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After more than a year of exhaustive touring, Papa Roach returned to the studio with an agenda. Not only did they want to craft an album that cleaved as emotionally deep as their debut, they wanted their songs to go further sonically. Discouraged by the glut of faceless acts that capitalized on their and Linkin Park's success, Papa Roach made a concerted effort to distance themselves from the rap-metal family by crafting an album of intense, melodic hard rock with nary a rap in sight.
"When we did the first record, all of us were really young, and all of those songs are old now," said usually silent bassist Tobin Esperance, who wrote almost all of the music on the group's new album, Lovehatetragedy. "Things have changed. We learned a lot from just being on the road, and musically I kept my ear out there [to soak up other influences] and played the hell out of my instrument 24-7. I eat, sleep and breathe music, so that allows us to have more layers and to avoid repeating ourselves."
"I think too many bands have a big hit single and then they go in and totally re-create the same record over and over," added burly drummer Dave Buckner. "We couldn't do that because the bands we've always enjoyed are the ones that have evolved and changed. You can't just continue to regurgitate the same old stuff."
To avoid sounding like other modern bands, Papa Roach didn't listen to Linkin Park, Disturbed, Alien Ant Farm or any other current hard rockers when they worked on Lovehatetragedy. In fact, they didn't spin anything from the past decade. Led Zeppelin, early Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N' Roses and Jane's Addiction served as inspiration instead, and the drum part for "Life Is a Bullet" was even influenced by a Phil Collins song.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with Phil," Shaddix said with a touch of defensiveness. "If you're not willing to take the risks, then you're not going to get anywhere."
While Papa Roach knew they didn't want to write a rap-rock album, they weren't sure what they did want, so they experimented with different styles including punk, power pop and metal and kept whatever worked. This piecemeal approach contributed to the spontaneous feel of the disc.
"The process of writing this record was sort of a discovery," Buckner explained. "It was like an archaeological dig where we were sifting through all this stuff and the songs just manifested themselves."
One element Lovehatetragedy shares with Infest is angst. Loads and loads of angst. But while Shaddix returns to confessional, self-revelatory songwriting, this time he overlooks sour childhood memories in favor of fresher wounds such as relationships woes, touring traumas and suicidal despair.
"On this record [I'm singing about] a series of love/hate relationships I go through every day, whether it's me and myself, me and the band or the band versus the world. We put in everything we got." He pounded his chest with his fist hard enough to leave a bruise, then continued. "It all comes from the heart. There's a lyric on 'Life Is a Bullet' that goes, 'Single me out, tear out my front, make me expose what I conceal.' That's what it's all about. I'm not trying to put up a front. That's why when people ask me, 'Why did you change your name to Jacoby Shaddix?' I'm like, 'Well, because I bear my heart and my soul and that's my real name.' "
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Photo: DreamWorks
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