Papa Roach Album: “Potatoes For Christmas [PA]”

Dont buy this. This is not an official Papa Roach realease. It was rereleased against the bands will, over priced for 7 songs recorded 10 years ago at a low quality studio by 4 high school kids who were part of the band that would eventually become Papa Roach as we know it- after some line up changes. Instead you can buy it with all the other Papa Roach underground album on the officailly released Papa Roach anthology- VIVA LA CUCHURACHA later this year. This will be much better value for money. (...).

I had a signed agreement with the band to split the profits 50/50. I have not made any money on this project! The small distributions I have received from BCD distributors have been split 50/50. Checks sent by me to the band via their lawyer. It amounts to less than $1000, I have split everything 50/50, not even backing out my own costs. Papa Roach has the lawyers, talk to BCD distributors and Orfin Records,and get our money. Also any money you could get for infringing my copyright I would gladly spit with you.

I gave the ADAT 8 track tape back to Jacoby about 1994-95, members of Individuals Union were witness to me handing him the multi-track in my studio. The tape could NOW be dumped digitally to pro- tools and re-mixed. The drum mistake in Coffee Thoughts could be cut and pasted over seemlessly. The vocals could be brought up front, the drums, especially the kick drum needs to be louder. It should be a truly ripping mix. The best part would be for more people to hear Will James, who was an incredibly talented bassists. Just incredible. There were incredible performances here by each member of the band, and the mix I did certainly did not do it justice at the time.

I noticed online that a company out of Minnesota (Orfin Records) was distributing it. I have not recieved one penny from them and have no contract with them. I noticed that there were other major online services offering pay per download. I have not recieved one penny of that either.

I do own the SR Copyright to the recording. It was my recording, and my efforts to first mass produce their music. I have been a lot of things in my life, but "corrupt" is not one of them. I acted in good faith on this project, and was one of the first guys to believe in their talent, financing their first project out of my own pocket. It appears the old cliche is true about where nice guys finish is true...

Best of luck to Papa Roach and their legion of fans, from one of their first fans.

Dean Bowlus

this got to my house about two weeks before the expected arival date, and its great if your a true hardcore papa roach fan!

Recorded as Papa Roach's debut in 1994, 'Potatoes For Christmas' is an uneasy and unprofessional collection of songs that are almost as bad as their titles (I Love Babies?). Released against the will of Papa Roach and their label, this was obviously put out to appeal to anyone desperate for unheard material by the band. Obviously it's not a fair representation of the band today; not only is the music third rate and the production quality almost unbareable, but only two current band members were involved in the making of this album (vocalist Jacoby Shaddox (a.k.a. Coby Dick) and guitarist Jerry Horton). Personally, however, since I have always thought of Papa Roach as a three-star band, this album has made me appreciate their work a lot more. Listening to this and their two studio albums ('Infest' & 'Lovehatetragedy') back to back, the more modern material seems to shine brighter than ever before. However, this is not to say that Papa Roach's only worthy material is on their major label outings. There are plenty of bootlegs and unreleased tracks recorded before they got signed that are miles above this release, and some that rival the quality of their best known work. This is where downloading music comes in hand: if you want a better view of Papa Roach before they got signed, most of the tracks you find on the internet will suit you well. However, "Potatoes For Christmas" is only worth (and I use the term "worth" very loosely) listening to once, just to see how they started. If someone you know owns it, just borrow it. I don't think anyone should be encouraged to put actual money down for this release.

This CD is a must for the true Papa Roach fan. I had all of their CDs except this one, and it sounds a little different but it still has that Papa Roach punch. I highly recommend this CD.