Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix on teen pop, toxic masculinity and 25 years of 'Infest'

Four hours oregon truthful earlier he’s owed onstage astatine Inglewood’s Kia Forum, Jacoby Shaddix lifts a steaming h2o vessel to his lips arsenic helium sits backstage successful a plush leather armchair.

“On amusement days, I portion blistery h2o to support my dependable lubed,” says the 48-year-old Papa Roach frontman, his hairsbreadth swept up successful a punkish do. “I’m precise disciplined with my manner — borderline monk presumption astatine this point. Discipline and obedience is similar the caller rebellion to me.”

The country of middle-aged restraint past week was a opposition to the rock-star excess that greeted Papa Roach successful 2000 erstwhile its opus “Last Resort” — a bruising rap-rock anthem astir suicidal ideation — exploded connected the vigor and MTV, propelling the set from small-town Northern California to a Grammy information for champion caller creator and to triple-platinum income of its medium “Infest.” (Among the LP’s different standouts: “Broken Home,” successful which Shaddix yowls, “I cognize my parent loves maine / But does my begetter adjacent care?”)

Twenty-five years aft “Infest” came out, though, Papa Roach’s assemblage has endured connected the roadworthy and connected societal media acknowledgment successful portion to Gen Z’s find of “Last Resort,” which ne'er seems acold from popping up successful a TikTok video. On Spotify, wherever the opus has been streamed much than 1.3 cardinal times, Papa Roach counts 13 cardinal monthly listeners — much than Soundgarden, Alice successful Chains oregon Smashing Pumpkins, to sanction 3 stone acts held successful higher esteem a quarter-century agone by critics and tastemakers.

In January, the set — which besides includes guitarist Jerry Horton, bassist Tobin Esperance and drummer Tony Palermo — released “Even If It Kills Me,” the pb azygous from an medium expected to get aboriginal this year. Shaddix, who’s joined and has 3 sons, looked backmost connected “Infest” and however it happened.

You were 23 years aged successful aboriginal 2000. What did you spot yourself doing astatine 48?
I’ll archer you this: We enactment retired our archetypal full-length successful 1997 called “Old Friends from Young Years.” And the crushed we titled it that was due to the fact that we had this wild-ass imagination that we wanted to bash this for our full life. So I’d similar to accidental I dreamt of this moment. I did imagination of it, but I wasn’t definite I was gonna get here.

Because the set would occurrence out, oregon you’d die, oregon what?
Part of it was conscionable the world of the euphony concern mounting successful and realizing however cutthroat it is — however pugnacious it is to support relevance. We had years wherever our occurrence was waning.

And present you’re successful the mediate of a comeback. Is that a connection you’re comfy with?
I’m good with it — “resurgence,” “comeback.”

Are you amazed that you’re playing arenas successful 2025?
It was ever the goal, but the world is surprising, you cognize what I’m saying? Actually surviving it, I’m like, “Holy f—, we’re here.” Because adjacent astatine our hottest, we ne'er did a headlining arena tour.

That’s weird to me.
It is, right? At the tallness of our career, we conscionable kept supporting — for Eminem oregon Korn oregon Limp Bizkit — alternatively of seizing that infinitesimal for our ain selves. They were paying america great, but it was wholly a mistake. We should person gone, “No, we’re not gonna enactment you — we’re gonna spell header the arena.”

Though present you are now.
Everything happens for a reason. Maybe I wasn’t acceptable for it astatine that clip successful my life. I’m conscionable truthful grateful that we ne'er packed it successful and said, “We’re out.”

Ever get close?
Every clip I circuit an medium and I spell home, I deliberation it’s over. Then I’ll get backmost successful the workplace and we’ll constitute a batch of caller songs, and I’m like, “This is sick — let’s go!” But I pridefulness myself connected the information that I’m a household man, truthful it’s ever hard to permission again.

Performing and parenting some necessitate a ton of affectional energy.
Dude, I’m plugged into the eventual powerfulness source. When I get home, I’m exhausted. But being with my household — with radical that I emotion and adore and respect — it’s recharging to me. A extremity of excavation was to not repetition the rhythm of my household history. I came from a breached home, and I was conscionable like, “This isn’t my way — I’m not gonna repetition this thing.” As passionate arsenic I americium astir my music, I’m conscionable arsenic passionate astir fatherhood.

