FIRST IMPRESSIONS; NOW by Paramore

And thus arrives the moment so many of us have been waiting for, new Paramore material - Now is streaming on the band's own website, where you can also pre-order the upcoming self-titled 4th studio album.

So, first impressions. 

It's different. There's something decidedly quirky about it, and it definitely sounds like we're dealing with a changed beast here. But it's certainly a grower, I've listened to it a few times now and I like it much more than the first listen. So give it a play, mull it over, then repeat, because it's a good track and sets an interesting tone for Paramore in April...

So I'm gonna implement a quasi-ratings system for first impressions, which isn't a review, but more a excitement-o-meter.

Initial rating; 7/10
Excite-O-Meter for Paramore

                                                                                                |
:( __________ :/ ___________ :| ____________ :) _____________ :D

Meaning moderate excitement, as it stands. It may well increase.

WHAT DO WE WANT? PARAMORE! WHEN DO WE WANT IT?

...Now!

See what I did there?




Paramore's new Single Now will be released on January 22nd, ahead of the release of their upcoming 4th studio effort Paramore, out April 9th. I'll be all over this when it's out, expect a review shortly after!

AWESOME THINGS COMING IN 2013

There will be many awesome things in 2013, the majority of which are yet to be announced, but here's a comprehensive* list of the things we do know are going to happen.

New albums from;

• Paramore; Paramore (April 9th)
• Killswitch Engage; ? (April)
• Queens Of The Stone Age; ? (shrugs)
• Biffy Clyro; Opposites (January 28th)
• Bring Me The Horizon; Sempiternal (early 2013 but unknown)
• Animals As Leaders; ? (shrugs)
• Everything Everything; Arc (January 14th)
• 30 Seconds To Mars; ? (unknown but expected by summer)

Download Festival

Muse's Summer Stadium tour

Fall Out Boy reunion**

Mastodon are set to enter the studio to record the follow-up to 2011's The Hunter, but don't expect anything soon - expect another year's tour before we see a new album.

I'll add things as I come across them, but these are the main things I'm looking forward to. Of course, there are/will be tours attached to all the above new album releases, so fingers crossed for UK dates from the foreign bands.

* I'm lying. Comment below if there are any glaring omissions and I will gladly un-omit them, which is to say, add them to the list.
** I'm lying again, although I had a strange dream where it happened but I was Pete Wentz.

OH LOOK MORE BIRTHDAYS!

Members of 2 of my favourite bands celebrated birthdays in the last couple of days.

Yesterday, i.e. Boxing Day, was the 40th/41st (I'm not sure) birthday of Jared Leto, while today (27th December) is Hayley Williams' 24th.

Hurry up with these new albums already.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...TAYLOR YORK

Incredibly, this third of Paramore is only 23.

23. Damnnnnnn.

So Taylor, happy birthday! Personally, I can't wait to hear what you guys have been brewing up in the studio - I was away from a computer when I heard the news about Paramore's new self-titled album, due out on April 9th 2013, so nothing about it until this post. But needless to say, I'm excited and intrigued to hear what's been going on in the Paramore camp. 

The first single to come from Paramore is to be called Now, but for now that's all we've got to go on. More as it happens.

PARAMORE IRELAND-BOUND

Paramore are playing a one-off show in Ireland, at Belsonic 2012 in Belfast's Custom House Square on August 9th. Tickets are on sale NOW! Go forth. They're £30 + booking fee btw.

Hopefully they might have a bit of new material to showcase, if the album is progressing well. And also, hopefully this is a precursor to some mainland UK shows...at the very least.

PARAMORE: HAYLEY'S VOICE IN 'ALL I WANTED'

Me and my housemate Dom were having a bit of a Paramorefest, being rather partial to the band as we are.

On came All I Wanted.

You know the first song that made The Lonely Island famous? The one about trouser-based mishaps. Yeah. That note Hayley reaches in the chorus is just...literally the greatest note reached by any singer. Ever. It's amazing. 

PARAMORE STUDIO UPDATE

Radio silence is broken! Save for the Singles Club in the latter part of last year, there's not been much from the trio. But... Read on below for Hayley's report on happenings in the world of Paramore.


"It's April... Honestly, I don't believe how fast the months go by anymore. The older I get the faster time flies. The other day I was looking at my calendar from last year (which was, admittedly, a lot less full than I had hoped it would be...) and thinking of how I was dreading how slowly it might go by. I've never known what it's like to be home for more than a few weeks at a time that absolutely nothing is going on. The only thing I could think about was if we could snap our fingers and make the 4th album happen so that the next time I looked up, we'd be back on a stage somewhere and not sitting around at home. But you can't just make things like that happen. For something to be great, there has to be some kind of trial or some type of struggle that actually makes it special or valuable to you. Otherwise, anything could be easily taken for granted.

There's no reason to lie about it, the first few months of writing were ridiculously draining and a lot more of a pain than a pleasure. It was supposed to be fun right? We made it all the way to this point to just struggle some more. So, you can probably imagine that when the flood gates burst this past January and inspiration started filling us up again, we were more than willing to let it take us wherever it wanted. We've written a lot of songs I never thought we would write. And we aren't done yet! The writing will continue even as we enter the studio... Which, of course, is what I'm writing you about right now.

The guys and I went in to record a song for our 4th album about a week and a half ago. Except that we weren't exactly sure how it was going to go or that the end result would be something we actually wanted to use, it was all very exciting. At the end of our time in the studio, it was clear to us that this was definitely right! So without delaying any longer, we would like to announce that our 4th album's producer is Justin Meldal-Johnsen. And what the heck, we might as well tell you that the one song we recorded will be called "Daydreaming". (It's the one we "tweeted" about writing in a hotel room in LA back in Feb).

In case you can't tell, we're working on a pretty strange schedule, by our standards. There has never been so much time and care put into a Paramore album. Usually, we are rushing to make a very strict deadline which so far has just not been right for this record. We cannot assure you it will be out this year. What we can tell you is that from now on, when we go in to create this thing, whether for a day at a time or for a month, you will be kept more informed. It is a total joy to make our fans/family a part of what we do because we couldn't do it without you anyway.
Phew! It feels so good to get all that out there... Felt like I was going to word vomit on twitter or something if I didn't write this soon.

The guys and I have been constantly amazed at the enthusiasm and excitement we've seen on fansites/blogs/in handwritten letters/and elsewhere. Again, we just want to say thank you for your patience and the way you've kept us hungry to make music and to play shows. This is a very incredible life to live and you have all been the best reminder of that.

See you around the internet, surfing Tumblr and Twitter and all that mess... But not Facebook. I don't know how to use it.

Dispatching for Paramore,

Hayley"


So, the important thing to take away from this is that THEY'RE BACK IN THE STUDIO. This is good. And if they put as much effort into it as she says they're doing, then I'm more than happy to wait for it. If they create a record that's better than Brand New Eyes then we are so in for a treat, as BNE was superb.