guitar_b92 Posted February 18, 2006 Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 http://www.nashvillerage.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/RAGE0203/602160314/1203/RAGE Wednesday, 02/15/06 Why I Rock: Paramore By Jason Moon Wilkins Nashville's Paramore released their major-label debut All We Know Is Falling (Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic) in 2005, but Music City fans would be forgiven for not noticing. After a bombastic in-store performance at Grimey's upon the release of the album, the female-fronted, emo-leaning power-punk band hit the road ... and stayed there. They played the massive Bamboozle Festival (sort of like an emo Bonnaroo), the Warped Tour and countless other dates. Heck, you were more likely to see the telegenic group on MTV (they were featured on You Hear It First) than in town. When ATR caught up with Paramore's titanically gifted, pint-sized powerhouse lead singer, Hayley Williams, the band had just returned to Franklin from a West Coast tour and was preparing to hit the road again for the foreseeable future. We were just in time to catch her and find out exactly why Paramore rocks: ATR: What was it like being one of the only female-fronted bands in the obviously testosterone-heavy atmosphere of the Warped Tour? HW: I definitely expected the worst, as far as the Warped Tour goes, but it really wasn't that bad. We were on an all-girls stage, and actually I think that was worse than if we were in the middle of a bunch of guy bands. It really was. It was a weird experience. I would say we get treated differently more for our age than the fact that I'm a girl. There's definitely times, being young, that people don't expect much from us, and we have to prove ourselves the first couple of nights before we can make that next step to a friendship with them, y'know? ATR: Are you getting more responses from female fans who are excited to see a girl shaking up the boy-heavy world of emo? HW: I guess when we started the band I didn't know or I didn't think about how unique or different it is for a band like us in this realm of music to have a girl front singer. But as we started touring and getting exposure, I started getting tons of that. Like, "Man, it's so great to see a girl in this world. It's so great to see you up there rocking out just as much as any guy or maybe more." A lot of people may think, "Oh, that's kind of cheesy," but it's cool for us to hear anything like that from anyone who appreciates our music that much. It's awesome. ATR: Do you have any recording plans in the next several months, or are you concentrating on touring? HW: We talked about writing new stuff and trying to record a little more, but after we got out on the road we saw such a different response from last year. There's tons more kids coming out to shows. We're selling more merch, more CDs. Overall, there's a better response. So we're gonna give this album a longer time. I don't think we were ready to move on anyway. We're so attached to this record right now. It's been out for six months and I'd say we've sold 23,000-24,000. I can't remember. We're really excited. We're gonna keep touring on it maybe until the end of the year. ATR: How has the response been to your appearance on MTV's You Hear It First? HW: The response was incredible. Every time it aired we would end up having 80 pages of new friend requests on MySpace within an hour. It was insane. It did amazing things for our band. But there was also a negative from it. A lot of kids who are big into underground music and into the indie scene are not too appreciative of the bigger mainstream world. I guess generally people think of radio (and MTV) as the enemy. But we definitely don't mind having airplay on a Clear Channel radio station any more than we would mind it being on a college, indie, whatever station. We just want as many people to hear us as possible. ATR: Do you feel like a part of what is going on in town right now musically? HW: I think all of us in the band really wish that we would have had more time to spend in Nashville growing as a band and getting familiar with the whole Nashville scene. We spent most of our time early on just hanging out and practicing eight hours at a time, if we could. We did miss out on the whole Nashville thing, but there's no reason we can't still be a part of it. We're trying to do stuff here as much as we can because we love it. Sorry if its already been posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locomotion Posted February 18, 2006 Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 thanks alot for the interview, i like it moving it to the "press" section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_b92 Posted February 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 No problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glorya Posted February 18, 2006 Report Share Posted February 18, 2006 thanks for sharing with us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thairish Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 Very cool interview. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bored_one107 Posted May 22, 2006 Report Share Posted May 22, 2006 yea nice interview thanx 4 posting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayleh Posted May 22, 2006 Report Share Posted May 22, 2006 thanks for that =D=D=D it's kewl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sofa9053 Posted May 22, 2006 Report Share Posted May 22, 2006 I really like how she said that she just wanted people to hear their music. I really hate it when people start hating a band when they get recognized. Awesome interview, THANKS!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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