PAPA ROACH 'Wanted To Get Weird' On 'Crooked Teeth' Album

PAPA ROACH frontman Jacoby Shaddix was interviewed on the April 30 edition of “Whiplash”, the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie. You can now listen to the chat using the widget below.

Speaking about PAPA ROACH‘s decision to revisit some of its “rap-rock” roots on its upcoming album, “Crooked Teeth”, Jacoby said: “I think looking at the landscape of rock music right now, we just kind of felt like we were getting too much lumped into the pack. Not that we sound just like every other band, but we just felt like rock has become, for us, just a little bit homogenized. And we were, like, ‘All right, we need to break out of this box and do something different.'”

He continued: “Back in the day, when we first came in, we were always like the bastard cousin to the scene. When we came up, it was emo bands and punk bands and gutterpunk bands, and then we were like this fun punk/hip-hop band. So we never fit in. And so we were, like, ‘All right, let’s make music that makes us not fit in anywhere but our own space.’ And so that was kind of the M.O. in doing this. And we hooked up with two producers, [Nicholas] RAS [Furlong] and Colin [Brittain], and they really encouraged us to just kind of jump outside the box. ‘Cause we know what we can do, but they encouraged us to get weird, and we wanted to get weird. So we got weird.”

According to Jacoby, part of PAPA ROACH‘s motivation in changing up the formula was a desire to keep things interesting for not only themselves but also their longtime supporters. “We always wanna challenge ourselves, but then also challenge our fans,” he said. “We wanna take our fans on a ride. We look back at QUEEN, LED ZEPPELIN… those type of bands. They had a style, but they always switched it up and came back with something new and fresh. Hopefully we hit the mark on this one, but I feel really positively about this record so far.”

“Crooked Teeth” will be released on May 19 via Eleven Seven Music. The disc will be available digitally and physically, as a standard (10 tracks) and deluxe (10 tracks + 3 brand new tracks + 16 Live tracks Live at the Fillmore Detroit) editions.

Written and recorded in a cramped North Hollywood studio, “Crooked Teeth” was produced by first-timers Nicholas “RAS” Furlong and Colin Brittain, with the exception of “Born For Greatness”, which saw the band collaborate with writer/producer Jason Evigan (Jason Derulo, Demi Lovato, Zedd, MAROON 5). Furlong and Brittain, who grew up listening to PAPA ROACH, worked to bring in elements of music from different genres and parts of the world, and pockets of rhythm people associate more with rap or reggae, while still staying true to PAPA ROACH‘s sound.

The moody ballad “Periscope” features a guest appearance by Skylar Grey while the acoustic/ hip-hop rock mashup of “Sunrise Trailer Park” sees Machine Gun Kelly adding a verse to Shaddix‘s rap.