Word on the Street

By

Robert Martinez

Big things come from Tennessee.  Elvis, Jack Daniels, Dolly Parton.  And now another big name  is coming out of that state, from the town of Franklin.  Well, actually, she is little, but her voice and her band are big.  Paramore is making a place for themselves in the punk rock world.  The band, currently consisting of Hayley Williams (lead vocals), Josh Farro (lead guitar/backup vocals), Zac Farro (drums), and Jeremy Davis (bass) is signed of the Fueled by Ramen label and were signed in April of 2005.  Their first album was called All We Know Is Falling, which failed to place in the Billboard Top 200, but did place in the Top Heatseakers chart at 30.  The band felt the album was a way to deal with the temporary departure of Davis, who left for personal reasons.  The first single, “Pressure”, failed to make the charts, but was featured in the video game “The Sims 2” by EA.  The next two singles, “Emergency” and “All We Know” (the latter being specifically about Davis’ departure), also failed to place in the charts.  They performed at the Vans Warped Tour that summer.  Their first US headlining tour started in August of 2006.

They began recording their latest album, Riot! In January of 2007, and it was released on June 12.  The album debuted at 20 on the Billboard to 200 and peaked at 15.  The first single “Misery Business” (4th song on the album) is probably the gem on the album, and is, according to Williams “more honest than anything I’ve ever written”, a quote taken from their label’s website.  The song begins sounding like an old vinyl LP, the dives into a angst ridden account of a girl who is happy now that the boy she likes has escaped the clutches of some evil girl and is now with her.  The vocals are loud, clear and full of attitude.  The rhythm is infectious, as is the chorus, but the guitar solo could have used a bit more.  The first track, “For a Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic”, features Josh Farro doing lead and rhythm guitar (for the whole album as a matter of fact), which in this song is a decent background for Williams’s voice, which is the standout in this song.  The music in this song is nothing that leaps out, except for the bridge, in which the guitar takes a speedier, more metal turn.

The second track, “That’s What You Get”, features a more prominent bass line during the verses, with off beat guitar chords as an accent.  The vocal melody is kind of predictable on the chorus, and the lyrics are kind of generic sounding “That’s what you get when you let your heart win”.  “Hallelujah” is the third track, and has a slower pace with a higher sounding voice from Williams than in the previous tracks.  The lyrics verge on Christian rock themes without being obvious.  “If only time flew like a dove, we could watch it fly and just keep lookin’ up” The drum action is particularly good on this track.  The guitar is lightly distorted with a crisp feel, which blends well with the high, length notes sung by Williams.  “When It Rains” has a guitar riff in the intro that indeed reminds one of raindrops.  The verses are played with a slight echo effect that works well.  The guitars are cleaner and a bit softer in this song, and Williams voice is softer as well, a bit more melancholy than excited or mad.  “Let the Flames Begin” starts with a nice pairing of bass and guitar notes, which are later overlaid with Williams singing “Let the Flames Begin, Oh Glory”  (more Christian rock themes?).  She goes on to lament, then gets louder and angrier sounding, and even the guitars never get quite as loud as she does.  “Miracle” features some more prominent drums and muted strumming on the verses.  The melody in the chorus seems a bit forced, perhaps, as if she was wondering where to go with the notes and the predictable lyrics.  Otherwise it’s a good track.

“Crushcrushcrush” has an awesome opening that sounds as if the drum beat is being peeled back to reveal the song.  The lyrics and melody are catchy: “They taped over your mouth, scribbled out the truth with their lies, their little spies.”, followed by sensuous whispering of the title of the song.  The drums dominate the verses, the pre-chorus is accented with guitar chords and the picking of the melody , and the song is heaviest in the chorus.  The bridge has heavy drum beats and tight strumming, with punctuated singing from Williams.  A very solid track.  “We Are Broken” features slow drums and piano chords, with a sorrowful sound from Williams, probably the saddest on the album as she sings “Give us life again ‘cuz we just want to be loved.”  The soft piano really gives William’s voice a chance to shine, with guitars only faintly backing everything up, until the last part of the song, when the picking comes in, followed by piano chords.  “Fences” has more of an up-tempo ska feel to it, with Williams trading in her long drawn out notes for some quick singing on the verses.  The guitars have a swing sound to them and the drums can best be described as jumpy.  The song has a kind of punk take on swing and ska.  Very interesting, and the lyrics are quite fun as well.

The last track, “Born for This”, has a No Doubt feel to it (one of their influences along with Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab for Cutie) the drums roll on pre-chorus.  Good back up vocals on this track give it a bouncy energy, and the guitars are solid.  “Everybody sing like it’s the last song you will ever sing/tell me tell do you feel the pressure?” is funny because it is the last song on the album and “feel the pressure” might refer to their first single.

The album is strong overall, and though sometimes the lyrics and melodies are a tad predictable and the bass is overshadowed, the energy and clarity of Williams voice, Josh’s guitar and Zac’s drums make up for the short comings.  The band has a sound that feels older than they are, and they have been recognized for their unique sound and energy with a Best New Artist Grammy nomination for 2008.  With more tour dates for 2008 in Europe and their gig for MTV’s New Year’s show, Paramore is definitely a band to watch.