Papa Roach

Papa Roach

Papa Roach live at the Zwarte Cross festival in Lichtenvoorde on July 18, 2010.
Background information
Origin Vacaville, California, United States
Genres Hard rock, alternative rock, alternative metal, nu metal, funk rock
Years active 1993–present
Labels Eleven Seven Music, DGC/Interscope, Geffen, DreamWorks
Associated acts Fight the Sky
Pulley
Website www.paparoach.com
Members
Jacoby Shaddix
Jerry Horton
Tobin Esperance
Tony Palermo
Past members
Will James
Dave Buckner

Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California.[1] Their first major-label release was the triple-platinum debut album Infest (2000). The group's success continues with their gold album Lovehatetragedy (2002), their platinum album Getting Away with Murder (2004), The Paramour Sessions (2006), and Metamorphosis (2009). The band's seventh album, Time for Annihilation, was released on August 31, 2010. Papa Roach has sold more than 10 million album copies worldwide, and are known for their hits "Last Resort", "Scars", "Forever", and "Lifeline", among others.

Contents

Band history

Formation and early years: 1993–1999

The formation of Papa Roach began in January 1993, when lead singer Jacoby Shaddix and drummer Dave Buckner met on the Vacaville High School football field during an intense match, where the two ended up talking about music. They were later joined by trombonist Ben Luther and bass guitarist Will James. They decided to enter the school's talent show, where they performed a cover version of Jimi Hendrix's famous song, "Fire". They ultimately didn't win the contest. In March 1993, trombonist Ben Luther was replaced by lead guitarist Jerry Horton from nearby Vanden High School. Jerry was introduced to the band through his girlfriend, who was a fan. However, Jerry was at first apprehensive about joining the band because Jacoby, Dave, and Will all went to a different high school. At this point, Papa Roach were practicing everyday and touring on every gig they could get. Their first tour van was called Moby Dick. The band's name comes from Shaddix's step-grandfather, Howard William Roatch, who was nicknamed Papa Roach. Roatch committed suicide in 2006. The band pay homage to him with The Paramour Sessions and during live performances of the song "Roses On My Grave".[2]

In 1994, Papa Roach released their first ever EP titled Potatoes for Christmas. Drummer Dave Buckner was temporarily replaced by Ryan Brown, as Buckner was spending the year in Seattle studying art. In 1995, they released a demo at Sound Farm Studios titled Caca Bonita. By this time Buckner was back. In 1996, they replaced original bass guitarist Will James, who had become heavily involved in a church summer camp, by Tobin Esperance, because James' absence would limit the band's summer practicing and touring. As Esperance had been with the band as a roadie for a while, the transition was an easy one.

On February 4, 1997, the band produced their first full-length album, entitled Old Friends from Young Years. Still touring heavily, they supported bands such as Incubus, Powerman 5000, Hed PE, Snot, Far and Static-X.

In 1998, they released an EP titled 5 Tracks Deep. It sold more than 1,000 copies in its first month of release. In 1999, they produced another EP, which would end up being their last independent release, titled Let 'Em Know. This was seen to be Papa Roach's best independent effort as a band, highlighting their distinctive sound. Its success caught the attention of Warner Music Group, who as part of a development deal provided a small amount of money for the production of a 5 track promo/demo CD.[3] The band decided they wanted influential rock producer Jay Baumgardner on board to produce the record.[3] In an interview with HitQuarters, Baumgardner said, “At first I wasn’t really convinced it would work out, but then I saw a video of them performing at a club - I saw all these kids going wild, knowing the songs by heart - and that’s when I realized that they definitely had potential.”[3]

Warner Brothers were not convinced by the demo, however, and elected not to sign them.[3] The unreleased disc included the songs "Infest", "Last Resort", "Broken Home", "Dead Cell", and "She Loves Me Not" - the first four would later feature on their Infest album, and the last on Lovehatetragedy.

Soon after, Rodriguez was contacted by DreamWorks Records offering the band a recording contract.

Papa Roach formed a friendship with Alien Ant Farm, a band from Southern California. The two bands shared their fans with each other, Papa Roach's being from North Cal while AAF's from South Cal.

Breakthrough and mainstream success: 1999–2005

After signing with DreamWorks Records in October 1999, they immediately hit the studio to record their debut major-label album titled Infest. The album included old songs from their independent releases, these being "Infest", "Last Resort", "Broken Home", "Dead Cell" from the Warner Brothers demo CD; "Revenge In Japanese" as "Revenge" and "Thrown Away" from their 5 Tracks Deep EP; "Legacy", "Binge", "Snakes", and a softer version of the originally heavier "Tightrope" from the Let 'Em Know EP; which were re-recorded, and three additional newly written songs: "Between Angels and Insects", "Blood Brothers", and "Never Enough". Infest was released on April 25, 2000, and sold 30,000 copies in its first week of release. With their debut album released, and the music video for "Last Resort" recorded, they hit the Vans Warped Tour and numerous other large tours.

