The Paul Revere Jumpsuit Apparatus?

Question

So we all know about FOB's mixtape, and on it is "Nearly Witches," from a so-called band called "The Paul Revere Jumpsuit Apparatus," a supposed side project of Brendon Urie's, or a scrapped Panic song. What do you think? We're all so confused, and sooner or later we'll find out who it's really from, and the deal with TPRJA. But what's your opinion? Which makes the most sense? A scrapped Panic song, or TPRJA's song?

Answer 1

heres my guess:

patd started writing pretty odd. then they decided to start all over again. so my guess is that this is one of the songs that they threw away...idk but the voice is defiantly brendon

Answer 2

Here is my friend's theory about Nearly Witches and Panic in general:

I realize that it's kind of a moot point this late in the game, because no one is really sitting around anymore lamenting the intense change in Panic's sound between the first and second album.  But I proposed this theory to someone one night a long time ago, and "Nearly Witches" has only cemented it for me.

My theory is that Panic was always moving in this direction, but instead of us, as the audience, watching them go A --> B --> C, we missed out on that middle step entirely.  A --> C makes a lot less sense, but now that we've heard some little pieces of B, it looks like a mostly clear creative progression to me.

We know from various interviews that Ryan wrote A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (almost) chronologically.  I say almost because their first three songs are not the first three songs of the album; they placed two songs before those as an introduction to the band and the album.  But we can assume at least that the last two songs were the last two written.  They're a little different from the rest of the album.  Both songs tell complete, fictional stories, with a sense of drama and clear narrative structure.  They do not feature the autobiography of "Lying" or "London Beckoned," nor do they reference the story of another work, the way "Time to Dance" does.  They don't address an audience, like "The Only Difference."  These songs, in essence, put up a fourth wall.

Here they are, for reference:

"There a Good Reason These Tables are Numbered, Honey, You Just Haven't Thought of It Yet"

"Build God, Then We'll Talk"

So Ryan Ross writes a bunch of songs, the last of which sound like this.  Then he and the band tour them for about two years, and when they finish, they go up to a cabin in the mountains and start working on the next round of songs.  We know from Calendar Business that the cabin songs were written the same way Fever was -- Ryan would write the lyrics, then the band would come together and match the melody to the words (Jon talks about the process at 1:01 in this video).  We also know that the songs were meant to be a completely fictional story (I've heard it referred to as the "wolf musical" but I can't find a source for the origin of that).  The progression here seems pretty obvious: Ryan wrote a couple of story songs, both of which feature dramatic vocal techniques that sound more musical theatre than pop or emo (to me, at least), and then decided to build on that style of songwriting by creating a whole album in that manner, with the addition of a narrative through-line.  

I believe that we've heard pieces of five different cabin songs.  Calendar Business gave us snippets of the band recording: 1) a really rocked out song with indistinguishable lyrics (6:23 in this video); 2) a slow, romantic, piano-and-vocal song with the lyrics, "And I feel like something velveteen"  (0:28); 3) a quick, staccato-sounding song with a syllable per beat, "Scarlet stocking, sink every last ship in the harbor" (that's a total guess of the first half of that line, it's quite hard to make out) (0:47); 4) the vocal only clip in which Brendon sings, "Scratch my phosphorus skin" but then says he doesn't know the melody (1:12); and finally, the CFOB mixtape has given us 5) "Nearly Witches."  

It's fairly clear that "Nearly Witches" is one of the cabin songs, even if we don't have concrete evidence.  Brendon's vocal quality matches the song clips in the videos linked in my sources.  The lyrics scream Ryan Ross (who else would use words like "ramshackle," "burlesque," and "operatic skeleton," let alone all in the same song?).  I do think that it's been sped up, the beat has been beefed up, and I'm not sure that all the instrumentation would have existed in the song's original form.

It's possible that these are the only five songs that got written in the cabin (I read somewhere that they only wrote 5 or 6 songs, and possibly didn't even complete all of those, but I don't have a reference for that).  Regardless, the boys decided to stop working on them, came down from the mountain, and set themselves up in Vegas to try something different.

