Drummer Willard finds right beat with Against Me!

When the Florida band Against Me! hits the Paradise next week, it’ll have one of the most prolific punk rock drummers this side of Dave Grohl. San Diego native Atom Willard joined the band in 2013, following stints with Social Distortion, the Offspring and Angels & Airwaves. So stepping into such a fierce, politically minded band as Against Me! wasn’t that big a stretch.

“I’d been a fan of this band for a long time,” Willard said this week. “They needed a fill-in drummer for an Australian tour, and it felt that I fit right in. The difference is that in Social Distortion, I was an employee. Mike Ness was 100 percent in charge. Same goes for the Offspring. I was able to play the songs, but I didn’t feel like a band member. I was looking for something where I could be involved on a more fundamental level. I’m always interested in melody and cadence, and how I can work with a raw piece of moldable art.”

Willard joined Against Me! at a key moment: Singer Laura Jane Grace (the former Tom Gabel) was just coming out as a trans woman, and the resulting “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” was one of the few great punk albums about sexual identity.

“We’ll take that for sure, but it doesn’t define a band that’s been together for 20 years,” Willard said. “I hadn’t worked with Laura previously and had just met her in passing, so I didn’t have any adjustment to make. But that was quite a period of time, in terms of the art and the band.

“I think the band has always been pretty political and spoke its mind on different issues, so that’s something we do care a lot about: the mistreatment of any minority group or any person that wants to be themselves, whether it’s racial minorities or the LBGT community. Also, Laura was putting out her book (“Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout”), and it’s quite an arduous task to bare yourself so completely. The fans don’t take that lightly either, and that isn’t a given. They seem to be invested with us on every level. It does seem like a community where we come to town, and people get together to shout about the things that matter to them.”

The latest Against Me! album, “Shape Shift With Me” (already a year old), is a bit gentler than usual, with hummable melodies and a few love songs. But Willard said harder political material may be in the offing.

“If you look at the kind of atrocities we’re living through every day, I think that’s going to yield a lot of art in the coming years. Especially after the kind of week we’ve just had. It’s not the most optimum time to be on tour, but all we can do is play our part to transport people for a little while.”

Against Me! at the Paradise, with Bleached and the Dirty Nil, Tuesday (sold out) and Wednesday, tickets: $20; livenation.com.