Jacoby Shaddix From Papa Roach Talks About Touring With Motley Crew

0:00Triple M Robby and Cali, our next guest needs no introduction really, but we're gonna do it anyway, because I just want to play this. Yeah, let's go. Yeah! That's a banger. Oh, yeah! You heard of him? Jakaibe, Jonathan, haven't heard of those stuff. You know, the one and the only, the lovely and the talented Papa Roach. Oh, yeah! Of course. My amazing, thank you very much for taking the time to come to the studio today and talk to us. How is it so far, Ashtray, you've just landed here? Oh, yeah, I just got here a day before last. Stoke to be here. I've anticipated this for quite some time. I've been really stoked about coming back. We did a tour last time we're here with the used. I'm actually wearing it. Oh, the used. I'm wearing a shirt right now. We're in a used shirt. I'm having a... I'm having a... Spent it and a crack in one of the great names. Oh, man, dude. He's a badass, man. They're actually about to play the Sydney opera. Oh, wow! Oh, what the hell? Yes, they're like the opera house. They got like a whole orchestra playing with them and stuff like that. So I'm like, I'm just... They put you along?

1:00Sorry? Did they invite you along? No, they're doing their thing. I'm busy. I'm playing shows, you know what I'm saying? But we are definitely going to connect when we're out that way. And so love those dudes. Love Australia, love the fans here. Super stoked to be back and rip it. And we got... We got plans, you know what I'm saying? I have to say, your songs just cut into everyone. And it's interesting because I feel that obviously you're putting out a certain genre of music. But your songs are so emotive that I would say you actually appeal to people beyond that genre just purely because of the emotion involved in the lyrics. And, you know, I think that, you know, obviously you do have a really, really core fan base in that genre. But it goes far beyond that. I imagine your shows are a mix of people that are music lovers from everywhere. Oh, yeah. I mean, when you look out in the crowd, it's everybody from the age of 15 to 55. Yeah. And, you know, we've been around. We've been doing this for quite some time. So it's pretty cool to see that we're spanning like the generations and the type of people that love our music.

2:03And I'm just grateful we got some great fans and people that want to listen to the music and people that connect to the music. And, you know, to your point, you know, as far as the emotive nature of our music, I just... That's kind of how I've worked through a lot of my personal demons and my things that I've walked through in my life and struggled with. And made sense of it, you know, through this music. And I just am grateful that I have this platform to be me and to be heard, you know. Yeah. I don't know. I keep it real. I keep it real with this music. And, you know, I think that that's one of the things that people really connect with is the authenticity and the heart and the spirit behind the music. 100%. And I think that's been a massive, like, theme of you and the band throughout your career. I mean, ever since last resort, right? That sounds like a straight like one of my best friends attempted suicide. And that really affected me. And I was like, oh, I want to write a song about this to make sense of it. You know, I wrote it in the first person. But the song was, my friend was just crying for help, you know.

3:05And so to be alongside of him and watch him go through this traumatic, it was just horrific, you know. But just from that onset, this music was emotional. Actually, even on YouTube yesterday, I was doing the whole, you know, just travel back in time. And I watched the video clip from last resort. And you've captured it there as well, like all the kids who would have been 16 at the time. Yeah. You kind of captured them in their own moment and then at the gig as well. It's a bit of an iconic video clip. Yeah, man. That one's like, it's a hard one to top, I think. Like in so many ways, the song, the video and everything just came together. It's pretty cool. The guy we worked with that shot the video, directed the video, produced the video, is the director for the show Dexter. Oh, wow. He went on to do that. So he came from the New York hardcore scene, was a musician, then starting getting into the video director thing and then started shooting music videos. And we saw a video he did for a POD.

4:05And we're like, we love this guy's style. And we hooked up with him and he's like, I got this concept. You know, taking the fans from where they don't want to be, to where they want to be. And so he really understood, you know, the culture of music coming from the New York hardcore scene. And so he just brought that to life with us. And yeah, and then he went on to do huge things. He's still doing Dexter. That shows wildly popular. He's sick. How cool. Shout out to Marco Ciega back in the day, baby. I absolutely love that. Obviously, these songs that you put out in the world can go anywhere. And they have, because obviously, worldwide, they are sung everywhere. But where is the weirdest place you've heard your song? And obviously, your song's been used in so many movies and TV shows. Has there been one way you've, or ads that you've said no to? Oh, I mean, definitely. There's stuff we said no to in the past. So many times, you know, in the era, this is like in the early 2000s, there were like, no bands wanted to do anything corporate, right? Yeah.

