Still Swinging

Album: The Connection (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • The first single from The Connection, Papa Roach's eighth studio album, was recorded at the band's hometown studio, The Red House in Sacramento, California. The long player was produced by James Michael (Sixx:A.M., Halestorm) and John Feldmann (Panic at the Disco, The Used, Escape the Fate). According to singer Jacoby Shaddix, the music was written as his wife left him and as he got sober again. "I was totally heartbroken and wanted to kill myself, so we wrote some songs and I got through it," he said.
  • A music video for the song was filmed with director David Brodsky. According to the behind the scenes film, it was Shaddix's 7-year-old son who came up with the concept for the clip.
  • Shaddix told Loudwire why Papa Roach chose to release this song about his struggles of trying to make it in music and life as the lead single from The Connection. "It is the most important statement for the band," he explained. "I think it just says a lot about P-Roach. It's about my personal life, my highs and lows and what I've gone through and I'm a f—in' survivor dude. I'm a fighter. I think it's taking a challenge and I'm always willing to step up to it and I'm not going to go out without a fight. And P-Roach, we're the band that no matter what we're f—ing up against, we're gonna prevail. I think we learned that from our early days as a rock and roll band, when every record company told us, 'No, no, no, no,' we're like, 'F— you, we're gonna keep on doing it.' It got us to where we're at now and we've maintained that hustler spirit, that fighter spirit, that warrior spirit. And I think it's just a great statement to put out as the first single on this record. It's got the right energy and the right message."
  • The Connection's cover art was created by artist Android Jones, who guitarist Jerry Horton found. Shaddix recalled to Noisecreep: "He'd done an image we really wanted but he had commissioned it to someone else. So we said let's do something original, and so we did. We wanted them built around four things: the biological, the spiritual, the electrical and the digital to represent all of the elements of the record. And so the dude broke it down. I mean, is that not the most amazing album cover?"

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