Such wisdom didn’t come easy or natural for Paramore.

Such wisdom didn’t come easy or natural for Paramore.

 

“I never want to parade around acting like I’ve got it all figured out and I’ve gotten through it and it never affects me anymore,” Williams says. “Because it really does. I have really down days or weeks sometimes. But knowing that I’ve gotten through other things that really felt impossible, and seeing the other sides of those experiences and realizing how fruitful and meaningful they were to me, that just gives me a reason to not throw my hands up and give up on myself. Now, when I do go to those low points, I have a few tools that I didn’t before: age, good community and being willing to ask for help.”Encountering rampant music-industry misogyny, including having condoms thrown at her during the 2006 Warped Tour, made Williams realize how important it was that Paramore shows be a safe space for all sorts of people. Herself included.

“When people come to our shows, I hope there’s a common ground that people feel safe with each other,” Williams says. “Because all three of us — we’ve all felt alone or that we didn’t belong. Sometimes we’ve made each other feel that way. And then other times through living in the South and having a different outlook on society — whether it be individuating from our families, whether it be being on Warped Tour and not really feeling like we fit in with any of the other bands when we were younger — there’s so many reasons that a person’s sense of community or self-worth can be affected.”

To hear them tell it, just getting to this point is an unexpected blessing for Paramore. Williams, York and Farro all emphasized just how immensely grateful they all feel to still be going strong.“The amount of odds that we’ve somehow beaten to get here is beyond the realm of us,” Williams says. “I mean, the fact that it all worked out …”She stops, turns, looks at her two bandmates, then flashes a huge smile.