Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix: ‘I’ve Struggled With a Lot of the Same Demons’ as Chester Bennington
The death of Chester Bennington sent a shockwave throughout the rock community and the ripples are still felt as the singer's peers continue to process the loss. Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix hasn't been shy about his own mental struggles and opened up about his relationship with Bennington and his familiarity with the Linkin Park singer's demons in a recent interview.
"I knew him quite well. I went out to dinner with him about a month before all that went down. He just had great advice to give me and was just super friendly and I just thought everything was cool," Shaddix began telling Detroit's WRIF podcast Radio Chatter in a recent interview (transcription via Blabbermouth). "But the reality is I've struggled with a lot of the same demons he's struggled with and I understand the darkness."
Shaddix expressed that his "heart goes out to" anyone currently walking down that same dark path or anyone who knows somebody struggling with this mental anguish. "And sometimes it just feels like everything is just way too heavy and you just can't handle life. And it's tough sometimes. I'm just glad I'm still breathing because that really just hit me hard. It made me go, 'Ugh. That's just too heavy.' We lost some good ones in this last year, for real," the Papa Roach frontman continued, hitting close to home with Linkin Park's One More Light single, "Heavy," where Bennington took on the weight of the world in his lyrics.
Shaddix agreed that sobriety and having his family has helped to keep him on a clearer mental path. "It's definitely an anchor for me — 100 percent," he said, noting how important being sober is for him personally when adding, "That's what really kind of roots me in sanity." As for his family, the singer commented that the idea of losing his wife and kids or not being there for them "is terrifying to me." Wrapping up his thoughts, he affirmed, "And so every day I'm grateful for my relationship with my wife, I'm grateful for my positive relationship with my kids. And so I want to keep that — those relationships. Because at the end of the day in life, that's all we've got — all our relationships and our experiences with other people. And I value those."
Papa Roach will continue to support their new record, Crooked Teeth, in 2018 with an headlining North American run featuring Nothing More and Escape the Fate. The tour will stretch from the beginning of April through mid-May and a list of stops can be found here.
See Papa Roach in the 25 Best Hard Rock Albums of 2017
Papa Roach Play 'Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?'