Paramore is
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Stats
Opened: August 25, 2005Owner: Ashley Brown
Co-Web: Brent Sower
Members: 6,800+
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When word first spread about Franklin-based teenage songwriting sensation Hayley Williams, the Avril Lavigne comparisons were inevitable. Both girls are tiny and cute, and both are possessed with no shortage of spirited stage presence. But where Avril's act seems forced and a product of corporate machinations, Hayley doesn't necessarily need a mall-bought "punk" costume to make her emo-minus-the-angsty-boy-voice music seem more credible. Her new band, Paramore, has a deal on Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic and were handpicked to play the side stage on this year's Warped Tour. Although you have probably heard and read more about Be Your Own Pet, Luna Halo and Pink Spiders in the local press, it's Paramore who may be the most likely to succeed in Nashville's considerably crowded crop of new bands that have emerged in 2005. That is primarily because Paramore has the potential to be emo's answer to Evanescence. In the same way Evanescence provided a feminine alternative for nu metal-heads and neo-goths, Paramore bring girl power to the almost exclusively male world of emo and power punk. Their sound is most similar to genre superstars Jimmy Eat World, but bits of Foo Fighters and even the spectre of early No Doubt creep through in Hayley's vocal inflections and in the simplistic but still effective melodic thrust of All We Know is Falling. The songs on All We Know... may lack the absolute gotcha hooks of Jimmy Eat World, but the songwriting on display here is far more mature than you usually expect from a 16 year old. Tunes like Pressure and Emergency develop quickly and burn right through to your brain in the way a good pop-rock song should. Even in its admittedly nascent state, All We Know... reminds us why we gave a damn about the original "emo" bands in the first place. Too much of what passes for emo these days is rife with shallow insincerity (Yellowcard) or overly ridiculous melodrama (Taking Back Sunday), but the best bands of this now overwrought genre can still maximize the emotional intensity in a three-minute track. Paramore has that trick down pat on most of these songs. But by fitting their sound into the genre, Paramore also inherit some of emo's more regrettable limitations. Much of the overwhelming anonymity of emo comes from the constant whining/shouting that hardcore "singers" insist on employing, and Paramore suffers from that staid sameness on All We Know..., forcing almost every song to exist in the same angst-ridden emotional sphere. This obviously restricts Hayley's ability to inject more character into her titanic voice. Her saving grace, for now, is that she is one of the only female artists making music in this boys' club. To tell Jason how much you think emo really rocks, reach him at jwilkins@nashvillerage.com <-- Back |