence.

But the duo didn't stop with just a name for their new act: They've also decided to release their first single, "Change," which landed on the band's MySpace page on Tuesday (July 28).

Of course, as previously announced, Ross and Walker's former Panic! bandmates began streaming their new single, "New Perspective," on their MySpace page Tuesday morning ... making for a rather interesting battle of the bands.

• Panic at the Disco

Ryan Ross
Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images

Last week, just days after Panic! at the Disco announced that Ryan Ross and Jon Walker were leaving the band, a certain photo began making the rounds on message boards and gossip sites ... one that seemed to confirm most Panic! fans' suspicions about why Ross had split in the first place.

The picture shows the guitarist reclining on a couch, with three very young girls around him. In the foreground, there is a table cluttered with bottles of liquor, cigarettes and one very prominently placed bowl of what appears to be cocaine, chopped into little lines and ready to be snorted.

In a lot of ways, the photo looks like it could've been taken backstage at a Led Zeppelin show, circa 1970 ... which is what bothered most Panic! fans, still angered by news of the split. To them, the picture was proof that Ross was more concerned with partying and chasing women — with being a rock star — than he was in continuing with Panic! at the Disco, which made him the bad guy in the whole situation.

To his credit, Ross remained silent about the photo and the backlash it created — until Monday, that is, when MTV News spoke to him about parting ways with Panic!, a conversation that also saw him addressing the rumors of his hard-partying ways, his reputation in the Panic! fanscape and, of course, that now-infamous picture.

"I'm usually the bad guy. That's how it always seems to be," Ross laughed. "I've tried not to read a lot of the comments our fans have been making about this, because I really hope they don't think it was me who caused the split. We were all just going in different directions, musically. That's it."

And so, about that picture — well, Ross said it was taken the day after a party at a friend's house, and that he had no idea the cocaine was on the table. It wasn't his, and he didn't partake in it the previous night. Oh, and he also denies the rumors that he somehow leaked the photo himself, to build buzz for his and Walker's upcoming project.

"I planned the whole thing!" he laughed. "No, [the photo was taken] a couple of weeks ago — I do remember, believe it or not. I'm not gonna tell you whose house it was at, but yeah, there was a party the night before, and I slept on the couch, and we took a picture. I didn't even really know [the cocaine] was there."

And those girls in the photo? Turns out they're not underage, or groupies, or anything salacious, really. They're just Ross' friends, and one of them accidentally caused the photo to be leaked.

"Oh, I definitely [know them] — it's my friend Zee and a couple of her friends. And actually, they're all older than me," he laughed. "I think one of the girls put the picture on her Facebook, and was like, 'Oh my God, I didn't even know it was on the table,' and then I don't know what happened. But I think they got in more trouble than I did."

• Panic at the Disco

Ryan Ross
Photo: Gary Wolstenholme / Redferns / Getty Images

Last week, fans were shocked when news broke that Panic! at the Disco were parting ways with guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker, who left the band to "embark on a musical excursion of their own."

But according to Ross, the split had been in the cards for sometime now. 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 (July 13). "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! frontman Brendon Urie. Seems Urie wanted the band to explore a more polished pop sound (like the demo they posted on their Web site last week), while Ross — and, by extension, Walker — was interested in making retro-inspired rock.

Or, as he 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 [drummer] Spencer [Smith]'s stuff, to be honest."

And eventually, those differences — coupled with the lack of communication between both camps — came to a head. So late last month, Ross had lunch with Smith, and the two cleared the air, both realizing that perhaps the best thing for all parties involved was to just head their separate ways.

"Spencer and I had lunch and caught up for a while, and then the big question came up, like, 'Well, what do you want to do?' and I said, 'Well, I think it might be best if we kind of do our own think for a while,' and he said, 'I'm glad you said that, because I was going to say the same thing,' " Ross recalled. "And there was really no argument, which is really the best way that could've worked out. ... I think really everybody will be happy doing what we're doing. Me and Jon are really excited about what we're working on, and those guys are happy too. I guess it got to the point where there might have been too many cooks in the kitchen."

Ross made it clear that the split was very much an amicable one. He said that while he hasn't heard any of the new Panic! stuff, he wishes Urie and Smith well and still considers them both to be his friends (they spoke over the Fourth of July weekend). The same cannot be said, however, about his former boss — Decaydance Records honcho/ Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz — who seems to have clearly aligned himself with the Urie/Smith camp following the split.

"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."

At press time, Wentz hadn't responded to MTV News' request for comment.

And though his relationship with Wentz might be finished, Ross still considers the split from Panic! to be a "good, healthy" thing. He said he and Walker are writing and recording songs (with Pretty. Odd. producer Rob Mathes) at a lightning-quick pace, and they'll soon be revealing the fruits of their labor. The only thing that bothers him, he said, is the way many Panic! fans have treated him since the split. It seems that he's become the bad guy in the whole scenario, and he doesn't think that's 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."

• Panic at the Disco

Blink-182, Fall Out Boy And Panic! At The Disco Rock Out In Cincinnati, Ohio

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