I wouldn't say that "Nine in the Afternoon" is the next step in musical progression from the cabin songs.  Things weren't working in the cabin, so it does seem like the logical thing to do is to write something completely different.  But after they got that one down, they stopped necessarily straying so far from what they'd tried to do before.

"The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know" is the song I think of as the clearest bridge between the two distinct styles.  The first and last section have that sense of the theatrical, the dramatic, plus the slow and lilting instrumentation.  The middle section sounds more like "Nine in the Afternoon" than anything else on the album, with the horns, the tempo, the sing-along quality.  (I also think it's possible that the lyrics are in reference

Answer 3

yeah pretty much what everyone else said...

according to pete wentz no one really knows who the real identities are, but its so obviously just a scrapped panic song!! i think theyre all just trying to play a trick on us

Answer 4

It is most likely a scrapped song from the cd written in the cabin. It is no doubt panic at the disco but its so their first cd so i doubt its anything new. They wouldn't go back to that style and they said they didn't like that anymore, hence the scrapped album. There is the possibility that Panic is having a side project called TPRJA but I really don't think that one is plausible. I don't think we'll be hearing anymore from the paul revere jumpsuit apparatus though it sounds amazing. It was highly danceable, or at least bus danceable. The lyrics are so Ryan Ross that it isn't even funny. And girl who answered previously...Brendon's name was in the question...you have no excuse for spelling it Brandon...  

Answer 5

Lol chill everyone.

This is obviously just Panic playing a little trick on us all.

Wasn't anyone aware of what happened with the "You don't have to worry 1/1/08" thing and the whole puzzle piece thing. They like to play tricks on us and this is just another one there playing on us, so where just going to have to sit back and wait for it to unfold shouldn't be to hard.

Answer 6

Ehem, first of all... its BRENDON people... :P

Now, I also think that this one is from the scrapped album. The voice is obviously Brendon, the lyrics just scream Ryan and it feels a little like "She had the world" from Pretty. Odd. which is also the one that, according to the guys in panic, feels more like the cabin (scrapped) album.

Plus, the song its written like a part of a story. The cabin album was a story between two lovers and it had this musical-esque feeling to it, which is in part why they discarded it. So it pretty much fits in every aspect.

I think that maybe "The Paul Revere Jumpsuit Apparatus" was the name for that album.  

Answer 7

The lyrics are really PATD Fever-esque. lol.

We all know that it's Panic. I'm betting it's one of the cabin songs.

Figuring out the meaning of the lyrics will help in guessing who wrote them. I still bet it was Ryan Ross who wrote them, and Panic is just hiding behind this whole thing.  

Answer 8

i definitely agree with everything the person above me said, (and by the way, i think where you read that they only wrote 5/6 songs and scrapped them was the feature article in the AP magazine issue that they were on the cover of) but also I just want to point out, I don't think "The Paul Revere Jumpsuit Apparatus" is a side project of B Urie's, I think it's merely a joke, playing on the band "The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus".  

Answer 9

well it's definitely brendon, we all agree. and the lyrics sound pretty ryan-y. i was looking on wikipedia. it said brendon's working on a solo project, the album's coming out in october 2009. if any of you have the deluxe edition of pretty. odd. and you've seen the dvd, then you've heard a tiny bit of a song from when they were in the cabin, and i think it has the same sort of style that nearly witches has. and hey, did you guys know that brendon was musician of the month in alternative press magazine? i'm actually really scared. what if panic breaks up because brendon wants to go do stuff by himself? he's already made a couple songs with other people. ["plans and reveries" by black gold, "one of those nights" by the cab, for examples.]

Answer 10

A lot of the stuff that Panic do is kinda surreal, I wouldn't worry too much about them breaking up over this, its probably something sneaky that their doing to promote their new album, or maybe their nervous about their new stuff and want to test out what people think.

