PANIC AT THE DISCO STRIKES BLACK GOLD, PRE AND POST SPLIT

Black Gold consists of Panic At The Disco touring musician Eric Ronick and Thann Luu, and they have an insider’s perspective on that band’s member split

Eric Ronick and Than Luu released their new album as Black Gold, titled Rush, earlier this year, and they got a little help from their friends. The album features the track Plans And Reveries, which spotlights the vocals of Brendon Urie of Panic At The Disco. Ronick toured with Panic! At The Disco and continues to work with them in a songwriting and collaborative process as well. Ryan Ross and Jon Walker split with Panic At The Disco recently, and their new band is the Hillside Session with Ronick as a member. The duo that comprise Black Gold is also working in some capacity with what’s left in Panic At The Disco for their next album.

Artisan News sat down with Ronick and Luu to ask them if they have any unique insights to Ross and Walker leaving the band.

“Yeah, I mean I think that’s a really interesting question. It’s hard to speak on that question. I think this split was kind of in the works for a minute. The great news is that it has nothing to do with a friendship issue or some rift that developed. It was sort of, they’re young musicians and as with many young musicians your tastes can change very quickly. I think really all that happened was that there was a divergence in interest and taste and what they wanted to do. I think that’s really what it came down to, and luckily everybody is still really close. We’re still working together in all sorts of capacities, and that’s what it’s about.”

The duo said that they,re good friends and they continue to make music among the three projects, Black Gold, Hillside Session and Panic At The Disco.

[Ronick] “Um that’s a good question.” [Luu] “We like to… The think with Panic and Black Gold is that we’re good friends, and we love each others music. They play on our stuff and we play on their stuff. It’s cool. It’s good friends making music together. How can you beat that?” [Ronick] “..and it’s been a real pleasure, even since the split — maybe especially since the split — to make music with them individually because the taste conflict isn’t there. We can enter that situation as friends and we can help them with their music just as they’ve come and helped us with ours.”

Reports are surfacing that Ross and Walker changed their new band name to The Young Veins and that Hillside Session was just a one-off musical project. Panic At The Disco has dates lined up with Blink 182 and a new album coming out. The touring members with Panic are Ian Crawford, formerly of The Cab, and Dallon Weekes, singer/songwriter of The Brobecks. The band also has a song, “New Perspective,” on the Jennifer’s Body soundtrack, which is in stores August 28.