Jacoby Shaddix is a breath of fresh air.  Well not in the literal sense but more like that stale smoke filled bar with the loud band, filthy bathrooms, spilling your plastic cup of beer while standing room only kind of way.  He's rough, he's raw and I love it!  Usually interview subjects are unusually polite and while the occasional curse word will slip, for the most part you can hear that calculated restraint in their voice, perhaps from years of practice on the interview circuit or from assumptions of the interviewer or audience.  I appreciate the pleasantries, don't get me wrong but I love the honesty of the brashness.  It's fucking rock and roll, after all! 

 

I had the pleasure of talking to frontman extraordinaire, Jacoby Shaddix, while on tour with Avenged Sevenfold, Buckcherry and Saving Abel.  We covered many topics in that short time not limited to strippers (male), porn (producers), whipped cream (drummers) and of course their new album, Metamorphosis, which hits stores on March 24th, 2009.

 

Popular Underground Magazine (PUM): So where are you now?

 

Jacoby Shaddix (JS):  We are in Rapid City, South Dakota.

 

PUM:  Wow. 

 

JS:  We're gonna rip it tonight, gonna be off the chain. Every time we do shows here they're freakin’ insane.

 

PUM:  I know!  I caught your show in Oakland.

 

JS:  Oh right on, cool.

 

PUM:  It was crazy! I had myself wedged into this little nook between the stage and the speakers and at one point you came running off the stage and leapt onto the speakers next to me! It was insane!

 

JS:  Nice!

 

PUM:  It was a great show.

 

JS:  Thank you.

 

PUM:  We actually met at that show, outside the tunnel.

 

JS:  Oh, yes! I remember meeting you briefly.

 

PUM:  Yeah I was the annoying photog who started a conversation about the new album on your way to go on stage.

 

JS:  Aww man, it's all good.  That was a hectic day for all of us.  All the family were in town so it was all good.

 

[Jacoby actually graciously engaged in the conversation then looked at his watch and said, "Oh I gotta go! Sorry, I'm on stage in fifteen minutes."]

 

PUM:  That's cool.  So how is the tour going?

 

JS:  Oh it's great! Every night we're just packing houses and crowds are really freakin receptive to our new material, as well as the classic stuff.  For Papa Roach it's pretty much the greatest hits set list with a couple new songs from the upcoming record. 

 

PUM:  "Hollywood Whore" and "Lifeline".

 

JS:  Yeah, they're going off really well at the shows, so I'm stoked.

 

PUM:  The live performances were great.

 

JS:  Cool, thank you.

 

PUM:  I noticed the single for "Lifeline" is available at Hot Topic, too.

 

JS:  Yeah, we're starting to work with them on some stuff so it's cool and really just connecting with the young fans so it's great.  I think that's what's great about this tour is that it's a new audience and for us it's...our message boards are blowing up after these shows, kids who have never seen us and they're flipping out.  For us it's cool to win over some new fans, obviously going out with Avenged Sevenfold; it's a different fan base but we're still fucking slaying them so it's all good. 

 

PUM:  I enjoyed the combination of Papa Roach, Buckcherry and Avenged Sevenfold. 

 

JS:  Thank you.

 

PUM:  Now, speaking of the new album, a lot has happened since Paramour Sessions.  How was it recording the new album with Tony Palermo?

 

JS:  Oh it was great.  We went in to writing this album on fire, you know?  We weren't having to work things out, just four guys really excited about playing music together.  No drama. It just had us focusing on the music and we were inspired as all hell. 

 

PUM:  I noticed the overall tone of the album is inspiring and uplifting.

 

JS:  Yeah definitely, it takes you on a ride.  There are a lot of different topics and subjects on this album.  For us it wouldn't be Papa Roach if we didn't take you on a ride musically, emotionally and lyrically.

 

PUM: You know I have to confess something and it's really embarrassing considering I am in NorCal.

 

JS:  Oh, right on.

 

PUM:  I became a Papa Roach fan while I was doing the research.

 

JS:  Oh cool, right on!

