It’s been well over a decade since Papa Roach last toured in Australia so it was a big welcome back at the Soundwave festival last weekend. The band are set to perform at a sideshow in Melbourne tonight alongside Godsmack so we caught up with vocalist Jacoby Shaddix to discuss the tour and all the latest with the band.
Andrew: So how’s it going?
Jacoby: Good man, yourself?
Andrew: Yeah very well! So how was your weekend at Soundwave?
Jacoby: So far so good man! The show in Melbourne was off the chain and Adelaide was pretty good too. It was hot as hell in Adelaide but the fans came out dude and brought the ruckus so that’s what it’s all about man.
Andrew: Definitely! So it’s been 12 or 13 years since the last time you played in Australia, how was the crowd reaction?
Jacoby: Oh slammin’! I was very surprised as to how much of the material the fans knew, how the material went off live and the new material. Because we haven’t been here for years so we didn’t know if the fans really stuck with our growth as a band and so when we stepped on stage in Melbourne and we started playing tracks off albums like “The Paramore Sessions” and “Getting Away With Murder”, we knew we were off to a good start ’cause the fans were singing along to the tracks and for us that was fucking awesome. We had been wanting to get down here for quite sometime and just timing-wise it just hasn’t worked out and finally we got the offer that made sense for us to come down here. We’re fucking in the house and we’re banging dude, we are feeling it!
Andrew: Awesome to hear. It doesn’t surprise me that fans are responding to the newer material well because to be honest, I prefer some of your later stuff. It’s great what you are doing now and it’s amazing how much you have changed over the years. Were you guys a little nervous when you first stepped on stage?
Jacoby: Me, I’m always a little bit nervous when we’re going into new territories and not in the fact that I don’t know if they will like us or not. I just want to get up on that stage and fucking rip it, you know what I mean? It’s that anxiety of just going on and alright, we’ve waited this long to get here, lets fucking do this! It’s definitely a pleasant surprise that everybody was digging what we were doing and we just dropped the new record F.E.A.R. too so played a couple of tracks off that record and people were fucking rocking so it’s nice to see. We’re definitely a band that has evolved a lot in our career and I feel that is something that we will continue to do. That’s just what’s natural to us and that goes to the type of music that we listen to, the music that we’re inspired by and the live bands that we see that we’re inspired by. That helps influence what we do.
Andrew: Yeah totally. Some of the big changes that you have had, what do you think has inspired that and in what way?
Jacoby: Well for me I wanted to prove myself as a valid rock singer over the course of the last 10 years. When we came out with our first record “Infest” I could prove I could rap and scream and I wanted to evolve myself as a vocalist and over the course of the last 10 years I’ve done so. So to be able to dip back into some of those old school styles on some of the new material as far as rapping goes, it’s been fun for me. There’s no rules anymore to what we do, it’s let’s make music that’s inspiring to us, let’s make music that we feel takes our fans on a ride. Because I feel if we just kinda stay stagnant and did the same thing over and over we might have died with nu-metal. It’s a trip though because you kinda see it as a bit of r
Andrew: Yeah I think a lot of those bands are starting to turn to more guitar oriented stuff which is something that died a bit in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and I think you guys are more guitar oriented than before which is good to see. Seeing you at Soundwave I think you were nailing it and the fans were responding to it great so it’s awesome.
Jacoby: Yeah it’s a good space we’re in and I think coming down here and playing for the fans in Australia, it’s just reinstilled the fact that we need to come back sooner. We’re already talking about when we’re trying to return and for us it’s important to come back to this market because we know we have shit tons of fans here, we just gotta fit it in the schedule and fit it in the routing. We really had to kinda focus our efforts on America and Europe and U.K. for years to really solidify a base but now that we’ve done that, it’s like alright cool let’s start spreading out across the globe again.
Andrew: And it’s good to have you back and tonight and Thursday you will be doing some of your sideshows which are obviously in club settings and more intimate. Are these the kind of shows you prefer or do like the festival type shows as well?
