Jon Walker

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Jon Walker


Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Jonathan Jacob Walker
Born = birth date and age|1985|09|17
Origin = Chicago, Illinois
Instrument = Bass Guitar, Piano
Occupation = Bassist
Years active = 1999-present
Label = Fueled by Ramen
Decaydance Records

Jonathan Jacob Walker (b. September 17, 1985 Fact|date=November 2007 in Chicago) is the bassist for the Las Vegas based rock band Panic at the Disco, replacing former bass player Brent Wilson. He was a bass technician for friends The Academy Is... Fact|date=November 2007 (and is credited in the liner notes for Santi) before joining Panic At the Disco. He was also a shift manager at Starbucks in Chicago, Illinois. Jon was in many unsigned, hometown bands before being a guitar tech, including Farewell Night and 5o4plan.

Biography

Early life

Jon grew up in Chicago with his parents and two older brothers, Bill and Mike. Jon always mentions his brothers in interviews saying that he's really close to them and that they are "... cooler than me. Like way cooler."

Jon was in a high school band called Farewell Night with friends: Adrian LaTrace, Shawn Ernst, and Matt Kravcar. There is a nine minute long video on youtube.com of this band performing during a 3 day weekend.

Panic At The Disco

After Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, and Brent Wilson finished with their band, "Summer League", the three added Brendon Urie to begin Panic! at the Disco. Panic was eventually heard by Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, who signed them to his record label, Decaydance, a child label of Fueled by Ramen. Panic eventually released A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, which sold 2.2 million copies. A Fever You Can't Sweat Out became a cult hit, with its first single, "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" winning the Video of the Year Award at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and peaking at #7 on the US charts.

However, on May 17, 2006, the band officially announced the departure of bassist Brent Wilson. While out with The Academy Is..., Panic met Jon backstage. In an interview with Steven Smith of Steven's Untitled Rock Show, they all admitted that they became instant friends with Jon. Walker joked in saying that the only reason Panic found him was that he put out an ad in the yellow pages. After the whole deal with Wilson, the band contacted Jon saying they thought he was a beast and that they wanted to him to go on tour with them to just fill the void. In August 2006, Jon became an official member of the band. A Fever You Can't Sweat Out eventually went "platinum", and the band began a world tour in the later part of 2006. The band also covered "This Is Halloween" on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack and the Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight" on a tribute LP.

The band began writing their follow-up album in early 2007, but started from scratch in July 2007. After co-writing the album with Ross until the beginning of 2008, the band announced they would be mixing their album at Abbey Road Studios. On January 9, 2008, the band announced they would drop the "!" from Panic! at the Disco, being referred to as "Panic at the Disco" from that point on. The next day, January 10, the album name was officially confirmed as being Pretty. Odd.. It was released on March 25th, and to date, the album has sold over 400,000 copies. Its first single was "Nine in the Afternoon".

Personal life

Walker has two cats named Dylan and Clover. Jon currently uses both Gibson and Fender bass guitars. According to the Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque, Jon loves to cook and clean. He attended Bartlett High School and graduated in 2004. He also loves Mexican food.