Papa Roach talk mental health, Bring Me The Horizon and “pushing the boundaries” for their next album

4 February, 2025

Jacoby Shaddix, 2025

Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix has spoken about the band’s “boundary-pushing” new material, as well as their relationship with Bring Me The Horizon and commitment to mental health awareness.

The frontman caught up with NME as the nu-metal pioneers kicked off the European leg of their ‘Rise Of The Roach’ tour – celebrating 25 years of iconic 2000 debut album ‘Infest’. The stint will see them play some of their biggest shows of their career, including a stop at London’s OVO Wembley Arena.

As well as hitting the road, the band have also dropped the resilient anthem ‘Even If It Kills Me’ – their first new single since 2022 and taster their next album. According to Shaddix, the track was inspired by his son “going through a traumatic life upheaval.”

“It was like watching him walk through fire, and seeing that awoke something in me,” Shaddix told NME. “That feeling of ‘How am I going to be there for him through this tragedy in his life?’

“It’s hard to watch people that you love suffer, and I wanted to put that feeling into song. I really wanted to carry the pain for him and I realised that when life throws these things at us, sometimes it breaks us down, but sometimes it builds us up.”

Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach performs live. CREDIT: Katja Ogrin/Redferns/Getty Images

Check out the full interview with Shaddix below, where he also opens up about what fans can expect from the new album, his relationship with Bring Me The Horizon, the nu-metal comeback, and why Papa Roach will always strive to to raise awareness for mental health.

NME: Hi Jacoby. Why was ‘Even If It Kills Me’ chosen as your first single of 2025?

Jacoby Shaddix: “We were looking at the arc of what we did over recent years and what we captured in ‘Ego Trip’ [2022]. We wanted to do something that felt like a good follow-up to our single ‘Leave a Light On (Talk Away The Dark)’, but didn’t want to go straight into another ballad-type song. So it came because we were looking for something different.”

There is a Bring Me The Horizon vibe to the track – are you a fan of theirs?

“ I love those guys, man! They’re fucking great and I’m a huge fan. It’s cool because we did a show at The Roundhouse in London a while back and they hit us up! They pulled up to the show and Lee [Malia, guitarist] said his first band hoodie was a Papa Roach one, and that the first band he ever crowd surfed to was us too!

“It was cool to hear that we were an early influence on them and, more generally, that the nu-metal era as a whole has inspired a new wave of bands who then put their own spin on it. It is really art feeding art, and it’s been 20 years of it! So gladly compare me to them — that’s fucking tight!”

Does the song give us insight into what we can expect from the upcoming album?

“ No one song really reflects the whole sound of a Papa Roach album. We are a rock band, but we like to go down rabbit holes and see how far we can push the boundaries. Our fans are willing to go on that journey, so it’s still an exciting thing for us to get in the studio and discover where this thing is taking us.

“There are a few songs coming that are a bit heavier, and we did go in and intentionally say ‘Let’s bring back those big, huge riffs’. After all, we’re seeing this resurgence of the nu-metal era happening, so we wanted to celebrate that early feistiness in our guitar riffs. To be honest though, I’m just really focused on this tour right now. My main focus is on these shows and this song. Behind-the-scenes we’re slowly and steadily working on the new record.”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of your breakthrough debut ‘Infest’. What is your relationship with that album now?

“ I still love that album. I look back on it very fondly because there’s a raw simplicity to it. We weren’t reinventing the wheel, but it came along at a time when we could fit in a groove of what was happening in music. It was also a period of discovery for me as a young man, exploring where I fit in the world, how I saw myself and what I was struggling with. So that record is a true reflection of all those things. There was an honesty and a pureness to it.

“Both then and now, we perform those songs and they still stand out. The reaction from the fans has always been huge, but we got such terrible reviews back in the day. We’ve never been the critically-adored band, but that first record got so many bad reviews back then which hurt my heart. Now though, I couldn’t give a fuck about that. It’s fine by me because we’re selling out Wembley Arena, so fuck it, that’s enough for me!”

What’s it like to see the original nu-metal scene edging closer to being considered ‘Classic rock’?

“Let’s not get it twisted, it is classic rock! It’s been 25 years since we dropped that album and after your song has been on the radio for 25 years in America, it gets moved to the classic station. I couldn’t fucking wait for that because, to me, that marks a new level of success.

“I’m still blown away by the resurgence we’re seeing now. You didn’t see an ‘80s hair metal comeback, but we are seeing motherfucking nu-metal come back, along with all the characters in it! It’s great because there are so many unique personalities within this genre — Chino [Moreno, Deftones frontman] ain’t nothing like Fred [Durst] from Limp Bizkit. Same with me, and Jonathan [Davis] from Korn, and Serj [Tankian] and Daron [Malakian] from System of a Down… everybody is very unique in their own regard and none of us sound exactly alike. It’s fucking cool that we all survived the ages and are now playing some of the biggest shows of our careers.”

Papa Roach consistently makes efforts to raise awareness for mental health issues. Profits from ‘Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)’ went to suicide prevention charity AFSP, and £1 from each ticket sold on your UK tour is being donated to mental health charity CALM. Why is this something close to your heart?

“ We’ve been singing about it since the beginning. Our first song, ‘Last Resort’ was about a cry for help. It’s always been part of our story and a part of my life. I’ve had my own highs and lows and I’ve come to an understanding of how to grapple with it. I know the darkness, and by putting it into my music it’s connected me with so many thousands upon thousands of people.

“Every day that I’m on tour, I’ll meet somebody who will tell me these exact words: ‘Your music saved my life.’ That wasn’t our intention when we started the music, but the more open and honest I got with the songs, the more I realised that I wasn’t alone in my struggle.”

“I sit here as a testament of strength and hope, and that’s what I want to share with the world. I want to give back because the fans have given us so much through all the years. They’ve given me the opportunity to chase this dream continuously and keep peeling back the layers of myself through this music. I’ve become more aware of my wounds and I just want to do good.

“I don’t want to bleed on people, I want to patch it up and do right.”

Understanding and sympathy around mental health has come a long way compared to 25 years ago, but also we’re living in the age of social media where it can be easier to feel isolated…

“It’s a struggle that has been around forever. Instead of talking, a lot of us just self-medicated through the years to cope. Now pop culture and media are coming around to the idea that mental health is the next level of our health as a whole. I’d go as far as to say there’s a spiritual sickness in this world as well, but that’s another story…

“The mental health battle is real. As you said, it is that feeling of isolation now. Our phones make us feel like we’re more connected, but really they just isolate us. Because of that, we have to take accountability as individuals as well and question how much trash we’re allowing into our lives. For me it was like: ‘What media am I watching? Am I watching violent movies? Am I watching pornography? If I’m filling my life with all this chaos, how can I expect my life to be great?’”

What does the future look like for Papa Roach?

“I’m excited because we’re playing a tour that’s nearly completely sold out! We’ve been away for quite a while, so now we’re just getting reacquainted with being on stage. We’ve got a couple of shows under our belt now and it feels good to be back in action.

“We’re going to keep writing music and touring, but I don’t want to over-tour. I’ve done it a few times in my life where I just tour until I break, so we’ve found the balance we need to give everything we can. It’s about giving your all, then being able to go back and recharge – that’s something I learned, for both my mental health and my health in general, I have to strike a balance.”

Papa Roach’s tour continues throughout 2025. Visit here for remaining tickets to UK shows, and here for tickets to international dates.