No doubt

[Locomotion]

Um interesting? Decent article. Crappy mistakes.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Arts/Music/2007/02/08/No_Doubt/index.shtml

 

 

No Doubt

Why are industry insiders picking a Franklin band to break out big in 2007?

 

by Jason Moon Wilkins

 

Which Nashville band has been chosen to co-headline the 2007 Warped Tour? (Hint, their band name starts with P, but it’s not The Pink Spiders.) Which femme-fronted bunch of Nashville teens sold nearly 84,000 copies of their debut and are still selling about 1,000 copies a week? (Not Be Your Own Pet, who have sold just a little over 17,000.) What area act was tapped by the influential U.K. music mag NME as one of the 10 acts to watch in 2007? (Their name doesn’t end with a Bomb or a Bang.) The answer to all three questions is the same, but unless you have a subscription to Alternative Press and aren’t yet of drinking age, there’s a good chance the five kids from Franklin known as Paramore have flown under your radar. But if influential industry insiders are to be believed, that’s all about to change very soon.

 

According to some, the next No Doubt are from Nashville, and they’re called Paramore. It’s the first comparison that comes to mind for Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, who chose the band for a coveted co-headlining spot on the tour, and picked them to be a part of the newly opened Warped exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. It’s the name Steven Smith, host of FUSE’s popular emo-centric video program Steven’s Untitled Rock Show, drops when introducing the band to a packed house at the recent Hall of Fame exhibit opening. And in these very pages, Bang Bang Bang leader Jaren Johnston pronounced late last year that Paramore’s 18-year-old lead singer Hayley Williams is the next—you guessed it—Gwen Stefani. That’s a tall order for such a short girl, but it’s impossible to argue with the momentum the band is carrying into the new year.

 

In addition to steadily increasing sales and impressive touring over the last two years, the press has really begun to pick up on Paramore. Alternative Press frequently featured the band throughout last year. Spin and Blender gave them high marks. The New York Times claimed their debut as one of the most “underrated albums of the year.” MTV picked them for one of the highly sought-after “You Hear It First” slots. Even Iron Maiden lead singer-turned-influential-U.K.-DJ Bruce Dickinson picked them as a next-big-thing candidate.

 

But the band’s biggest coup came a few weeks ago when NME named Paramore one of the 10 acts to watch in their “New Noise 2007” feature, proclaiming Williams as “emo’s savior-in-waiting…ready to be crowned the empire’s exalted queen.” For Nashville music fans caught up in following the more locally hyped Be Your Own Pet, all this attention seemed sort of sudden and, oddly enough, it strikes Paramore the same way.

 

“It was really weird, because NME talked crap about us the week before,” drummer Nic Farro says backstage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a few hours before the band is due to open for Bad Religion, among other Warped Tour vets. “We had put out ‘All We Know’ as a single over there,” Williams interjects. “They just, man, they tore it apart. Then the next week, literally, we were getting the call [about being picked for their “New Noise 2007” issue]. I was like, ‘Yes!’ ”

 

And the band’s response on U.K. tours has been overwhelming. “The first time we went [to the U.K.], we weren’t playing with any bands who had done much of anything,” Williams recalls about the band’s first trip there last summer. “We felt like it was more of our introduction. We thought, this will be cool, play to a couple hundred kids and it’ll be really sweet. But the first night we played, the place was packed out, and after the show we were trying to do our normal thing. We always go to the merch booth and hang out…. But when we went out [into the crowd] they were like, grabbing at our hair and pulling at our clothes. So security came in and pulled us out. And we were, like, omigod what is this? We’d never experienced anything like that.”

 

The turnout for the Hall of Fame event offered further proof of the band’s growing success. (Williams’ dress from the band’s video for “Emergency” and guitarist/songwriter Josh Farro’s guitar are featured in the exhibit. ?????)

The only acts initially announced on the bill were The Used (who eventually backed out) and Paramore. The show sold out almost immediately. When FUSE’s Steven Smith announces the night’s lineup to the awaiting throng, the loudest cheer is saved for Paramore. Not Bouncing Souls. Not Pennywise. Not even legends Bad Religion. It’s Paramore.

 

The crowd, primarily composed of teenage girls, doesn’t seem fazed by the fact that tonight Paramore are just Williams and bandmate/collaborator Josh Farro clutching acoustic guitars and trying their best to turn their anthemic punk-pop tunes into stripped-down songs. The effect isn’t quite the same as when the quintet explode through their usual set, but the attentive teens don’t seem to care. They still scream along with every word, and even a few moms join the choruses when beckoned by the composed and commanding Williams.

 

Their crowd-pleasing set shows that the band are far more seasoned than their respective ages would suggest (bassist Jeremy Davis is the only member over 20), but they still know that the step up to co-headlining status on the Warped Tour isn’t really a step at all. It’s a precarious leap of faith for the promoters and the band, with do-or-die consequences awaiting at the other end.

 

“We definitely feel pressure, because there are legends that have played that stage,” Josh Farro admits. “Like last year, you had Joan Jett and NoFX, and even just more popular bands these days like Fall Out Boy, My Chem[ical Romance], Underoath and now us (laughs). It’s sort of random, but we’ll take it.”

 

The band is currently making a new album in New Jersey with producer David Bendeth (Hawthorne Heights, Emery), but they’ll be back on the road touring Japan and Australia in March and April, with a 25-city U.S. headlining tour to follow in May.

 

After that, it’s the Warped Tour, along with various international festival appearances filling up the rest of the summer. And after that? Worldwide success? A solo career? Marriage to a famous rock star? A long unpredictable road that may lead to stardom or just as easily derail into oblivion? No doubt.

[thebrowncoat]

It seems like no one can ever get their names right, lol...but other than that, it's a decent article.

 

And it's pretty right on with how they are so very close to becoming something huge.

[kerrie]

its weird how they're this big already for warped and no one at my school knows them except a select amount of people...most of them when they see my shirts or pins first thing they say is "what/whos paramore?"

hopefully that will change haha

[just17music]

Damn thats was shite!! If they solf 70k albums how can they have flown under peoples radars? Nice to see journos are taking the time to do a freaking spell check and ask what peoples names are!! I freakin hate NME anyhoo, they always change their opinions. Check it out later this year when paramore boom, nme will be their new best friend. They used to take the piss outta mcr, and they run a piece on them every week now. Grrrr. Rant over

[kristina]

pretty decent article. one day they will get the facts right? lol but they are right how they are becoming something huge.

[HarlequinGerhl]

get it right yeah

god