HOME INVASION

Vacaville High School, California. 1993. Jacoby Shaddix and his bandmates have just played their first Papa Roach gig, at the talent show, and are convinced they have won first prize. Lined up onstage in the auditorium alongside an assortment of gymnasts, violinists and singers, in front of their parents and a hundred other onlookers, they excitedly wait for the results to be announced. This is it. They nailed it. They were better than everyone else. And then… defeat. Disappointment. Confusion. The winner is… a classically trained pianist?

“They called the other girl’s name and I was like… damn. That was my first taste of humble pie!” Jacoby laughs today over a Zoom chat from his home in Sacramento, his hairless cat Harry lurking in the background. I was like, ‘Fuck this, this is lame dude, this shit’s rigged!’ I wasn’t like Kanye West or anything and took her award, or was a dick to her, but my head hung low.”

But if we’ve learnt anything about Jacoby Shaddix over the years, it’s that nothing can keep him down. Papa Roach rallied, hustled and evolved, and seven years later would land one of the biggest hits of the 2000s with their major-label debut album, . It would go on to sell seven million copies worldwide and, in , spawn one of the most enduring songs in heavy music’s history. From a school performance consisting mainly of noise, featuring a trombone player but no guitarist, Papa Roach got off to a wobbly start,