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Paramore Hard At Work On Fourth Album

Singer Hayley Williams says band is working on ‘a pretty strange schedule.’ By Gil Kaufman Paramore’s Hayley Williams Photo: MTV Less than six months ago, Paramore said they were determined to have more fun while recording their fourth studio album 
. Well, so much for that. On Wednesday, singer Hayley Williams gave fans a long-awaited update on the band’s still-untitled effort, which, from the sounds of it, has not been much of a party so far. “I’ve never known what it’s like to be home for more than a few weeks at a time that absolutely nothing is going on,” wrote Williams in a lengthy post in which she decried how quickly time flies. “The only thing I could think about was if we could snap our fingers and make the 4th album happen so that the next time I looked up, we’d be back on a stage somewhere and not sitting around at home. But you can’t just make things like that happen. For something to be great, there has to be some kind of trial or some type of struggle that actually makes it special or valuable to you. Otherwise, anything could be easily taken for granted.” After promising fans last year that they would release new music despite the December 2010 departure of members Josh and Zac Farro, Paramore weren’t able to produce a full-length album. They did, however, launch a killer single, “Monster,” 
 and a Singles Club 
 that served up fresh tracks “Hello Cold World” and “Renegades.” The group, which made it to the Elite Eight in this year’s Musical March Madness 
, are hard at work on the follow-up to 2009’s Brand New Eyes . So far, they’ve finished at least one song, “Daydreaming,” for the album that is being produced by former Beck band member Justin Meldal-Johnsen. “There’s no reason to lie about it, the first few months of writing were ridiculously draining and a lot more of a pain than a pleasure,” Williams said. “It was supposed to be fun right? We made it all the way to this point to just struggle some more. So, you can probably imagine that when the flood gates burst this past January and inspiration started filling us up again, we were more than willing to let it take us wherever it wanted. We’ve written a lot of songs I never thought we would write. And we aren’t done yet! The writing will continue even as we enter the studio.” Williams reported that she, bassist Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York went in to record the track a week-and-a-half ago excited, but unsure if the results would be something they could use. “At the end of our time in the studio, it was clear to us that this was definitely right!” she wrote. “In case you can’t tell, we’re working on a pretty strange schedule, by our standards. There has never been so much time and care put into a Paramore album. Usually, we are rushing to make a very strict deadline, which so far has just not been right for this record. We cannot assure you it will be out this year. What we can tell you is that from now on, when we go in to create this thing, whether for a day at a time or for a month, you will be kept more informed. It is a total joy to make our fans/family a part of what we do because we couldn’t do it without you anyway.” Related Videos Paramore: The Complete Interview Related Artists Paramore

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Paramore Hard At Work On Fourth Album

The Band’s Levon Helm Dead At 71

Famed drummer passed away ‘surrounded by family, friends and band mates’ on Thursday. By John Mitchell The Band’s Levon Helm Photo: Getty Images After fighting a long battle with cancer, Levon Helm, former drummer for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group The Band died Thursday (April 19). He was 71. “Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon,” a statement on his website reads. “He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul.” Born in Elaine, Arkansas, on May 26, 1940, Helm’s signature Southern drawl is featured on some of the Band’s most iconic songs, from “The Weight” and “Up on Cripple Creek” to “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Helm was first diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 and has struggled with his voice since. He initially lost his ability to sing entirely, but continued to play drums, mandolin and harmonica. Radiation left him with little more than a raspy whisper, but Helm continued to try to sing, and by the time he recorded 2007’s Dirt Farmer he’d recovered 80 percent of his voice. With his daughter Amy, he started a series of weekly concerts at his Woodstock, New York, studios called the “Midnight Ramble,” which grew from an idea Helm explained to Martin Scorsese while making “The Last Waltz,” the legendary documentary directed by Scorsese about the Band’s epic, all-star Thanksgiving farewell concert in 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The Midnight Ramble shows became very popular and attracted many of music’s most renowned stars, from Elvis Costello and Norah Jones to My Morning Jacket and Emmylou Harris. The shows’ success reignited Helm’s recording career in the early 2000s, leading him toward Grammy wins for his albums Dirt Farmer (2007), Electric Dirt (2009) and Ramble at the Ryman (2011). Helm’s music career began when he joined the band of rocker Ronnie Hawkins in 1957. During his stint in Hawkins’ band, he met Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson and together they formed the core of the Band. After their split from Hawkins, the group became the backing band for Bob Dylan as the folk icon transitioned to an electric sound. Helm, Manuel, Danko, Robertson and Hudson eventually earned a recording contract of their own, and as the Band released 10 studio albums, beginning with 1968’s Music From Big Pink. Though the Band broke up in 1976, they regrouped without Robertson in 1983 and continued recording through 1998. Helm was also an actor, appearing in 12 films, most notably the 1980s Oscar-winning “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” in which he played Loretta Lynn’s (Sissy Spacek) father, and most recently the Mark Wahlberg-starring “Shooter.” Related Artists The Band

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The Band’s Levon Helm Dead At 71