panic! at the disco comfortable as duo

Two heads are better than four for Panic! at the Disco's Brendon Urie.
Nearly two years after his rock band downsized from a quartet to a duo -- a shift that would have derailed many bands -- the frontman insists it was the best move they could have made.
"Definitely," says the 23-year-old singer and multi-instrumentalist. "I'm glad we did it. We wanted to do different things. If we had stayed together and tried to force a record out now, we probably wouldn't be happy with it. And we probably would have broken up anyway."
"Instead, it's kind of a new start for us. There are fewer options to work through, fewer cooks in the kitchen. Now it's whatever the two of us decide."
Shortly after parting ways with guitarist songwriter Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker in 2009, Urie and drummer Spencer Smith decided a) to retain their name; b) remain a duo; c) reclaim the exclamation point that vanished from their name between their first two albums.
More importantly, they've also reconnected with their musical heritage on their new cd Vices & Virtues, out 22 March 2011,  balancing the rock energy of their 2005 debut A Fever You Can't Sweat Out with the dramatic retro-pop of 2008's sophomore CD Pretty. Odd.