2018 is the year that Papa Roach will finally do their first ever headline tour in Australia. After previously supporting Red Hot Chilli Peppers in the land down under back in 2002 then appearing on Soundwave festival in 2015 the time has come for Papa Roach to give Aussie fans proper headline shows. We caught up with Papa Roach bass guitarist Tobin Esperance to talk about the tour and their latest album Crooked Teeth.

SCENEzine
Looking back how was 2017 for you?

Tobin Esperance
It was great, really pretty easy. We did a couple of tours that went great. A successful tour through Europe was really the highlight. Other than that I’m now looking forward to another year where we can back in the studio, do some more touring in the States and as well come to Australia and finally to a proper headliner.

SCENEzine
2017 was the release year of your awesome new album Crooked Teeth. Were you taken a back by how well it did?

Tobin Esperance
Well not really because that’s what we planned on. We planned it that way, we worked really hard to make the right record. Of course you are always a little nervous because it is a different kind of record not every song sounds the same. It’s not a typical Papa Roach record although it has the obvious Papa Roach styling’s on their. When we really went for it we hoped that people would get into it and they ended up really getting into it. Songs like “Born for Greatness” and “Periscope” are very different from other songs on the record like “Crooked Teeth” or “Help”.

SCENEzine
Did you approach the album much differently than your previous album F.E.A.R?

Tobin Esperance
Yeah we did. First we took a lot of time off in between touring and recording. Which we normally don’t do or it might be three months at the most. With this album we took twice as long we took six months where we stayed off the road. That allowed us a lot of time to figure out what kind of record we wanted to make and how we wanted to make it. That really meant that we had to just do things on our own and experiment and work with producers that were pretty much unknown. We made the record with these two guys that we ended up finding, their names are Nick Furlong and Colin Brittain. Both of those guys hadn’t really made a fully fledged rock record before that anybody would know of. They were just these two young guys that shared the same energy and passion for the same type of music that we are into. It seemed like a perfect match. We had so much fun making the record, even though people were scared because usually they want you to go with some big name guy who’s going to polish everything up and make it sound like every other fucking record that’s out there. That’s exactly what we didn’t want so I feel really proud that we just stuck to our gut and made the adventurous record that we made.

SCENEzine
Did the track “Help” come about fairly easily in the writing process?

Tobin Esperance
Yeah that was one of those typical things that happen. It was actually the last song that was written. It’s one of those things when you deliver what the band and producers might think is a finished version of a record then the record label says hey I don’t quite hear a first single can you go back and write another one? So that was us half serious sarcastically trying to write a song that would be very sing a long. It has a very happy sad quality to it which is in a lot of popular music. I remember coming up with the idea on guitar and was like how about if we play it upbeat landing on a major chord but have the lyrics be really dark. Sing it like it’s a super happy sounding song but the lyrics are completely opposite from that. In doing that it gives it this juxtaposition and gets stuck in your head but when you dig deep into what the song is about at the core its quite dark and twisted.

SCENEzine
Was the music video for the track “Crooked Teeth” fun to make?

Tobin Esperance
Yeah we did that literally five minutes before we went on stage while we were on tour in Brazil I think it was. We shot that backstage with two go pros. So yeah anytime you can make a music video in five minutes and only two takes fucking works for me. I can’t stand making music videos it’s the longest most drawn out painful process if you ask me (laughs).

SCENEzine
Did you always have Machine Gun Kelly in mind to be a guest on the album?

Tobin Esperance
No that was something that just came about cosmically really. We did an awards show called the Alternative Press awards and they paired us up to do a mash up where we play a MGK song and he came out and sang on “Last Resort” with us. He’s a great artist and we had a great time hanging out backstage before the show. We played him some demos and we basically had a verse then quickly came up with the idea for “Sunrise Trailer park” that we thought he could play the character and re-write his own verse. We created this storyline really on the spot. It all came together so quickly.

SCENEzine
It must be crazy to think how long Papa Roach have been around and you are finally doing your first Australian headline tour?

Tobin Esperance
I know man. I honestly don’t know what has been taking so long but we are really excited to be coming. One of my most memorable tours ever was back in 2002 the first time we ever toured Australia we were supporting Red Hot Chilli Peppers. At that time we were doing stadiums on their behalf and this is going to be a lot different. We finally get to play for an hour and a half. It’s going to be a lot more intimate to our core fans. We are all really excited, we love the music that comes from Australia and the people. We always have a great time whenever we are their. So it’s like fucking finally, you know.

SCENEzine
Have you guys had a chance to talk about the set list for Australia?

Tobin Esperance
I think we are pretty much going to do what we always do and that’s blend a good mix of old songs, new ones and everything in between. Then throw in a couple of surprises, maybe a cover song. We’ve been favouring a lot of new songs because the reaction to the new record has been so positive. We have a lot of fun playing the new songs. Sometimes we will re-vamp old stuff too then give it a slight update.

SCENEzine
What was the feeling like when you hit the stage at Soundwave realising how many Aussie fans you had down here?

Tobin Esperance
Yeah we were stoked. I remember it was hot as fuck. I remember thinking man I wonder if they know who we are or forgot about us. Right away we could tell that the crowd was definitely waiting for us to come back so that was a very welcoming feeling.

SCENEzine
Is there anything you would like to do in Australia besides play shows?

Tobin Esperance
A lot of the time our schedule doesn’t allow us to have days off so I’m going to play it by ear when I’m down there. I would like to get some sun I know that because it’s summertime there and cold and wintery where I am right now. I’d like to hit up the beach and hang out with some good people.

SCENEzine
I’m not sure if you realise but you’ll actually be in Australia for Australia day.

Tobin Esperance
Oh man that sounds like fun. I’m all about it. I can’t wait.

SCENEzine
After the Australian tour you will be hitting the road for a USA tour with A Day To Remember. You must be pretty stoked for that also?

Tobin Esperance
Yeah it’s one of those things where we finally get to play in front of a different kind of audience than maybe we normally would. For us being such a energetic and active band on stage live it’ll great to reach their audience. That type of younger audience when you tell them to jump they are like how high, let’s go. As opposed to some of the older crowds we play for sometimes you can tell they are like oh shit here comes the mosh pit I better get out of the way (laughs).

SCENEzine
Going back in time a little one of our favourite Papa Roach videos is for “Hollywood Whore”. Do you have any memories from that experience?

Tobin Esperance
I remember that was a fun video. We had a friend of ours play the Hollywood Whore. At the very end how they did the blood was definitely not fun. It was like movie blood but they put it through leaf blowers. It was like red dye with honey and they poured it through the blower so it was splashing us in the face. It was all sticky and I remember it felt like needles were being thrown at us because of how thick the syrup was. It was disgusting we were all sticky and covered in blood, we all had to take showers right away after. All of our guitars were pretty much ruined. I think I opened up my guitar case like a week later and I had thousands of ants crawling all over it because of the syrup. The sacrifices you make for the art.

(interview by Christian Ross)