How Papa Roach came up with that haunting sound

Friday, Aug. 3, 2007 | 7:30 a.m.

Who: Papa Roach, Hinder, Buckcherry

When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday

Where: The Pearl at the Palms

Tickets: $33.50; 942-7777

Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix attributes the haunting sound of "The Paramour Session" to the studio.

After all, the Northern California alternative rockers knew the stories about the Paramour Mansion when they moved in to record their fourth major-label release.

"It was a dream for us to live in that house and to write and record like a lot of the bands we look up to did - Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chili Peppers," Shaddix says. "We wanted to see how that would manifest itself in our life, in our music, in our careers."

The villa, officially the Canfield-Moreno Estate in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, supposedly is haunted by the ghost of oil heiress Daisy Canfield, who died in 1933 when her car plunged from Mulholland Drive.

It was turned into a recording studio and has been used by the likes of Gwen Stefani, Lucinda Williams and My Chemical Romance. It's also familiar to fans as the home of the MTV reality show "Rock Star."

Shaddix, caught on the phone in St. Louis, says he was skeptical about the haunting but before long the band members were convinced.

The spiritual energy "was floating around, plus our own creative energy, plus arts and artifacts filled the house and every piece had a history," Shaddix says. "We set up our equipment in the place and there was a constant flow of creativity and ideas. I think it had a massive influence on our sound and writing and the whole attitude behind the record."

You can hear the results of Papa Roach's sequestration Saturday at the Pearl in The Palms.

Also on the bill are Hinder and Buckcherry.

Papa Roach hails from Vacaville, Calif., a conservative community halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento.

"When we first started it was like escaping the boredom of everyday life, being from a small town," Shaddix says. "Escaping that. Venturing out into the Bay Area, San Francisco, Berkeley. Branching out."

The band has performed in Las Vegas many times during its 14-year career.

"The first place we played in Vegas was a place called the Junkyard," Shaddix says. "But we've played everywhere - the Huntridge Theater, Thomas & Mack, House of Blues, the Joint."

The band has evolved.

"When we started we were a funk punk rock 'n' roll band," Shaddix says. "Then we started being influenced by metal, then hip hop started to influence us, then the classic savage rock 'n' roll bands like AC-DC, Led Zeppelin and Metallica.

"Really, the whole thing is about evolution, which goes to our name, Papa Roach. The cockroach has been here a long time and keeps evolving to survive. Survival for us is just to push things forward, to push the creative process."