5:05And we were like, no, no way, no way, no way. And then we saw bands doing like, it was like the Honda Civic Tour. And we started to see that pop up. And I'm like, these dudes are sell outs. You know? Yeah. You know, so we, we definitely said no to those things for quite a long time. And then, you know, we find ourselves on tour. And it's like, oh, it's branded by Jagermeister. And so it's just like, I guess slowly, bands started doing more of that corporate stuff. And still, there's part of me that's like, I don't want to like be the sell out dude, you know? Yeah. But we have done some of that, you know? Yeah. I can't lie. He's got a right night. Yeah. True. Absolutely. I will say we did one that I totally regret. And so I'm just like, God, why do we do that? We were, this was like back in mid 2000s. And we did, we did a thing with Pepsi. And they had this. That was a big brand though. I said, Michael Jackson. Yeah. But it was just like, they had this new soda called Pepsi Blue. And it was, it was so terrible. It was lame.

6:05I was like, you know, you live and learn, right? Yeah. And, uh, yes. Sorry. We didn't, we weren't too happy with that. But then, you know, there's other opportunities that we've come across that have been great. We got something stewing in the pot right now. L.I. Potentially, well, not potentially. We're doing something with Netflix coming up shortly. Oh. Cool. And so, yeah, we got some really exciting news about that. And that's like, ooh, what's up with that? Let's go. As in your featuring. Oh, you're actually doing a movie. Oh, I can't spill the beans. Oh, my God. Yeah. There's, uh, there's, yeah. Netflix is the home. And P Roach is doing a collab. Oh, I love that. Yeah. It's exciting. Has anyone ever just blatantly stolen your songs? And you've heard it and gone, wait a second. We didn't give them permission to do that. Oh, I mean, you hear people online doing covers and stuff like that. Yeah. And sometimes they're great. And then sometimes they're just horrific. Yeah. You know, and so we're like, we've had to, uh, say, notice some people. Yeah. And, uh, but, you know, once you put the music out into the world, you know, it's just, it's, it is, it's theirs now. Yeah. Kind of oddest place I've heard our music.

7:05That was like, I was shopping, you know, and I'm in there just doing my thing. And I hear one of our songs on the thing. I'm like, wait, do you guys like a walnut or something? Exactly. No, it was out of Walmart. No. All right. This is weird. But I guess, you know, that's, you have no control over, you know, where the music goes. Yeah. And at a point in time, you just got to be grateful for it because it's, you know, our music have become the part of, you know, part of rock culture and, you know, this is our gift to the people. This is how we serve the people, this music, you know, so where you want to play it. I think this is a good segue, actually, because I've heard you speak out about it a little bit. The rock, the rock music industry's reaction to AI music. So it's obviously emerging more and more. What's your take on IOI music? And is it something that's actually impacting the industry from your perspective? I'm not really felt the impact at this point, you know, I mean, and so it's not necessarily something that I'm really honestly nervous about.

8:05I think one of the spaces that it's totally going to affect is like, I think licensing and video games and TV shows and stuff like that because they can just go, all right, I'll get a free version of something, you know, that sounds like this band, you know, and so those kind of spaces, but I think the true creativity, all AI is doing is studying the real creatives, us, the humans that are creating art. And so, you know, I think there's a place for it. I'm not necessarily happy about it, but it's like, you know, can I control the wave of what's happening? No, I can just, I think the authenticity what we spoke of earlier is what really is going to like poke through. And I mean, it's going to go where it's going to go, but I can just continue to still just be me, the raw, authentic human and step on that stage and go create music that is about lived experience. And you know, it's like, it's like you go to the store and you want your organic fruit or you want the GMO modified one that's going to give you cancer.

