Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Drums Week 25
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Guitar Amps
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Artist news
  • Drums
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Santana on Beck
  • Friday, I'm in Love
  • Knopfler's 4-note secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Don't miss these
Exodus Gary Holt
Bands "It might have been like 12 people there”: Exodus’ Gary Holt pulls zero punches in his new autobiography
Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age plays a red/orange Gretsch onstage, and is framed by a triangle of yellow-green stagelights.
Artists “It was the most bizarre musical experience”: QOTSA’s Troy Van Leeuwen on playing Paris's Catacombs
Josh Homme
Bands “Playing in front of people who are stripped down to the bones…” Josh Homme talks Alive In The Catacombs
Zach Myers of Shinedown plays a hunter green PRS NF53 live onstage at Download Festival 2025.
Artists Zach Myers on Shinedown’s secret weapon, the limits of shred guitar, and getting schooled by BB King
Steven Tyler
Artists “Love in an elevator? Yeah, I've done it!”: Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on the making of the Aerosmith classic Pump
10 people drummers will encounter at gigs
Drummers The 10 people drummers will inevitably encounter when playing a gig
Lifeguard's Kai Slater, Isaac Lowenstein and Asher Case
Artists Lifeguard on abstract noise and pop hooks – and the creative epiphanies behind their stellar debut
Orbit Culture's guitarists
Electric Guitars Orbit Culture show us their ESP guitars – and tell us why the EverTune bridge is a game-changer
Brent Smith of Shinedown performs during the US rockers' Dance, Kid, Dance Tour 2025.
Artists Shinedown’s Brent Smith on finding inspiration in a hurricane and why you don’t need to be play guitar to write a great song
Rudy Sarzo
Artists “We’re celebrating the fact that we survived!”: Ozzy Osbourne's '80s bandmate looks ahead to his farewell show
Brent Mason
Artists “You hear the record and they took you off!”: Ace session guitarist Brent Mason reveals how he made it to the top
Steven Tyler at Steven Tyler's Jam for Janie GRAMMY Awards Viewing Party held at The Hollywood Palladium on February 02, 2025
Gigs & Festivals “Steven just doesn’t want to tour, and he can’t tour”: Joe Perry confirms no more touring for Aerosmith
Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde onstage in 1989. Both shirtless, Wylde takes a drink as he holds his bulleseye Les Paul Custom.
Artists “We were doing that riff and cracking up laughing the whole time”: Zakk Wylde on how a “joke” riff won Ozzy Osbourne his first ever Grammy
Adrian Smith on stage in 2025
Artists “He said, ‘Your upstrokes are weak!’ I’m like, ‘You effin’ what?’”: Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith never stops learning
Steve Harris of Iron Maiden
Artists “If you don't like what the answer is going to be, don't ask!”: Steve Harris on the secret to Iron Maiden’s success
  1. Artists
  2. Gigs & Festivals

Papa Roach's guide to surviving life on the road

News
By Matt Parker published 15 August 2013

Jerry Horton talks touring

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Papa Roach's guide to surviving life on the road

Papa Roach's guide to surviving life on the road

It's been 13 years since Northern California's Papa Roach first broke-through off the back of triple platinum debut album, Infest.

Like their namesake, the 'Roach has not just survived, but thrived – selling over 10 million albums worldwide, most recently releasing The Connection, which landed at 17 on the Billboard 200. If anyone has experienced the full impact of the changing face of live music in the 20th century, it's these guys.

As of this week they're off around the U.S. on the Carnival Of Madness tour with Shinedown, Skillet and In This Moment. To celebrate this epic run of summer rawk madness (the good kind, presumably), we cornered six-stringer Jerry Horton to find out how Papa Roach got their start live, how to conduct yourself on tour and his essential advice for bands on the road...

Page 1 of 11
Page 1 of 11
Trade shows with other bands to get started

Trade shows with other bands to get started

"Before we got signed, we never really fully toured, we did weekend stuff within California. We had built a following in Northern California around Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose.

"Then we basically found other bands that were sort of on the same level, but in Southern California, and we would trade shows. That actually worked out really well and we would eventually get to a point where we would do three Monday nights at [Legendary L.A. club] The Troubadour."

Page 2 of 11
Page 2 of 11
Look to your first fans for your first crew

Look to your first fans for your first crew

"We did our first couple of tours in the US in a van with a trailer. We had a small crew – a tour manager, a guitar tech and a guy that was doing our merch.

"He was actually one of our first fans in L.A. who decided just to quit what he was doing and come on tour with us. We would basically run ourselves ragged and we didn't get a lot of sleep, but we still remember those times."

Page 3 of 11
Page 3 of 11
Keep an eye on your finances

Keep an eye on your finances

"We still have to provide for our families and, nowadays with less people buying records, it's more dependent on the tour side of it.

"So we do whatever the budget permits. But at this point we're focussed on actually coming back with money from a tour. We used to not be worried about it – and that came back to bite us in the ass later on."

Page 4 of 11
Page 4 of 11
If you're playing with support bands, lead by example

If you're playing with support bands, lead by example

"One of my favourite tours would be when we toured with Korn in 2001. They were this huge band and they were looking after us and showing us the ropes.

"I've heard of tours where the headliner will not allow the other bands to go to certain places on the stage, or they can't be as loud as the headliner, but there wasn't any of that sort of thing on that tour. That sort of set the tone for us when we would go out and headline and how we treated other bands."

Page 5 of 11
Page 5 of 11
Always, always, always warm-up

Always, always, always warm-up

"An hour before our set time we'll warm-up. I warm-up for about a half an hour and get dressed and stretch out a little bit.

"If I'm really tired I'll have an energy drink and get myself pumped up a little bit… I have five or six songs that I play along with. Most of them are Lamb Of God, so obviously good for warming up the fingers!

