Papa Roach Singer Jacoby Shaddix Dishes on Touring, Family and Charity

Papa Roach are keeping their road show going as they get ready to invade cities across the United States on the Rock Allegiance Tour with bands such as Buckcherry, Puddle of Mudd, P.O.D., Crossfade, Red and Drive A. The trek launches Aug. 24 in Grand Prairie, Texas.

With more than a decade of music under their belt, these California rockers have had much success with such hits as ‘Last Resort,’ ‘Broken Home,’ ‘She Loves Me Not,’ ‘Getting Away With Murder’ and ‘Scars.'

Papa Roach have been working nonstop promoting their 2010 release, ‘Time for Annihilation.’ We recently pulled a few quotes from our interview with singer Jacoby Shaddix for an article in which he told us about the band's plans for its next album. Here, we present our lengthier Q&A in which Shaddix tells Loudwire about touring, the future of the band, family, charity work and much more:

You guys are set to play the Rock Allegiance Tour with Buckcherry, Puddle of Mudd, P.O.D and Crossfade among others. What's your relationship with some of the bands on the lineup?

Buckcherry, we know those guys real well; they’re like our brothers in rock 'n' roll. Puddle of Mudd, we’ve known those guys for years; they’ve had a lot of really good hits over the years, as well. P.O.D, we’re stoked to tour with them; we’ve known each other since 1999 and we’ve always talked about doing tours together but it never happened. And then they dipped out for some years but they got the lineup back together and they got some smoking new music coming out, too, so it’s going to be dope.

I saw Red at this gig we played together in St. Louis and right after the show I was like, What the are you guys doing in August/September?' and they were like, 'Nothing.' Crossfade and Drive A -- the undercard is solid, as well, so it’s going to be a good run.

What can fans expect from Papa Roach on the Rock Allegiance tour?

A knocked out, dragged out, rip-roaring, rock 'n’ roll show -- that’s what we’re all about. It’s hits all the way through, too, not only for our set but it’s for the whole show. For us, this is our last hoorah, it’s our last run before we go away for a while, if you want to see P-Roach, this is when you got to get in.

It has been more than 10 years since the breakthrough of ‘Last Resort’ and the success of your debut disc, ‘Infest.’ How do you think Papa Roach has maintained their success since then?

We’re just passionate -- really passionate about creating music, passionate about stepping on the stage, passionate about our fan base and for not only what music does for us but for our fans out there. I think being in a rock 'n’ roll band, being in Papa Roach, we have an opportunity to be part of the positive flow of humanity through music, so it’s definitely like we give back through music.

What do you think the next 10 years hold for Papa Roach?

Probably some more rock 'n' roll tours, more rock  'n' roll hits and hopefully some legendary shows and good times, that’s what we want -- we want a career. This is what we all enjoy and we want to experience many more years of it, like Red Hot Chili Peppers. They got that new song, 'Rain Dance Maggie.' I just bought it on iTunes, its bad-ass dude. Just when I was like where’s the good rock at and the Chilis come back, and I was like, alright cool. Foo Fighters, Chili Peppers, bands like that, they got that career; we’re going for that.

How would you describe Papa Roach's most recent single, ‘No Matter What,' musically and lyrically?

Musically, I remember we were sitting in Sacramento and [guitarist] Jerry [Horton] started playing this real simple picking guitar part which is actually the opening riff to the song, and I just kept saying, “I need you right here by my side,” and I just kept saying that over and over and I just thought what a cool way to open up a track.

I’m about commitment. I show it in my body with my tattoos, I show it through my commitment to my music, as well as my commitment to my family and my wife. I’ve been married going on 15 years now and sometimes I write about the darker side of love, not only in my life but in the lives of people around me. Me and my lady were just talking and she was like, “You know what: we’re going to be the last ones standing.”

You see all of these rock 'n’ roll families just falling apart or these families in general falling apart. We don’t see that for ourselves; we’re in it for the long haul and so I wanted to write a song about that -- commitment. That’s something right now that’s lost; they’re too many baby mamas out there, dude.

What inspired the idea for the ‘No Matter What’ video?

We’ve been working with this video director Jesse Davey for quite a while, he’s done two of our videos and the lyrics it’s a love song and we wanted to make a video that took you to another place. Think like ‘Reservoir Dogs’ meets ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ and we were like, 'Yup, that’s the video.' It’s really cool to work with somebody that takes your creativity and expounds upon it and Jesse Davey does just that.

We’re working with his brother this time on the acoustic version of the song, and my younger son is going to be in the video. It’s going to be a trip; we'll see how it comes out but I think it’s going to be great.

Are your kids little hard rockers or do they have other musical tastes?

Jagger, my younger son, likes everything from Weezer to AC/DC to Katy Perry and then Makaile, my older boy, he’s more of a rocker, he likes rock music. They both play drums; they’re going for it you know. My older son, I think is going to do the school band, too. I try to let them experience the different sides of life. They get their jock on, they get their band geek on, they get their freak on and weird out, listen to metal and go crazy. They’re going to be what they’re going to be. They’re amazing.

Papa Roach does a lot of charity work. Talk about some of the charities you help out?

It’s a good experience; I think giving back and service to others is one of the highest callings to being a human being. We started working with a charity in Sacramento, local just right outside my door; we did it in our hometown. We wanted to do something national/worldwide and we found out Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen they both work with this organization called WhyHunger.

If some top notch guys are doing this, then it must be legitimate and it really does work for the people. We’ve raised thousands of dollars over the last two years working with them. We’re going to do some stuff on this tour with them and setting up booths and trying to get people to donate because it’ll all go back to their local communities or their local shelters; it really goes to the people that are truly in need.

Growing up for a while, my family was homeless and we got back on our feet a little bit more and then we lived off welfare for a while when I was a little kid. We didn’t take advantage of the system hardcore, but just to get our feet back under us and we just built ourselves up from there.

What inspires you to give back?

Personal experience and the world has given us so much by way of our career and people really connecting with us. I didn’t have a bad-ass house in the hills, now I do. I look at this thing and I’m lucky; this is just a gift but if you can give back and support; you get what you give.

Watch the Papa Roach 'No Matter What' Video