Los Angeles, 9/02-This intervCA&E: What kind of mind-numbing jobs did you have before Papa Roach became successful?
Dave: My first job was working at KFC. I followed that up with career advancing opportunities at places like Pizza Hut. The last job I had before we got signed was delivering high-end furniture. I barely made enough money to clear rent; and I had a hundred dollar a month car payment. I had like a Dodge Neon or something like that. Doing what you do to scrape by.
CA&E: So how did you guys get signed?
Dave: It was a lot of hard work. We were a struggling independent band for quite a while. We had a following and were putting out our own records, but we weren’t making any real money. We started off in ‘93 as a garage band. Around ‘96 we found Tobin, who’s our bass player now. It was kind of after that that we became serious. We started getting fans; we started making merchandise and recording our own records and putting out stuff DIY-style. From ‘96 to ‘99 it was constant building, touring, coming to L.A., doing showcases for labels. We made a name for ourselves before signing to a major. Which is almost how you have to do it these days: you gotta be big before you get to be big.
CA&E: Sure, you have to be successful before you’re successful. On the road to success what artists, musicians inspired or influenced you?
Dave: Faith No More is a definite influence. Deftones. Rage Against the Machine. And some of the old stuff, like Zeppelin. Stuff you listen to when you’re growing up. It just engrains itself in your brain and you can’t really let it go.
CA&E: How was it working with Brendan O’Brien?Dave: Back when we were green we’d talk about how it would be cool to work with the guy some day, because he’s done a lot of stuff that we dig on, like Rage’s album, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots. He just did the new Bruce Springsteen record. To work with a producer that we’ve always respected – number one, he was a great motivator. After we came off the road we were pretty burnt, we needed a coach to help us focus. The material was there, but he facilitated a creative flow of energy.
CA&E: So did he help you work out arrangements?
Dave: It was like he became a fifth band member. We went into pre-production and he would be in our practice spot, listening to us jam out; we’d work out different arrangements. We all had our own input in it. It wasn’t like a Phil Specter kind of thing: "You’re making a Brendan O’Brien record so it’s going to sound like this." He just helped bring out what was already there. Definitely a team player.
CA&E: Which drummers do you admire?
Dave: There are a lot of great drummers out there these days. Dave Grohl is one of the top five drummers of all time. Abe of the Deftones, John from System of a Down. A lot of the guys I see them on tour, but I’m also a fan of their work.
CA&E: On lovehatetragedy there isn’t as much rapping. Was it a conscious decision to go away from it?
Dave: I think it started off as a subconscious thing. Somewhere in the back of Coby’s [vocalist Jacoby Shaddix] brain it was like, "I don’t know if I’m feelin’ it." He was just writing down ideas. Once we hit the studio we knew that was the direction the record was going in and that’s what we stuck with.
CA&E: You also co-write some of the lyrics. How did you collaborate?
Dave: On the road we make demo CDs. Sometimes the stuff I was writing would correspond with what Coby was writing. It wasn’t so much we sat down together and wrote a song.
CA&E: What role if any does a car audio system play during the recording process for you?
Dave: Jerry [Horton, guitarist] was the main guy at first who said that our record’s gotta bump in the car. People spend a lot of time in the car, so that’s where they’re going to be listening to the music. A lot of producers will test out a mix in the car first. When we got the advance copy of our record from the mastering lab I took it to my car, not the home [stereo setup].
CA&E: What’s more important to you, sound quality or big bass?
Dave: I like a combination. It’s not just bass, I want to hear all the elements of the music really clearly. Part of that is the low end. I want the full range of frequencies, good imaging.
CA&E: What’s in your changer right now?
Dave: I’m listening to The Hives a lot right now. But my mainstays: Slipknot, the first record; that never really leaves my changer. Deftones. System, Toxicity. Then some old shit like Guns & Roses, Appetite for Destruction. Far, Water and Solutions and like some Zeppelin.
CA&E: Digital or analog recording – is one superior to the other?
Dave: I know the new Korn record was done straight into a hard drive and it sounds crazy good. When I heard some rough mixes of it you could hear every detail, every nuance of the guitar; they had to dirty it up a little, it was too clean. But I don’t think you can say one is better than the other. Each one has its qualities that make it good.
CA&E: So what’s next for the band?
Dave: We’re doing a short tour of Japan. We’re going to be in Europe for eight weeks. We’ll be in Australia for about five weeks. Then we’ll be back in the U.S. early next year [2003] to do our own headlining tour. That’ll be a couple months. And I think we might make another run of Japan and Europe for some festivals. After that we’ll head into the studio and make another record. view took place in West Hollywood, CA, some days before Dave Buckner and the rest of Papa Roach would be leaving for a tour of Japan. Dave tells us he’s going to turn an American classic car into a car audio beast. We hope to bring that to you in the near future. In the meantime, we got his take on the band, working with big-time producer Brendan O’Brien, and music in general, as well as a look at this: a Lexus RX300, outfitted with KMC rims. It’s a cool ride, but our core readers will need to exercise some patience for that project vehicle down the road. Thanks to Dave for taking the time out. -Ben Oh
http://www.caraudiomag.com/
Truckers are like motorcycle riders in the way that they invariably customize their rides. It’s probably just as challenging to find a bone stock tractor as it is an unembellished Fat Boy. When you’re plying the roads as much as the big rigs do, why not have some fun and stand apart from the rest of the crowd and their mudflaps decorated with conformist chrome silhouettes of questionable taste? International’s new LoneStar truck will be factory trickable with a new line of Navistar accessories called DoubleSix Customs. While the Autoblog Garage isn’t quite big enough to hold an 18-wheeler, we did dedicate the better part of an hour to International’s website designing the perfect vehicle for hauling our tricked out fleet of Zastavas. 
