PAPA ROACH 'Paramour' finds flavor from paranormal site

Papa Roach's members say taking a risk with writing songs is important.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
The members of Papa Roach aren't easily spooked.
However, this was exactly the case when the quartet -- Jacoby Shaddix (vocals), Jerry Horton (guitar), Tobin Esperance (bass) and Dave Buckner (drums) -- recorded its latest effort "The Paramour Sessions" at the supposedly haunted Paramour Mansion in the Hollywood Hills.
"We were working on this song 'Crash' and there was a part we'd get to where Jacoby sings the lyric 'I'm going to crash,'" said Horton, calling from Nashville. "Every time we would get to that part, the computer would crash and the power would go out in the whole house. When that happened once, we were like, 'OK.' It was a little weird, but we flipped the breakers and started up again. It ended up happening three more times after that.
"It wasn't like a spooky kind of vibe. It wasn't scary ... just kind of, you could tell there was an energy and something else other than ourselves there."
The 14-bedroom estate was once owned by oil heiress Daisy Canfield, who died in 1933 after driving her car off Mulholland Drive and plummeting 300 feet to her death. She's buried on the property, which over the years fell into disrepair but most recently has become a chic recording studio for stars. Not only have H.I.M. and Gwen Stefani recorded in the studio, but reality television show "Rock Star" was filmed there.
Throughout its career, Papa Roach has recorded its albums -- 2000's "Infest," 2002's "lovehatetragedy" and 2004's "Getting Away with Murder" -- at traditional recording studios. But for the recording of what would become "The Paramour Sessions," Horton said the band was looking for a different environment. Aside from the paranormal activity, that's exactly what it found at the Paramour Mansion.
Direct effects
"If we did not live and write in the mansion, we would not have the record that we have, basically," Horton said. "There were maybe two or three songs written before we got into the house, and the rest of them were written at the house. The influence that the house had on the record was more than just us all living together and having access to music or our instruments 24/7. There was a tremendous amount of energy and you can definitely feel it."
There's something to be said about a band being thrust together into a dorm situation for weeks on end to create music that seemingly ups the ante of its members' artistic spirit. Even though Papa Roach has been around since the turn of the century, sold more than 10 million albums and scored nine consecutive hit singles -- including "Broken Home," "She Loves Me Not," "Last Resort," "Getting Away with Murder," "Scars," "... To Be Loved" and "Forever" -- on the charts, Horton admits the group was looking to push itself into a new orbit with "The Paramour Sessions."
Moving on
"I've heard Jacoby say it and it's really true: We as artists feel like it's important to push our art forward, and we're not really afraid to take risks about writing songs in different styles," Horton said.
Those risks manifested themselves in new tracks such as the dynamic "Forever" and the alternative-sounding "My Heart is a Fist." The dilemma for Papa Roach, which makes its Mahoning Valley debut Friday at The Wedge in Austintown, is bringing along its loyal rock radio audience, which over the years hasn't always taken a liking to established bands finding new directions.
"That is a good observation, and we have experienced that in the past, especially when 'Scars' came out, but that's a give-and-take kind of thing," Horton said. "If you grow and try to expand your audience, you're going to get a little bit of backlash and people that want you to be one thing. And we just do what we do, and if people are into it and they're along for the ride and want to grow with us, we really appreciate and cherish that.
"We know the game, and we're just doing what we do. We're just trying to make new fans and if people get disenfranchised, there is nothing we can do. We're not going to stifle ourselves just to make some people happy."