Don't Panic (album)

Background and recording

The band's previous album, Dirty Work was released in 2011 by Interscope. In the midst of the tour in support of the album, the band went into the studio to record a new album, entirely produced by Mike Green. All the songs were written by frontman Alex Gaskarth and Mike Green, with "Outlines" co-written by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. "So Long, and Thanks for All the Booze" was written as a "big fuck you to some of the people from our past", according to Gaskarth. Don't Panic sees All Time Low further evolving their sound while taking influence from each of their previous releases. Gaskarth explained about the project:

"With this record, a big part of the process was finding what made our band special on each of our past records. This time around, rather than taking influence from anything we were listening to at the time—or anything we want to touch on generationally—the goal was to make an album that we felt reflected the best aspects of our previous releases."

Release

In May 2012, the band announced that they had left Interscope, before launching a new song called "The Reckless and the Brave" for free download on June 1. The official lyric video was released on June 22. On July 3, the band confirmed their return with the label Hopeless Records. On August 24, a song titled "For Baltimore", an ode to the band's hometown, was released early to Alternative Press.

The trailer of the album was released on August 28. The trailer contains the songs "For Baltimore", "Outlines" and "Somewhere In Neverland".

On October 2, the streaming of the album was released on YouTube by the record label. In February 1, the band began recording the video for the track "Somewhere In Neverland". In March 19, 2013, the video was premiered by MTV. On May 9, the video for "Backseat Serenade" was premiered.

The album was reissued on September 30, 2013, by Hopeless under the name Don't Panic: It's Longer Now!. It features four newly recorded songs and four additional acoustic versions of songs as well as the original material. The reissue's lead single, "A Love Like War", featuring Vic Fuentes of the band Pierce the Veil, was released on September 2, 2013.

Reception

The album debuted at No. 6 on the US Billboard 200 with 48,000 first week sales, making it the band's third top 10 debut in a row. It also became the group's first album to reach No. 1 on the Top Internet Albums chart. It peaked at No. 9 in the UK and in the top 20 in Australia and Canada. The album received positive reviews (with a Metacritic scoring of 74, indicating generally favorable reviews), with critics praising Gaskarth's song writing and the album's sound as a whole. It has sold 170,000 copies in the United States as of April 2015.

The reissue charted at number 19 on the Billboard 200, and number 1 on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart with 13,505 first week copies sold. "A Love Like War" peaked at number 23 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and number 17 on the Hot Rock Songs. It has sold 170,000 copies in the United States as of April 2015.

Track listing

All songs written by Alex Gaskarth, additional writing by Mike Green, and additional writing on "Outlines" by Patrick Stump.

1. "The Reckless and the Brave" – 3:19
2. "Backseat Serenade" – 3:21
3. "If These Sheets Were States" – 3:19
4. "Somewhere in Neverland" – 3:45
5. "So Long Soldier" – 2:49
6. "The Irony of Choking on a Lifesaver" – 3:36
7. "To Live and Let Go" – 3:43
8. "Outlines" – 3:35
9. "Thanks to You" – 3:34
10. "For Baltimore" – 3:09
11. "Paint You Wings" – 3:40
12. "So Long, and Thanks for All the Booze" – 3:09

Personnel

Personnel per digital booklet.