Paramore Founding Members Leave Band

It looks like my favorite band Paramore has a real “Emergency”!

The pop punk band known for their smash hits “Misery Business” and “Ignorance” is sadly losing two of its founding members.  It was made public on December 18, 2010 through the band’s official website Paramore.net that lead guitarist Josh Farro and drummer Zac Farro would be leaving.

The message from lead singer Haley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York stated that “A couple of months ago, Josh and Zac let us know they would be leaving the band after our show in Orlando last Sunday.”  Adding to that, the band said that “none of us were really shocked” upon hearing this and that “for the last year it hasn’t seemed as if they wanted to be around anymore”.

However, Josh tells a different story for his and his brother’s departure from the band.  According to Josh’s Blogger account, the ousted lead guitarist claims that Paramore was “a manufactured product of a major-label” and that Haley is being controlled by her management; treating Paramore as her own solo project while also claiming that she was the only member who’s signed to Atlantic Records.

Though most would just dismiss his claims as an expression of his anger towards leaving, Josh is right.  In an interview with MTV.com called “Paramore: The Last Word”, Haley, Jeremy, and Taylor confirmed many of Josh’s statements including that Haley was the only member of Paramore signed to Atlantic Records.

Despite losing two of their founding members, Paramore reportedly still plans to release new music in 2011, though it’s unknown if they will release a full length album for this year or if they will only release a few songs.  The remaining members have stated that the band will not break up and that they will instead recruit new members.  According to Haley, changing the band’s lineup will change Paramore’s signature style, but she insists that their sound will not.  As for me, I’m not buying what they’re selling because “For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic” that it actually will!  (Just listen to Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” album which features mostly new members.) 

But Josh and Zac won’t have to be “Feeling Sorry” for leaving Paramore.  On February 2, the brothers revealed that they will be starting up their own separate bands.  Josh will be in his new band Novel American while Zac will be in his own called Half Noise.