Plenty of bands say they live to perform, but Papa Roach's dedication goes beyond the call of duty. For frontman Jacoby Shaddix (aka Coby Dick), rocking onstage is both cathartic and therapeutic — a way to purge his poisons and confront his demons. So important is live performance to Shaddix that he didn't for a moment consider canceling a festival appearance this past March 16 in Caracas, Venezuela — even though his wife was due to have their first child within days.
To decrease their chances of missing the birth, the band flew from California to Caracas and back in the space of 38 hours. Shaddix's wife had a healthy baby girl the following week.
“We could have not done the show, I guess, but I just really wanted to play,” said Shaddix in late March, shortly after the delivery. “I know things could have gone terribly wrong, but they didn't. And the show rocked.”
The Caracas concert wasn't just another gig. It was something of a milestone: it was the first time Papa Roach had hit the stage since finishing their last tour in support of their multi-Platinum major-label debut, Infest (DreamWorks, 2000), over six months earlier. That tour ended badly, with drummer Dave Buckner suffering severe carpal tunnel syndrome, Shaddix enduring depression and anxiety, and the entire band nearing collapse. But instead of letting their frustrations do them in, they got back on the horse. After a short break, they reconvened in the studio and channeled their energy and angst into the tracks for their new record, lovehatetragedy. The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien, who has previously worked with acts such as Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, and Stone Temple Pilots.
The band had admired O'Brien's work in the past. “That took a little of the pressure off the band. We were like, “Shit, this is cool, we're working with someone we've looked up to for so long,” says Shaddix. “We did the whole record in 50 days because everything was happening. And Brendan became like the fifth opinion of the band. When we'd be fighting back and forth, he'd be like, ‘Alright, well let's just come back to this later. Let's move on.’ And we did.”
With lovehatetragedy, the musicians in Papa Roach go beyond their rap-metal roots. The album blends punk aggression and metal precision with irresistible pop hooks, balancing power and melody in equal doses. Not only does the disc demonstrate Papa Roach's musical development, it also shows that the band has grown tighter, both sonically and internally.
Released in 2000, Infest established Papa Roach as a major act, but the band's history dates back to 1993 when, as high schoolers in Vacaville, California, Shaddix, Buckner, bassist Will James, and guitarist Jerry Horton decided to form a band. They started out playing coffee houses, pizza parlors, and frat parties; before long they were regulars at California clubs such as the Cactus Club in San Jose, the Cattle Club in Sacramento, and the Berkeley Square in Berkeley. Crowds were impressed by Shaddix's explosive performing style and the band's kinetic brand of rap-metal, and they soon garnered a loyal following across the state.
In 1996 Tobin Esperance — then 16 and a roadie for the band since its inception — replaced James as bassist. Papa Roach recorded their first album, Old Friends from Young Years. Recorded at E.S.P. Studios in Pittsburg, California, the album was done on the cheap, costing a mere $700 to make.
After the record's 1997 release, Papa Roach spent much of their time playing shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego with bands such as Incubus, Sevendust, and Powerman 5000. In April 1998, they recorded the EP 5 Tracks Deep. Several labels began showing interest, Warner Brothers in particular. They asked Papa Roach to record another five-song demo, which included the future hits “Last Resort” and “Broken Home,” as well as the band's most recent single, “She Loves Me Not.” Warner Brothers took a pass, however, leaving DreamWorks to happily pick up the ball.
As we caught up with Shaddix and Buckner, they were ensconced in their practice studio getting their music ready for the road.
Did you feel a lot of pressure to create a record that would live up to the success of
Infest?
Dave Buckner: If there was any pressure, it wasn't coming from our label or management. It was just a creepy thought in the back of your mind: What if this doesn't do as well as the last record? But you can't let that run your life or affect how you're going to write your songs. When we wrote the last record, we were like nobody from nowhere. We wrote what we felt like writing, and Coby wrote lyrics that came from his heart. Then we had all this success and it's like, “Okay, what do I do now?” And I think we just took the same kind of approach this time. Obviously there are expectations, but you can't say, “Okay, we have to start writing hits because if we started trying to write hits, that wouldn't work for us. We just have to do what we feel like, and if the record ends up selling millions of records, then that's just a bonus.
