L.A. Beat

Papa Roach have been enjoying some much deserved time off after a busy couple years of touring.

 But they put the time to good use by almost finishing a new CD and getting ready to tour Canada with Five Finger Death Punch, Sixx: A.M. and From Ashes to New, which comes to the Enmax Centre, Sept. 13.

“We took all of 2016 off. We were supposed to play Paris with Five Finger Death Punch the day after that horrible terror attacks ( Nov. 13 at the Bataclan at a show with Eagles of Death Metal) It was a real shitty feeling,” said Papa Roach bassist Tobin Esperance from his Austin home.
After forming in high school in 1993, the Vacaville, California born , Grammy award winning rockers charted some big hits in the ’90s including “Last Resort,” “Broken Home” and “She Loves Me Not” but have since recorded  eight albums including their most recent “F.E.A.R”
“We had been relentlessly touring the two years before that. So we decided to go home and spend time with our families and get some R and R. We all have kids now and they’re all into school and sports and things,” he said.
“I was actually supposed to fly to Oregon for my brother’s wedding and join the band in Vancouver, but I missed my flight,” he said.

“So with what we do, we can live pretty much anywhere,” he said adding his band mates (frontman Jacoby Shaddix, lead guitarist Jerry Horton and drummer Tony Palermo) are sprinkled all over California.
 So they spent most of the year spending time with their families and working on a new CD.

“We recorded with our two new best friends. It feels really good,” he said adding the new music takes the band back to their roots in the early ’90s.

“A lot of bands tell you their latest is their favourite, that their CD is fresh and new. But we really feel that ours is,” he continued, noting they don’t expect to release the new CD until early next year.
“But we’re all so excited about it, we might release it earlier. There’s big stuff,” he said adding it will likely be released mid-tour.

 

“There is a strong hip hop influence on this one. There’s rapping, there’s all  elements of music that we like. We like hip hop, we like punk, we like metal.  But we’re doing it like Rage Against the Machine used to do albums. There will be music people will find familiar like “Last Resort’ which had rap and rock music, but we’re going back to what we were doing when we were kids,” he continued.

 They are excited to tour again with Five Finger Death Punch and Sixx: A.M.
“We used to tour with Sixx: A.M. And Motley Crüe. Nikki Sixx is such a laid back guy. He’s a great guy. And I go back a long way with DJ Ashba and James Michel (from Sixx: A.M.) And I remember being part of the Motley Crüe show.  Tommy Lee was great. I remember some great parties in the dressing room. He’s so energetic and really cool,” he said.

They are looking forward to the tour.
“We’ll be playing a lot of the older songs from the first record and some from the other albums. And some laid back moments. It’s going to be lots of fun,” Esperance said.
“Band members may be playing in the middle of the crowd,” he said.

Their last album F.E.A.R had a more techno influence. Esperance said they can replicate that music fairly well on stage.

“For the next tour we may bring someone else to perform extra vocals and  vocals. We’ve known him for a long time, so we know he can do it,” he said he said, not naming the mystery guest.
“ It may not be exactly like the album, but there is an essence of spontaneous jamming,” he said.
 Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch, Sixx: A.M., and From Ashes to New play the Enmax Centre, Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 7: p.m.
 Go to http://www.fivefingerdeathpunch.com/ for more information, tour dates and information about VIP passes.
 Tickets cost $55 and $65.