 

PUM:  I heard "Last Resort" and "Broken Home" and they're good songs but not really my style and they were overplayed in the area... Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that radio here loves our local bands.  I was surprised though, while doing research either hearing a song and thinking, "Oh, I didn't know this was Papa Roach!" or "This is a kick ass song!"  I have to say I'm impressed with the overall quality of the music on each album. 

 

JS:  Well thank you very much.

 

PUM:  Honestly, I think Papa Roach is one of the most underrated bands.  I really don't think you get the credit you deserve.  I had the most fun researching for this interview and finding that out.

 

JS:  Well that's what I think is exciting about right now, it just feels like as the days go by and the more that we tour and more records are put out, people are starting to put the dots together that we are a respected band and were a band that's not going to go away.  We're slowly and surely being recognized as that and for us that's huge.  A lot of it has to do with sticking to your guns and just sticking to what you believe in.  Not really listening to what the critics have to say...not really falling prey to that and staying true to what you believe in as a musician and an artist.  It feels really good right now for the band and we're finishing up this tour and then doing another leg of this tour, then after that going to Europe for a headlining tour, then we're coming back  and going to Canada with Buckcherry, which is going to be cool, then we're going to come back and do a little run of the states, some festivals in June then back to Europe...

 

PUM:  Wow.

 

JS:  For a summer tour, then that will put us in the fall and our goal is a headlining arena tour.  We have a long road ahead of us, but it's all good.

 

PUM:  You know I'm amazed and some of the difficulties the band has overcome and how diligent you all are.  There are many bands who have broken up over less. 

 

JS:  Like I said, we're passionate.

 

PUM:  I have some questions about some of the songs on the new album.  I can feel where the inspirational songs are coming from, it's not uncommon for musicians to write about personal experiences, it's cathartic, but considering your status, what kind of creative mind set must you be in to write "I Almost Told You" and "Live This Down"?

 

JS:   Pretty much, "I Almost Told You That I Loved You," I was sitting in our studio writing the album and I'm really good friends with this guy Matt Zane, he's a porno producer and director.  He was telling me about how he was trying out one of his girls, he was fucking her, and he was like, "Jacoby, I have to tell you this pussy was so good I almost told her I loved her!"  And me and my producer looked at each other and said, "Now that's a fucking song!" 

 

PUM:  [severe blushing ensues]

 

JS:  So I just let my inner dirty, savage, sexual beast shine on that song.  Kind of like the spear head was that conversation that we had.  You know for us as a rock and roll band, we just... and that was kind of a break through song for us, we never really let our sexuality shine in any of our music before, you know?

 

PUM:  Yeah.

 

JS:  And that was the song to do it with.  It's kind of nasty, but I was like, ‘Fuck it!’ Papa Roach is not a one trick pony.'  For us that was a kind of breakthrough, as a songwriter saying "I don't have to just write about pain."

 

PUM: [laughs] I knew that was going to be a good question!

 

JS:  Yeah, and with "Live This Down" that's a story from somebody close to me, told from her perspective.

 

PUM:  Wow.  Well, those are both great songs.

 

JS:  Thank you.

 

PUM:  I asked you in Oakland if you were going to play "I Almost Told You" but you said ‘no.’

 

JS:  Yeah we dropped that one on Crue Fest.  When we come back again on the next tour we're gonna play a lot of new stuff.

 

PUM:  I hope so, I want to see that one live.  I agree with you that it is a really dirty song but I love it, it's a lot of fun!

 

JS:  It gets your ass shaking, which is good!  That one will definitely be played in strip clubs across the world.

 

PUM:  Yeah, I agree.

 

JS:  We're also going to do a crazy, evil, dark club remix for that song, too.

 

PUM:  I'm so glad I asked that question.  I knew you were going to be a fun interviewer.

 

JS:  Yeah, I'm not a boring rock and roller.

 

PUM:  You were the first interview I was asked to do this year...

 

JS:  Oh sweet action!

 

PUM:  And I had viewed some of your past interviews, so I was so eager. When I got word we were doing the interview I was like, "Finally!" I couldn't wait. That's why I had to go up and meet you at the Oakland show.

 

JS:  Oh nice!

 

PUM: I also read in my research that you and Buckcherry are pranksters.