As a dad, is your acquisition arsenic a lad ever successful your head?
The champion mode I could explicate it is that pouring myself into the narration I’ve built with my boys is what heals the brokenness wrong me. And truthful present I basal here, 48 years old, and I’m wholly astatine bid with what I walked done successful my beingness due to the fact that I righted the situation. It’s conscionable a rad spot to beryllium in. Even my aged antheral — my biologic begetter — I got bid with him. He asked me, “Do you forgive me?” I’m like, “Life’s excessively f— short, antheral — I ain’t trying to clasp a grudge connected you.”

“Infest” spoke to a procreation of disaffected young men successful a mode that felt healthy. Today, the temper astir aggravated young guys seems beauteous bleak.
I’m a steadfast believer that it starts astatine home. So I run successful a mode that’s nurturing, and we’re precise open-dialogue with the boys. They travel to maine astir anything, and I’m like, “I can’t ever accidental that I hold with the mode you’re trying to live, but I got you.” The mode that I attack the euphony has ever been an unfastened and honorable conversation. If you look astatine the statistic successful suicide, it predominately swings antheral — there’s an contented happening wherever men are truly struggling. Part of it is that 3rd spaces truly dwindled done COVID, and we’re built for community.

Why bash you deliberation young men are drawn to a fig similar Andrew Tate?
Masculinity is simply a spectrum, and I deliberation due to the fact that it swung 1 way, it’s swinging the different mode to an extreme. The full happening of toxic masculinity — I mean, determination is that retired there, but not each masculinity is toxic. Let’s conscionable beryllium existent with each other. Social media has go this happening wherever immoderate voices get truly loud, and truthful everybody goes, “Oh, that’s what masculinity is — that’s terrible.” F— disconnected with that. We gotta toughen up a small bit. I deliberation america arsenic a radical mightiness person gotten a small excessively brushed for a minute. Pulling up your bootstraps and spraying immoderate pugnacious connected it is important.

People interest astir kids’ deficiency of resilience, particularly aft the pandemic.
Not my boys. My kids are resilient, and I’m grateful for that. But the civilization has been benignant of coddled. You gotta look retired for your radical and beryllium delicate to each other, but there’s a equilibrium to this thing. We’re trying to find the equilibrium again due to the fact that it’s felt catawampus for a minute.

Shaddix, past known arsenic Coby Dick, performs successful 2001 during KROQ’s Weenie Roast performance successful Irvine.

(Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

“My name’s Coby Dick / Mr. Dick if you’re nasty.”
Oh yeah.

What bash you deliberation present astir your determination to unfastened “Infest” with those lyrics?
I ace up inside. My wife, she cosigned for our archetypal touring van — it was a large old, achromatic 15-passenger van. We called it Moby Dick. My name’s Jacoby, everybody called maine Coby increasing up. So past I was driving astir Moby Dick, and they’re like, “What’s up, Coby Dick?” It was similar a joke, right? Then it conscionable became my moniker.

So we enactment retired this record, and I’m like, “Mr. Dick if you’re nasty” — I ripped it from Janet Jackson. “Dr. Dick if you’re sick, Old Saint Dick connected Christmas, Count Dick-ula connected Halloween” — each these dumb -isms. I loved Wu-Tang Clan, wherever they had 9 members and they each had 3 names, truthful I had AKAs. Then erstwhile I started to work articles astir us, it was like, “Dick says…” I didn’t deliberation that through. That’s why, erstwhile we came retired with our adjacent record, I was Jacoby Shaddix. It’s a mode cooler name, and it’s my existent name.

Did you consciousness understood by the grounds concern earlier “Infest” came out?
F— no. We were trying to get a grounds deal, and cipher would motion us: “You don’t person an image,” “You guys aren’t punk enough,” “You’re not metallic enough.” Maybe we thought we deserved a grounds woody earlier we were truly expected to get a grounds deal. But past we got a demo woody with Warner Bros., and we recorded “Last Resort,” “Broken Home,” each the large hits from that record. Our A&R astatine the clip got fired, and cipher other astatine Warner Bros. gave a s—. They were like, “We’re gonna pass.”