Jacoby: I like them both. Give me a stage, give me a mic and let me grip it and rip it straight up. I like to make the festivals feel like a club and the clubs fucking feel like giant fucking arena’s. I’m very Inspired by Freddie Mercury, the frontman for Queen and he just had a way of just connecting with an audience. There was a specific performance they did at Wembley Stadium back in I think the mid 80’s and it was just one of those performances that inspires me still to this day. Freddie just had way to make that huge space feel intimate and yeah, he’s one of the greatest frontmen. I’ve studied him quite a bit.
Andrew: So he’s obviously one of your biggest influences on vocals?
Jacoby: Yeah I think as an entertainer. I don’t necessarily sing like Freddie Mercury, I don’t have the range that he does but the way he approached the microphone and the passion. Until the day he died he put himself into that music full force and I’m inspired by that.
Andrew: As far as the 2 sideshows coming up this week, what can we expect? Are they going to be different to the festival or will you pretty much keep it the same as far as setlists and all that?
Jacoby: As far as the setlist goes we’re gonna swap out a few songs. We are rehearsing some old material for a couple spot days where we are gonna play “Infest” in it’s entirety and so we’re working up some of the older material so we’re gonna break out some older tracks in the set which is fun. And swap out a couple of tracks from the “Getting Away With Murder”, “Paramore Sessions”, “Metamorphosis” so yeah switching it up a little bit.
Andrew: I just wanted to mention your latest album F.E.A.R., I know the title is face everything and rise. What does that mean personally to you?
Jacoby: That’s pretty much how I live my life man. It’s a daily battle for me because I have this darkness inside that just consumes me and I just don’t want to fall to that. I don’t want to let that be my demise and so everyday I just wake up and I just try to search for that best version of myself without sounding like a cliche. I’m just trying to elevate my life, my lifestyle and try to be a better person and try to bring some light to this darkness out here. This rock and roll lifestyle can eat you alive if you let it and so I choose to do the latter.
Andrew: Yeah this kind of business there’s a lot people who have fallen by the wayside over the years so it’s good to see you are strong enough to keep above it all, it’s great.
Jacoby: Yeah it’s a trip dude. I’ve had a lot of friends die in the last few years and some of these guys are dying from drugs and alcohol and all that shit. That was one of my hardcore things that I struggled with for a lot of years and that can chew you up out here and I had to quit that shit!
Andrew: Good to hear! It’s great to see you back in the country and just before we wrap this up we have a couple of questions that we like to ask everyone. Speaking of influences actually, if you could be a witness in the studio for any classic album in history, what would it be?
Jacoby: You know what man, I would love to be a fly on the wall when Faith No More made the record “King For A Day…Fool For A Lifetime”.
Andrew: Why that album?
Jacoby: That’s my favorite Faith No More record, Faith No More is one of my favorite bands. I just love the musicianship, they always forged their own path and just very inspiring music. I mean Mike Patton approaches the microphone very differently than I do but early on he’s was one of my biggest influences. So it would have been cool to see how they interacted with each other in the studio, I’m sure they had crazy- ass fights because I believe there is a friction inside that band. Sometimes bands with that fire and that friction and a little bit of disfunction is when the best art is born and so I would love to be a fly on the wall to watch that happen.
Andrew: Yeah I think you are right about that sort of negative energy that inspires or makes really good music. It’s wierd how that happens.
Jacoby: Yeah it really is, it’s a trip.
Andrew: Did you manage to check out Faith No More on the weekend?
Jacoby: Na we haven’t been able to. We’re gonna do a show in New Zealand called West Fest and we are on the same day as them so I’m definitely going to go check them out.
Andrew: Awesome. And for you, what is the meaning of life?
Jacoby: Love.
Andrew: In what way?
Jacoby: Be it, share it, don’t be afraid to receive it. Pretty simple shit.
Andrew: Awesome! So it’s been great speaking to you and you guys rocked on the weekend. Hope you guys do well tonight and again at Soundwave next weekend.
Jacoby: Fuck yeah dude, talk to you soon!
