Paramore, the rapidly emerging pop-punk quintet from Tennessee, has been building a near-deafening “next big thing” buzz. Driven by riveting live shows and the undeniable charisma of their frontwoman, Hayley Williams, they have captivated an increasingly rabid following. Confronted by the double-edged sword of overwhelming early praise, Paramore has risen to the challenge and recorded an album that happily delivers on all the claims made on their behalf. With their Fueled By Ramen collection, “RIOT!,” they announce that they have the talent, the passion, and the songs to take themselves to the next level.

The band’s rise has been the result of consistent hard work since Hayley first met Josh Farro (guitar) and his younger brother Zac (drums) while they were together in school four years ago. After adding Jeremy Davis (bass), Paramore was formed in 2004. They played their first show in Nashville, and were soon building a local fanbase. After just a few months of gigging, the band had their first big break in early 2005, when Fueled By Ramen founder John Janick saw them at a gig in Florida. He was instantly struck by their presence and their dedication, and he immediately signed the band to the label. As Hayley says, “Fueled By Ramen has been amazing to us. So many kids started checking us out because our name is on their roster. It’s like a big family; we all share such a massive unit of fans.”

Upon the release of their debut album, “ALL WE KNOW IS FALLING”, in the summer of 2005, the music community began taking immediate notice of the band. The New York Times and Spin hailed the album, singling out Hayley as a star in the making. Nonstop touring throughout 2006 with bands such as Straylight Run and Simple Plan, combined with show-stealing festival performances at Warped and Bamboozle, continued to build the momentum. The year culminated with a sold-out headlining tour of North America in the fall of 2006, as well as successful tours of both Europe and Japan.

The accolades continued as 2006 came to a close. After an overwhelming response to a U.K. tour at the end of the year, Kerrang! readers voted Paramore as the “Best New Band” and Hayley as the #2 “Sexiest Female.” NME named Paramore one of the ten acts to watch in their “New Noise 2007” feature, proclaiming Williams as “young, articulate and with plenty to say.” Some bands would begin to get nervous with those kinds of accolades. Not Paramore. “I love getting all the ‘Next Big Thing’ notices,” says Hayley with a grin. Josh continues, “The first few years everything was new to us and we made a name for ourselves as a band in a lot of places. But with ‘RIOT!,’ we’re really ready to blow people’s minds.”

It only takes one listen to “RIOT!” to see the depth of the band’s growth in the past two years. Produced by David Bendeth (Hawthorne Heights, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Killswitch Engage), the music has taken on a richer, deeper, more intense tone, without sacrificing any of the melodicism that has been their trademark. As Hayley explains, “For us, the title ‘RIOT!’ literally means an unbridled outburst of emotions. When we were writing, it seemed like our thoughts and emotions were coming out so fast that we couldn’t control them. It felt like there was a riot within us. So the album takes our passion to a new level; it’s just all raw energy.”

That raw energy and passion is evident in “Misery Business,” a song that has its origins in a message Hayley put on the band’s Live Journal page, asking her fans to post what they’re ashamed of. “I found that people really were reaching out to someone to spill their guts to,” she recalls, “So I did the same thing lyrically in the song and let everything out. It’s more honest than anything I’ve ever written, and the guys matched that emotion musically.”

The wryly titled “For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic” stems from what Josh reflects as “putting your faith in someone and they blow it.” But in the writing of the song, he saw that his faith in his bandmates was not misplaced: “I wrote the music specifically to be awesome live and to be extremely energetic. It all came out at once. I showed it to Hayley and she just nailed it lyrically. She completely got the feeling I wanted the song to have.” And “Hallelujah” serves as one of the album’s true anthems. As Hayley recounts, “It’s one of the oldest songs we’ve got, but we wanted to save it for this record, and it’s the perfect home for it. It’s a claim of victory for both ourselves and our fans.”

