Good Humor

it took thirteen years and fi ve albums for paramore to fi nd peace, but now they’re back—bleached, bold, and better than ever.

- Marissa R. Moss

It’s been only 24 hours since the titles of what are presumed to be 12 songs from Paramore’s fifth album, After Laughter, were leaked online, but the band is facing a bigger mystery as we’re seated for lunch at Nashville’s Marsh House. It has to do with the waiter who just dropped off a plate of chili-oil-drizzled shrimp toast. Rumor has it—at least according to drummer Zac Farro, whose brother Jonathan is the restaurant’s pastry chef—the server in question owns a Buy the Vampire Slayer jacket. “Should we try by the end of lunch to get him to admit he likes Buy?” asks Hayley Williams, Paramore’s once-flame-haired leader (she’s now ditched her iconic orange locks for an icy blonde). In overalls and a striped sweater, she’s also sporting a blue cap with the words “I want to be stereotyped, I want to be classified” written on the front in black thread. It’s a line from a Descendents song, and she’s been victim to both. “I love it, but I guess it’s rude,” says Farro of Williams’s strategy, while getting updates from his brother via text. (Is the jacket airbrushed? A chain stitch of Sarah Michelle Gellar? Inquiring minds want to know.) Taylor York, Paramore’s guitarist and co-songwriter, and the co-producer of