Then this feline Ron Handler from DreamWorks someway heard astir Warner Bros. passing and was like, “I privation to travel down to the workplace and perceive what you guys are doing.” He was the 1 that got it. He said, “I emotion what you’re doing — it feels earthy and existent and authentic. Let’s decorativeness up this record.” He told our producer, “I can’t person you overproduce this happening with a clump of harmonies. Just grounds the band.” And we went and did that. Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin, they were the presidents of the label, we played them the record, and these aged cats conscionable sat connected the sofa and took the full happening in. They were like, “We judge successful this.”

Which struck you how?
I had nary thought the value of it, but I knew it was huge. Then we enactment that medium retired and we had this instrumentality down us. We thought we were gonna get successful the van and spell merchantability a mates 100 1000 records similar each of our peers did. Incubus, they built it. Deftones, they built it. All of a abrupt we’re selling 80,000 oregon 100,000 records a week. It was a freak-show infinitesimal for us.

The selling astatine the clip decidedly leaned into your intelligence wellness struggles. I wondered whether you ever felt exploited successful that way.
I had a communicative to tell, and I had radical going, “Your grounds saved my life.” So I looked astatine that and was like, “Who cares astir the business? This is purpose-driven music.” When we got connected the screen of Spin and they dubbed america “broken homeboys” — I was a small enactment disconnected by that. On the different hand, I saved that magazine. I inactive person a transcript of it. Now I look back, I’m like, “I was excessively delicate — get implicit yourself.”

But I ne'er felt exploited. There was a purity wrong america arsenic young creators — we hadn’t been tainted by the satellite successful a way, truthful it was similar we could spot our gut. After we had brainsick success, past that interior knowing astir disappeared: “Oh s—, present I’m present and everybody’s telling me, ‘You gotta bash this, you gotta bash that.’” It was a chaotic one. I toured truthful hard. I partied truthful hard.

Too hard?
I drank capable vodka to termination a tiny village.

You portion these days?
Nah, man. 2004 was erstwhile I archetypal enactment down the bottle. I relapsed a clump till 2012, past it was no más. Haven’t touched it since.

Music successful 2000 was beauteous polarized: Papa Roach, Creed and Limp Bizkit connected 1 broadside and Britney Spears, NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys connected the other.
All the stone bands were like, “F— the popular groups!” And the popular groups were like, “Why? We similar you guys!” I retrieve I met Justin Timberlake — we were successful Germany, and helium sent a information guard: “Hey, Justin wants to conscionable you.” He comes successful and he’s all, “This s—’s similar wrestling — down closed doors, it’s cool.” And I’m like, “You’re right, dude.” I told him straight-up: “I’ve been an a—.”

It’s funny: I saw AJ from the Backstreet Boys — we were each retired astatine the iHeartRadio Music Festival [in 2024] — and I knew helium was a sober guy. I was like, “What’s up, man? I’m Coby from P Roach — I conscionable privation to conscionable you and get to cognize you.” He and I deed it off, exchanged numbers. He’s like, “Dude, listen, I got a workplace astatine my spot — 1 of these days let’s get unneurotic and bash immoderate songwriting.” All the walls are down.

What’s the champion opus connected “Infest”?
“Last Resort” — the fans person spoken. I truly emotion “Blood Brothers.” “Dead Cell” is up there. But we knew “Last Resort” was peculiar — that’s wherefore we wanted it to beryllium the archetypal single. There were nary different songs connected the vigor that started with the vocal.

What’s the worst opus connected “Infest”?
Probably “Never Enough.” Lyrically, it’s a small meh.

Last year, Carrie Underwood joined you to grounds a caller mentation of your opus “Leave a Light On.” Who’s idiosyncratic other we mightiness not expect to beryllium into Papa Roach?
Timbaland. We recovered retired helium was a Papa Roach instrumentality erstwhile helium cited america successful Rolling Stone. Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas — met him retired astatine the clubs, and we ended up doing a collaboration connected their medium “Elephunk.” Swizz Beatz was a fan. I’m not a rapper, but hip-hop was a immense power connected america aboriginal on, truthful to person that respect from the Black assemblage was f— cool.

You wouldn’t telephone yourself a rapper?
I mean, I could spit immoderate bars. The past fewer records, I rap connected immoderate of them. So, yea — I got multi talents erstwhile it comes to that microphone. MC Dick! I won’t spell by that, though.