In late 2000, they even toured the United Kingdom, highlighting how quickly their popularity had spread worldwide. In 2001, the band toured Ozzfest, where they performed on the prestigious main stage, on both the United States and United Kingdom tours.

The song "Blood Brothers" was also featured on the majorly popular video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.

After enormous amounts of touring worldwide, most notably in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan, the band hit the studio again to record their second major-label album which was to be titled Born to Rock, but was re-named to Lovehatetragedy. The album was released in the United States on June 18, 2002, and though it didn't outsell Infest, it managed to chart higher in both the United States and United Kingdom album charts. The album has sold over 500,000 copies and has been certified Gold. The album marked a change in sound, morphing from nu metal to rock, except on the album's first single, "She Loves Me Not". The music video for "Time and Time Again" was also featured on the Pepsi Blue commercial.

In late 2003, Papa Roach wrote and recorded their third major-label album with the working title Dancing In the Ashes, but released as Getting Away with Murder. The band worked with well-recognized producer Howard Benson. After completion, the band filmed the video for the title track, "Getting Away with Murder", and went on a small summer club tour to warm-up for the new album and tours to follow. Some long time fans of the band criticized Getting Away with Murder for its softer alternative rock sound, compared to their previous albums. Regardless of the perceived backlash, Getting Away with Murder outsold Lovehatetragedy, mainly due to the enormous popularity of the album's second single, "Scars". Currently, the album has sold more than 1 million copies and has been certified Platinum. On November 9, 2004, the band released their fifth EP, Rolling Stone Original. The EP is only available digitally. On November 22, 2005 they released their first video album, Papa Roach: Live & Murderous in Chicago.

In 2005, the band spent a large proportion of the year on tour. This included a full United States and European tour alongside bands such as Slipknot, Dead Poetic, Trust Company, Chronic Future, Skindred, 311 and Unwritten Law.

The Paramour Sessions and departure of Dave Buckner: 2006–2008

The current Papa Roach logo, used since 2006.

On September 12, 2006 Papa Roach released their fourth major-label album The Paramour Sessions. The band chose the title in respect to the recording location, the Paramour Mansion. The band was given the idea of doing an album in a mansion, while they were recording Getting Away with Murder, by Slipknot, who were recording their Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) album in the Houdini Mansion and told the band it was "the only way to make an album". Jacoby Shaddix stated on a fan board that the album was likely to be titled Days of war, Nights of Love, which is a lyrical quote from the song "No More Secrets" on the album, as well as an anarchic book published by CrimethInc. in 2000. Other tentative titles for the album were "Redemption" and "Forever", the title of the album's second single. The band hadn't picked their first single but had narrowed it down to "Crash", "What Do You Do?", and "Forever". However, "...To Be Loved" ended up being the first single for the album, and was the official theme song for WWE Raw from 2006 to 2009 until being replaced by "Burn It to the Ground" by Nickelback. The album marked a more alternative rock-based sound compared to earlier efforts but still contained the softer ballads akin to Getting Away with Murder. The album debuted at #16 on the Billboard 200 Charts.

The band started touring their new album in August 2006, with an American tour followed by one in Europe. On October 2006, Papa Roach toured with bands such as Guns N' Roses, during their Chinese Democracy tour, and Deftones throughout the United States, having major success. They were also the special guest band during the Zippo Hot Tour with Hed PE and Eyes Set To Kill.

On October 10, 2006 a String Quartet tribute album entitled Perfect Murder: Strung Out on Papa Roach was released by Vitamin Records.[4]

The band originally planned to release a compilation of acoustic recordings for their songs, such as "Forever", "Scars", and "Not Coming Home", which was recorded for KROQ's charity Christmas album, Kevin and Bean's Super Christmas. The acoustic compilation has since been cancelled. In an interview with billboard.com, Jacoby Shaddix, had stated that he didn't think fans are quite ready for the acoustic direction.[5]

On April 25, it was announced that drummer Dave Buckner would be sitting out the band's current tour. A statement issued by the group's record label said, "Buckner has taken time off from touring with the band due to personal matters". He was expected to rejoin the group later. Jacoby Shaddix later confirmed in an interview with Launch Radio Networks that Dave had checked himself into rehab, stating "Dave, he went to rehab and went to go clean his act up 'cause he was out of his mind". Unwritten Law drummer, Tony Palermo filled in on drums for touring duties.[6]

"Forever" is the second single from The Paramour Sessions and was in heavy rotation across America. On May 23, 2007, more than four months after the album's second single, "Forever", had impacted radio stations, the band shot the official video for the song in Los Angeles, directed by Meiert Avis. Dave Buckner was in the video and had returned from rehab at that time. On June 15, the single was released and the video made its official debut on AOL.[7]

On July 17, the band released their sixth EP, Live Session (iTunes Exclusive). On July 24, they released their seventh EP, Hit 3 Pack: Forever. Both EPs are available exclusively through iTunes.