That connection with their audience is most evident in “Born For This,” a song that was specifically written for their fans. “We wrote it as a message to them,” Hayley explains. “They’re going to take us to the next level. Everything they’ve done has helped us so much… it’s really kept us going.” And to drive that point home, the band held an online contest for fans, with the winners getting to sing gang vocals on the song.

Considering the fact that RIOT! went gold in Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. and the band cracked the top five on the radio charts in the U.K. Australia, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany and Southeast Asia, this global success story had a lot to live up to with brand new eyes. Co-produced by the band and Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance), who Paramore also worked with on the track "Decode" from the double-platinum soundtrack for the movie Twilight, the album is also the first disc to officially feature new guitarist Taylor York -although York has been a writing partner and frequent touring member since the band's inception back in 2004. "It's really nice having Taylor there because he's the only other guitarist that I trust with our songs," Josh explains. "It's so exciting to be a five-piece again," Hayley concurs, "that's what we were originally intended to be, so I think the writing process was a lot more rewarding having him there." While Josh and Hayley once again made up the main songwriting team on brand new eyes, Hayley is also quick to stress that this album is the most collaborative creation of the band's career, a fact that is evident in the disc's sonic diversity.

In fact brand new eyes is a case study in the band's versatility and contains as many driving, first-pumping anthems like "Ignorance" as it does upbeat pop masterpieces like "Where The Lines Overlap" and lilting, acoustic ballads such as "Misguided Ghosts." "We really tried to venture out and experiment with our sound to see how far we could push ourselves this time around," Josh explains. "?Misguided Ghosts' is just finger-picking and that's not really Paramore's sound but for some reason it works," he continues. "I don't think it would have fit on RIOT! at all, but it's definitely the perfect song for this album." While Rob Cavallo was instrumental in helping the band fully realize their sound, the end result wouldn't have come to fruition in the studio so quickly if the band didn't have a clear-cut idea of what they wanted to accomplish from the onset. "I think we did a good job of guiding ourselves on this record," Hayley explains, "but if there was ever was a time [Cavallo] had to step in he did and it was always perfect."

The rollercoaster ride that Paramore have experienced over the past few years was also a huge influence on the lyrics for brand new eyes, however it was important for Williams not to write a cliched collection of songs about the perils of success. "I watch all these bands go from being really hungry on their first album to talking about paparazzi following them around on their next one," Hayley explains with a laugh. "I was so afraid of sounding like that." Instead Hayley decided to dig into her own psyche and explore some of her deepest emotions. "I would sit in my room all day and not go anywhere, because I felt like I had to keep myself secluded in order to write lyrics," Hayley recounts. "I'm really proud because looking back on all the songs this is really exactly what I was going through?and I think a lot of people are going through this, too."

Hayley's honesty is evident in tracks like the acoustic ballad "The Only Exception" and album closer "All I Wanted," both of which give an unapologetic glimpse into the inner workings of what was happening in her head over the past two years, a reality that was initially scary for the 20-year-old to advertise to the rest of the world. "Now that it's all said and on paper I'm not as insecure about [these lyrics] because I think these songs form a full story that people are going to be able to connect with," Hayley explains, adding that once the songs started to flow in the studio the band were instantly rejuvenated and remembered why they started Paramore in the first place. "There's something Hayley is able to draw out of me that I can't seem to do with anyone else," Josh responds when asked how the band are able to craft music that defies gender and genre stereotypes. "Hayley hates the word ?mature,' but I think it's really suitable for this record because there's much growth that's evident on this album."

Never content to rest on their laurels, Paramore continue to look toward the future and can't wait to see what the next few years have in store for them. "I don't really care how many records we sell," Josh explains, citing that this album is a full representation of the band's disparate influences which include Mew, Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie. "I want to come out on the other end happier than ever just knowing that we've done this together and it was fun," Hayley summarizes. "I just want to feel like this is my band, this is awesome, I'm living the dream," she adds, her voice taking on a palpably excited tone. "If we can accomplish that together, there's nothing more that we can ask for."

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