Papa do preach

I have to admit, I never quite got Papa Roach. Sure, there’s plenty to appreciate: a killer riff here, a fuck off drum track there… but their albums have always left me cold, bored, and rather nonplussed. (In fact so nonplussed that I couldn’t even be arsed not liking them).

Though mainstream metal fans jumped for joy when debut single ‘Last Resort’ tore into the charts, the dross released in its wake saddled the band with all the hallmarks of a one-trick-pony.

2001’s Infest went just under double platinum in Ireland, but 2002’s Lovehatetragedy has given a mere cursory glance at the gold mark since its release in June. However, despite this, Papa drummer Dave Buckner is keen to make his case.

“Since our inception as a band, we’ve had this ethos that you write what you know, from wherever you are,” he says. “When we recorded Infest, that’s where we were, with both our musical abilities and our creative flow. But you can’t write about being a teenager when you’re 25 or 26 years old. When we were writing this record, the process was quite different. Musically, we really didn’t feel tied down to any sort of mould or formula, we just said that we would write the kind of record we felt like writing and this is what came out.

I love this record. I love it from the bottom of my heart. I put so much of myself into every song – and it’s weird to say that as a drummer - but it’s true. We really feel, even more so than the last record, that Lovehatetragedy reflects us.”

The fusion path has taken Papa Roach on the road with the likes of Eminem and Xibit on this year’s Anger Management tour. They’ve also been in the studio with Black Eyed Peas for a collaboration on ‘Anxiety’, from BEP’s latest album Elephant, diversifying Papa Roach’s fanbase as well as their sound. Although Lovehatetragedy is undeniably more rawk than its predecessor, Buckner dispels the common assumption that Papa Roach’s distortion factor ranks them in the metal category.

“I don’t think we’re a metal band,” he muses. “In fact, I don’t think we ever were. We take so many elements from so many things; for example there’s a movement gong on now called screamo, sort of hardcore emo – it’s a cool movement. It reflects the fact that right now in music, there are no rules. The group of bands that we came up with, Korn and Linkin Park and all that, we were the bands who said, ‘Look, there are no more boundaries. Just do what you want’. And I feel cool about that. As a musician, you’re always trying to take it one step further somehow. But we’ve made a record that we really love and our fans are digging it. And we have fans! So damn! How can you complain!?”