Answer 11

first lets start off by saying the mixtape is AMAZINGLY AMAZING!!

im thinking this is really panic

i mean its definetely brandon i mean no one else could have that amazing and great voice

idk why theyve got it umder a different name though

its possible that it one of brandons side projects too

but its definetely without a doubt BRANDON!!

and wats TPRJA?!?!?!?!?!

Answer 12

I'm editing my answer...

I think that (as the girl two answers above me sorta said ; sorry I didnt really get what you said) that this is the "B", from the cabin. The song that they wrote after A Fever came out for the new album. If you listen closely you can hear the punk techno element of A Fever and the Folk theartrical sound of Pretty. Odd. which led me to think that it was the song that was written inbetween the transition between the two. Seeing as its such a good song, they most likely wanted to realse it but couldn't as Panic at the disco because fans would be led to believe they are going backwards, which they sorta can't do now, so TPRJA was created to release those songs.

Or else it could be a side project of Brendons, probaly Ryans (the lyrics) and who else we dont know!.

Answer 13

omg i absolutely love the mixtape! its so awesome but i get what ur saying tprja sounds just like patd so i think its rly them lol

Answer 14

I think its a panic reject, coz the lyrics are definitely pretty odd (lol, see what i just did?) maybe its one of brendon's songs that didnt make it? coz the way his other ones got added it sounded more like coincidence then actual 'i wrote this for the album'

Also Paul Revere? Paul Cates? Red Jumpsuit Apparatus? maybe?

Mostly i hate to think he has a 'side project' like panic isnt enough for him, like he might leave! :O

Pete said that no one knows all the members of TPRJA and thier current status :(

Answer 15

going with what someone else said about it being a scrapped song from the cabin, im upset because i really like it, and if that album had been like it, i would have bought it in a heartbeat

ok, obviously its brendon, but i feel like TPRJA is not an actual side project that he might be doing. i cant find anything on google, or myspace music so if it IS a side project, brendon is a very good secret keeper. what if someone asks pete on island def jam site, he might answer it

Answer 16

Hippolicious took the words right out of my mouth, and said them way better than I might have. I recommend that if you haven't read her answer, then read it. It explains everything, saving you the trouble of having a complex thought process. =)

Anywayyy... I've come to the conclusion that "Nearly Witches" is a scapped Panic song, one from the cabin. I feel that it is the missing link (along with the songs featured in Calendar Business, pointed in by Hippolicious' answer) between the transition from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out to Pretty. Odd.

I do not agree at all with the theory that "Nearly Witches" is a 'side project' of Brendon's. That's just silly. He's been busy all summer with touring, and any free time he would have to write songs, I would think he would use the time to write songs for the band and not a 'side project'.

There is a possibility (not asked about in the question, but still) that this could be a demo of a song for Panic's upcoming album. I doubt it, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Panic could have decided to try going slightly back to their older style of music. Still, I highly doubt this because they've hinted that they aren't going back to their old style in various interviews.

I believe that 'The Paul Revere Jumpsuit Apparatus' is just something Panic came up with to try and trick us and create more controversy about the song.

But alas, all we really have to base our thoughts off is... virtually nothing. We won't know anything for sure until it comes out of Panic's mouths and is documented. I'm sure Fall Out Boy (Pete Wentz specifically, The Father of Decaydance), or anyone else involved with the making of the mixtape or "Nearly Witches" could also tell us what's up. ;D

PEACE OUT!

Answer 17

Well, according to Pete Wentz on his blog:

"no one really knows the identity of all the members of the paul revere jumpsuit apparatus or what their current status is".

But that's bs. We all know that it's just scrapped Panic. And I can't believe people are trying to say that it's a side project for Brendon. But who knows? maybe we'll find out more soon. Either way, Nearly Witches is a great track, and I don't know how it didn't make the album cut.

Anddddddd............. Anytime I hear this song, it automatically makes me see brendon doing the Charleston on stage during the piano breakdown part.