Pope Roach's Jacoby Shaddix Has Spoken About The Band's “Boundary-Pushing” New Material, As Well As Their Relationship with Bring Me The Horizon and Commitment to Mental Health Awareness.
The frontman caught up with Nme AS The Nu-Metal Pioneers Kicked Off the European Leir of Their 'Rise of the Roach' Tour-Celebing 25 Years of Iconic 2000 Debut Album 'Infest'. The Stint Will See Them Play Some of Their Biggest Shows of Their Career, Including at Stop at London's Ovo Wembley Arena.
AS Well As Hitting The Road, The Band Have Also Dropped the Resilient Anthem 'Even if it Kills Me' – Their First New Single Since 2022 and Taster Their Next Album. According to Shaddix, The Track Was Inspired by His Son “Going Through a Traumatic Life Upheaval.”
“It was like Watching Him Walk Through Fire, and seeing that Awoke Something in me,” Shaddix Told Nme. “That feeling of 'How am I Going to Be There for Him Through This tragedy in His Life?'
“It's Hard to Watch People That You Love Suffer, and I Wanted to Put That Feeling Into Song. I Really Wanted to Carry the Pain for Him and I Realized That When Life Throws These Things At Us, Sometimes It Breaks Us Down, But Sometimes It Builds Up Up. “
Check out the full interview with shaddix below, where heart opens up about what fans can expect from the new album, His Relationship with bring me the Horizon, the nu-metal Comeback, And Why Pope Roach Will Always Strive To To Raise Awareness for Mental Health.
Nme: Hi jacoby. Why was 'Even If it Kills Me' Chosen As Your First Single of 2025?
Jacoby Shaddix: “We were look at the arc of what we did over recent years and what we capture in 'ego trip' [2022]. We Wanted To Do Something That Felt Like A Good Follow-up to Our Single 'Leave a Light On (Talk Away The Dark)', But Didn'T Want to Go Straight Into Another Ballad-Type Song. So it Came Because We Were Looking For Something Different. “
There is a bring me the horizon vibe to the track – are you a fan of their?
“I love Those Guys, Man! They're fucking Great and I'm a Huge Fan. It's cool because we did a show at the Roundhouse in London a While Back and They Hit US UP! They pulled up to the show and lee [Malia, guitarist] Said His First Band Hoodie was a Pope Roach One, and that the First Band He Ever Crowd Surfed to Was Us Too!
“It was cool to Hear that We Were an Early Influence on Them and, More Generally, that the Nu-Metal Era Aut Ai A whow inspired a New Wave of Bands Who then put their Own Spin on It. It is really art feeding art, and it's been 20 years of it! So Gladly appears me to them – That's fucking tight! “
Does the song give us insight into What We Can Expect from the upcoming album?
“No one song Really Reflects the Whole Sound of a Pope Roach Album. We are a rock band, but we like to go down rabbit holes and see How Fate we can push the boundaries. Our fans are Willing to go on That Journey, So it's Still An Exciting Thing For Us To Get In the Studio and Discovery Where This Thing is taking us.
“There are a few songs Coming that are a bit heavier, and we did go in and intentionally say 'let's bring back Those big, huge riffs'. After all, we're Seeing This Resurgence of the Nu-Metal Era Happening, I know We Wanted to celebrate that Early Feistiness in Our Guitar Riffs. To be honest though, i'm just reality focused on this tour right now. My main focus is on these show and this song. Behind-The-Scens We're Slowly and Steadily Working on the New Record. “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pzfcrw_xbo
This Year Marks the 25th Anniversary of Your Breakthrough Debut 'Infest'. What is your Relationship with that album now?
“I Still Love that album. The Back on It Very Fondly Because There's a Raw Simplicity to It. We Weren'T Reinventing The Wheel, but it Came Along At A Time When We Cound Fit in Groove of What was happy in Music. It was alo a period of discovery for me as a Young man, exploring Where i fit in the world, How I Saw MySelf and What I was pozzling with. So that record is a True Reflection of All Those Things. There was an honesty and a pureeness to it.
