PAPA ROACH's New Album To Feature Guest Appearances By MACHINE GUN KELLY, SKYLAR GREY

PAPA ROACH frontman Jacoby Shaddix has revealed to Candace of the Q103 radio station in Albany, New York that the band's new album will feature guest appearances by rapper Machine Gun Kelly and American singer and songwriter Skylar Grey. Due in May, the follow-up to 2015's "F.E.A.R." was recorded with Nicholas "Ras" Furlong and Colin "Doc" Brittain at Steakhouse studio in North Hollywood, California.

PAPA ROACH has already released two songs from the upcoming disc: "Crooked Teeth" and "Help", both of which can be heard below.

Regarding the musical direction of PAPA ROACH's new disc, Shaddix said: "This is a very dynamic album. It ranges from heavy and in your face with songs like 'Crooked Teeth' and then it also is kind of a bit more of a pop sensibility in it. And what I mean [by] 'pop,' for a song like 'Help', it's a hard rock track, but it's got that really hooky chorus. Then there's stuff that's kind of grimey street hip-hop. It's all over the place."

He continued: "We really wanted to kind of venture back into the earlier years of PAPA ROACH, with albums like 'Infest', and kind of dig around in that territory and see what we can bring back that felt right and real and new. 'Cause that producers that I was working with, they're, like, these dudes that are 29, 30 years old. These two cats out of Hollywood down here, one by the name of Colin Brittain, and the other guy, his name is Nicholas Furlong, a.k.a. Ras, and so it's a producer team. These guys are, like, 29, 30 years old, and they were fans of PAPA ROACH when they were kids. These guys have never produced a full-length record before; they just produce individual tracks for artists and stuff like that. So we were, like, 'We wanna be bold, brave and different and try something that we've never done. And let's work with some producers that are new to the game.' And they've been proving themselves in the underground for years. And I saw a lot of similarities in PAPA ROACH with them. It's, like, coming up on the underground and trying to prove yourself, always having to prove yourself, and kind of going against the grain at some points in our career, or the people around us not believing in us at points. And I saw them, and I'm, like, 'Oh, I wanna work with these dudes. I think they're the next big thing.' We got in a room with them, we did a song called 'My Medication', and after we did that song with them, we were, like, 'Oh, we definitely have to do a whole record with these guys.' They're bouncing around the studio like us. They're wild like us. So it was just a good, fun… It was a great experience in the studio with those guys. They really encouraged us to stretch out and try a bunch of different, new things and also were very encouraging. 'Yo, look in the past. Look what was great about PAPA ROACH back in the day. You've been cutting lives into pieces for, like, seventeen years. Let's try to cut some more lives into pieces.' You know what I mean? So I'm, like, 'All right. Cool. Let's see what happens.' And I loved it. We've created a bond with these guys that will last for many years."

Asked how the collaborations with Machine Gun Kelly and Skylar Grey came about, Shaddix said: "When we drop this record, we knew that PAPA ROACH, we are a staple in rock music. I feel that we've earned that over the course of our career. And when we first came into the game… I've always been a big fan of hip-hop. I fell out of love with it for a few years, but then there's some new artists that I really am a big fan of, Machine Gun Kelly in particular. We collaborated at the [Alternative Press Music Awards], and that was awesome. And then I had this track called 'Sunrise Trailer Park', and I needed a guest spot, and I played him 'Crooked Teeth', and he was just, like, 'Dude, P-ROACH is back! This is so sick!' So I was, like, 'Hey, I've got this track I would love for you to be on.' And so it was very organic. And then we've got this other track called 'Periscope'. We wanted to have a guest female vocal on it, and on the last album, we had Maria Brink from IN THIS MOMENT on 'Gravity'. I didn't wanna just go in and grab another rock chick. I wanted to work with somebody that was outside the box and different but that I was a fan of. So I've been listening to this girl Skylar Grey for [a few] years now. And she's been on some great tracks — she's been on some Dre stuff, some Eminem stuff, she's been on a FORT MINOR track. But she's kind of this indie, alternative, pop type of girl, and she's just got a lot of credibility in that scene, and she's got a great voice, and I'm a big fan. And so I thought, why not try some collaborations and some guest spots that were outside the box, not the norm? 'Cause I feel… I'm a big fan of bands like QUEEN, LED ZEPPELIN, FAITH NO MORE — bands that always evolved and tried new things and took their fans on a journey. Because when you go and listen back to LED ZEPPELIN records through their career, they did all kinds of differnet stuff — they were folk, heavy metal, rhythm and blues, straight-up rock and roll, and they melded all those things together. QUEEN, they always took their fans on a ride, and so that's what we wanna do. We feel, as creators and artists, that's our responsibility — to challenge our fans and to also challenge ourselves, without going too far and being too self-indulgent."

Jacoby also revealed that PAPA ROACH has already begun work on material that will appear on the follow-up to the upcoming album. "We went back in the studio and started creating some music again for a new, new record," he explained. "We have such a good creative flow that we're, like, 'You know what, man?' Let's just jump in the studio.' We've got some time right now. We had a month set aside. Everybody in the band was just, like, 'let's just go back in the studio.' And so here we are."

A two-minute behind-the-scenes look at the creative process for PAPA ROACH's new album is available below.