Some context: Panic! at the Disco is an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 and featuring the current lineup of vocalist Brendon Urie, accompanied on tour by guitarist Kenneth Harris, drummer Dan Pawlovich, and bassist Nicole Row. Founded by childhood friends Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brent Wilson and Urie, Panic! at the Disco recorded its first demos while its members were in high school. Shortly after, the band recorded and released its debut studio album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (2005).
After the Vices & Virtues tour cycle, Urie, Smith, and Weekes began writing and preparing for a fourth album. During the recording of the album, touring guitarist Ian Crawford, who joined the band in 2009 after the departure of Ryan Ross and Jon Walker, left the band citing his desire to make "real, genuine" music. On July 15, 2013, the album was announced as Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!, with a scheduled release date of October 8, 2013. The first single, "Miss Jackson", was released on July 15, 2013, along with its music video to promote the album. Panic! at the Disco opened for Fall Out Boy on the Save Rock And Roll Arena Tour with Kenneth Harris replacing Crawford. Shortly before the band began its first tour in support of the album, Smith wrote an open letter to fans regarding his abuse of alcohol and prescription medications since the recording of Pretty. Odd. Although Smith joined the band for the first handful of dates, he left the tour to "continue fighting addiction". Urie posted on the band's official website on August 7, 2013, that "It's become evident that Spencer still needs more time to take care of himself. I can't expect him to be fighting addiction one minute and be fully immersed in a national tour the next. With that said, the tour will continue without Spencer while he is away getting the help he needs." Since Spencer's leave of absence, Dan Pawlovich of the band Valencia has filled in on tour. In an interview with Pure Fresh on September 23, 2014, Urie stated that he had already thought about ideas on the fifth studio album; however, he was not sure if it would be a Panic! at the Disco album, or a solo album. Urie has also stated there are no current plans for Smith to return to the band.
Did he win any awards?
A:
Some context: Athlete are an English indie rock band formed in Deptford, London, comprising Joel Pott (lead vocals and guitar), Carey Willetts (bass and backing vocals), Stephen Roberts (drums and backing vocals) and Tim Wanstall (keyboards and backing vocals). The band had a brief period of high-profile domestic success in which their debut album Vehicles & Animals (2003) was a platinum seller in 2005 and Mercury Music Prize nomination. It was followed up by Tourist (2005) which reached No. 1 and sold over 500,000 copies allowing this album to also go platinum. Since then the band has continued to release records on regular basis.
On 10 June 2007, it was announced that the title of their third album would be Beyond the Neighbourhood. The album was recorded by the band themselves in their own studio, and mixed by Ben Allen and Michael Brauer, who had worked on Tourist. Released on 3 September 2007, Beyond the Neighbourhood was a self-produced collection of low-key songs, viewed as a disappointment by some, and an interesting sidestep by others. Jonny Pilcher contributed additional guitar on 7 tracks. Pilcher then played live with the band on the subsequent tour. It entered at No. 5 on the UK album chart. Singles included Beach Boys-influenced "Hurricane", charting disappointingly at number 30, also "Tokyo" which missed the Top 100 (number 198) and "The Outsiders EP", which didn't chart at all. They embarked on tours of the UK in late 2007 and early 2008 in support of the album. They also played during the 2008 TT motorcycle racing festival on the Isle of Man. Black Swan is the fourth studio album produced by the band. Athlete recorded this album while temporarily unsigned. American producer Tom Rothrock collaborated with the group long distance after hearing only a few acoustic demos. In April they announced a 29 date tour of the UK to promote their new album. The tour took place throughout June and July. On 2 June 2009 it was announced that the band had parted ways with Parlophone Records and signed up with Fiction Records, who released "Black Swan" on 24 August 2009. The first single from the album "Superhuman Touch" was released on 17 August 2009, entering the UK charts at No. 74, climbing to No. 71 a week later. On 12 June 2009, Athlete released the song "Summer Sun" as a free download for email-subscribers. The song is not included in the track listing confirmed by band member Carey Willetts, and is likely to be considered as a b-side from the upcoming album. The first single to be released in America is "The Getaway". On 9 November 2009, Athlete released "Black Swan Song" as a single.
Did they perform live during this time?
A: embarked on tours of the UK in late 2007 and early 2008 in support of the album.
Some context: Departures (Japanese: okuribito, Hepburn: Okuribito, "one who sends off") is a 2008 Japanese drama film directed by Yojiro Takita and starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, and Tsutomu Yamazaki. Loosely based on Coffinman, a memoir by Shinmon Aoki, the film follows a young man who returns to his hometown after a failed career as a cellist and stumbles across work as a nokanshi--a traditional Japanese ritual mortician. He is subjected to prejudice from those around him, including from his wife, because of strong social taboos against people who deal with death. Eventually he earns their respect and learns the importance of interpersonal connections through the beauty and dignity of his work.
Japanese funerals are highly ritualized affairs which are generally--though not always--conducted in accordance with Buddhist rites. In preparation for the funeral, the body is washed and the orifices are blocked with cotton or gauze. The encoffining ritual (called nokan), as depicted in Departures, is rarely performed, and even then only in rural areas. This ceremony is not standardized, but generally involves professional morticians (Na Guan Shi , nokanshi) ritually preparing the body, dressing the dead in white, and sometimes applying make-up. The body is then put on dry ice in a casket, along with personal possessions and items necessary for the trip to the afterlife. Despite the importance of death rituals, in traditional Japanese culture the subject is considered unclean as everything related to death is thought to be a source of kegare (defilement). After coming into contact with the dead, individuals must cleanse themselves through purifying rituals. People who work closely with the dead, such as morticians, are thus considered unclean, and during the feudal era those whose work was related to death became burakumin (untouchables), forced to live in their own hamlets and discriminated against by wider society. Despite a cultural shift since the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the stigma of death still has considerable force within Japanese society, and discrimination against the untouchables has continued. Until 1972, most deaths were dealt with by families, funeral homes, or nokanshi. As of 2014, about 80% of deaths occur in hospitals, and preparation of the bodies is frequently done by hospital staff; in such cases, the family often does not see the body until the funeral. A 1998 survey found that 29.5% of the Japanese population believed in an afterlife, and a further 40% wanted to believe; belief was highest among the young. Belief in the existence of a soul (54%) and a connection between the worlds of the living and the dead (64.9%) was likewise common.
what is the cultural background?
A:
Japanese funerals are highly ritualized affairs which are generally--though not always--conducted in accordance with Buddhist rites.