UPDATE, 10 A.M., DEC. 22: The Farro brothers have put out a rather scathing statement on their departure and Hayley Williams. See bottom of post for entire statement.
ORIGINAL ITEM, 12:45 P.M., DEC. 20: Say farewell to at least two members of pop/punk band Paramore. According to Paramore's blog announcement, Josh and Zac Farro (guitarist and drummer) are parting ways with the group.
“Over the past 6 years, our band has been through some of the most intense and incredible experiences of our lives,” says lead singer Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy York and guitarist Taylor York on their website. “None of these things has been without trial. We've worked so hard to get where we are.”
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Sadly, the Farro brothers informed the band after their show in Orlando last Sunday. “None of us was really that shocked,” wrote Paramore. “For the last year it hasn't seemed as if they wanted to be around anymore. We want Josh and Zac to do something that makes them happy and, if that isn't here with us, then we support them finding happiness elsewhere.” With the three members remaining, we hope they can pull through the hard times and continue touring as a new chapter of their journey unfolds.
UPDATE: The Farro brothers have released a statement via Josh's blog. Here it is in its entirety:
Hey guys,
Let me start by apologizing to you for the way
everything went down on Saturday. I had a statement typed ready to post
to you guys but Hayley released one without my permission. We were
not going to issue a statement until we worked out our exit agreement
with Hayley. I wish it didn't have to happen that way, Zac and I wanted
to be the ones you heard it from. I want to be honest with you guys
about how this band formulated from day one. I did not think Hayley's
version told the whole story, at least from our perspective and
hopefully this will explain a bit about why we are leaving.Zac and I had a garage band in high school with the
intentions of just making music for the love of it. We met Taylor and
our friend Jason Clark at our school and found out that we shared the
same musical tastes. So, we asked them to join our band. It was some of
the greatest times of our lives playing music in Taylor's basement with
them. We obviously needed a lead singer and one day Zac met Hayley.
We asked her to come try out and eventually to join the band.
Months down the road things changed and this band became all about
Hayley. She had a manager at the time that controlled her every move
along with her parents. They didn't like the idea of Hayley being in a
rock band so they forced her to leave wanting her to pursue a solo
career.Hayley went off to write and record
her solo demos while the four of us continued on without her. A couple
of months later Hayley came and asked us if she could use the song
“Conspiracy” that we had all previously written together. We agreed
that that would be fine. I got a call a while after that from Hayley
telling me that her manager said that Zac and I were invited to be back
in the band (the band we started), but not Taylor and Jason because
they weren't good enough in his eyes. Hayley brought in Jeremy and our first rhythm guitarist Jason Bynum as the other two members.We travelled to LA a few weeks later for a showcase and it was a nightmare.
Hayley's manager would tell the band to be in the lobby of the hotel at
a certain time, but he and Hayley wouldn't show for hours. We
found out that they had been meeting with record label executives all
morning without us, which is totally weird given that this wasn't simply
a solo artist, but we were a band. The band was in the dark the whole
time. After many meetings between Hayley, her manager and the labels
they decided to sign her to Atlantic records. We didn't understand
why Hayley was the only one signing the contract since we were told this
was a “band”, but we were too young to grasp all of this. So far,
Zac and I haven't signed with another label, although I guess our part
of Paramore sure could. Next thing we knew we were having a signing
party for Hayley.Our next move was to rerecord her solo demos
with our own music rather than studio musicians to make it sound more
genuine. Meanwhile, we tossed around band names. I wrote out a list of
names, including “Paramore”, a name my old band with Taylor and Jason
Clark had thought about using. Obviously, we settled on that name. The label received the rerecorded demos and once again tried to fire the entire band, saying we were terrible.
Thankfully Hayley and I had been writing some new songs together
(Hallelujah, Here We Go Again) that the label was pleased with so that
acted as leverage for the band to stay. The label and management then
decided to build our band up the grass-roots route. They put Hayley on
Fueled by Ramen not making it known she was signed to Atlantic as well.
All the while we still questioned whether or not we were an actual band,
but Hayley continued to insist we were, despite our being ignored and
pushed around by the label.They then sent us all to Orlando to
rehearse and write eight hours a day for our first record. Half -way
though this process, Jeremy decided to quit. We were all really upset
about it. So we finished the record, replaced Jeremy, and hit the road
with Hayley's father as our tour manager/driver of a twelve-passenger
van. Her dad would constantly threaten to “pull the plug” on the
whole band if we complained about anything, suggesting that we were
hired guns and Hayley was the real artist, when in reality we were also
part of the band. We've always been treated as less important than
Hayley. It's been obvious how her family views things.Jeremy
ended up rejoining and we toured non-stop for two and half years
building our fan base, pretending to be a band that started naturally.
In reality, what started as natural somehow morphed into a manufactured
product of a major label, riding on the coattails of “Hayley's dream.”Before
recording our next record, we kicked out Jeremy for his lack of work
ethic and participation in things that Zac, Hayley and I didn't agree
with. At this point it was just the three of us to record Riot. Once
the record was done, we needed a bassist and another guitarist.
Eventually Zac and I convinced Hayley to let Taylor rejoin and she
convinced us to let Jeremy back in, promising he had changed his ways.
Once again we hit the road and toured on our biggest record as a band. As
you all know Hayley and I dated and broke up during this album cycle.
Things then started going downhill for our band. Hayley and Jeremy's
views started changing from what we all once believed in. The band
almost split after cancelling a tour in Europe, but we managed to keep
it together somehow. This is when Zac and I started to consider quitting
the band.Once we finished touring on Riot, we came home for a break and started writing for Brand New Eyes.
Hayley presented lyrics to us that were really negative and we didn't
agree with. For example, “the truth never set me free”, which
contradicts what the Bible says in John 8:32 (“and you shall know the
truth, and the truth shall sat you free”). We fought her about how
her lyrics misrepresented our band and what we stood for, but in the end
she got her way. Instead of fighting her any longer, we decided to just
roll over and let it go.Hayley claimed that this record
reunited us as band and made us grow closer together, when in reality we
were all growing further apart. Suddenly the band had spilt into two
sides. Touring became more difficult since we couldn't agree on
anything. The friendships our band once had were no longer existent.
Amos 3:3 says, “Can two people walk together without agreeing on the
direction”. In addition to the band turmoil, touring had really taken
its toll on us both. We left home at such a young age and missed taking
part in normal teenage years. When you own part of a band and are
constantly playing, you make sacrifices. Touring has taken its toll on
our family members as well. I specifically remember many moments where
our parents would break down in tears when we had to leave. It broke my
heart. Seeing our siblings grow up so much during our absences was never
easy either.After a lot a prayer and counsel Zac and I came to
the decision that it was time to leave the band. We truly feel that God
is leading us elsewhere and is going to do great things with us. The
intention of this statement was not to belittle or disgrace the rest of
the band, it was simply to clarify our decision for leaving and our
desire to finally tell you guys the truth. We are still hoping to
work out a friendly way to leave our part of Paramore intact with the
remaining band members, including Hayley.We want to thank
you guys for all of your love and support over the past 7 years. It's
been an honor creating and playing music for you. If music is what God
calls us to in the future, we hope that you all will be a part of it.All of the glory be to God,
Josh and Zac