 

JS:  Oh yeah, it's funny.  We're out on Crue Fest and it was Xavier the [Buckcherry’s]  drummer's birthday.  And it was me, Tommy Lee and Josh Todd and we were like, "This is what we're going to do, we're going to fucking sing Happy Birthday to him, bring out a cake and fucking smash his face into the fucking cake and cover him in whipped cream on stage.  And we proceeded to do so and that was a good time.

 

PUM:  Oh, you actually did it?  Because I had read that a lot of the pranks were nixed by Motley Crue.  That whenever they got wind of something they were, "No, you can't do that."

 

JS:  Oh yeah, Motley Crue wasn't having any end of tour pranks this year.  It's understandable though, it's all good.  We just did a run with Staind and Seether and our end of tour prank on Seether was  we got male strippers to go on stage during their set and shake their thing.  It was fucking hilarious.  We've done that a few times to some bands. 

 

PUM:  Yeah I was going to prank you, actually. 

 

JS:  Oh shit.

 

PUM:  But I didn't have the nerve. I watched a CBS interview online where you were talking about pop singers... 'I wrote a couple lines on this song, so it's my favorite' and how your band is Picasso to their fingerpainting, etc...

 

JS:  Oh God.

 

PUM:  So I was thinking if I had the nerve I was going to go with that Pop afficianado persona at the beginning of our interview, "I'm not familiar with your type of music." "Have you heard Britney's latest album?" But I didn't have the balls so.

 

JS:   Oh I love her album, it's the fucking greatest...not!

 

PUM:  I know people who are fans, perplexing as it is.

 

JS:   Each to their own, I don't want to be a hater.  It's all good.

 

PUM:  However, you do make a valid point. There is nothing wrong with being what you call, an 'entertainer' but if you are writing and performing your own material then you should get more credit and respect.

 

JS:  Yes most definitely.

 

PUM:  So tell me about "Had Enough."

 

JS:  Pretty much when the band wrote that music, it had a different mood and a different vibe.  Lyrically, I was just looking at the world around me and what's going on and how I was affected by this crazy insane world and this thing we call life.  It just had a reflective vibe to it, picking up the newspapers and watching the news; fucking depressing, you know?  All the violence and war, the economy going  into the shitter and the crazy time with the elections going on.  It's a sign of the times kind of song.  Sick of the violence, sick of kids going into their schools and shooting them up, tired of the politics and it's just, "I've had enough."  That's our declaration for us to change as a people and ultimately. There's a lyric in the song that says "I can't refuse the war inside." It all starts inside myself to create a better world, community, environment; to create better music, I have to create a better version of myself and that's what my music brings me.

 

PUM:  Even though the topic of the song is depressing, I never feel that when I listen to it, the tone is inspiring and hopeful.

 

JS:   Yeah, well that's the whole thing about Papa Roach, sometimes uplifting songs are about feeling down. And that's the thing, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel with my perception of life.  Life is never too fucked up to carry on and fortunately I have music as a tool to help me get through a lot of the issues in my life.  Plus this music makes me feel connected to the human race, this is my, no pun intended, this music is my life line to the world.

 

PUM:  That's actually a great line.

 

JS:  To people I don't even know.  For us that's huge. 

 

PUM:  Again, I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with all your work.  I was like, "I could have been a Papa Roach fan all this time."

 

JS:  It's all good.  That's why this record is good, people are starting to recognize and we can feel it. That's the beauty of it because we've stuck with it all these years and that's what the goal is by the end of this album.  We want to be headlining arenas and just doing it huge.

 

PUM:  Well like you said, you're not a one trick pony; you proved that with a well rounded, eclectic album. I've had the album now for about a month and I've listened to it nearly every day.

 

JS:  That's fucking awesome, thank you.

 

PUM:  Well I immerse myself in the music for the interviews but it's so entertaining that I want to listen to it just to listen to it.  I really enjoy it and can't wait for it to come out.

 

JS:  That's good news, spread the word!

 

PUM:  How do you determine which song becomes a single?  You told me in Oakland the next single would be "Carry Me."

