I made Time To Dance my Myspace profile track, chucked the band straight in my Top 8 and waited patiently for a debut record. When A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out finally arrived on September 27, 2005, weighing 0lbs and 2.5oz, it was perfection. I rushed to Virgin Megastore and cradled it like an actual child. The cover art was so weird and out-there – who were these guys? And what did it all mean? – and the songs I’d rinsed to death on Myspace had been re-recorded with full production, allowing me to appreciate them from scratch all over again. And, of course, there were new tracks, each as interesting and quirky as the last. I remember staying at my friend Joe’s uni halls not long after buying it. We fell asleep listening to the album on repeat, and woke up with it still playing. We just couldn’t get enough.
To this day A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out remains one of the best debut albums ever written. A favourite of anyone who was living their best life in the mid-2000s, drinking Strongbow and black, and rocking an emo fringe and/or black eyeliner. It’s one of those albums you can whack on the car stereo during a road trip and it’s guaranteed to keep everyone happy.
But, of course, that debut was just the beginning, and Brendon’s been making incredible music ever since. 2008’s Pretty. Odd. wasn’t really for me (although Nine In The Afternoon and Northern Downpour remain 'tunes'), but I’ve adored everything else he’s done. The class and elegance of 2011’s Vices & Virtues perhaps makes it my all-time favourite. I just love its wistful nature. Plus, it features two of my favourite Panic! songs ever: The Calendar and Memories (which, fact fans, is Brendon’s least favourite song of all time, meaning I’ll never get to see it live. Cue tiny violins…). 2013’s Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! also means a lot to me, since it was released the week before I went on a soul-searching trip to Australia – now it reminds me of strolling Sydney streets and getting burnt in the still-blistering Spring sun. It’s the perfect chill-out album, whilst also being warm and sultry, due to the throwback ’80s vibes, something not many bands in Panic!’s genre had done at the time.