A diverse and devastating album, dissected.

Papa Roach are just about to release their new album 'Ego Trip' (April 08).

An all-encompassing look into every musical piece of their incredible journey, it is a record made without fear or expectation. Pushing what Papa Roach can be into exhilarating new places whilst also remaining positive, vital and larger than life, it opens up so many more lanes that the band can go into in the future because there is no sign of them slowing down.

To get into the nitty-gritty of what makes this album what it is, we sat down with bassist Tobin Esperance to find out a little bit more...

CELEBRATING STILL BEING HERE AFTER ALL THIS TIME"Its crazy to think that we are one of just a few bands that have had the longevity we have whilst also being able to keep putting out records as we do. Its almost by nature that we do it. Were challenging our fans with some of the music we are producing these days, but we are having fun with it, and I hope that people get that. We still have really good chemistry, we love what we do together, and we still have a lot of energy and passion for what we do. So being to keep on putting that into music and still being able to take it back out on the road still feels so special."

NOT LETTING LABELS STOP US FROM TRYING EVERYTHING"We started writing music around the time that we were planning on celebrating the 20th anniversary of Infest at the same time. We experimented with going down this raw, guitar-driven direction and did a few weeks in the studio and enjoyed a lot of the stuff that came out of it. Then when we went to do another session, we did the complete opposite and tripped out and did loads of weird things. We were making music on the opposite end of the spectrum, yet we had so much fun with both. We decided to have this record completely open with no rules. Everything is a little bit different. You cant pigeonhole us in one little thing or expect everything to sound the same these days.

"Our whole thing now is showing off all of the different emotions and vibes that make us who we are. We try not to take ourselves too seriously. We like to create that party vibe with whatever we do. But we can get real serious on some stuff as well. Its an organic process when you show yourself through what you are making. We rented a big house to record all of this in, and we partied for a month straight and made music 24/7. We invited our friends, writers, producers, everybody to come and do what they do best. And because of that, every day was completely different. Hanging out with your best friends, sharing everything with them, living life. I think that vibe and connection shows."

MAKING EVERY MOMENT WITH THE ONES WE LOVE A MEMORY"Any time you come together as a brotherhood in the way that we did, you remember what it is like to be that brotherhood. We were trying to capture the sense of urgency that the world was going through at that time between 2020 and 2021. It was craziness. And for us to talk about the world with each other, in this space where we love and respect each other so much, was special. But we have always been good at creating the right environment and mood to make music the way we want to. Every record has to be an experience for us."

NEVER LETTING THE DARK GET THE BEST OF US"Our message has always been to give a sense of hope, coming out on the other side and not feeling like you are so alone. Its always been about the light. Our music was a lot more angst-ridden when we started, but we have been doing this for a long time. We have been through a lot, good and bad, and matured a lot at the same time. Sharing that message with people still that they arent going through any of this shit on their own is still so important. Jacoby [Shaddix, vocals] is so good at connecting with people. He can find so many different juxtapositions within the music we make to drive home that message in so many different ways. It still makes it fresh and interesting for us as well as vital."

REMEMBERING TO CHECK YOURSELF AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE"The term Ego Trip goes to all of the conversations we were having around making this record. Trying to tie it into our experiences where we have been trying to bring ourselves back down to Earth. All of our egos can move all over the place at any time. Thats the same with everything in the world at the moment. Whether its in politics or choosing sides and fighting against each other, we need to step back, look at this thing and remember how things should be."

BEING IN CONTROL OF EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE AND DESTINY"This album was a lot about being in total control of everything. We are on our own label, so we will make all of the decisions we want to make. Making it when we wanted to, how we wanted to, and making a point to share as much of the process as possible. We have been trying to do everything we can to bring our fans into every stage of the process up until now. We were streaming live the whole time we were in the studio. We were saying yes to things because why the hell not? Papa Roach is constantly changing, and we want to show as much of that as possible in the way that we want to, all on our own."

RELISHING EVERY SINGLE MOMENT AND NEVER FORGETTING HOW SPECIAL ALL OF THIS IS"Were going to be so busy in the future, but we are ready for the challenge. It will be a lot of work, but we have so many great things in the works and so much that we are excited to share. But having that drive and being your own independent thing feels so amazing. And to be able to do all that with this collection of songs and get closer to our fans again, theres nothing else like it."

Originally posted here:
This Is The Anatomy Of Papa Roach's New Album 'Ego Trip' - ROCKSOUND.TV