Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California, formed in 1993. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, guitarist Jerry Horton, drummer Dave Buckner, bassist Will James, and trombonist Ben Luther.
After two EPs, James left and was replaced by Tobin Esperance. The band independently released two more EPs before signing with DreamWorks Records in 1999, subsequently releasing the triple-platinum Infest in 2000, the gold album Lovehatetragedy in 2002 and the platinum album Getting Away with Murder in 2004. A year after The Paramour Sessions, Buckner left in 2007, and was replaced by Tony Palermo. Papa Roach then made Metamorphosis (2009), Time for Annihilation (2010), The Connection (2012), F.E.A.R. (2015), Crooked Teeth (2017) and Who Do You Trust? (2019). The group's eleventh studio album, Ego Trip, was released on April 8, 2022.
Papa Roach's formation began in January 1993, when lead singer Jacoby Shaddix and drummer Dave Buckner met on the Vacaville High School football field. They were later joined by lead guitarist Jerry Horton from nearby Vanden High School, rhythm guitarist Anne Mikolajcik, trombonist Ben Luther and bassist Will James. They decided to enter the school's talent show, performing a version of Jimi Hendrix's song "Fire". They ultimately ended up losing the talent show. In March 1993, Ben Luther left the band, and Anne Mikolajcik left as well. At this point, Papa Roach was practicing every day and touring, playing every gig it could get. The band's first tour van was called Moby Dick, from which Shaddix was inspired to come up with his first stage name "Coby Dick". Initially, the band was called "Papa Gato" as suggested by Buckner but Shaddix changed it to Papa Roach, mixing up the nickname of his grandfather from his mother's side —Herbert Fischer "Papa"— and "Roach" coming from his grandfather from his father's side, John "Grandpa" Roatch. Both grandparents were musicians.
Papa Roach has been described as alternative rock, nu metal, alternative metal, rap metal, hard rock, rap rock, punk rock, pop rock, and rapcore. The band also utilizes elements of pop, electronic, and hip hop. The band started as a hardcore punk band. In their early independent releases and on their first two major label albums, Infest and Lovehatetragedy, the band tended to use nu metal and rap metal. Before Papa Roach released their major label albums, Jacoby Shaddix's singing style was compared to Chino Moreno and Lynn Strait of Snot. Additionally, with their 2009 album, Metamorphosis, as the name expresses, the band felt that their music was going through a transformation to "stuff that's...harder and faster". AllMusic has compared the band's recent work to 1980s glam metal, Allmusic staff writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote "At the close of the 2000s, the quartet has shed the rap and the angst, ditching all the alt-metal accoutrements to become a knowing update of an '80s Sunset Strip sleaze rock outfit." With the release of F.E.A.R., both MetalSucks and Metal Injection noted that the band has acquired some djent influences.
In 2004, frontman Jacoby Shaddix said the following in an interview with the Dallas Music Guide regarding the band no longer using rapping in their music: "...the rapping's gone! I don't feel like rapping. I'm just over that...I just want to be a rocker. It's what I wanted to be when I was a kid". Shaddix has added this remark in another interview: "We're a band that tries to walk that line between metal, hardcore, punk rock and pop music, and we do our best at trying to make it all cool".
Prior to the release of The Connection, guitarist Jerry Horton said in an interview by VerdamMnis Magazine that "It's kind of a natural thing for us, we've always been changing throughout the years. Of course, there are some things that stay the same in our sound but we do like to try new things to sort of stretch out a little bit our basis and therefore make it more interesting". He also said that the band was going to explore "electronic sounds for the next record".
The band's influences include Faith No More, Social Distortion, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wu-Tang Clan, Fugees, Refused, Queen, and Led Zeppelin. Jacoby Shaddix acknowledges Faith No More's Mike Patton and Social Distortion's Mike Ness as major influences, stating that "the way that I sing, I definitely was inspired by Mike Patton", "but I like the storytelling that Mike Ness does so I kind of fused both those two guys together at an early age, and it inspired me to become my own thing."
In the beginning, Papa Roach's biggest influence was experimental band Mr. Bungle (fronted by Mike Patton from Faith No More), which was reflected in the adventurousness of their 1994 debut release Potatoes for Christmas.
In a 2021 interview, Jacoby Shaddix reflected about the band's long-held association with the nu metal genre, saying "I love being one of the forefathers of nu metal, that's dope, but we've been able to outlive it and celebrate it at the same time".
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…shrink me down again