The new record is more of a straight-ahead rock album. Did you get tired of rapping?
Jacoby Shaddix: For me, writing raps takes a long time. I just really wasn't into it, and I think hip-hop is just getting supermega played out. There's enough hip-hop to go around. So we just wanted to bring the rock on this record. Also, the whole stigma of being labeled is really limiting and we want to be able to outlast the rap-metal era.
Are you doing anything special to prepare your new songs for the tour?
Shaddix: We're working on some different drum fills and different ways of playing stuff. That's one thing about touring — your songs develop as you go along. Some bands play everything that was on their record note for note, but we like to take it to a different level by adding our own extra flavor to what's already there. Plus, on the record there are guitar overdubs, and we've got one guitar player, so we're going to have to pull it off with one guitar live. We've contemplated getting a touring guitar player, but that's something that's on the back burner right now because we need to get our shit tight as a band before we try to bring anybody else in.
After releasing
Infest,
you toured practically nonstop. Did that experience help you when it came time to record the new album?
Shaddix: It definitely made our rhythm section lock in a lot better. On stuff we wrote for the old record, we'd kind of mess with it onstage and that made them tighter and allowed us to improvise. But some of the new stuff — it's a little more difficult to play and just thrash around. So what we're trying to work on now is just getting the performance down with the song, so when we're rocking it live we can jam out more.
You got pretty burned out toward the end of the Infest tour. You had to take an unexpected break.
Shaddix: That was for health issues. Dave got carpal tunnel syndrome and couldn't drum right, but also there were personal issues between us. We were just pecking at each other. Being on the road for nearly two years with each other just makes you need some space. We went loony there towards the end. Every night there'd be two empty bottles of vodka. Drinking gave us a little bit of sanity because sometimes you just need to numb yourself and just keep on rolling and not think about shit and just keep rockin' that show. For me, the only time I liked my life toward the end of the tour was when I was on that stage. Everything else I was just completely sick of. Now I have a fresh head and a fresh mind, so I'm ready to do it again and be a little more positive.
Dave, how did you get carpal tunnel syndrome?
Buckner: When we were young before we were signed, I would pound the shit out of my drums. I thought the harder you played, the better it was. So really, what I was doing was beating myself up and wearing out my body. And I never used to warm up. We'd play a show and I wouldn't pace myself so I'd end up feeling like someone beat the shit out of me the next day. And every now and then my hands would go numb. I thought it was nothing so I'd kind of just shake them out. Then, even before we started the Raid the Nation tour last year, my hands were going numb more often. A therapist said it looked like it was carpal tunnel, but it also looked like tendinitis because my forearms and wrists would swell up and then end up pinching off a nerve in there and it would go numb. By the end of the set we'd be playing “Last Resort” and I couldn't feel the sticks in my hands. We got to the point where I'd have shooting pain right down my fingers and wrists and then they'd go numb. So I had to have it corrected or I wouldn't have been able to play anymore.
What did you do to correct the problem?
Buckner: We took a month off and during that time I went and bought a couple drum books and videos and sat there and learned proper technique. How to hold the sticks right and not drum too hard and know how to use bounce back. I kind of knew it before, but I never used it. So for Ozzfest, we came back and I was feeling stronger and better. Towards the end of Ozzfest I had a couple recurrences. And then we went and recorded the album in the studio and there was absolutely no problem.
Is playing live the band's greatest strength?
Shaddix: That's what I love most. It's fucked up, because the percentage of fans that buy your record that actually come and see you live isn't that big. When you sell 3 million records in the United States, 3 million people don't come and see you live. But the best thing we have to offer is still our live show. And that's important, because if you ain't got a live show and people come and see you, they're just going to walk away saying, “Okay, I'm not going to go and see them again.” So now we want to be able to take our live show to the next level. We want to get a really cool light show. We're not the kind of band that needs real crazy explosions, but I think a good light show would accent what we have to offer really well.
