Lovehatetraveling

Vacaville, CA: that's where I grew up.
While this may not be relevant to you, follow me for a minute. Growing up in a po-dunk freeway town is really nothing to brag about but there has been a progression in its identity. In the '80s I was taught to describe Vacaville as the "Onion Capital of the World," or "There's a prison there that used to house Charles Manson." In the '90s we got on Nickelodeon for a split second and became notorious in the Northstate for having one of those godforsaken "Outlet Store malls." Enter the 21st century and the MTV generation; general conversations of origin that would usually start with the question, "Vacaville, where the hell is that ?" continue smoothly with the simple retort, "You know the band Papa Roach? Well they represent Vacaville." Now, like Papa Roach or not, if you're between the ages 13 and 30 and you have watched cable or listened to the radio in the past two years you know who Papa Roach is. And one thing for certain about my hometown natives is, they always remember their roots.
This week marks the release of Lovehatetragedy, Papa Roach's second album on mega-label Dreamworks and the follow up to the multi-platinum selling Infest released in 2000. If you remember last month, Chico was fortunate enough to have Papa Roach play at the Brick Works, one of the few "warm up shows" played to showcase new material and get the band prepped to go back out on the road. Luckily, being a familiar face to some of the band members, I was able to score some interviews before the sold-out performance began.
Naturally we began with the topic of the new album and what it's all about. Bassist Tobin Esperance sums it up. "The new album's all about love hate tragedy. That's the title of the album so that pretty much sums it up. I think it's a really good rock record, really good second record, and it just rocks all the way through. Each song is different, has its own character, its own emotion. I think [it's] just one of those records that's good all the way through. It's definitely a step forward for the band in the aspect that we've gotten a little more melodic with this one and even a little more heavy in some parts, a little more intricate with the rhythms and melodies, weird changes etc… just evolving." Lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix explains the evolution from Infest to Lovehatetragedy a little more in depth. "More rock on this record, a lot more singing on it. Less rap on this new record like as far as the vocals go. With that the intent was that rapping just seemed like it had me one dimensional. We're just switching it up you know 'cause you heard us back in the day we were like funk-punk, to like hardcore screaming like on Old Friends (Old Friends From Young Years, 1997) to like a little more like hip-hop, singing choruses and stuff, this one we're just taking it more to just rock. More melodic all the time. We got a song "Code of Energy," it flips up, it's got kind of like a little Refused influence in there with it to where the song just really goes a lot of different places. For us we've always just wanted to evolve and what I'm saying about rapping is just that rapping just limits me, it's so one dimensional. The singing just brings more emotion and you can portray what you're trying to get across and have more heart to it."
More rock has likely been a result of the band touring on last year's Ozzfest. P Roach drummer Dave Buckner explains how the creation of the new record was spawned on the tour bus. "Me and Tobin would be writing shit, we had a little Pro Tools rig on the back of the bus when we were on tour with Ozzfest last year, and me and Tobin would go back there everyday and start tracking ideas, putting shit down, using it like an eight track. A lot of the new album spawned from just sitting on the back of the bus writing."
As for Esperance, his influence was inspired from his younger years. "For a while I was going back to like the old stuff, like from when I started getting into playing in bands, the music that I grew up listening to. I just went back to listening to everything from like Jane's Addiction to like Soundgarden, to Helmet, Bad Religion, Fugazi and shit like that. Then the classic records, I always go back and listen to the classic records like the Beatles, Led Zepplin, and Jimmy (Hendrix). I was into taking it back to the elements of soul and melodies. I was getting sick and tired hearing the same fucking 'chung chung, chung chung…' you know kinda like all the other bands are doing. I was trying to incorporate all that and give a dynamic to the music. And I think we accomplish that with this new record."
Despite all the MTV attention and world tours, the band is able to remain down to earth stopping at every request to sign an autograph or take a picture with fans. I asked Esperance what it's like going from the smallest clubs in Northern California to arenas all around the world. "It's like a demon hell ride for your skull (jokingly serious). Sometimes I think it was a pretty natural progression, where we took the proper baby steps to get where we're at…we were doing this until we finally started getting from the scene locally, going up and down the coast, then getting label attention, writing new material and putting out a record, you know, nothing happened too fast. Then once the album came out, the shit just hit the fan. We just got thrown in every single direction and I can't even remember what the fuck was going on, I just tried to make the best out of it. Now that we know what to expect, this time around I think we're going to try and enjoy it more. It was fucking chaos for a minute and it was fun you know but a lot of times we would do things and just be like, 'what the fuck are we doing here I can't believe where we're at.' We look back on it being home for a while and we're grateful for it."
