Paramore New Album Producer: "They Don't Need To Be A Pop-Punk Band Anymore”

Justin Meldal-Johnsen, who is producing Paramore's long-awaited new album, has discussed in a recent interview that the band no longer needs to be a “pop-punk” band how they are developing into their own special sound. Check out an excerpt from the feature below.

"What was the approach for Paramore?
They had proven themselves time and time again. They don’t need to be a pop-punk band anymore. They can do their own ideas.

This sounds like something you might have told them.
And also something they told me. They are great writers and creators and they have savvy reference points in the studio. The label needs to have confidence that they aren’t necessarily making Kid A, or even something more out on a limb. I love pop songs and simplicity.

You mean Kid A as something out of left field?
In a sense, yes. All I’m really trying to say is that we’re not trying to deliberately lose their natural commerciality. I am here to articulate their vision for a step of growth. I’m not afraid to put a guitar through a modular synth, for instance. I want the album to sound very visceral and a little bit less locked down and computerized—more 1981 than 2012, with a nod to 2016. Humans playing textural sounds that can still be heavy and fast, but also shaded."