Paper Rival Singer Recalls Playing With Paramore; Admits Love of Boyz II Men

Don’t know Paper Rival yet? Then you’re not on the ball — the Nashville quartet spent most of March on tour with The Hush Sound and Charlotte Sometimes, then played both Bamboozle Left and Bamboozle proper after that. We caught up with the band last week.

Named one of Alternative Press‘ “100 Bands You Need to Know” this year, the band also played South by Southwest in March and, just today, dropped their debut album, Dialog. I chatted with singer Jake Rolleston about the release, playing Bamboozle and … En Vogue?Buzznet:Which festival is more fun to play, Bamboozle Left or Bamboozle?

Jake Rolleston: I definitely like Bamboozle Left a lot better. It’s a lot more spread out. It’s easier.

Buzznet: What are some of your favorite lyrics off your album?

Rolleston: I like “Bluebird” a lot, because of how personal it is and just that entire song, lyrically, is the most poignant moment on the record. And, actually, there are lyrics that I took from a short story by one of my favorite authors, Dave Eggers, who was nice enough to let us use it. The first stanza of the second song, “Foreign Film Collection”—I like that quite a bit.

Buzznet: What would you call your album? Road-trip music? Moody, creative music? Good music to fall asleep to?

Rolleston: If I had to pick one … creative. Other people tell me it’s moody, but I don’t hear it. When I listen to it, I want to write more, I want to write better songs — I want to one-up myself.

Buzznet: What are your tour plans for the summer?

Rolleston: Right now we’re on tour with Nightmare of You and Edison Glass. After that we’re doing Dear and the Headlights, and I can’t say 100 percent, but we might tour with The Honorary Title. That’s very, very, very tentative.

Buzznet: What bands would you like to tour with?

Rolleston: There are tons of bands I would love to tour with that wouldn’t make any sense.

Buzznet: Like which ones?

Rolleston: Soul Coughing, The Toadies — well, maybe The Toadies make sense. I would love to tour with a band called Why? — they’re like this Cake, hip-hop, indie-rock band. I would love to tour with Dillinger Escape Plan just so I could watch them every day. As for bands that make sense, maybe The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr. … bands like that. Buzznet: You’re from Nashville, which isn’t that far from Franklin — have you ever played any shows with Paramore in those parts?

Rolleston: Yeah, I think we’ve done two or three shows with them, and each experience has been great. They’re really nice people, and we’ve been happy to share the stage with them. Buzznet: Is there any music you listen to that your fans would be surprised you liked?

Rolleston: I love En Vogue. God yes. And I love Boyz II Men. I think early ’90s R&B music is really great — back then you couldn’t really edit someone’s voice as far as tuning it and making it sound pitch-perfect. So listening to those artists is a guilty pleasure, yeah, but at the same time, those people can SING. I strive to be as good as them.

Buzznet: What was the last show you attended just as a fan?

Rolleston: I saw the band Why? in Canada. It was actually by mistake; they were playing right down the street from where we were playing — four buildings away. Incredible! I love that band. I can’t say enough good things about them.

Buzznet: Is there anything else you’d want to tell people about your record that’s coming out?

Rolleston: I love it, and I hope they do too. June 3rd, Dialog, buy it!