On January 28, 2008 Jacoby announced on Papa Roach's MySpace that Buckner would officially be parting ways with Papa Roach for good. He stated that Dave was still trying to get his life back together. Jacoby also mentioned that the band would be going back to the Paramour Mansion for the next month to begin work on their fifth studio album. Tony Palermo would continue drumming with the band for their upcoming album and for their tour in support of the album.

Metamorphosis and Tours: 2008–2010

In an interview in February 2008 with 99.7 The Blitz, a rock radio station in Columbus, Ohio, Jacoby Shaddix stated that the band was currently working on their new album, which, like The Paramour Sessions, was to be titled Days of War, Nights of Love, which is a lyrical quote from the song "No More Secrets" and the titles of two songs from the album: "Days of War" and "Nights of Love". However, the album was renamed to Metamorphosis to mark the band's ten years since their signing with DreamWorks Records in 1999 and to mark all of the changes the band has gone through in the past ten years.

On April 15, Papa Roach announced they would be touring as part of Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest, along with Buckcherry, Sixx:A.M., and Trapt. The tour began on July 1 in West Palm Beach, Florida.[8] The release date for the album was confirmed as August 26 during Crüe Fest. During the tour, Tony Palermo served as a touring drummer for Sixx:A.M., as the band didn't have a drummer because the band never planned on touring and James Michael programmed all the drums on The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack.

The band also went on tour with Seether, Staind, and Red later in the year. They changed the release date of Metamorphosis to March 24, 2009 during that tour.

On October 26, Papa Roach released the music video for the song, "Hollywood Whore", and was released as an EP in Canada on October 28. According to the band, the video was just something for the fans while they waited for Metamorphosis, and was not intended to be a single. The album's first official single, "Lifeline", was released on the band's MySpace profile on January 9, 2009. The band also went on tour with Buckcherry, Avenged Sevenfold, and Burn Halo in early 2009. The Crüe Fest DVD was released on March 24, the same day Metamorphosis was released. The second single, "I Almost Told You That I Loved You", was released on June 1. On June 23, they released their ninth EP, Naked and Fearless: Acoustic EP. The EP is available through the Zune Marketplace, iTunes, and Rhapsody.

Papa Roach toured with Nickelback on their Dark Horse Tour through Live Nation outdoor amphitheater's along with Hinder and Saving Abel in the summer. During that tour, Jacoby Shaddix confirmed that "Had Enough" would be the album's third single, before playing the song itself. Online, Papa Roach asked fans what they "Had Enough" of and showed a fan-made video of the song online. Despite this, the music video was not released and was cancelled as a single due to label issues, according to the band.

"Lifeline" was nominated for Fuse TV's Best Video of 2009 contest, beating Metallica's "All Nightmare Long", Daughtry's "No Surprise", Shinedown's "Sound of Madness", and Paramore's "Ignorance", before finishing 2nd to Britney Spears for her song "Circus" in the final round.

Time for Annihilation and move to Eleven Seven Music: 2010–present

On January 8, 2010, Jacoby Shaddix announced on Papa Roach's official Twitter account that the band was about to start working on new songs. On February 8, Jerry Horton said that he was at the studio starting to write. The band also said on their website that they would be releasing 'Big News' in the next couple of weeks. The band continued to add to rumors of a new album or other release on twitter.

On February 23, Jerry Horton officially announced that the 'Big News' fans were waiting for was the news of the band new album, a combonation of live tracks and new songs. He said that they recorded it on the last run of their 2009 co-headlining tour with Shinedown at the Binghamton, New York show and were recording five new songs in the studio for it.[9]

In March, Jacoby said he was recording vocals for two new songs called "Nemesis" and "No Matter What".[10] Later that month, the band released the official teaser for the live album and confirmed that the release date would be in the summer of 2010. In June, on Nikki Sixx's radio show, Sixx Sense, Jacoby confirmed that the final new song for the album would be "The Enemy", and that "Nemesis" had been renamed to "One Track Mind".

