In advance of Paramore’s concert at the O2 next Monday, Hayley Williams agreed to take questions from the band’s Irish fans.

Selena Kane (27) Artane, Dublin: I’d love to know what has influenced and inspired the band’s new music direction as it has changed dramatically from the previous album.

Hayley Williams: I would say number one it is time, honestly. We have lived quite a bit of life since the last record. We have gone through a tonne together as friends which has just changed our tastes and hopefully changed our skill level.

We always want to get better at our instruments and our writing. For me in particular it was discovering New Wave music from the 1980s and a million bands that you would expect me to say when I say New Wave. It is really good punk rock and rock music.

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Although Tennessee-based rock trio Paramore is nearing its 10th anniversary as a band, its front woman Hayley Williams is not yet old enough to rent a car. Which is demonstrated (in the very best way) on the band’s new, self-titled, album where song writing “retains a youthful spirit, but clearly shows [the band's] evolution,” according to Paramore’s bio. Here, Hayley talks to Creative Allies about album art, longevity and feeling fearless.

Creative Allies: Of your previous albums, which has your favorite cover art and who designed it?

Hayley Williams: My favorite album cover may always be the one we did for Riot! A lot of that has to do with the time and the energy of that moment in our lives. Everything was loud colors and bright, and we were really young and all the art and photos were crazy. We worked with a guy named Mark Obriski from Atlantic Records on that album cover and packaging. Honestly though, what we did for our self-titled album — putting ourselves on the cover — felt fearless, and anytime I see it anywhere it’s like the proudest I’ve ever felt of anything we’ve ever done.

With previous albums, how did you interact with the artist/designer? Did you contribute ideas or remain hands-off? Was there a revision process?

It wasn’t until Riot! that we really started getting into the way that our band was perceived and the image of it all. We actually wrote “Riot!” ourselves on a wall behind us at the promo shoot for the album, and we took that font and that style and that became the inspiration for our album cover. It was a fun experience and taught us that we really do have complete control over how we come across to the public.

All of the packaging and photography for brand new eyes was done by one of our good friends, photographer Ryan Russell. He did one photo for every song on the album, and then I worked one-on-one with him to lay out all of the lyrics in a way that we thought would look best. Continue Reading