I run a lot and I have done for virtually my entire life. Truthfully I’ve never been quite sure whether it is toward something or away from something. Perhaps it’s both, but regardless, I run a lot. When I was at school it was for sport; athletics and rugby. In the Army I ran because I was ordered to. At Varsity, and after, it was for rugby but even now that I no longer play I continue to run. I do not jog, I run! I kid you not when I say, “I am Sparta!”
Above: Sweaty Selfie (after a run)
I run between 10 and 20 kilometres, and 3 or 4 times a week if I am able. It is a time of zen for me, meditation and reflection, a de-stress. I have run wherever I found myself: South Africa, Namibia and the USA. I have run in Durban, Johannesburg, Kimberly, the Transkei, Windhoek, Rundu, California, Colorado and Florida.
One of the greatest investments I ever made was my little ipod! I clip it to my running shorts (No, not those horrible, silky, slitted porno shorts!), plug in my earpieces and I head off onto the road with my very own soundtrack. My tunes generally consist of a range of rock: indi, rap-rock, old school rock, light metal rock and popular rock. Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Paramour, Sum 44, The Subways, Saliva, Seether and, my favourite running band at the moment, Papa Roach!
“When you listen to Papa Roach, you get a feeling of passion and energy as opposed to just melodies,” says guitarist Jerry Horton. “I think that’s what separates us from a lot of other bands out there.” Absofreakinglutely!
So yeah, Papa Roach! Awesome, kick-ass band! I remember first hearing them playing on a jukebox in some dingy, old poolhall in Durban at the turn of the century. So freaking unsettling to say that, turn of the century. The song was from Papa Roach’s second album, Infest, in early 2000. The album went triple platinum thanks to the success of Last Resort which announced them as one of the best hard rock acts of the new millennium.
A northern Californian band, Papa Roach are a punk- and rap-influenced band, who play straight-ahead hard rock with some heavy metal leanings. In the small Northern California town of Vacaville, four high school friends, Jacoby Shaddix, Jerry Horton, Dave Buckner, and Will James formed the original band. Will James, the bass player was replaced by (how cool is this?) Tobin Esperance, who was only 16 years old and had been a roadie for Papa Roach since the age of 13. Let me tell you, the man rocks that bass. Those who have seen a Papa Roach concert will attest to that (I have a live concert dvd of theirs).
Papa Roach vocalist Jacoby Shaddix almost committed suicide a while back. He was suicidal after a decade-long battle with alcoholism as well as a strained relationship with his wife, Kelly.
”I went to Sausalito [California] to hang myself. I was in a f***ing place, man. The booze, my lifestyle, this woman I’d been with since I was 16. I’ve never been that f***ing broken. I was seriously going to finish it.”
However, as he sat in a hotel room and thought of ”that last conversation with your family on the phone” it triggered a change of heart. ”Suicide, that’s the most selfish act. So I decided I had to endure this pain that I was going through.”
So… ”I f***ing wrote a song instead.”
“There are always outside forces trying to tell you what to do,” Shaddix says. “So, we just put up our middle finger to critics and other people, and said, ‘We’re gonna do what we’re gonna do.’ We stand up for ourselves as a band, and our message to our fans is to shut yourself off from anyone who wants to run the show, and run it yourself.” As Shaddix sings in the chorus of Not Listening : “The more I learn, the more I ignore.”
Yeah, so Papa Roach, a very cool band and certainly one of my personal all-time favourites. Here are the lyrics to one their songs I love the most. Give it a listen if you get a chance.
Papa Roach – She Loves Me Not
when i see her eyes
look into my eyes
then i realize that
she could see inside my head
so i close my eyes
thinking that i could hide
disassociate so i don’t have to lose my head
this situation leads to agitation
will she cut me off?
will this be an amputation?
i don’t know
if i care
i’m the jerk
life’s not fair
Fighting all the time
this is out of line
she loves me not
Loves me not
do you realize
I won’t compromise
she loves me not
Loves me not
over the past five years
i have shed my tears
i have drank my beers and watched my fears fly away
And until this day
she still swings my way
but it’s sad to say sometimes
she says she loves me not
But i hesitate
to tell her i hate
this relationship
i want out today
this is over
i don’t know
if i care
i’m the jerk
life’s not fair
Fighting all the time
this is out of line
she loves me not
Loves me not
do you realize
I won’t compromise
she loves me not
Loves me not
life’s not fair
i’m the jerk
line for line
rhyme for rhyme
sometimes we be fightin’ all the goddamn time
it’s making me sick
relationship is getting ill
piss drunk stupid
mad
on the real
could you feel what I feel
what’s the deal girl
we’re tearing up each other’s world
we should be in harmony
boy and girl
that is the promise we made
back in the day
we told each other things wouldn’t be this way
i think we should work this out
it’s all right baby we can scream and shout
i don’t know
if i care
i’m the jerk
life’s not fair
Fighting all the time
this is out of line
she loves me not
Loves me not
do you realize
I won’t compromise
she loves me not
Loves me not
Life’s not fair (x3)
I’m The Jerk
She Loves Me Not
Loves Me Not