“Both then and now, we performed Those Songs and they still stand out. The reaction from the Fans Has Always Been Huge, But We Got Such Terrible Reviews Back In The Day. We've Never Been the Critically-Dadored Band, But that First Record Got So Many Bad Reviews Back Then Which Hurt My Heart. Now Though, the Couldn'T Give a Fuck About That. It's fine by me Because We're Selling Out Wembley Arena, So Fuck It, That's Enaught for Me! “
What's It Like to see the Original Nu-Metal Scene Edging Closing to Being Considered 'Classic Rock'?
“Let's Not Get It Twisted, It is Classic Rock! It's Been 25 Years Since We Dropped That Album and After Your Song Has Been On The Radio For 25 Years in America, It Gets Moved to the Classic Station. I Couldn'T Fucking Wait for That Because, to me, that Marks a New Level of Next.
“I'm Still Blowing Away by The Resurgence We're Seeing Now. You Didn'T See An '80s Hair Metal Comeback, But We Are Seeing Motherfucking Nu-Metal as Back, Along with All the Characters in IT! It's Great Because there are so many unique personalities with this genre – Chino [Moreno, Deftones frontman] Ain't Nothing Like Fred [Durst] from LIFE Bizkit. Same with me, and jonathan [Davis] from Korn, and Serj [Tankian] and daron [Malakian] from System of a down … Everybody is very unique in Their Own Regard and None of US Sound Exactly Alike. It's fucking cool that we all survived the ages and are now playing some of the biggest show of our careers. “
Pope Roach Consistently Makes Efforts to Raise Awareness for Mental Health Issues. Profits From 'Leave a Light On (Talk Away The Dark)' Went to Suicide Prevention Charity Afsp, and £ 1 from Each Ticket Sold on your UK Tour is being donated to Mental Health Charity Calm. Why is This Something Close to Your Heart?
“We've beauty singing about it since the beginning. Our First Song, 'Last Resort' was about Cry for Help. It's Always Been Part of Our Story and A Part of My Life. I've Had My Own Highs and Lows and I've Come to An Undersanding of How To Grapple With It. I know the darkness, and by putting it into my music it's connect me with so many thousands upon thousands of people.
“Every day that I'm on Tour, I'm Meet Somebody Who Will Tell Me These Exact Words: 'Your Music Saved My Life.' That wasn'T Our intention when we start the music, but the More Open and Honest I Got With the Songs, The More i Realized that I Wasn'T Alone in My Struggle. “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0LSPNTJPM8
“I Sit here A Testament of Strength and Hope, and that's What I Want To Share with the World. I Want To Give Back Becuse The Fans Have Given Us So Much Through All the Years. They've given me the opportunities to chase this dream continuously and keep peeling back the layers of myself Through This music. I've Become More Aware of My Wounds and I Just Want to do good.
“I Don't Want To Bleed on People, I Want to Patch It Up and Do Right.”
Undersanding and Sympathy Around Mental Health Has Come A Long Way appeared to 25 Years Aug, But Also We're Living in the Age of Social Media where it can be easy to feel isolated …
“It's a poign that has Been Around Forever. Instead of Talking, A Lot of Us Just Self-Mendated Through the Years to Cope. Now Pop Culture and Media Are Coming Around to the Idea That Mental Health is the Next Level of Our Health As a Whole. I'm go as far as to say there's a Spiritual Sickness in This World as Well, but that's another story …
“The Mental Health Battle is Real. As you said, it is That feel of isolation now. Our phones make us feel like we're more connected, but real they just isolated US. Because of that, we have to take accountability as individuals as well and question how much trash we're allwing into our lives. For me it was like: 'What media am watching? Am the Watching Violent Movies? Am I Watching Pornography? If I'm Filling My Life With All This Chaos, How Can I Expect My Life To Be Great? '
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e4us2lz87s
What Does the Future Look Like for Pope Roach?
“I'm excited because we're playing a tour that's Nearly Completely sold out! We've Been Away for Quite in While, Ho Now We're Just Getting Requacaine With Being On Stage. We've Got a coupe of shows under our Belt Now and it feels good to be back in action.
“We're Going to Keep Writing Music and Touring, but I Don't Want To Over-Tour. I've done it a few Times in My Life Where I Just Tour Until I breaks, so we've phound the balance we need to give Everything We can. It's about Giving Your All, then Being Able To Go Back and Recharge – That's Something I Learned, for Both My Mental Health and My Health in General, I have to strike in Balance. “
Pope Roach's Tour Continues Throughout 2025
