Hayley Williams On Paramore: “We Are Not A Manufactured Band”

Damage-control week continues for Hayley Williams on MTV, following Josh and Zac Farro’s fiery exit from Paramore last month. Today MTV News posted a second clip from the upcoming Paramore: The Last Word interview that is set to stream in full at 4 p.m. this Friday (January 7) at MTV.com. And in it, Grammy nominee Williams responds to Josh Farro’s claim that Paramore has been “formulated from day one.” Watch below. Once again we see Hayley sitting between remaining Paramore Members Taylor York and Jeremy Davis. (Are these guys ever going to speak up?) “We’re not a manufactured band. We’ve dealt with that rumor for a long time, and that’s because of the rumors of FBR [Fueled By Ramen] and Atlantic’s relationship,” says Williams.

Later she adds, “When we started, I again thought that this would be a band thing and I fought for something that we could really work hard and start from the ground. That’s the kind of music I love and that’s the kind of music we’ve all shared an interest in since day one.”

This, of course, contradicts statements made in Josh Farro’s “Josh and Zac’s Exit Statement” blog post in December regarding Paramore’s seemingly not-so-humble beginnings:

“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. “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.”

Meanwhile, yesterday the band—or, presumably Hayley—tweeted, “Working on a demo! Lyrics. Harmonies. These are a few of my favorite things.”

Williams is up for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for B.o.B’s “Airplanes” at next month’s Grammys, while Paramore are nominated in the Best Performance By A Pop Duo Or Group category for “The Only Exception.”