On the tour bus there are multiple conversations going on at the same time, cell phones ringing, management and family members making demands, at times the chaos seems unbearable. "Everything other than being on stage is work. Stage is fun, that's where it's cool, that's what you got into this shit for, that fucking hour that you're playing that show. And like when you're still that little kid in that garage just fucking going off you know. But everything else, I mean imagine you're in a garage and having like five interviews a day, making sure your label is on top of shit making sure your management is on top of shit, making sure everyone in the band is still communicating. So yeah, it's work dude, kind of tough just trying to maintain. Right now there's a lot of stress because we're just trying to get shit together. We haven't been able to settle back into getting into work, we're still trying to balance home life and work life right now. It's a little bit frustrating because things start piling up in both areas. But once we get on the road and we're like, in that mode you get into a routine," vents Buckner.
Going multi-platinum is not the only thing new to P Roach. Fatherhood is a new experience as well for Esperance, who had a baby girl in January. "It's a good feeling actually, man. She's humbled me, made me a little less selfish, and a little less impatient. You know, I cherish things a little bit more now. I'm more focused now, before I was just all out, I didn't give a fuck about anything." Shaddix recently became a father as well, his son was born in March. "It's fucking crazy! I'm down with it though, I'm with it, I'm just… a fuckin' dad now." Now with the band about to embark on the Anger Management tour, there is the question of family going along for the ride. Esperance views family and band as two separate entities. "I think there's a time and place for family on the road. I mean it's hard to bring the family into the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, it's not all that pretty, you know what I'm saying? I like to have fun when I'm on the road and indulge and also be focused on what we've got to do and that's put on the best show. And it's hard when you've got family on the road. To be honest, rock 'n' roll, fatherhood, and family life don't mix when you're on tour." Shaddix feels similar, however he doesn't want to be away from his family for too long. "I think we're gonna let him try and get a little bit older, at least like six months 'till his immune system gets a little bit stronger, but as soon as he can, maybe every couple of weeks, cruise out for like four or five days 'cause if we're out there for like stretches of time it'll just make motherfuckers crazy. It's sooo busy now that there needs to be a balance, plus being on the road is a tough lifestyle, and especially for a little kid. It's going to be fucking hectic. We'll figure it out though."
I always knew Jacoby as a spazz, and his jumpy demeanor seems a little more edgy these days; at moments it seems as though he's about to explode. He touches more on the added stress and "work" that comes with being a rock star. "Well it's always been work but it's always been fun. There just come points in time where it just fucking drives you crazy. When your loved ones think what you're doing isn't work and you're just out having fun. And I'm like, hey baby I've gotta do this interview, I gotta do interviews from 11:00 to 1:00 in the afternoon and she's like, "Well you're supposed to be spending time with me." I'm like well this is what I've gotta do, it's my responsibility to take care of this and get it out to the folks, you know, and that's a constant battle, women in general. I mean c'mon you know dude, we're like the anomalies; we'll never fucking figure out…" (raises hands in the air as to give up).
From out of my backpack I pull out a copy of the first full length Papa Roach CD. Old Friends From Young Years, a do-it-yourself project from 1997, "Old school" as Shaddix put it, and we reminisce for a while. "Yeah dude," as Buckner flips through the liner notes, "It's funny cause you look back on our old shit and it's like all the elements were there, I just see it as a continuation of like where we've been going since those days. Shit's dope dude." Esperance reminisces back to the days of independence, "That was like the first real independent release we put out that had a lot of songs on it. I just think young and fucking… really young and really old and we've just totally grown from there. But it kind of shows how our style has developed and how long we've been doing this shit, you know it's not how other people might think. We've been doing this for a long time, some of these songs are real heavy and some of them are really freaky tweaky, funky… and we still kind of have that vibe to us but I think we make a little more sense now. Coby wasn't as blunt back then as he is now. That was fun, back in the day dudes just workin' it, rockin' it, hustling." Shaddix has similar feelings to share as well seeing the memories flash before him as he described the pre-Dreamworks days. "When I think about this I think about… these were the days when we were just doing it all on our own for ourselves, out there selling it ourselves. Sometimes I think those times were easier than the times we are in now. I mean back then it was hard in other aspects, like we would have busted cymbals, shitty equipment, didn't know how to get our equipment to the show, we had to borrow shit, had to struggle to try and buy strings and shit like that. But it was just mentally a little easier, it was like, 'Fuck it let's just go to a show and rock it.' And now there's just so many other things attached to it now, so many other things that aren't rock 'n' roll like interviews and stuff like that. Like back in the day that wasn't part of what we did. We'd go out hang with the fans, then fucking rock and play a show, sell our CDs, leave, put out a mailing list ourselves. It's big time now, it's fucking huge, we got a huge label behind us and it's like you know how Biggie Smalls said, 'More money more problems?' Well it's true man. I've never been so stressed out in my life. And think, it has to do with just having a kid and trying to set up a second record. This is like a time for the world, this is like a make or break situation where we're going to keep going where we're going or we're going to go down, and we want to keep it going."
And with that I enter the show, and from the crowd response to the performance inside, I realize the boys from Vacaville, CA won't be going away for a long time.

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