Paramore Tackle Friendships on September LP: "There's Fast, There's Slow and In Between"

Paramore will release the follow-up to their breakout album Riot! in September, MTV revealed; the band's label confirmed the news yesterday. "We made a record that is exactly what we set out to make," fiery frontwoman Hayley Williams said on the band's LiveJournal page. "There's fast, there's slow, and in between... happy, angry, desperate and over it. And I can't believe it's real." For their third album, the Nashville power punks worked with Rob Cavallo, who produced Green Day's American Idiot, Dave Matthews Band's Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King and Paramore's own contributions to the Twilight soundtrack, including the hit single "Decode."

"When I started writing for the album, I was really nervous about my role and what my opinions were worth nowadays. I figured, who is going to care what I have to say? We had a pretty successful record, we tour in a bus, buddy-up with MTV, and we recorded for the Twilight soundtrack... no one wants to hear me whine," Williams writes. Since Riot!, the band has faced break-up rumors, parents' divorces, even the death of a former member. "Most of the songs you'll hear have to do with friendship. In fact, this is the first Paramore album that wasn't written mostly about love relationships. I have made a lot of friends and I've lost a lot of friends over the past couple years... and it's all gonna be there for you to dissect," Williams explained.

When Rock Daily spoke with Williams in December 2008, the album was still in its embryonic stages. "I have a lot to say this time around, and there's a lot of things I thought I knew that I was absolutely wrong about," Williams told us. While September seems pretty far off, Paramore will likely test out some of their new material when they hit the road this summer to open for No Doubt. Rolling Stone recently hung out with Hayley and the band for an in the studio feature, so keep an eye out for the story in an upcoming issue.

Related Stories:

• Paramore's Tour Bus: Hunting Gear, Cocoa Puffs and Tiny Instruments
• Hayley Williams on "Twilight": "I Connected To It Immediately"
• Hayley Williams on Next Paramore Album: "I Have a Lot to Say"

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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