PAPA ROACH Frontman On Upcoming Album: 'I'm Rapping On More Than Half The Record'

PAPA ROACH singer Jacoby Shaddix has revealed to Tina Smash of Rock 105.5, Carolina's Pure Rock radio station, that the band's new album will arrive in May. The follow-up to 2015's "F.E.A.R." was recorded with Nicholas "Ras" Furlong and Colin "Doc" Brittain at Steakhouse studio in North Hollywood, California.

PAPA ROACH has already released two songs from the upcoming disc: "Crooked Teeth" and "Help", both of which can be heard below.

Shaddix told Rock 105.5 about PAPA ROACH's new effort (see video below): "We like to say that the album itself, the full-length record, is like if 'Infest' [2000], our first album, had sex with 'Getting Away With Murder' [2004] and they had a child, this would be the record. Because with a track like 'Help', that song kind of harkens back to 'Scars', but it's a little bit more, I guess, uptempo and upbeat that 'Scars' is, but just the juxtaposition of this… 'Cause it's in a major key, so it sounds kind of upbeat and happy, but the lyrics… It's just a dark anthem, and I like that juxtaposition. And we tapped into that on a track like 'Scars' back in the day, and we were, like, 'All right. Let's see if we wrote something in a major key again.' We've done that with songs like 'Lifeline' in the past. And so, yeah, it's got a little element of some old school with some new school. And I'm just excited for everybody to hear the record in its entirety, because it takes you on a ride. I'm rapping on more than half the record, and then there's tracks that are just… It's all over the place."

Shaddix also confirmed that the forthcoming PAPA ROACH album will feature a couple of "outside-the-box" collaborations. He explained: "They're not the norm of what you would expect from PAPA ROACH. And that's exactly what we wanted to do. 'Cause we feel like, as a rock band and as creators, we wanna challenge our fanbase and take 'em on a ride. 'Cause if you do the same thing with the same people in the same scene, it just becomes… everything becomes the same."

Asked if he is nervous about how the PAPA ROACH fans will react to the band changing up the formula a bit on the upcoming effort, Jacoby said: "I would say if they want old-school PAPA ROACH, they got old-school PAPA ROACH. You know what I'm saying? We wrote 'Infest'. It's, like, there you go. But for me, it's, like, no, I'm not nervous at all; I'm more excited. Because what I've seen in the history of our band is that whenever we're a little bit bold and change stuff up… Like, for instance, I keep talking about this song, but 'Scars' — so much different than anything we ever did, and it was one of the songs that catapulted us into the next level. And I look at that and I go, it's not a self-indulgent record, where it's, like, 'Oh, we just wanna do this 'cause it's art.' You know what I mean? This record's got guts, it's got teeth. It's, I think, what our fans have been waiting for for a long time, and so we give it to 'em. It's ferocious and it's emotional."

Jacoby also talked about the lyrical themes covered on the follow-up to "F.E.A.R.", which was an acronym for "Face Everything and Rise". "[The new PAPA ROACH album] would almost be like this record is a precursor to that record," he said. "'Cause there was a lot of my spiritual awakening in that record. And this record, to me, personally, if I could take a time machine back to 1969 when my father came back from Vietnam, when they were spitting on the soldiers and calling them babykillers and telling them to fuck off, I would roll up on 'em and give 'em a big old hug and I would hand 'em this record and be, like, 'This is for you. This record is for you. Just read the lyrics. I know this music sounds like from the future, 'cause I am from the future, but this record is for you.' And it hits right now. Think about all these fellows coming back from wartime experience and the wreckage and the wounds that they have, emotionally and spiritually, their families are broken and they're just dealing with this chaos and turmoil. It's a record of healing and frustration. I'm fucking mad and I'm angry and I'm happy. It's a savage album."

Asked if writing the new PAPA ROACH album was a therapeutic experience for him, Jacoby said: "It always is. It's, like, I'm dredging through old stuff, dealing with old demons. I'm singing about people's lives around me. 'Cause this record has elements of sociopolitical edges to it, where it's not necessarily political, but it's our position in the world and how we deal with this crazy-ass world. So, yeah, it's definitely cathartic, and it's mandatory for me to make music, 'cause if I don't, I will hang myself in my garage. If I don't have this, I'm done. 'Cause I'm an empathetic person. I have this compassion for people that struggle, because I've been through my own struggles. But I just feel like when people are hurting and they're next to me and they're walking through it, it's like I feel it. It sucks, man. And in a world right now where people are just hurtin' and vicious on each other, it's just, like, 'Fuck, man.' It's a hard time. So music is a healer, and that's what this record's about."