Papa Roach Wants “Our Songs to Just Transcend Thousands of People” on Upcoming Tour

Credit: Dave JacksonPapa Roach will kick off their co-headlining tour with Five Finger Death Punch this Friday, September 4, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. The two bands have long been friends, which allowed the tour to come together organically, while also allowing Papa Roach to perform at venues they don't normally play.

"It was really just taking two of the biggest bada** rock n' roll bands that maybe have slightly different styles, different things going on, maybe a different set of fans, a little bit, get together and do something really big and take our shows into arenas," Papa Roach bassist Tobin Esperance tells ABC Radio. "[We want to] do something special where it's like you're really taking it back to the days when there was that 'wow' factor."

To get that 'wow' factor back, Papa Roach plans to put more into their stage production on this tour after over 15 years of being a no-frills live band.

"It's like the first time we're really trying to be like, 'Okay, what can we do, what can we bring that's new to the table? What can we do to really surprise our fans and step it up?'" Esperance explains. "The goal for us, too, is also just bring that big show element to what we do. We want to play arenas, we want our songs to just transcend thousands of people."

Along with Five Finger Death Punch, Papa Roach will also be joined by In This Moment on the tour. In This Moment frontwoman Maria Brink lent her vocals to Papa Roach's song "Gravity," which appears on their latest album, F.E.A.R., and Esperance promises that there will be an onstage collaboration.

"We're really looking forward to putting that together and having something special happen when we perform ['Gravity']," he says. "That's what I'm looking for, I think that's gonna be the highlight right there."

Esperance also teases the possibility of Papa Roach and Five Finger Death Punch playing together onstage as well. While Papa Roach prepares for their most ambitious tour, Esperance recommends that you do some preparing, too. Namely, he suggests exercise.

"When we come to town, we're gonna expect a lot from the crowd," he tells ABC Radio. "You gotta be going off straight for like an hour, jumping up and down. I'd say maybe you wanna bust out a jump rope, start doing push-ups and sit-ups. You just gotta be active, man, because we're coming to town. We're trying to bring the most bada** rock spectacle, and the energy's gonna be at like 200 percent, and we need the crowd to be right there with us."

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