Papa Roach could be voted the band least likely to record its own rendition of Don't Worry Be Happy.
Themes of divorce, alcoholism, suicide and greed all contribute to the general misanthropy on Infest, the major-label debut from the California quartet which opens for Korn tonight at the Saddledome.
To a fierce rap-metal assault that owes more than a little to Rage Against the Machine, frontman-lyricist Coby Dick, 24, adds such lyrical bon mots as "Would it be wrong/ Would it be right/ If I took my life tonight," and "It's in our nature to kill ourselves/ It's in our nature to kill each other."
On the phone with the Sun, drummer Dave Buckner insists Papa Roach's music isn't as gloomy as it seems.
"At first listen, our songs may seem like we're brooding, we hate everything and we're p---ed off. But if you really, really listen to the songs, there's an uplifting vibe to them as well," says Buckner.
Oh, really...
"Like Last Resort is not a song about killing yourself. It's a song about feeling like you want to kill yourself and then moving past that."
Still, it's a long way from C'mon Get Happy.
Yet Buckner admits the members of Papa Roach -- rounded out by guitarist Jerry Horton, 25, and bassist Tobin Esperance, 20 -- are ecstatic about being signed to Dreamworks Records and touring this summer with Korn and the Vans Warped Tour. Not bad for a band formed in high school seven years ago.
"To be in the position we are now and to be as young as we are, I consider ourselves very fortunate," he says.
That said, Buckner points out many of Dick's lyrics are autobiographical. Most of the band relates to Broken Home, as Buckner "never knew my real father, Coby's real dad left when he was real young and Tobin's parents got divorced when he was really young."
And Binge was directly inspired by the lead singer's ongoing problem with the bottle.
"Coby will be the first to tell you he has a drinking problem," Buckner says. "He drinks a lot and he really has to watch himself on a day-to-day basis.... Coby likes to say: 'I was once a really p---ed off and negative drunk, but now I'm just a happy drunk."
