The group known as Paramore is a pop, rock, punk band that hails from Franklin, Tennessee. The members' ages are 20-24 which makes them one of the youngest punk oriented bands on the major music scene. Current band members include Hayley Williams as lead vocalist; Josh Farro on guitar; Jeremy Davis on bass guitar and Zac Farro on drums. Although the guys had originally formed the band, Hayley was brought in due to her talent and songwriting ability. She had also become a good friend of the Farro brothers whom she met at a Tennessee school.
The name for the band came about because they liked the idea that it meant "secret or unknown lover". As one of the members stated a few years back, "It was like we were all part of a secret conspiracy with this name." The name has certainly been the basis for a love affair between fans and the music this group produces. Paramore gained some local recognition around Tennessee as they performed and especially when they ventured into Nashville.
When they performed at the Purple Door and Warped Tour venues, they were noticed by CEO of the Fueled by Ramen record label, John Hanick. He listened to some of the demos the group had recorded and went to Florida to see them perform live at a Taste of Chaos concert. The band was quickly put under contract to the record company in 2005.
Their debut album became a painful one for the group because their bass player was leaving. The album was called "All We Know is falling" and it was based largely on the loss of bass player Jeremy Davis due to his personal desire to leave the group. Even the cover art on the album is sadly enigmatic and shadowy; and it was created to show how they felt about losing one of their own. The album was released in July of 2005 and went to #30 on the Heatseeker Chart by Billboard.
By 2006, the Paramore band members had signed onto the Winter Go West Tour where they joined groups like Amber Pacific on the performance circuit. Then they were asked to be an opening act for Bayside and The Rocket Summer. Paramore was also able to persuade Jeremy Davis to resume his role as bass player for the group.
The fall of 2006 would find the band in the UK on tour and then they moved to the Punk Spring Fest in Japan and on to tour stops in Australia. In August of 2006, this punk inspired band was a headline act performing to a sold out audience along with groups like Cute is What We Aim For and Hit the Lights. Fans were anxious to get their hands on the latest Paramore merch and were thrilled to find that band members would happily autograph posters, shirts and stuffed animals for them during many of their stops. 2006 also got the group named as the Best New Band by "Kerrang" magazine fans. Hayley Williams also got a separate nod from the magazine, and was chosen as being the second sexiest female in music.
Their second album was released in the summer of 2007 and this was called "RIOT". Almost 50,000 copies were sold in the first week just in the US and it was faring almost as well on the European market. MTV chose the group as artists of the week and compiled videos of the band that they showed repeatedly to help gain attention for the band and album.
In 2006, the band was responsible for the "My Hero" song on the Sound of Superman Soundtrack and Hayley Williams has also been a featured vocalist on songs by the bands, October Fall and The Chariot. In 2007, fans got to watch Paramore perform on the MTV New Year's Eve special program and even Rolling Stone magazine was telling people this was a group to closely watch. Their album "The Final Riot" was released in October of 2008 and this has now been classified as gold.