9:06What you want? You want the real deal? You want to go pick it off the tree, you want to pick the apple off the tree and eat the apple. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You don't want the apple that's been grown in a lab or the meat that's been grown in a lab and you eat that meat that's been grown in a lab and then you get, you know, yeah, the C words just going to start spreading, bro, you know, so yeah, I'm on that organic music. Here I am. Here's one for you then. So we've also seen certain concert emerging where they actually have AI musicians where, for example, you can go and say, I don't know, Jimmy Hendrix or Abba live. If you know what I mean, they use holograms. What are you reckon about that? I mean, is that a way for pupper? Bring the dead. Bring the dead. Bring in the dead to life. Wow. That's wild. I never even considered that. That's like, you know what I do. I remember saw when they, I'm like Coachella a few years ago, they brought two Pockback as holograms. Yes. Oh, that was weird. And I'm like, it's a freaking hologram, dude. I mean, it's like really not that authentic. But I think in, you know, in, in the spirit of keeping it real, I'll just say that that's

10:07like, it's lame. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's like, if you want to, if you want to like experience, I don't know, I'd love to go see the Beatles, but I can't. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, you just can't. So I listen to the music and my mind is the playground. So a lot of discussion about AI lately, you know, how do you guys feel about it as far as like your profession? I hate it. Is it scary to you guys? I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. It's like when you fall to say, you don't, you know your city. You know your people you're walking around the streets. You know what I mean? Like, I just feel like it's, we can't lose, lose grip with that. Do you want to buy, if we just clip that audio op and send it forward? No, seriously, Absolutely, man. It's like, I don't know. In a, in an era where you know, technology can replace us, it's like, we have to take a stand too as well. And like, where's your, where's your ethics and what do you stand for?

11:08Do you only stand for the bottom line? And like the bottom line and cash or do you stand for your people and you know music has always been something about the people for the people Yeah, you know, so that's the core essence of what we do. So yeah to the CEO Listen up, bro. I'll say You know what I'm saying. Yeah, absolutely Scars has to be one of the most covered songs. I reckon of all time What is the best cover and who did it? You know, I saw I saw this young artist on Instagram a few years ago and His name's Bailey Zimmerman. He's a country artist. Yes, and he's great. He now he's like a massive artist But we just saw him doing this This cover and we hit him up. We're like, dude, this is so tight. Matt great job. Great work He's like, I'm just this young artist out of Illinois. I'm just doing some country music and And so eventually he was assigned to the we were assigned to the same management company our management company is like

12:09Who's this guy Now he's one of the biggest country artists in the world. Wow So it's pretty cool to see like that little moment that sparked something that you know Opened up a door for him and now he's just crushing it Then I saw this one just two days ago This girl she does like Disney princess versions of songs Oh, I love it. It's already okay, and she did scars and I was just like that's cool Why does this work as like a Disney princess? This is freaking me out But it just shows like you know a good song is a good song and you know You can flip up flip it up a million different ways like our new song wake up calling We went and premiered it in a in Nashville down on a Broadway I'd had a goal. I'd never played on Broadway before. I just thought it'd be cool to do that So we premiered wake up calling acoustically and so you know This song that works very well electric you strip it down to the to just the guitar the chords and The lyric and the melody and it stands up. It's strong, you know, so but I love seeing people do covers online

13:12Yeah, so I remember great and so I remember just like comical Like dude, just keep on trying buddy I was one of those guys, man, you know what I was like young. I was I was not I didn't have the talent that I have now. Yeah, I tied to like Sharpened my craft for a lot of years to become the singer that I am. It wasn't a natural like oh, you're such a gifted singer I was just a charismatic dude to until I'm got out there. Oh, yeah So looking at the early 2000s. I mean, that was the time when you metal absolutely massive everything took off And it was a crazy time When you look at that error Aside from Papa Roach songs because you could probably say last resort is right up there What do you reckon the most iconic new metal song is? Oh, I mean, you know In the end link and park uh break stuff limp biscuit wine by corn uh Chop sui by system of a down Mount summer by the deftones like I'd say those are all like the most iconic stew of

