Josh and Zac Farro’s recent departure appears to be from the fact that in reality Paramore was a solo gig appearing as a band. Josh and Zac went along for the ride as long as they felt a part of the band by writing and had some decision making.

What appeared to be an indie band pressing up through the ranks on small label Fueled by Ramen was actually a Trojan horse of major label Atlantic to be part of the South by Southwest crowd.  Does this really surprise anybody? Although they may have not sounded like No Doubt, the packaging was clear especially when they had the opening slot for No Doubt on their reunion tour not too long ago.

Puddle of Mudd

This is not the first time an artist has been released as a “band” another good example is Wes Scantlin whose Kansas City band Puddle of Mudd had broke up, was able to get his demos in front of Fred Durst who was interested and helped him put together a new Puddle of Mudd that was touted as being from Kansas City when in fact only Wes was the only original member from Kansas City. The rest of the band were people that Wes met out in California or Fred wanted in the “band”.

Kurt Cobain

One of the most interesting notes in a label trying to attain street cred was the signing of Nirvana. David Geffen wanted to sign them to Geffen Records home of Guns & Roses. Nirvana had been with Sub Pop and was weary of the big label machine with the importance of being accepted by the alternative rock community. So, David Geffen started a new record company called DGC Records.  It is fairly obvious what the initials stand for.

The Runaways & Kim Fowley

One of the biggest disputes of whether or not we have a real band here was between Kim Fowley and The Runaways. While it is true Kim Fowley helped Joan Jett put together an all girl rock band with his contacts that reached far and wide across Southern California, The Runaways did in fact write and perform their own music. There is no way to dispute that Kim may have been only a handful of people that could have helped put that group together and encourage them as raw teenage talent they were in fact a great band writing and performing their own music.

It would be great if all band stories were not either marketed or put together on purpose, but as one can see music is a business and many times the business machine is involved in the creative process. It looks like Paramore was in a development deal similar to a country act that may take a couple of years before the business machine drops the record on the public.

Paramore’s roots are actually still a lot more organic than most.  Josh and Zac did have Hayley in their garage band. Hayley did reach out to them when she wanted to put together a full band. They helped to come up with the name of the band. She also stuck up for them when label execs started flexing their “whose in the band” muscle.  They were involved in the writing process. In the end, although she may have been the one signing the deal with Atlantic, they were more of a band then the current Guns & Roses which really is an Axl Rose solo project under a band moniker.

Paramore has a lot of fans because after all it is about the music. Sometimes the way into the music business is not always from the garage to the road to success. There can be other people involved. Paramore is not quite the same story as Puddle of Mudd; they are still a band from Franklin, Tennessee now with two less members from Franklin, Tennessee.  For Josh, it must be a little weird to leave the band with a name you came up with.

– Brad Hardisty, Nashville, TN     thenashvillebridge@hotmail.com