In April, the band played two new songs, "Burn" at the Chili Cook Off in Richmond, Virginia on April 17, and "Kick In the Teeth" on April 30. In May, Jerry Horton said in an interview that the name of the album would be Time for Annihilation, and would feature nine live tracks and five new songs, making it a live album and a studio album. He also said that the new single would be "Kick In the Teeth" and that the band switched labels to Eleven Seven Music.[11] Later, Jacoby added on that the album would be released on August 31.[12] "Kick In the Teeth" was released as a single on June 22.[13]

On June 29, the band's former label, Geffen Records, released a greatest hits compilation of the band's biggest hits, titled ...To Be Loved: The Best of Papa Roach. The band, however, told fans not to buy it, saying that the band was making no money off of the album's sales and that the label released the album against the band's will. Masters and/or copyrights by Papa Roach are represented by Downtown Music Publishing. The band no longer owns the rights to their songs, but can still play the songs live.

On August 1, the song "No Matter What" was leaked onto the internet. Four days later, the rest of the Time for Annihilation album was leaked. Time for Annihilation was released on August 31. The band announced that the next singles from the album would be "Burn" and "No Matter What". In October, Papa Roach will begin the "Monsters of Annihilation" tour with Skillet.

Musical style

In their early independent releases, the band tended to use funk rock, and on their first two major label albums, Infest and Lovehatetragedy, they used nu metal. However, since Getting Away with Murder, their music has morphed into rock.[1] Additionally, with their 2009 album, Metamorphosis, as the name expresses, the band feels that their music is going through a transformation to "stuff that's...harder and faster",[14] compared to the softer sound of their last few albums.

Frontman Jacoby Shaddix said the following in an interview with the Dallas Music Guide regarding the band no longer using rapping in their music: "...the rapping's gone! I don't feel like rapping. I'm just over that...I just want to be a rocker. It's what I wanted to be when I was a kid". Shaddix has added this remark in another interview: "We’re a band that tries to walk that line between metal, hardcore, punk rock and pop music, and we do our best at trying to make it all cool".[15]

Band members

Current members
Former members
Former session members

Discography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Phares, Heather. "Papa Roach Biography". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gpfqxqrkldae~T1. Retrieved 2009-03-23. 
  2. ↑ "Papa Roach overruns rock with Infest". pauseandplay.com. http://www.pauseandplay.com/proach.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Interview With Jay Baumgardner", HitQuarters, 25 Apr 2005.
  4. ↑ "Strung out on a Papa Roach: A string quartet tribute". vitaminrecords.com. http://www.vitaminrecords.com/web/page.asp?pgs=product&catid=20&id=1119. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
  5. ↑ "Papa Roach Going Acoustic, Just Not Yet". billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003545080. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
  6. ↑ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=71529
  7. ↑ Papa Roach Forever Video. music.aol.com. http://music.aol.com/video/forever/papa-roach/1926846. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
  8. ↑ "Concert Announcement: Cruefest with Motley Crue". stl-today.com. http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-blender/the-blender/2008/04/concert-announcement-cruefest-with-motley-crue/. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
  9. ↑ "Papa Roach : In the studio". paparoach.com. http://paparoach.com/users/jerry/blogs/136481. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
  10. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6RH5YvYLdA
  11. ↑ http://theskunkno5.tumblr.com/post/592830566/finding-what-it-takes-and-never-backing-down-an
  12. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tMwhYVCEOQ&feature=player_embedded
  13. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Kick-In-The-Teeth/dp/B003P6YGWO
  14. ↑ "Papa Roach : New Video Interview". ultimate-guitar.com. http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/interviews/papa_roach_new_video_interview_with_jacoby_shaddix.html. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
  15. ↑ "Papa Roach : Biography". paparoach.com. http://www.paparoach.com/bio/. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 

External links

Papa Roach
Jacoby Shaddix · Jerry Horton · Tobin Esperance · Tony Palermo
Will James · Dave Buckner
Studio albums
Old Friends from Young Years · Infest · Lovehatetragedy · Getting Away with Murder · The Paramour Sessions · Metamorphosis · Time for Annihilation
Live albums
Time for Annihilation
EPs
Rolling Stone Original · Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) · Hit 3 Pack: Forever · Naked and Fearless: Acoustic EP
Compilations
...To Be Loved: The Best of Papa Roach
Video albums
Papa Roach: Live & Murderous in Chicago · Crüe Fest
Singles
"Last Resort" · "Broken Home" · "Between Angels and Insects" · "She Loves Me Not" · "Time and Time Again" · "Getting Away with Murder" · "Scars" · "...To Be Loved" · "Forever" · "Lifeline" · "I Almost Told You That I Loved You" · "Had Enough" · "Kick In the Teeth" · "Burn"
Related articles
Discography