14:14Of new metal songs and it's so wild because you know, all of us got labeled as new metal in the era But if you really kind of listen to each of those bands We all sound so much different from each other. There's elements that kind of Connect yep them together, but We don't sound like system of down at all. Yeah, you know, I mean and system of down didn't sound like corn at all you know and Corn didn't sound like deftones at all like they were very unique, you know, it was heavy and it was grew I think it was like the heavy and the groovy and the rap and the rock those elements But we all were just had a very unique take on How we did it. Yeah, yeah, so I really feel like new metal was a It's a very just kind of eclectic stew of people that were just trying to make something super original And uh, I'm just at the time. I was kind of irritated about the label of new metal. I'm like we're so much more than that Yeah, yeah, but now is as As I've a grown adult and I look back on the era

15:16I'm super proud of being part of a of movement and music That just love it or hate it was massive. Mm-hmm Was it people's way of grouping the era I suppose because it was always great band So you had to you had to call it something else. Oh, yeah I mean it and I'm just so grateful that we were part of that era and that movement because it's it's having a comeback Like in a major way right now and I'll I will ride that way I'm hanging off the front dude just rip in it boy. I love that Well speaking of the new generation, I know that you have a son who's in his early 20s How is it I always wonder this about kids that grow up with Parents that put things out in the world because they would experience it like no one else Because they would see the back end of it right and look at you as a dad How has it been seeing your kids watch you evolve? I guess in the public eye When did they actually become conscious of that whole world? Yeah, it wasn't till they were like in Probably about ten eleven twelve that they really kind of grasped the idea that their father was a rock star

16:19Yeah, you know before you know when my guys were really little They'd be like oh daddy's at the airport. I'm like then I got to take you on tour and show you And I'm not just hanging out on an airport and they're like sitting there on the side stage and they're just like You know tour we're on tour with Motley crew and my kids are hanging out backstage with Tommy Lee and They started to like kind of understand what this was and I Never moved to Hollywood. I never made that move. I always made a conscious decision to step in Northern California I didn't want to raise my kids in Hollywood. You know, and and I'm so grateful I didn't because I just see the the fruit of that in a lot of families and I'm like Yeah, you hear the stories broken lost people down there and I really am proud of what I've done with my boys and They're they love what I do their big fans of what I do and they're brutally honest You know, I'll play them and eat some of the new demos I'm like, what do you think and they're like oh, that's one sick. I love that and then you know

17:20Play I'm something else and they're like that's cool. Like all right. I like it. It's it's cool But it's not my thing. Yeah, you know, and that's you know, you can't always I can't always impress them. They're not always gonna be my biggest fan But I I'm grateful that they're honest with their critique about what I do and Yeah, I've got a great relationship with with all my boys and we've raised up some good ones My oldest is gonna be a doctor my second one Yeah He's uh, he's going to score. He's gonna graduate. You sing about scoff and he literally does Totally he's uh, he's he's he's gonna work in acute care In the ICU's as it is a getting his doctorate in physical therapy So he's really dealing with people in their most critical moments in their lives and he he just is fascinated by that and I just so proud of him and so excited and then My second born he wants to be in the music business. I'm like He's that the kid can write like not only can he like write lyrics very well He can emote um, he's a natural born leader um, and he's one of those people that he's got a heart for people

18:25He's guy he's he's very it's like He's so much like me that I'm just like god you're gonna have to take some of your lumps Dude you're gonna have to learn lessons the hard way like very stubborn and bullheaded But he's got such a big heart and you know, I think he's got what it takes But It's always I believe tougher For a child of a musician to make it in the music business because people already are like oh neppo baby Yeah, and I'm just like dude. I told him straight up It's like while you're away in college. You just need to just right keep writing music right music right music Right music right music you're in a microcosm. Go throw keg parties and go Perform and just figure out who you are. Yeah, no, and if If if you can build something on your own, then maybe you can really do this, you know, because daddy ain't gonna do it for you For me, you know, I'm saying I had to like go out and chase it and slug it out in the trenches and Yeah, man, so it's interesting being a dad and this whole thing. Yeah, of course

19:26Tristan out um, you mentioned being on tour with Motley Curry there. I imagine you've been in some pretty wild scenario Yeah We get it to from the year 2000. It was like the last era of just And go to the camera Yeah, it was like the four camera phones and the whole deal and uh, yeah, man It was a wild time and we partied really hard and just carried on and destroyed hotel rooms I would honestly probably like if I if I was the way I was in 2000 now, I would have been canceled Yeah, I mean yeah totally like it was just But the life that's the lifestyle of it was man was it was just acceptable. It was encouraged You know, I'm saying I was like oh, it's cool. I destroyed a hotel room. Yeah, and I'm like now I'm looking at that I'm like man, you were just an idiot A total idiot man. I look back on it and I'm like, ah, but I that was that part of my life, you know I think it's very nuanced though right because at the time you guys were Almost encouraged to push the envelope like it become a part of your brand or

