Biography
2002-2004 - The Beginning
2002, Hayley Williams is 13 years old when she moves from her hometown Meridian, Mississippi, to Franklin, Tennessee, where she meets brothers Josh & Zac Farro at a homeschooling program. Hayley started taking vocal lessons with Brett Manning shortly after she moved. Hayley was in a funk cover band with bass guitarist Jeremy Davis, while Josh and Zac practiced together after school.
Initially, Hayley was signed as a solo artist to Atlantic Records in 2003, who wanted to turn her into a pop singer. However, Hayley resisted that and wanted to play in an alternative rock band. Finally, the label agreed to her wishes, and Paramore was officially formed in 2004 by Josh Farro (lead guitar & backing vocals), Zac Farro (drums), Jeremy Davis (bass guitar), and Hayley (vocals). Not much later, Hayley’s neighbor, Jason Bynum (rhythm guitar) joined the band as well.
Originally, Paramore would release their music under Atlantic Records, but the label’s marketing department thought it would be better for the band to attach them to a smaller label instead. Therefore, they released their music through the niche label Fueled by Ramen. After a small private performance, they were officially signed to Atlantic Records and Fueled by Ramen in April 2005. The first song they wrote together was named “Conspiracy”, which was released on their debut album “All We Know Is Falling”. They were touring at this time and usually being driven to the venue by Hayley’s parents.
2005-2006 - All We Know Is Falling
Paramore traveled back to Orlando, Florida, but Jeremy Davis left the band shortly after arriving due to personal reasons. The remaining band members continued with their debut album and wrote “All We Know” about Jeremy’s departure. Later they decided to name the album after this title track, “All We Know Is Falling.” Hayley explains that the album’s artwork reflected Paramore’s grief about Jeremy leaving the band and leaving an empty space.
Before going on tour, John Hembree joined the band to replace Jeremy on bass guitar. The same year, Paramore was featured on the “Shira Girl Stage” of the 2005 Warped Tour. After five months apart, Jeremy returned to Paramore, replacing John Hembree. “All We Know Is Falling” was released on July 24, 2005, and reached nr30 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. “Pressure” was released as the first single with an official music video, directed by Shane Drake. Sadly, the song failed to hit the charts. The second single, “Emergency,” was released in October, featuring Hunter Lamb, who replaced Jason Bynum on rhythm guitar.
In spring 2006, Paramore was the opening act for bands “Bayside” and “The Rocket Summer.” They made a cover of “My Hero” by the “Foo Fighters” during this time. In summer 2006, Paramore returned to Warped Tour, the majority of their shows were played on the “Volcom” and “Hurley” stages. In their hometown Nashville, TN, they played on the main stage for the very first time. During Warped Tour, they released the “Summer Tic EP,” which sold exclusively during the tour. On August 2, 2006, Paramore’s first US headlining tour started, with support from “This Providence,” “Cute Is What We Aim For,” and “Hit The Lights,” with the final show being in Nashville. The same year they were voted for “Best New Band,” and Hayley was voted 2nd for “Sexiest Female” by readers of the magazine “Kerrang!”
2007-2008 - RIOT!
Hunter Lamb left the band in 2007 to get married, Paramore continued with four members at the time. They were named by the magazine “NME” as one of ten bands to watch out for in their “New Noise” feature. They did another headline tour with “This Providence,” “The Almost,” and “Love Arcade,” the latter two got replaced by “Quietdrive” in the 2nd half of the tour.
Before starting on their 2nd album, Taylor York joined the band as rhythm guitarist. He had been in a band with the Farro brothers before they met Hayley. Paramore chose producer David Bendeth in New Jersey to produce their 2nd album named RIOT! Which was released on June 12, 2007, entering the Billboard 200 on nr 20 and the UK charts at nr 24; Paramore sold 44.000 copies in the United States within a week. They chose the name “RIOT!” because it means “a sudden outburst of uncontrolled emotion,” which summed it all up according to the band. The first single, “Misery Business,” was released on June 21, 2007. This summer, they participated in their 3rd Warped Tour.
The music video for “Crush, Crush, Crush” aired on United States TV on October 11, 2007, as the next single for RIOT!. The single was released on November 12 in the United Kingdom and on November 19 in the United States. On December 31, 2007, Paramore played on the MTV New Year’s Eve program from 11:30 to 1:00.
