PAPA ROACH's JERRY HORTON: 'We Don't Really Hang Out When We're Not On Tour'

PAPA ROACH guitarist Jerry Horton spoke to the Q105.1 Rocks radio station about how he and his bandmates have managed to stay together for nearly 30 years. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Like any sort of long-term relationship, a.k.a. marriage, there's ups and downs, there's fights, there's arguments, there's whatever. But I think over the years we've figured out how to give each other space. We don't really hang out when we're not on tour, only because we're usually on tour more than we're at home. We have families and we wanna give them the time too. So I think the time apart is healthy. And then once we kind of gear up for things, we'll go into it a hundred percent. We still love making music, we still love that creative outlet and we still love playing shows. So we're just doing our best to keep it fresh, keep it all together and ride this wave."

Asked if he feels like "rock is on its way up again," Jerry said: "Absolutely. We've seen it happen multiple times over the years where the guitar becomes not cool. And then somebody picks it up and puts it in a pop song and then it's cool again. That's only on sort of like a superficial surface. Rock fans are always rock fans. We have a very loyal rock fanbase. And when we talk about rock being cool, rock's always cool but it's sort of, like, okay, it's recognized by people who are mostly into pop music.

"We do what we do, and we do take influence from different types of music, and sometimes we do take influence from pop music, whether it be chord progressions or sounds or whatever," he explained. "[But] rock is our first love, and that's our anchor, and that's what we anchor things around."

Last month, PAPA ROACH and FALLING IN REVERSE kicked off a co-headlining U.S. tour. Dubbed the "Rockzilla Summer Tour", the bill also includes HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD and BAD WOLVES. The trek launched on July 27 in East Providence, Rhode Island, with dates booked in 24 cities across the U.S. before a final show on August 31 in Nashville, Tennessee.

After two years of work and nearly 10 months of building up excitement with fans, PAPA ROACH recently celebrated the release of its 11th studio album, "Ego Trip". An album that sprouted almost by mistake in the throes of a global lockdown, its seeds were planted when the quartet entered a COVID-secure mansion in Temecula, California, in the summer of 2020.

"Ego Trip" came out in April via New Noize Records in partnership with ADA Worldwide (WMG's independent label and artist services arm).

PAPA ROACH are two-time Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling leaders in alternative hard rock music, who in 2020 celebrated the 20th anniversary of their iconic album "Infest".

PAPA ROACH is completed by bassist Tobin Esperance, singer Jacoby Shaddix and drummer Tony Palermo.

"Ego Trip" is the follow-up to "Who Do You Trust?", which came out in January 2019.