Quotes from Ryan Ross

I would never have thought I would see Axl Rose, someone who was so important to rock 'n' roll.

Dropping the exclamation point was our way of drawing a line in the sand. We have a new record and we feel like a new band. We were all tired of it, and we went ahead and got rid of it.

When we were writing for Panic whether we knew it or not, having that name over the songs we were trying to do made me second guess things and change things. I started to go against my instincts.

I know as far as I'm concerned, I'm getting really excited about writing, and I'm taking guitar and vocal lessons.

I'm usually the bad guy. That's how it always seems to be.

Fever' was good for how young we were, but for me it's kind of like a yearbook picture. You look at it like, 'Oh, man, that's the suit I was wearing?'

What we've realized is, for us to be happy for the long haul, we have to keep doing what we want to do, or else we won't want to play music with each other anymore.

I've gotten to see the world and play music with my friends.

I can't expect everybody to appreciate what we do. Our stage shows especially have been kind of polarizing. Either you went with it or you didn't, and you thought we were being pretentious. Personally, I think it's kind of boring when I watch a band that doesn't do anything to make it their own.

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.

It's nice to be home - I go to the same old sandwich shop around the corner, I go to the movies, I do what I like to do.

We want to be good at our craft, whether it's writing music or playing it live.

It's hard when people are expecting things from you, and all you're trying to do is write songs that you like for yourself.

We've got a younger fan base - and their parents. One day when we were at Abbey Road, an entire family was outside waiting for us - like, a nine-year-old, a 16-year-old, and their mother. They can agree on liking us for whatever reason. It's kind of strange.

Success has many fathers, failure many sons.

It's like Christians who want to be like Jesus. We're just trying to follow in someone's footsteps. Might as well be The Beatles.

I forgot that being in a band was this much fun.

We all like all of that, from 'Rubber Soul' to 'The White Album' and all of that, but even before, we were into that theatrical element of things. We didn't want to do a 'Sgt. Pepper's' thing.

Some of our favorite bands are, like, Third Eye Blind and Counting Crows, and stuff like Danny Elfman and Jon Brion movie scores.

Brendon's more of a Peter Gabriel fan, and I'm more of a Ray Davies fan.

You don't realise how long three years is until you go away and write an album.

I don't think I listen to anything that I did when I was 17. I've changed a great deal.

Some people would say Counting Crows or Third Eye Blind would be a guilty pleasure, but they're two of my favorite bands - I'm not ashamed of it.

I always said as long as I had enough money to feed myself and have a place to eat then I'd be doing music.