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She loves him, she loves him not. Papa Roach’s Jacoby
Shaddix explores marital distress on lovehatetragedy.
By Sean Plummer
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Jacoby Shaddix does not socialize with Britney Spears
regularly. The fact that the Papa Roach singer, formerly known as Coby
Dick, was even in the same room as the Pepsi-approved pop phenom was
coincidence and should not be misconstrued as an endorsement of either
her or her music. For the record.
But this was Rock In Rio and weirdness abounded. The
third version of the gigantic Brazilian music festival was held over
two consecutive weekends in a soccer stadium in Barra da Tijuca west
of Rio de Janeiro in January 2001, one dedicated to rock, the other
to pop. Access was there (for the rock) and was first scheduled
to talk to Papa Roach at that time. But crossed wires and my ignorance
of portuguÍs foiled that attempt.
Shaddix was similarly overwhelmed. “It was cool,
man. It was really surreal. We’re in Rock In Rio, we’re downstairs
at the pool bar, there’s Axl Rose, Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo
Fighters, Britney Spears, us. This is weird!”
It got weirder. “Then we flew in on a helicopter
from the hotel to the venue over that whole sea of people and we were
just like ‘whoa, sh*t! This is f**kin’ amazing.’ Definitely
a moment in my life where I had to pinch myself to make sure it was
real.”
Such amazing moments have been increasingly commonplace
for Papa Roach. Together in various configurations since 1993, the quartet
of Shaddix, drummer Dave Buckner, bassist Tobin Esperance and guitarist
Jerry Horton put out their major label debut Infest in April
2000 and have sold over 3.5 million copies in the US alone. Radio and
TV latched on to the singles ‘Last Resort’ and ‘Broken
Home’, while appearances on high-profile tours like Ozzfest and
Anger Management exposed their rap-friendly rock to both metal and hip-hop
heads. (The band is currently on the road with Eminem, Ludacris and
Xzibit as part of this year’s Anger Management tour.) Not that
Shaddix sees much of a difference between either crowd.
“Kids just want to come out and have a good time
when you really think about it,” Shaddix says. “I’m thinking
the [Anger Management] audience is going to be somewhere between 14...
and 25, and those are people that are just opening themselves up to
what’s going on in the world, and that’s kind of the age when
you’re just figuring out yourself and what you’re into.”
Shaddix should know. At 25, the singer, who suffers
from attention deficit disorder, has been married for five years and
just recently had a child. Makaile Cielo, with his wife Kelly. Meanwhile,
his band has just released their second major label record, lovehatetragedy.
Infest’s hip-hop influences have been toned down in favour
of a more direct rock sound, although the first single, ‘She Loves
Me Not’, does find Shaddix rapping about the stresses he and his
wife put each other through.
“I think it’s all just one big f**kin’
mess, to tell you the truth! Neither side understands each other, and
that’s just the push and pull of life. My family life is the one
thing that I have that is personal so that’s the thing that I just
keep for myself. But then there’s a whole f**kin’ reckless
lifestyle I’ve got to lead, too! It’s like the more responsible
I am at home, the f**kin’ more irresponsible a lunatic I’ve
got to be when I’m not [home].”
But Shaddix is determined to maintain control over
his life, both personally and professionally. “We didn’t really
think about the music industry when we were comin’ up in the six
years we were an unsigned band,” he concedes. “Once we got
signed we definitely learned about the business... and it’s definitely
a little sheisty, but you just have to do what you think... without
compromising your integrity, and that’s something that I think
we’ve done.”
So you won’t be co-starring with Britney in her
next Pepsi commercial?
Shaddix laughs. “Most definitely not! Be co-starring
in a porn movie with Britney. Wait, did I say that out loud?”
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