[Updated with new title, format and new notes.]
Sure, there was some drama in December. But now it's 2011. Here are 12 reasons why I think, like the song says, "no one is as lucky as us":
- Lots of good writing underway: Hayley keeps tweeting things like "writing and singing and playing and thinking."
- First demo done: Haley tweeted "Recording vocals. It feels insanely good." and "Demo número uno COMPLETE!" on Monday, 17-Jan-2010!
- More music: The band says they we will "definitely" see new music in 2011. In the recent MTV interview, Taylor York characterized the band as "more excited than ever. And we're not going to put out something that's not good. Next year, when we say we're taking time off, it means we're writing until we have something that's great. And we're not going to stop until it's great."
- Awards, already: Paramore also started 2011 with a bang, by winning Favorite Rock Band at the People's Choice Awards. And, we've got the Grammys coming up Feb 13th.
- In the Mourning: Fans love the beautiful "In The Mourning," which Taylor and Hayley posted in early January, and which already has a great cover.
- Chat-o-rama: Hayley, Taylor and Jeremy have been online in multiple venues chatting with fans. Fans have posted some summaries of the chats, which are rippling with interesting news.
- Pics and videos on Paramore.net and their tumblrs, including of the new demos she's been working on (don't you just want to reach into the screen and press the play button)?
- Tours: The band announced two phenomnal musicians, Justin York and Josh Freese, will be touring with them on the South America tour. (This is just for that tour, but boy is South America lucky!) And, in recent chat, Hayley said they will "definitely have some sort of shows this summer."
- Dedicated fans: The fanbase has shown their incredible devotion to Paramore with projects like I (Still) Love Paramore and the Hayley Williams Birthday Project. And, despite the recent turmoil, we've shown great respect to founding members Josh and Zac, too.
- Perspective: Fellow musicians like Jonathan Diener of the Swellers weighed in with some good perspective on why the changes aren't the end of the world and may in fact be really positive. And, about the band changes, paramorechloe's mom told us: ""Bands do this all the time. And usually you find that they come back bigger and better." And we all said "she is a wise woman."
- Humor: Paramore is so famous and so loved that somebody did that hilarious "Hilter finds out about Josh and Zac" video.
- Good karma: Jeremy burned any bad old memories from 2010 when he rang in 2011. So, we are starting with 100% good mojo now.
Incidentally, in the Paramore: The Last Word webcast, MTV's James Montgomery gave a nice shout out to us "very thoughtful fans" and said "the fan community on Paramore.net is insane!"
What other positive signs do you see, and what do you think is ahead in 2011?
[Edits: Updated title from "Looking Up," added new bits about chat, reformatted for readability.]
I was actually surprised how well 2011 turned out for Paramore, if you think about where things were a year ago at this time. And, since I was a "rebuilding year" in a way, I agree with @MuHaHaHa and @Parafreak that 2012 is likely to be pretty incredible.
I think, that 2012 will be better than 2011, too! I´m really happy, taht they´re going to put out a new album and new videos, new photos, nwe hairstyles :)
Omg. 2011 is almost over. Time flies!
I guess 2012 will be even better than 2011. They'll release a new album, put out new music videos, probably tour a lot and have fun. Maybe new members will join the band. The list goes on and on. I can't wait. :)
@MuHaHaHa^^ Aw.... thanks!
When I get a moment I am going to add a couple of recent Hayley tweets and Paramuse's chat reference below.
This is my fav topic. :)
http://community.livejournal.com/paramoremusic/10592754.html#cutid1
here's some more news from Hayley from her last visit to the PFC chat 26/01/11, if it hasn't been noted.
also a new paramoreband entry about faith... not sure where this is relevant but it's personal news.
http://paramoreband.livejournal.com/76013.html
Haha I'm not sure we need to look for positive signs anymore though, since In The Mourning the fans seem to have realised things ARE indeed Looking Up :)
@Paramuse Thanks, very exciting. I added this bullet and edited some of the older demo-related stuff. I guess I'll keep updating this topic with good news until the end of January and then let it recede into the history books!
(I am sure the demos and South America tour will be generating a ton of separate good news items coming up!)
Hayley Tweeted that the first demo is complete :)
@Alex
I agree! That has to be the biggest change I have seen so far! We are constantly seeing pics and things with the 3 of them hanging out and having a great time together! It seems like a major weight has been lifted off their shoulders!
@Martin
I read somewhere that they are planning on getting more involved with their fans and are trying to think creatively to do so!
hayley said on twitter:
Today really went well. 'Cept for incident with the almonds. But I finished lyrics/melodies to another song! That makes up for the almonds.
I'm really excited, Hayley has tweeted quite a lot about writing lyrics. Another thing I've noticed is that Hayley, Taylor and Jeremy have always been close but now they seem more united and closer than ever :)
After 4 months Hayley FINALLY checks back in on LJ and I missed it :/
But she said a lot of positive things.
"we definitely have considered an EP. it's been 4 years - almost 5 - since we put out our first EP, so it would be nice to add to that. anyways, we just can't wait to put out SOMETHING!"
"speaking of writing with the guys. i'm a little better at it now. i've written with taylor since we were around 13 years old. and usually when writing with him, i've been able to do it in the same room. i remember writing "o star" with him in his basement. i was so nervous til we got there and then the song just happened! this time around, at least so far, he's been sending me ideas and demos via email. then i record my vocals over the music in garageband and send it right back!"
"i will probably post "in the mourning" eventually. it is a full song but it's just a little acoustic thing for now."
"i have been venting in the first 2 songs. but i'm trying to get that crap out so we can write a fun record.
i'm right there with you on the negative thing. don't want to be a broken record."
there's more here: http://paramoreband.livejournal.com/75643.html?page=9&view=22536827#comm...
How about: "You can definitely tell that the remaining members (Taylor, Hayley and Jeremy) have a strong friendship relationship and that they are more united than ever before".
You know, i hope hey dont come out with just an EP this year.
Man, thanks! Now i'm happier than before :) :D
Thanks for starting this discussion :)
Even more excited for Paramore in 2011!!!
Good one, I will add that writing one!
imso excited, i may shit.
Wow, thats all great. I didn't know they were already putting together the puzzle pieces of the 4th album.
How about Hayley's tweet on writing?
First she tweeted: "Writing... writing... writing stuff."
then a fan replied her tweet saying "new music, I hope!! :)"
and Hayley replied: "I hope too!"
Finally,before she went to sleep, she tweeted "Think I gotta be done writing. I'm so tired! Night everybody."
So yeah, she's mysteriously writing 'something' !!! :D
Thank you, you helped tone down my freaking out!
I thought of another one, which is that Hayley seems back to posting lots of pictures again, like the new ones on the home page of Paramore.net.
http://www.paramore.net/
Thank you so much man! I am so sexcited for the new Paramore!!
:D HURRAY!
Thanks for posting!
This makes me smile inside :)
It's going to be awesome! Jiihaaa! :)
@paramuse I definitely agree.Temporary adversity often creates great music (just look at Brand New Eyes).
I think 2011 is going to be a good year for Paramore. I think it's a good thing they got the Josh and Zac thing out of the way, even though it was close to Christmas, it allowed the fans enough time to be ready for a positive start to a new year instead of dwelling on the bad things. And now Jeremy, Hayley, and Taylor will be trying even harder to prove they can do it, so we can probably expect great things from them.
Obviously.
The Beatles had in total six members through out and look at them after the others.
Pages