Papa Roach
May 12, 2002

Vacaville, California band Papa Roach burst on the scene and in to heavy rotation in 2000 with their debut album "Infestation," and now they’re readying the follow-up, "Lovehatetragedy," for release June 18th. The advance single, "She Loves Me Not," is in the radio.wazee spotlight this week.

Papa Roach’s lead singer Jacoby Shaddix (formerly Coby Dick) says the lyrics for "She Loves Me Not" were inspired by his sometimes turbulent relationship with his wife, Kelly, who recently gave birth to their first child, a son named Makaile Cielo Shaddix. Lyrics like, "I don't know if I care/ I'm the jerk, life's not fair/ Fighting all the time, this is out of line/ She loves me not," illustrate the stress of trying to juggle your relationship and your band. "I feel like anything I do is just not enough," says Shaddix. "But you can't fight it. You just gotta fold, man, and that's the hard thing."

"She Loves Me Not" was originally recorded for the demo that got them signed, and which they intentionally left off of "Infest." "It just didn't fit the record," Shaddix said. "It was more of a rockin' rock song. Toward the end of ‘Infest,’ we wrote 'Between Angels and Insects' and 'Never Enough,' which were more rockin' songs, and that was the direction the band was moving in. So 'She Loves Me Not' fits this record. It's got enough of the old flavor in it from the last record, but it's got a new side of the band that people haven't really seen, and that's the super-melodic side. But it's still hard and aggressive."

The band came together in the small Northern California town of Vacaville in 1993 when four high school friends, Jerry Horton, Dave Buckner, Will James and Shaddix decided to start a band. Influenced by Bay Area acts like Faith No More and Primus, they became Papa Roach, and quickly rose to the top of the Vacaville music scene. They soon moved from pizza joints and keg parties to headlining places like the Cactus Club in San Jose, the Cattle Club in Sacramento and the Berkeley Square.

After releasing several EPs, including 1994's "Potatoes for Christmas" and 1995's "Caca Bonita," in the summer of 1996 the band decided to make changes necessary to reach the next level. They replaced bass player Will James and brought in Tobin Esperance. He was only 16 years old at the time, but had been a roadie for Papa Roach since age 13. He’s since taken home the 2002 California Music Award for Outstanding Bassist.

With a new manager to help them with bookings, promotions and merchandising, the band entered the studio to record the full-length CD "Old Friends From Young Years." Recorded for just $700, it was released in February of 1997. Without any push from the band or management, many smaller independent and college radio stations in Chico, Davis, San Jose, Sacramento and the Bay Area added Papa Roach to their playlists. At Cal-State Sacramento, Papa Roach number one as the most requested band for five consecutive weeks.

Thanks to the band’s emerging popularity, promoters started booking the band as a support act on many larger national shows, both in Northern and Southern California. In April 1998, Papa Roach released "5 Tracks Deep," an E.P. which sold 1,000 copies within a month. After signing a major-label deal with Dreamworks Records, the band released "Insfestation" in 2000.