PAPA ROACH On New Album 'F.E.A.R.': 'We Challenged Each Other In The Writing Process'

Artisan News recently conducted an interview with the four members of the California rock band PAPA ROACH. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On why the band chose to record its eighth full-length album, "F.E.A.R.", in Las Vegas:

Tobin Esperance (bass): "Well, we didn't actually choose it. The producers that we decided to work with [father-and-son super-producers Kevin and Kane Churko], that's their home base, and we just said, 'You know what?! It's all good. We can go to Vegas and make a record and not have to worry about any of the distractions that people… the clichés [they] bring up when you think of Vegas.' We just focused on getting the songs done and getting them written and getting them recorded and getting the fuck outta there. But it ended up being a really cool experience. I know Jacoby [Shaddix, vocals] talked about how he kind of focused more on the other side of Las Vegas — going out to the desert and tripping out, which influenced the… not tripping out on LSD, but just tripping around…"

Jacoby Shaddix (vocals): "In a meditative state."

Tobin: "And that kind of influenced also the [first] video, ['Face Everything And Rise']."

Jacoby: "[It was a] very cool place to make a record. We all went there consciously knowing that we just wanna focus on the music. I think if we made that record in Vegas ten years ago, I don't know if we would have made it out alive, to be honest. So I think we went there at the right time."

On what working with producers Kevin and Kane Churko contributed to the sound of the new album:

Jacoby: "I would say just their production tricks and qualities… It's large, it's bombastic, [and] it's in your face. It's like a big woman smothering [you] with her boobs. It's kind of like that; it's in your face, and it's just right there."

Tobin: "They definitely have a hand on that modern approach too. Their sound is this massive, modern approach to rock and roll."

Jacoby: "I think, also, with working with Kane, the younger one, [Kevin's] son, he listens to everything but rock and roll. He's just a fan of hip-hop music, pop music, avant garde music [and] jazz music; he's a deep thinker, you know… So he approached it from a very different standpoint than his father did, and that just added a different element to what we were doing. And I think that they both challenged all of us as writers, as well as we challenged each other in the writing process on the record. But it still sounds [very 'in your face']."

"F.E.A.R." will be released on January 27, 2015 via Eleven Seven Music).