What’s up you guys!?

T.: Let me see those questions! (grabs the paper out of my hand) Hmmm, okay, those are good questions!

D.: Let me see that! (grabs the paper out of Tobin’s hand) No, no, that one sucks! Let’s see... Okay, we won’t talk about that one... No, I’m just fucking with you!

T.: We’re doing awesome, dude! The tour is great! The new material is getting great response, kids are singing the lyrics to all the new songs. It’s just cool, seeing they are receiving the new album so well.


The critics also praised the new record!

D.: Definitely! As opposed to the last record we put out. We got a lot of headscratching like; “It’s good, but....

Do you also think this is your best album to date?

T.: Yeah, definitely! And I think it shows that we put a lot of time and energy in the album.


Who came up with the title for the new album?

D.: I think it started out as a song, right?

T.: Yeah, it was a songtitle.

D.: I think I’ve might have been the first one that suggested it as the title for the album, but then Coby went like ‘Nah, fuck that!’

T.: No, it was my idea!

D.: I think it was Jerry’s idea, hahaha!

T.: Yeah, if you’d ask Jerry, it was his idea!

D.: Maybe it was your idea!

Dave is kept on a tight leash!


Mmm, I’m afraid not.... Anyway, lets talk about more serious business; The band, and especially Jacoby, went through some rough times....

D.: You know, we don’t really want to focus on the old shit. Don’t bring up old shit!

T.: Yeah, but you know, all the ultra-highs and the ultra-lows that we went through, that kinda made this record! After all the touring, we just went home and re-evaluated things. The whole history of the band was kind of an inspiration for this record. All our childhood memories and all the bullshit and lies that we had to put up with in the past, but also the good times, have become part of the record.

D.: I think, a lot of what we write comes from the negative energy in life and turning them around as a positive energy. Because we had such a great run on ‘Infest’ and all this great, brand new things were happening like all the success, we didn’t know how to take all that. So we thought; If everything’s good, how can we write a record? ‘Cause we were used to taking all the shit in life and turning it into something great. But now, we’ve been through it again and we have more perspective. We know now, how to maintain and deal with things, you know? I’m looking forward to see the evolution of this record, what this record can do.


Was there ever a time you thought Papa Roach was coming to an end?

T.: We were always kinda on the verge of crashing. Because we got pretty low, fucked up on drugs and alcohol. But we’re not that type of band that gives up easily, we always manage to set new goals and re-invent ourselves.


It looked like you had some new found power, when I saw you at the Lowlands Festival a couple of months ago!

D.: That was amazing! Definitely one of the best shows ever!


I think this album is without a doubt, the best album you’ve guys made! Do you think those hard times strengthened the band?

T.: Yeah, we’re much tighter now that we’ve been through all this bullshit! And we’ve been together for almost twelve years!


Was the recording process a lot different compared to the first two albums?

T.: Hmm, it was a little different. On this record we had a lot of time. We wrote like 30 songs, kinda rough ideas, before we went into the studio and met with producers. Then we narrowed it down to one producer, being Howard Benson. And his whole thing was focussing on Jacoby, on his vocals and the lyrics. While we were doing most of the tracking, he would be recording Jacoby.


You brought in Howard pretty late in the recording process, right?

T.: Well, we brought him in on the moment we wanted to record the album. Not in the writing process, we pretty much had all the material finished. There were some last minute changes that we did, while we were recording songs. And there were some songs that got written on the very last day in the studio, like “Be Free” and “Done With You”. But I definitely think the vocals stepped up a couple of notches. I never thought he would be such an amazing rock ‘n roll singer. At first, I was like; ‘How the fuck are we gonna do that?!’

D.: Haha! Well, I was very impressed with what Coby was able to accomplish in the studio. And now that we’re out on the road promoting the record, I’m even more impressed by how well we are doing it live! In the past, people always said we were better live then on the record, for whatever reason. So we really pushed this record to try and surpass all that.


And with this new album you managed to break free from the ‘nu-metal’ genre....

T.: Yeah man! I was just watching this programm on MTV today, where Tom Petty was talking about grunge. And he thought none of those bands liked to be called grunge any more then his band is liked to be called new wave, you know? It’s like this continuation, we never liked to be called nu-metal and here we are, we’re able to break free of that! Now there are these bands coming up in the emo and screamo, new post-hardcore scene and there will be two or three bands that will survive that. Same thing with the garage scene, bands like The Hives and The Strokes. But I think it’s already pretty obvious who are the stronger bands. And I think we are one of those stronger bands.

You toured with Eminem with the Anger Management tour 2 years ago. What was it like to perform in front of a hip-hop crowd?

T.: It was definitely a challenge we were willing to take. You’re just thrown in situations like that and you try to find a way to fucking swim, you know!?

D.: We did Ozzfest and the Vans Warped Tour and we were never the most fitting band for any tour! But we have hip-hop influences and we have respect for Eminem, so it worked out fine.


What do you think about the current hip-hop scene? Because I used to be a huge hip-hop fan myself before I got into rock music.

T.: There’s some shit out there! I’m pretty picky when it comes to that stuff...

D.: I like the gangsta, but also the more cerebral shit, stuff that makes you think. And the militant hip-hop like Common and Mos Def.

I always wanted to ask you guys this; Is there a special reason you guys are always dressed in black?

D.: That sort of cycles in and out of meaning. Sometimes it means more then other times. Sometimes it’s just a nice thing to know, when you look in your suitcase, you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to wear that night. So, that’s how I will anwser the question today!

Okay, final question; You have to live on a deserted island for one year and you can only bring three items. Which items would you pick?

T.: My iPod, euhmmm.....lifetime supplies of sushi......and my lady! ‘Cause I gotta..., you know!!

D.: Haha! Yeah, I would bring my wife, my laptop with wireless, satellite internet and euhmm.... a nickel!


A nickel??

D.: Hahah! No, no, here we go; I’ll bring a wish, a nickel and a jetski!

T.: Yeah, a jetski with lots of gas!

D.: I wonder if you could just hop from one island to an other! You know, from the Keys to Cuba!

T.: I would go from Puerto Rico to Jamaica!

You guys are a lot of fun! Thanx a lot for this interview!

D.: You too, man! This was fun!



©Pitfather.com 2004