To play the devil's advocate for a moment, why do you need a good live show if you're already selling tons of records?
Shaddix: Because when you go to a show, you pay money. You wait in line. If you want to buy a beer it costs six bucks. You have to give people their money's worth when they come to see you live. And audiences are expecting more and more now, because technology's getting crazier. We don't want to rely on technology for our show to be better. We really want us and our showmanship and our rapport with our crowd to be what people want.
How do you establish a rapport with the crowd?
Shaddix: I just get [the audience] riled up. That's my thing. It's all about the energy. Say we play “Broken Home.” I'm not focusing my energy completely on the lyric to the song; I'm focusing on passing what I got and what we got as a band to the crowd and taking their energy and sifting it around and getting the whole place moving. Sometimes in rock music, bands put a wall up between them and the crowd. They're like, “I'm the freak, you came to see me.” And our band's kind of like, “You came to see us rockin' the place, but we came to see your fuckin' asses rock the crowd,” 'cause that's what gets us fired up. I think the relationship between us and our fans is a really important thing. That plays a key role in why people come and see us, because people feel a part of the show.
Are there drawbacks to performing live?
Shaddix: Yeah, getting sued. I've gotten sued a few times, and getting sued by your own fans sucks. A kid will come to the show and break his nose or something. Then he comes home, and his mom's like, “Oh, you got hurt. Let's sue. It's the American way.” It's like I have a Superman sign on my chest and the parents at home just put two lines through it so it looks like a dollar sign.
Have you had to make any major payments?
Shaddix: Yeah, but insurance has covered it. But now if I stage dive, I'm uninsured. And if I go into the crowd I'm uninsured. Fortunately, to have a good show I don't have to jump on top of some kid's head. I just have to sound good and rock. The bigger you get, the more limitations there are on what you can do. Sometimes I miss the simple days of just being in a band, rolling around, not having any money, and doing whatever the fuck I want. No one wanted to sue me then because I didn't have any money. Now, the bigger I get and the more money I have, the more problems there are.
What's the craziest thing that happened on the road?
Buckner: We were in Italy and I freaked out. Coby had this little habit where he would swing the mike cord and hit my cymbals with the mike. So I'm just playing the gig and he comes up and does it and hits it too hard and it broke the stand for my ride cymbal, and I needed it for the song. So I just stopped and picked up my floor tom and threw it at him. How unprofessional is that? It missed him and crashed on the ground and then we all just stopped and looked at each other and walked offstage. But the crowd loved it and went totally berserk.
Last year you got arrested at an Ozzfest show in New Jersey. What happened?
Shaddix: People were ripping up the grass, and I told everybody to just destroy the place. And that's what they did! So right when we got done onstage, they were throwing shit at the stage: they were throwing the lawn around — ripping up the sprinkler heads and trashing shit — and I guess it was my fault because I told them to do it. So right when we got offstage, our tour manager was like, “Dude, you gotta get the fuck outta here.” They brought me out in a hooded sweatshirt and I had to leave through the crowd. So we hopped in this Lincoln Town Car, and as we're headed back to New York City, we get a call on the cell phone from our manager saying, “The cops are searching the tour buses looking for you. You gotta get back here, or they'll bust you for evading the police. So I had to go back and get busted. The cops talked shit to me the whole time and told me I was an idiot and told me I looked stupid 'cause I got tattoos. Cops are dicks. I swear to god, man. You just go, “Yup, I know, I'm an idiot.” I had to pay a fine of close to $20,000.
Is it a thrill to have the crowd in the palm of your hand like that?
Shaddix: Fuck, yeah. It's not a power trip… yeah, it kind of is. I don't take it for granted, but it's kind of a high. I can say some shit and the [audience] will do it. You gotta know that people could get hurt, and you gotta kind of balance it out. But it's rock 'n' roll, too, so you can't live by all the rules. You gotta break the rules. And I find that I'm doing that a lot. Just when I get caught, I act like I've learned a lesson.