In February 2008, Paramore was featured on the cover of the Alternative Press magazine and got voted “Best band of 2007” by the readers. They were also nominated for a Grammy in the “Best New Artist” category but lost to Amy Whinehouse. Early 2008, Paramore was on tour in the United Kingdom together with “New Found Glory” and “Kids In Glass Houses.” However, on February 21, 2008, they announced that six shows would be canceled due to personal issues. Nevertheless, Paramore returned to their hometown and recorded a music video for their 4th single, “That’s What You Get,” which was released on March 24, 2008.
In April & May 2008, the band went on tour with “Jimmy Eat World”, and they headlined the “Give It A Name Festival” in the United Kingdom on May 10 and 11. They also performed at Radio 1’s Big Weekend on May 10, and they played their first show in Ireland on June 2, 2008.
July 25 until September 1, marked “The Final RIOT! Tour”, during this tour, they released a collaboration hoodie, all proceeds were donated to the Love146 foundation. On November 25, a live album, “The Final RIOT!” was released. It includes a DVD with the entire show they played in Chicago, IL on August 12, and also a behind-the-scenes documentary was included on the DVD.
On October 1, they released a new song called “Decode,” which was the soundtrack for the romantic fantasy movie “Twilight.” The song was an international success charting in the top 20 singles charts in Australia, France, and New Zealand, and their second top 40 hit on the “Billboard Hot 100” chart. It was awarded a Teen Choice Award and got a Grammy nomination as well. Another new song was featured on “Twilight” as well, named “I Caught Myself.”
2009 - Brand New Eyes
January 2009, Josh Farro announces that the band is working on their 3rd album in Kerrang! Magazine, mentioning they want to record it in their hometown Nashville, TN, for more inspiration and more convenient traveling. Paramore completed their 3rd album, “Brand New Eyes,” in early 2009. The first single, “Ignorance,” was released on July 7, 2009, the official music video for this song was released on August 13. Additionally, Paramore was featured as a special guest during the No Doubt Summer Tour, which started on May 16, 2009, and ended in early August.
Their Brand New Eyes tour in the United States started on September 29 and ended on November 11, “Paper Route” and “The Swellers” supported them during this headline tour. After this tour, they did another Brand New Eyes tour in Europe, counting 15 shows that all sold out. Supported by the bands “You Me At Six,” “Paper Route,” and “Now Now Every Children,” they toured from November 29 to December 18, where they ended their tour in London’s Wembley Arena.
“Ignorance” was followed by “Brick By Boring Brick,” “The Only Exception,” “Careful,” and “Playing God” as official singles with music videos for their album Brand New Eyes.
2010 - Farro Brothers Departure
Early 2010, Paramore did an Australian tour where they performed at the Soundwave Festival. Shortly before this tour, Josh announced he was engaged, and he would skip this tour to plan the wedding with his fiancé. Just York, Taylor’s brother, filled in for him during this tour.
Josh returned during their Spring tour, which started on April 26, 2010. In addition, they played as support for “Green Day” on various dates of their Stadium Tour. In the summer, Paramore headlined the “Honda Civic Tour,” after two months of this tour, they still did a short Japan Tour and revisited Australia for a small fall tour. They ended with a UK Fall tour in November.
On December 18, 2010, an official message from Hayley, Jeremy, and Taylor appeared on their website stating that Josh and Zac Farro both were leaving the band. However, they did confirm that the planned tours for 2011 would continue.
2011-2012 - Singles Club
On January 10, 2011, in an MTV interview, Hayley said that despite the departure of 2 founding members (Farro brothers), they would release new music in 2011. Although she did not confirm if it would be a full album or an EP, she did admit that Paramore’s style would probably change due to the new lineup.
They did a South American tour in February/March. After returning home, they went back to the studio to record some new songs, which were released in the summer. The EP they recorded with produced Rob Cavallo, was named the “Singles Club” and contained four new songs.
The first single, “Monster” was released on June 3, 2011, also the soundtrack of the movie “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” This was officially the first song released by Paramore without the Farro brothers. The other singles were released in October (Renegade), November (Hello Cold World), and December (In The Mourning) of 2011.
On June 9, 2011, Hayley announced that they started writing their fourth album, hoping they could record it by the end of the year and release it in early 2012.
2013-2014 - Paramore (Self-Titled)
Coming Soon!
2015-Jeremy Davis' Departure
Coming Soon!
2016-Now - After Laughter, Zac Farro Returns
Coming Soon!