Tobin Esperance of Papa Roach talks to eGigs

eGigs was all set to talk to Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix but the singer wasn't well, so Tobin Esperance stepped into the breach to talk about their Download appearance, and two special gigs in June. A Bristol show on Monday 15th June, and on Wednesday 17the June.

How you doing?
I'm doing pretty fuckin' good for someone who just woke up.

How is Jacoby Shaddix?
He's going to see another doctor today. It's just one of those things that happens. Everybody gets sick and when you're on the road there's nothing worse than being very sick and having to muscle through an hour and a half of insane rock and roll. But, he's been doing really well.

You haven't had to cancel anything?
No, we're definitely not one to cancel shows. The show must go on.

Have you got any other appearances in the UK planned?
It's pretty much the festivals, and we'll be coming over for the gig in Bristol, and the gig in Oxford.

So you've got more festivals over here?
Not in the UK, we're doing all the Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, Hellfest, Grasspop, all the European ones.

Why do think your music has been successful?
We were just four young out there kids, who loved music, all kinds of music, whether it was old funk music or punk rock music or heavy metal, We all came together and shared all of our quirky little influences. We grew up in the same small town and went to High School together, and there really wasn't much else to do but get together and make noise in a garage.

Starting out, that's what we did, and it just grew, it grew because we were doing something that was different, we were nutty. We were like for kids who had A.D.D. we were just wild in your face, and mixing this weird blend of funk and punk rock. We built a core fan base in our area in Northern California, started to play shows in LA, and then started to get attention from people in LA, and that's when the record labels started coming. We started selling out shows, The Roxy, and The Troubadour, and started to become better songwriters writing better songs. We kept putting out our own demos independently, the major labels caught on, and DreamWorks ended up being the label that gave us our first deal in 1999.

We went into NRG studios in North Hollywood, with Jay Baumgardner who did our last record, and recorded 'Infest'. That first record, nobody expected anything, and it ended up being a record that went five times platinum, and made us a household name.

You're coming over here to play Download are you looking forward to that?
I'm always looking forward to playing Download, that's just one of those legendary festivals that we're always excited about. Just hanging out with the other bands, and just being there and the name. It's Donington, they just changed the name to Download. We all have things like AC/DC at Donington, we watch those DVDs and we get inspired. We always thought, back in the day, when we'd watch stuff like that, 'Wow, we'd love to play in front of a crowd of that many people, and just rock it.' We've done it now, many times before, but we always love to come back and rock it.

You're also playing those two UK dates, in Oxford and Bristol, what can fans expect from your set when you come over?
My advice to the fans is that they start working out right now. Start training, running at least five miles a day, because its going to be high energy, and it's going to be very intense, and it's actually going to be quite an adventurous set, because we've got a lot of songs now. About five or six records worth of songs, and we take you on an adventure. We come out, kick you in the face, just to let you know that we're here, throw a few punches.

Then we take you down to a more vibed out level, and take you back up and rock you, play some more hits and bring it down. It's cool when you have this hour and a half set, you can build this dynamic rock sound adventure, we've been just rippin' it.

We were over there a month ago and some of the best shows we did we're sold out in Manchester, and London it was just great. I'm not sure that we've ever been to Oxford or Bristol, I could be wrong but we're very much looking forward to it.

Will both gigs be pretty similar or do you mix it up?
I try to never do the same songs, but sometimes when you've got a set list, when it works it works. It might be there's just a difference of a couple of songs. But we're definitely going to play the songs that everybody know and loves, our fuckin' hot hits. It's a really good combination of all the old stuff and all the new stuff.

Do you prefer playing longer sets to shorter ones?
I prefer a longer set for our headliners, because we can play for an hour and a half, no problem, and it shows the depth of the band. It shows us as a band that's more dynamic and more diverse, as opposed to a band that just gets on stage and blasting through 45 minutes of really heavy songs.

What's the best gig that you've ever been to?
Actually believe it or not, strangely enough, I went to a couple of concerts recently. I saw The Cure at The Hollywood Bowl and they were really good, and I saw Korn last night. Korn actually ripped it up, we did some radio shows with them, and I went out, front of house, to watch them because I hadn't seen them in years. That was a band that took us out on our first big arena tour back in 2000, They were very respectful, and loving, and cool, and just fuckin' awesome guys. So, I had to go and check them out, it had been so long, and they ripped it.

I saw Meshuggah as well at some little club in Boise, Idaho and they ripped it up too. I'm about to go and see Lamb Of God tomorrow, I'll see how those guys do, I'm excited. I love going to selected live shows. I wanna go see Jane's Addiction, and Nine Inch Nails that's coming up to, and I hope that's not disappointing.

Who of all the rock legends would you like to get on stage with you for a rockin' set?
I think it would rad if John Ashanti came up and just ripped a solo or something. I think he's just such an amazing player, he's one of my favourites. There's just something that hits my soul a certain way when I hear him play.

What inspired you to play the bass?
Actually, my dad did, my dad was a musician and he played bass. As well as other instruments, he sang, and played bass, keyboards, guitar, and programmed, he was a very good musician back in the day. Like him, I work on music all day, and all night. I write most of the songs for Papa Roach too, and I don't usually use the bass guitar to write them, I use acoustic, electric, piano, I do whatever comes to me drums, beats, I'll programme beats. It's strange how we work, but there's really no rules to writing a good song.

So how do you and Papa Roach make songs?
Well I come along with the vocal, and musical ideas, arrangement wise and then Jacoby comes in with his vocals after the music's done.

And where do you get your inspiration?
Just life, just whatever is around me, listening to all kinds of different types of music.

What music have you been listening to recently?
I think that the new Kings Of Leon album is a great record, I've also been listening to a lot of old Jimi Hendrix, and Sly & The Family Stone, The Meters, The Dap Kings, Sharon Jones, some old funk and soul stuff. I've been listening to the new Lamb Of God record, listening to Igor Stravinsky, just listening to whatever, listening to all kinds of music.

I like to listen to a lot of 80s new wave stuff too, even newer bands that are out that kind of have that sound. I'm not familiar with names I'll just get records and stuff from my girlfriends and they'll turn me on to a different kind of shit. I like to research what girls like too, because guys can be so one track mind with just heavy music. Where as the girls are always in touch with the really cool bands, the she vibey shit, and I like to incorporate that as well.

So do you incorporate that in the new stuff you are doing?
Yeah I have actually.

So, are you already getting new material together?
Nah, this new record 'Metamorphosis' just came out a month ago. It took a little time to finish that record, because we had some obligations to go out on tour, so we went out on tour and the record wasn't done. We ended up finishing off the record whilst we were on tour with Motley Crue. We decided that we wanted to set it up right, rather than trying to rush to meet this deadline. So we made this video, 'Hollywood Whore', which you can see on YouTube. We did it ourselves with our own money, and tried to make it as shocking and simple as possible, and create a buzz. We wanted to get to all those old skool underground hardcore fans and give them a little treat, something to look forward to.

We wanted to set the record up right and that's showing, the shows are selling out, and the crowds are and fuckin' insane and they're singing every song. I guarantee it's one of the best rock n roll shows out there.

What's next for Papa Roach?
We've got the European festivals in June, then we go back to the States and do a quick tour with Nickelback, and then we're gonna headline in the fall.

To buy tickets to those Papa Roach's UK gigs, click here.

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