Paramore's Hayley Williams (Photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage.com)
Last year, after a few canceled concerts, word swirled that Paramore, the Tennessee pop-punk band fronted by the colorful 20-year-old Hayley Williams, would not survive to see their third album.
Yet September 29 brought the release of brand new eyes. Considering that their 2008 single "Decode" sold more than 800,000 copies by virtue of appearing on the Twilight soundtrack and that they spent their summer as an opening act on No Doubt's reunion tour, rumors of Paramore's death seem not just exaggerated, but hard to fathom.
Williams spoke to us from Sacramento, California, where she was on tour with her band, which totally still exists.
What color is your hair today?
My hair is pretty bright. It's a little more orange than usual.
I take it red is your favorite color?
I've always loved it. I found these pictures in my dad's house when I was 13, and it was just this little baby in baby-blue overalls with bright orange hair. I was, like, "Who is this kid?" My dad was like, "That's you." I freaked out over it. Ever since then, I've enjoyed dyeing my hair red.
So your natural color isn't red?
It was at some point, but now it's actually a really light brown or blonde. It's kind of gross-looking.
Have you ever considered pulling a Britney Spears and shaving your head?
That would be a riot. Dude, I would love to shave my head and just stick it to everyone!
Your image would undoubtedly take a hit, though.
Yeah, I think kids would have a field day with that. People really feed off bands' images. When we started, I despised wearing makeup. I didn't even want to put ChapStick on for photo shoots.
Is it true that you have a tattoo on your ankle that says "Shave Me"?
I do. It's on the inside of my right ankle. On the Warped Tour a few years ago, if I wore shorts or if I wore my pants rolled up, someone by the end of the day would have written "Shave me" on my ankle. So I was like, "I'm going to have to get that tattooed so you guys won't have to do it anymore."
Has your tour with No Doubt earned you any older fans?
Yeah, totally. But we saw a lot of that after we did the Twilight soundtrack. You would think that would only appeal to 12-year-olds, but we started noticing a lot of older women at our shows. It's nuts!
Older women do seem to have a thing for vampires.
Yeah. What is that? It's creepy! It's like a cougar fantasy of some kind.
You recorded a solo track for the Jennifer's Body soundtrack. How did that come about?