Did you do anything special to get geared up for those shows?
Buckner: Well, Coby kind of lost his mind. He started doing really crazy, off-the-wall stuff. He would puke onstage and rub his face in it. He would beat his head in with the microphone until he had a big huge crater in his forehead that would bleed every day.
Shaddix: I was just doing anything I could to get people to wake the fuck up and also to get myself amped up.
What advice can you offer bands that want to improve their live show?
Shaddix: Just play out as much as you possibly can. That's what really got us good. And keep doing more new things. When we first went out people would be like, “Yeah, you guys are good” But the next time we went out, people said, “Damn, dude, you gotta step your show up a notch.” And that has to do with a lot things. Your equipment has to be on point. Touring with shitty equipment can always cause problems in your set. You just gotta test out different things on your crowd and if they don't work, you gotta try something new. On this next tour, I'm going to try not to bullshit too much between songs.
Does talking between songs interrupt the flow?
Shaddix: Sometimes I'll talk and people don't understand what I'm trying to say. I'm just a blabbermouth sometimes. And it would just be better if there was something going on other than me blabbing. But then you also have to make the crowd feel like they're a part of what you're doing. Talking to the crowd makes them feel like you're really talking to them. But it's really just about getting up there and destroying a rock 'n' roll show. Just rocking it. And we always want to leave our fans wanting more.
Papa Roach Gear
Jacoby Shaddix: vocals
Shure SM58 with Beta 58 ball
Clair Brothers SRM wedges (4)
Jerry Horton: guitar
Schecter Diamond Series C-1 guitars with Seymour Duncan pickups (8; in drop B, drop C, drop C#, and drop D tunings)
Digital Music Corp. GCX Guitar Audio Switcher
Digital Music Corp. Ground Control MIDI foot controller
Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail
Boss PH-2 Super Phaser
Shure U14D UHF wireless system
Korg DTR-1 tuner
Marshall JMP-1 preamp
Rocktron MultiValve multi-effects processor
Rocktron Hush Super C
Marshall EL34 100/100 power amp
Marshall Valvestate 120 power amp
Marshall 4×12 cabinets with 30W Celestions (2; used with EL34; miked with Shure SM57s)
Marshall 4×12 cabinets with 75W Celestions, (2; used with Valvestate 120; miked with Shure KSM32s)
Dean Markley strings in 11-52, 12-54, and 13-56 gauges
Dunlop picks
Monster cable
Wedge monitors (2)
Dave Buckner: drums
DW drums:
24" × 20" kick drum
12" 5 8" rack tom
14" 5 12" floor tom
16" 5 14" floor tom
18" 5 16" floor tom
8" roto tom
6" roto tom
Rocket Shell 14" × 6.5" snare drum Zildjian cymbals:
19" K Dark Crash Medium Thin (2)
16" A Medium crash (2; used as hi-hats)
20" Oriental China Trash (2)
21" K Heavy Ride
Dave Buckner signature Vater sticks Kit mics (all Shure):
Kick: Beta 91 and Beta 52
Snare top: SM57
Snare bottom: Beta 57
Toms: Beta 98
Roto tom: Beta 56
Ride: KSM32
Hi-hat: SM81
Overheads: KSM32s
Sensaphonics SX2 in-ear monitors with Shure PSM 700 hardware
Bass shaker
Tobin Esperance: bass
Lakland 55-94 (five-string) and Hollowbody (four-string) basses
SVT 4 Pro amps (2)
8×10 Ampeg SVT cabinets (4)
Ampeg SVPBSP bass preamp
Korg DTR-1 tuner
Countryman DI (2; from bass and from preamp)
Shure U14D wireless system
Shure Beta 52 mic on bass cabinet
Wedge monitors (2)
Thanks to Brendon Brown and Wade Khail from Papa Roach's crew.