"Then anything else that I'm wanting to learn at the moment. On the last tour I was working on perfecting a Mother's Finest song."

Page 6 of 11
Page 6 of 11
Find a way to escape the routine

Find a way to escape the routine

"I'm into photography, so I bring my cameras with me [on tour]. Sometimes I'll just go and walk around a city and shoot whatever catches my eye.

"It's a way for me to get out of the routine. It's very easy to get stuck in that routine where you wake up at a certain time, hang out for a little while, then you have to do interviews, then the show happens, then you hang out some more. It's one of the ways that you can break it up a bit."

Page 7 of 11
Page 7 of 11
Know thy gear

Know thy gear

"I'm trying out the Fractal Axe-FX. It's done a good job in allowing me to replicate everything, but I had major issues on this last tour.

"I messed with it at home and it sounded great in the headphones, then I got it on tour and it sounded like shit! We figured out that I was too hot on the front-end and not loud enough on the back-end.

"It meant I had to basically take my back-up, wipe it clean and start afresh… But it's been great in some ways. On this last European tour we did about nine days in Russia and it's fly dates everywhere, so not having to rely on rental gear was definitely a good thing."

Page 8 of 11
Page 8 of 11
Keep your rig simple

Keep your rig simple

"Don't make your rig too complicated, because when something goes wrong a minute will seem like 10 minutes, or five minutes will seem like half an hour, depending on how bad things are…

"[On the guitars side] I have two [Schecter Jerry Horton] signature series models – it's based on the Solo-6, the single cutaway, and I have my custom paint job on it and the pickups that I like.

"I have those two as the main guitars and we pared down the tunings to simplify everything further, so we're doing drop-C# and drop-C."

Page 9 of 11
Page 9 of 11
Always bring a back-up

Always bring a back-up

"Always have a back-up, because at some point it's going to go down.

"It's not a question of 'if', it's only a matter of 'when', so don't get stuck. Early on, I remember on our first Warped Tour, I didn't have a back-up and I had to borrow somebody else's amp. Luckily we had made friends, but that's not a good feeling!"

Page 10 of 11
Page 10 of 11
Listen to your live sound

Listen to your live sound

"We tend to take [our arrangements] straight from the record and then play it live and listen to it.

"If there's something that pokes out too much then we'll make some adjustments here and there. It's a process and it doesn't happen right away. There's no formula for it.

"Over the years there's been a lot of trial and error… Also: trust the people that work for you. We take a lot of input from our front of house guy."

Page 11 of 11
Page 11 of 11
Matt Parker
Matt Parker

Matt is a freelance journalist who has spent the last decade interviewing musicians for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.

Read more
Exodus Gary Holt
"It might have been like 12 people there”: Exodus’ Gary Holt pulls zero punches in his new autobiography
Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age plays a red/orange Gretsch onstage, and is framed by a triangle of yellow-green stagelights.
“It was the most bizarre musical experience”: QOTSA’s Troy Van Leeuwen on playing Paris's Catacombs
Josh Homme
“Playing in front of people who are stripped down to the bones…” Josh Homme talks Alive In The Catacombs
Zach Myers of Shinedown plays a hunter green PRS NF53 live onstage at Download Festival 2025.
Zach Myers on Shinedown’s secret weapon, the limits of shred guitar, and getting schooled by BB King
Steven Tyler
“Love in an elevator? Yeah, I've done it!”: Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on the making of the Aerosmith classic Pump
10 people drummers will encounter at gigs
The 10 people drummers will inevitably encounter when playing a gig
Latest in Gigs & Festivals
Burning man in 2023
“Crazy winds” wreak havoc at Nevada’s Burning Man festival
Gorillaz pop-up
“Gaming stations, giveaways, live game streams and DJ performances”: Gorillaz announce Fortnite pop up event
Spandau Ballet in the early '80s
Coming like a ghost town: The UK has lost a quarter of its clubs and late night venues since 2020
Forwards Festival Barry Can't Swim
Forwards Festival 2025 review: Orbital, Barry Can’t Swim, Olivia Dean, Jorja Smith and more
Josh Homme
What’s on Josh Homme’s to-do list when Queens Of The Stone Age play Sheffield next week?
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who perform at Parco Della Musica on July 22, 2025 in Milan, Italy
The Who are forced to postpone Philly date on final US tour due to “illness”
Latest in News
Boss PX-1 Plugout FX: the white compact series pedal has blue knobs, digital display, and is a platform for 16 digitally modelled Boss effects, one of which is available at a time.
A compact series stompbox you can turn into any one of 16 classic Boss effects? Meet the Plugout FX
Zak Starkey and Axl Rose composite
“C’mon bro... It could generate $2M for teen cancer”: Zak Starkey pleads with Axl Rose to give the go-ahead for charity cover of Bolan classic
Don Felder plays his iconic white Gibson doubleneck electric guitar onstage. Note the double jack: that mod is crucial when playing Hotel California, which he surely is in this picture.
Don Felder on why he had to mod his white Gibson doubleneck to play the Eagles’ biggest hit – and how he got the idea from Chet Atkins
Marek "Ashok" Šmerda wears corpsepaint that makes him look a little like Hellraiser's Pinhead as he performs live with Cradle of Filth.
Cradle of Filth guitarist Ashok fired mid-tour, days after keyboardist wife quits citing low pay and “toxic” atmosphere
Rick Rubin .
"He made so many of those songs better with just one little nudge”: Daron Malakian on Rick Rubin
Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye performs on stage during the 'After Hours Til Dawn Tour' at MorumBIS on September 7, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil
The Weeknd is looking to raise $1 billion using his back catalogue as collateral

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...