 

JS:  You know, for us it's just a matter of what we feel, what songs stand out to us, what will connect to people. There's so many factors, but ultimately it's what do we think people are going to connect         with the most?  What songs are engaging to us?  "Carry Me" is just one of those songs.  It's not set in stone, what's going to be the next single but that's definitely a fucking contender.  "Had Enough" is also a contender.  There's a bunch of rockers on the album, too, we wanna go four deep with the singles.  Plus we're going to do a viral video for the opening song “Change Or Die.”  So were doing a lot more creative stuff on the internet instead of just relying on putting out radio singles.

 

PUM:  Well in this day and age you can't ignore the advantages of the internet.

 

JS:  That's what we did with "Hollywood Whore", that was the whole goal behind that.  How do we get to the fans?  How do we get something direct to the fans without going through the normal channels. ‘We're releasing a song on the radio.’  Granted, radio has been very loyal to our band and we love that, but if we want to go direct to the fans, the internet is our opportunity and that song blew up on there and it showed at our live shows.  The kids are going off and singing along and I can't ask for anything more.  And I think that's also something that our fans really appreciate of our band, too. 

 

PUM:  Well I would like to throw a song out for consideration for your next single, "Into The Light.”

 

JS:  Yeah, "Into The Light" is a fucking ferocious ripper.  It's funny because my dad said the same thing.

       

PUM:  Did he?

 

JS:  He said, "You need to fucking release that song, that song is insane!"  We played that song a few times live and it just goes off with the fans.  The thing about this record is we're kind of having a tough time deciding what do we release.

 

PUM:  That's a good problem to have.  There are too many albums out there that have two or three good singles and you skip over the rest on the album because they're just filler. 

 

JS:  That's what made us want to make a record like this.  During the process of making this album we went and listened to all the great rock records; AC/DC Back In Black, Guns ‘N Roses Appetite For Destruction, listened to a lot of The Who and Pink Floyd The Wall.  Not necessarily trying to cop styles or rip styles but to get a sense of what was it that made those records legendary. They were engaging from beginning to end and that's the kind of record we wanted to make.  So we set the bar high for this record.  The fans will be the judge of it ultimately at the end of the day.  When I'm driving around in my car, when I'm back home, and I'm listening to the album I'm thinking, “Fucking A, we did it! We made a bad ass rock record,” and that's just me, that's my own opinion but we'll see what the fans think.

 

PUM:  The fans are going to love it.  You know what I noticed about "Into The Light," because I grew up on Motley Crue...

 

JS:  Oh fuck ya, they came and played on that track.

 

PUM: and Guns N Roses, Skid Row, Faster Pussycat. I was noting aspects during the song, "That's very Skid Row" or "Oh that has such an Appetite For Destruction feel." That feeling you get from it.

 

JS:  Yeah, reckless and out of control, there's an element of that in our music that we try to stay true to and that's something I think when we were writing this record we wanted to capture some of that energy; that raw power and energy of our live performances on the record. “Change Or Die" definitely has that quality or "State Of Emergency" has that greedy energy. It's classic Papa Roach. 

 

PUM:  I love the intro too, "Days Of War."  It really kicks things off.

 

JS:  That was one thing too about the album, we had never written a proper intro.  This was the first time, we were like, 'something that will work live, get the crowd pumped up,' so when we hit the stage it's just explodes.

 

PUM:  Exactly how it played out in my mind; you opening with "Days Of War" then straight into "Change Or Die."

 

JS:  That's exactly why we wrote it.

 

PUM:  So Jacoby, what would you like to say to your fans in the military?

 

JS:  We're going to be touring this album worldwide, so we're gonna see you guys out there. Everywhere!  In Germany, we've been to Wurzburg Army base, we got to drive APC's and we got a lot of love for people who serve this country.  Definitely, it's good to see soldiers overseas coming out to the shows and they always let it be known, ya know? It's gonna be a wild ride and we'll see you out on the road. 

 

PUM:  Well thank you Jacoby, it's been a real pleasure speaking to you.

 

JS:  You too, and you have a fucking fabulous day!

 

By: Karma Jensen - Contributing Writer