ross knew fellow panic! drummer spencer smith since he was five. at the age of twelve, the two covered blink-182 songs in a band called pet salamander. later, he was in the band the summer league with smith and ex-panic! bassist brent wilson. after high school, ross went to the university of las vegas. he left after one semester to work in the band. during the times, his parents were having trouble and unhappy. his father was having problems with alcoholism. while seeing this, ryan wrote two songs on the album about his experiences with his father. his father died in july 2006. ryan had to deal with the death of his father while in the middle of panic's summer tour. in july 2009, ross said that he would be leaving panic! at the disco. he said he was leaving because of "creative differences." he said that he and jon walker, who also left, would continue to make music.