What is the band’s relationship to Las Vegas these days? All my family still lives there, and I go back every couple months, just to see family and see how the city’s developing, which [it] always [is]. Sometimes I just miss it.

Do you enjoy playing here? I love it. It’s funny, our very first show was in Vegas, at a place called the Alley. And then the next year we were playing House of Blues. That was just so mind-blowing. I mean, we were the first of five bands, and we only got to play, like, 15 minutes while people were walking in, but it was still awesome.

I read that you’d never played a live show prior to signing. Why is that? We were too young to play bars. The only [all-ages] place that we could play was the Huntridge, but that closed down a month before I joined the band. The only thing that we played [before that] was my family’s church. They were having a youth dance, and my mom asked—and then she told me about the dress code. We had to wear shirts, ties, the whole deal. So that’s how we started dressing up [for shows]. It felt more special. But yeah, that was the only show we had before we got signed. We only played two songs; I don’t know if that counts.

The music scene here has grown significantly since you guys started out. Do you keep up with what’s going on Downtown with venues like the Bunkhouse or the revival of the Huntridge? It’s so awesome. It kind of reinvigorates my love for Vegas. Especially people who take a chance on building up an old part of town; it’s pretty awesome. I’m really excited to go back there and check it out again.

As a Las Vegan, what does it mean to you for the city to have a major music festival again? That’s so cool. I think the only festival I ever went to was Warped Tour. … It makes it more special when you have that kind of stuff occurring in a city like Las Vegas. You know, it’s already got its history, its glamour, but you bring something like that and it makes people see it in a different way.

What’s in store for your Life Is Beautiful set? It’s kind of a mix of old and new. I love this latest record so much, and we tend to favor the new songs. I think there are 22 songs and a cover, so it’s going to be a solid set. It’s my favorite set so far, and I’m really excited to show people.

It’s been a year since your last album came out. Are you working on another? Definitely. I kind of never stopped writing. In the last month or two I’ve been intently writing for a new album, just really pushing to get something else out. I’ve just been working my butt off, and I love it. Waking up early, going to bed late—it’s my favorite. (laughs)

What else are you working on right now? I’ve been writing a lot and doing a lot of collaborations. I did a song with Dillon Francis that is going to pop up pretty soon on the Web, so that’s going to be awesome. I’ve done a collaboration with Action Bronson, which is like the coolest thing I’ve done so far. That dude is so badass.

You’ve been infusing electro into your music since your debut release. What do you think of the EDM blowup? I like it. I hope that it inspires people to want to dance. Because that really is what it’s all about. … When I was a kid and I was in jazz band, a lot of people would be like, “You can’t do electronic music, because it has no soul” and I was like, “I don’t know about that.” You can create some soul out of something that’s electronic or mechanical. A lot of times it might be tougher, but I like accepting the challenge.

Are you excited to see any other acts during the festival? I was excited to see Kanye, and then our set time changed, which is good and bad. It’s bad because I can’t watch him, but it’s good we get a later set time and longer to play, which is always fun. But I wanted to see Kanye pretty bad. (laughs)

Life Is Beautiful 2014: Panic! At the Disco Friday, 10:45 p.m., Ambassador Stage