WE PREDICT A RIOT – INTERVIEW WITH PARAMORE
It’s 2.30 on a Monday afternoon; by law most of the hundred kids waiting in line outside Glasgow’s ABC should be at school and chances are most of their parents think they are sitting in a maths class somewhere preparing for their exams. Actually their kids are waiting in line to get a musical education from one of the brightest new bands American has offered us in years.
Back in the UK for a small string of dates to preview their new record ‘Riot’, it seems that while Glasgow is beaming to have its new favourite band back in town, the band themselves are also excited at the prospect of tonight’s show.
“Glasgow’s our favourite”, gushes lead singer Hayley.
“We didn’t really know what to expect the first time we came here, so playing a sold out show last time round, and then being able to sell out a bigger venue this time, we just feel really blessed.”
Blessed surely because as everyone knows, Glasgow crowds are the best and before anyone assumes as a Glasgow gig goer I’m blowing my own trumpet, it’s a well known fact. Like drummer Zac says, “the crowds here in Glasgow are the craziest we have ever seen”.
Their new record ‘Riot!’ is a world apart from their debut, ‘All We Know Is Falling’. While the latter demonstrated a somewhat shy band eager to make their mark, leading new single ‘Misery Business’ is one of full force from a confident group who are ready to take over the world, and are pulling out all the stops to do so.
“There’s a lot of variation… its sort of hard to describe. I think there’s a song for every style I think” says Zac.
“We are more comfortable in our skin now as a band and because of that we weren’t afraid to try things that we had wanted to do for a long time” Hayley continues. “And you can definitely hear the different influences, fearlessness and creativity on this record more than the last time around.”
And nothing is more fearless than ‘Misery Business’. It’s is one of the more honest songs on the record which discusses losing a boyfriend and while Hayley always seems reluctant to discuss the lyrics of her songs, its clear it was a song that needed to be written.
“I feel like im free from the whole situation now… I would say I was ready to write about it last time round but this time it sort of had to come out, to let go of all that stuff, It sounds weird but I feel a lot better now…”, a shy Hayley explains before getting excited about the prospect of playing such new songs tonight.
“It seems that kids are almost more enthusiastic about those songs than any of the other ones in the set. There’s such an excitement around the new songs and it feels good to play them”
Like most bands who hail from Fueled by Ramen, Drive Thru or Victory Records, the term ‘emo’ has become the lazy journalist way of describing music which sounds nothing like the bands that started the emo scene all those years ago. Instead of being a genre to bands that sound alike, it’s a term used to describe every band whose fans have dyed hair, thick layers of eyeliner and skinny jeans and its roots that formed in and around pioneers such as Quicksand and Fugazi.
But while some bands tend to kick up a fuss about being stuck in that bracket, Paramore just seem happy that people are caring enough about them to listen to their music.
“Emo is not something that we have ever gone around claiming; however we don’t really care about labels and stuff because people are going to associate our music with whatever is familiar to them because it makes them feel like they have got it figured out” Hayley explains.
“I think that’s human nature with everything but hopefully when people hear this new record they will get something different out of it and see that its not that easily pigeon holed. “
Hmm we shall see. ‘Riot’ is out now.