20:30Yeah, most definitely it's like we play a show and it's like let's start a riot Yeah, that was considered like edgy and cool and I did it and I paid for it Do you know you live a sober lifestyle now if you feel like if I was socially acceptable at the time And you didn't have the influences around you do you think that that would have been better for your career being able to to be sober and And be more present or do you just think that was I think I think I would have definitely not made some of the mistakes I made and made some of the decisions I made and maybe Took advantage of opportunities that were laid out before me in a different way. Yeah And I think there would have been elements moments where I was a bit more successful You know, and I just really kind of was struggling I didn't understand how to really handle fame after you know because we went from just a garage band to like you're on a private jet now And I'm like how do you do this and I had no moral compass and I was just like Full flight from reality living with about you know This was just a ball of vodka and I was getting you know, I mean it yeah

21:31Yeah, so there's definitely You know decisions I made that I just am not like proud about you know and and but also I had to I had the fixings for kind of a self-destructive life because of my The way I came up and yeah, you know my mom always told me she's like you got to be careful with that booze Man your dad always had has always had a problem with it. You know my dad is a still never sobered up He's still you know living in the hills doing drugs drinking, you know Just disconnected from reality and I had the makings for that, you know And I kind of pulled the I pulled the plug on that before it got too bad before my family abandoned me before I lost everything And yeah, man sobered up was one of the best decisions honestly in my life straight up like I look back at You know the course of events and man. I would be either dead in jail or Just a lonely broken man. It's probably rare in your world as well

22:33I would assume that most people who Musicians and living the rock star life it'd be very hard to go sober like almost impossible Well, I tell you it was tough and I used as an excuse just like you said oh, it's got to be hard It's got to be hard and eventually out of you know the alcoholic mind. I was like, oh, yeah, this is hard I can't do it. Yeah, excuses excuses excuses excuses at some point I had to take accountability for my decisions my lifestyle and I knew that when I looked in the mirror I didn't like who was looking back at me and I wanted to just have some self love and self respect and You know sobering up gave me that and now that I reflect upon that I'm like yeah, man like I could use the excuse of oh, it's so hard because you're in that life But it's like at some point like Be a man about your life, you know, I'm saying like pull your bootstrap stuff and get real And and I did that you know and and uh, you know through that. I got sober. I found God I got a you know, I made a relationship with Christ. I'm a believer, you know, and like I made a lot of wild changes in my life that really just

23:35Just brought my it brought my self respect back my relationship with my wife has never been stronger I've raised up kids that respect me and admire me and I attribute that all to sobering up and and getting spiritual you're a legend man You really are and it's amazing to have you here in WA you're doing the shows this Saturday night I say arena. It's gonna be cute. I'm gonna tear it up I want to like is it dads and their kids now like obviously we are like, you know, you've people our age we've all got kids Oh, I think into the concert. It's it's it's a it's a mix to a fans and I love to see the multi-generations out there You know, I see like 13 14-year-olds crowd surfing. I'm like, yes, yeah, we did it, you know, and I think uh the dream came alive when I saw the chili peppers Back in the day. Mm-hmm Chili peppers had that fan base that was like from the youth all the way to grandparents. Yes. Yeah, yeah And I saw that and I was like, that's what I want. This is this is what I want to do and now here I am

24:37you know We started the band in 93, right? So here I am in 2026 and I'm doing it and you know, we span the ages and You know sometimes when I walk in a room people call me a legend. I'm like, what? Okay, sure. I'm still just trying to prove myself out here in this business. Oh, we love your work man I'm thank you very much for coming in the studio. The shows are gonna be absolutely epic all the best with your Aussie too Hey dude, thank you all for having me honestly, and it's great to be down under and we're gonna rip this up So if you a listen if you ain't got tickets yet go get you some tickets. Good. Good. Good. It's gonna be a banger