Papa Roach Faces Another Pollstar Interview

That’s the year Papa Roach’s breakthrough album, Infest, came out, and the song “Last Resort” was at the beginning of its long life as a radio staple. It was also when the interviewer began a career in the Pollstar editorial department, which means that in 2000 it was an early interview for both Jacoby Shaddix – back when he went by the name Coby Dick – and this knucklehead.

It’s a silly premise for an interview but, hey, he called in. Since that time, Papa Roach has gone on to have multi-platinum success, and Shaddix has hosted an MTV show called “Scarred,” which featured victims of sports-related injuries. He’s gone from rapping, to eschewing it, to returning to his roots.

And now Papa Roach has a new album, F.E.A.R., coming out in the middle of a run of January/February co-headline dates with Seether.

The band currently is made up of Shaddix (vocals), Jerry Horton (guitars), Tobin Esperance (bass), and Tony Palermo (drums).  

Let’s talk about the new album, which is set for release in the U.S. Jan. 27 on Eleven Seven Music.

The new album is called F.E.A.R. We did the new album in Las Vegas. I didn’t want to make a record there. It is the city of some of my greatest failures of man. I just wasn’t ready to be in that city, especially with where I was in my personal life the past few years, just kicking the bottle, living a clean life, just trying to change my trajectory. I was headed to a dark place so I thought, “Vegas? Of all places?”

There was a lot of fear. Was I just going to go there and lose myself again? It’s an easy city to do that. I found it quite the opposite. I gave myself 100 percent to the art. We didn’t have any music written, so that was good because we just went there and we had to spend all our efforts creating in the house we lived in, and in the studio. There was something going on at all times. It was like a floodgate opened up.

When we got to the other side of the record, it was a perfect progression from our last record, The Connection. There’s hope in this record, there’s light, there’s darkness, brokenness, resentment, anger, fear but also courage. It’s a reflection of who we are as a band: FEAR – Face Everything And Rise.

Your single “Face Everything And Rise” is doing great on radio.

[“Face Everything And Rise”] cracked the Top 20 and it’s one of our fastest moving tracks.  We almost had the No. 1 most added but we came in second behind Linkin Park. That’s happened to us a bunch in our career. “Taking the No. 1 spot: Linkin Park!”  You know what?  Second to Linkin Park? No. 1 in my heart, baby!

I have a lot of respect for those guys.

(Editor’s note: The week after this interview was conducted, “Face Everything And Rise” was ranked as the most-added mainstream rock song.)

How much of the album will be performed live?

We’ll probably play three to four brand-new songs. People will get a taste of the album, live, before they get it, which I think gives the fans another reason to come out to the show – unless the album leaks. You know how that shit happens.

Will you play the same new songs at each show?

For this tour, we’ll practice four specific songs. We don’t want to drop the whole record live. We need to have some surprise for when you get the record and listen to it for the first time. I think it’s a good teaser. And we have a good tour here with Seether. They’re just a cool band and a good one to share the stage with.

So here’s why I took this interview: You were one of my first interviews here in the department, and I like to think it was one of your first interviews. Not in your life, and not even that day, but it was when “Last Resort” was hitting No. 1.

Yeah, for reals. I was busier than ever.

So I just figured this would make for a silly theme for an interview because, you know, it’s all about me.

Well, hey, dude, let’s be real: fucking congratulations for holding a job at that place for so long. This business likes to shit on people. The music business needs more people to stick around.

That’s kind of been a bane of our band at points. We’ve jumped around from label to label, and had a few managers and stuff. The consistency of working with some people that you trust is just tough. But we’ve got a good home now.

About 10 years ago, at a show here in the valley, you were upset because Rolling Stone had done a photo shoot, removed the word “Dickeys” from your black T-shirts and replaced the label with another brand.

Oh yeah! Yeah! Because they wanted to do a fashion shoot with us, and we were, like, “We fucking wear Dickeys. We’re not going to wear your clothes.  This is our image.” And I wasn’t going to do a magazine cover by myself because we were a band.

It was that boy band time, you know? And that’s what the boy bands did. We were all, “Fuck that! I”m not going to wear your fucking jacket!”  And I’m glad we took that stand at that time.

But they wrote that we were in Ralph Lauren T-shirts. We just laughed. Whatever. We didn’t know how to play the game. That was our protest. Now it’s like, “You want to give me some clothes? Gimme them!” If I’m not going to wear it I’ll find somebody in my family who will.  I’ll take those size 9 shoes. I don’t wear size 9 but I’ll find someone who does.

Upcoming U.S. dates with Seether:

Jan. 9 – North Myrtle Beach, S.C., House Of Blues
Jan. 10 – Orlando, Fla., Hard Rock Cafe / Hard Rock Live
Jan. 11 – Atlanta, Ga., The Tabernacle          
Jan. 13 – Philadelphia, Pa., Electric Factory  
Jan. 14 – Silver Spring, Md., The Fillmore Silver Spring      
Jan. 15 – Mashantucket, Conn., Grand Theater
Jan. 17 – Montclair, N.J., The Wellmont Theater      
Jan. 18 – Boston, Mass., House Of Blues Boston    
Jan. 20 – New York, N.Y., Terminal 5          
Jan. 21 – Bethlehem, Pa., Sands Bethlehem Event Center  
Jan. 23 – Detroit, Mich., The Fillmore Detroit         
Jan. 24 – Milwaukee, Wis., Eagles Ballroom
Jan. 25 – Chicago, Ill., Riviera Theatre         
Jan. 28 – Waterloo, Iowa, McElroy Auditorium      
Jan. 30 – Houston, Texas, Bayou Music Center       
Jan. 31 – Dallas, Texas, South Side Ballroom          
Feb. 2 – Wichita, Kan., The Cotillion          
Feb. 3 – Denver, Colo., Fillmore Auditorium           
Feb. 5 – San Francisco, Calif., Warfield Theatre      
Feb. 6 – Los Angeles, Calif., The Wiltern    
Feb. 7 – Las Vegas, Nev., The Joint @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

For more information please visit PapaRoach.com.