Grammy-nominated alternative rock band Papa Roach has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide, and they've seen much of this country, touring the U.S. twice each year since 2000. Lead singer Jacoby Shaddix had successful vocal cord surgery recently and the band is back on the road in November in Russia and Europe, with U.S. dates expected in the new year.
Their new album "The Connection" came out this month, to the delight of fans, who may not know that while making the album, things were falling apart for Jacoby, who had thoughts of suicide, substance abuse issues and a brief split with his wife of 14 years. He made it through and put all that emotion into the album which was recorded at the band's hometown studio, the Red House in Sacramento. Here are some of Jacoby's favorite places in America...
My favorite place in the U.S. to visit is... I love Chicago. Chicago is great. Simply put, it's just a great city with a lot of good food, a lot of great people, it's a pretty city, especially when you go up on Lake Michigan. The coastline right there that is in the city is just beautiful. I like to take a run there whenever I'm in town. A lot of really good food and it's a great mix of people in that city. Mike Ditka, the Bears, Michael Jordan!
The first thing I do when I go to Chicago is... I eat at the Pancake House.
If people are coming to the United States and they want to visit somewhere that's really awesome, they should visit... Yosemite National Park. That just makes you feel, I guess for me, insignificant because it's just so grand. When you think about the size of glaciers that crept through and cut the rock away, it's just an incredible site. Hike Half Dome, that's a great hike. It's a one day hike, it's not that crazy, it's an 11-mile hike I think. You can camp up in Yosemite. They also have these bungalow type things, semi permanent tents that are really cool, or you can go luxurious and stay in really nice hotels as well. There's a place called the Ahwahnee up there that's really nice.
New Orleans ...is a pleasant surprise... just because you hear all this, "Oh, you've got to go down and rage and party and rah, rah, rah!" And then you get there and you meet the people that are from there and they're just genuinely good people. It's all about cooking, it's all about the cookouts, it's all about the family. That's what I like about it, a very family-oriented place. Yeah, they know how to f-cking party and go off, but just that whole area down there. Lake Pontchartrain that's north of New Orleans is a great area as well. Go Tigers. And Baton Rouge. Louisiana period. I'm a fan.
My favorite restaurant in the U.S. is... I'm a foodie. There's a f-cking restaurant here in Sacramento that is amazing and I love it, I love Thai food, it's called Thai Basil. Family-owned. Thai Basil is I'm telling you, so good, and if you go there, get the drunken noodle. You can get it with meat if you like, I like to get the drunken noodle with tofu and it's just frickin' amazing. I eat meat, but for some reason I like tofu in this dish. Yes please!
The best place to find... a good hamburger ...is at... the Squeeze Inn in Roseville. Because you're going to have to squeeze into your f-cking jeans after you eat this burger. This one's a bad boy right here, it'll put pounds on you. Ooh, it's so good though! They do this double cheeseburger and they'll put a patty down and they'll put cheese on top of it, then they'll put another patty down and put cheese on top of it, but the cheese is significantly larger than the burger, so it melts down they cover it up with a pie tin kind of thing, so it melts it and the cheese goes down onto the griddle and cooks up into this crispy, lovely goodness. They turn the burger over. So the edges of the burger is a whole different experience. And then you get into the burger, it's just... It should be on one of those food channels.
Some great towns people may not know about to visit are... There's a great place up in northern California called Arcata, and it's on the coast. And it's right next to a place called Glass Beach, which is really pretty. I've been around with P. Roach too many times. More than several times. If you count two U.S. tours a year since 2000, it's 24 times I've been around this damn place.
My favorite airport in the US is... Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California. Small quiet, quick and easy.
Papa Roach is giving away an autographed CD of "The Connection" to five of our blog readers here on CarsTravelFood. You can add it to your playlist while traveling or on a road trip!
