Jacoby Shaddix talks about new clothing line Lovers Are Lunatics
I’m here today with Jacoby of Papa Roach to talk about his new clothing line Lovers Are Lunatics.
1.Could you give a background on Lovers Are Lunatics & How Lovers Are Lunatics started/came about?
The way Lovers Are Lunatics started was, I met this guy named Jeff C Henry about 7 years ago, He started designing my stage clothes for me and we just really identified with each other on music like hip hop & rock, We really just liked a lot of the same music and a lot of the same art forms and you know street art and stuff like that. We saw eye to eye with each other on a lot of things and I think the common bond for us was our love for the Wu Tang Clan, you know we were the crazy rock and roll white boys loving Wu Tang Clan and his sense of fashion was dope and I really liked it. After a few years have gone by we kept toying around with the idea of starting our own clothing company together and I remember we came to see a show in Traverse City Michigan and that is when we like shook hands on it and were like okay, lets move forward lets actually do this. Lets make a clothing line together.
2. Is that when you would say that Lovers Are Lunatics took off?
Absolutely, That’s when the idea of Lovers Are Lunatics kind of was born back in 2013, and over the course of that year. I had come through town quite a few times and we would get together and work with each other through email and just come up with concepts and ideas and something that we felt would be a reflection of who we are as artists and what we feel was missing within the street wear and fashion world from what we see, and know our brand is rock inspired street wear essentially.
3. What inspired the name Lovers Are Lunatics?
Lovers Are Lunatics is a very old Latin phrase and I’m very passionate and convicted when it comes to what I do with my band, my music and my art and so is Jeff, You know what I’m saying. People thought that early on in my career that I was crazy because I was passionate about something that didn't fit in the norm for everybody and they thought that was crazy. Like “you want to be in a rock band?” like yea I want to be in a fucking rock band and I was so passionate about it, that it eventually took shape and here I am today on tour in a rock band. It bleeds over to if you're passionate about something and you love something you're gonna succeed and chase that dream and people might think you're crazy but I'm okay with that. I believe that true love makes you do crazy things and that there is just beauty in that. I also like the name Lovers Are Lunatics cause it’s got kind of a feminine and a masculine element to it as well cause you know it’s not just a mens line, we want to do something that the girls like as well.
4. Do you ever see a future collaborative t-shirt or merch with Papa Roach & Lovers Are Lunatics?
You know I was actually talking with my guitar player Jerry Horton earlier about this. Which brought us to a larger idea, which it would be cool to do collaborations with different artists, not just Papa Roach but a bunch of different artists. It would be rad to do something with a guy like Yelawolf or Machine Gun Kelly or something with Matty Mullins from Memphis May Fire, It would be cool to do something like that. The idea is to not really have limitations to what we can do with this line. Its not like “oh cool lets do a t-shirt” then like oh cool thats it. That’s the thing about Papa Roach in my career with this band and that goes in line with Lovers Are Lunatics is that we want to start from the ground up, straight DIY (Do It Yourself) and see how it grows. I’ve seen that in my career with Papa Roach, started it ourselves with no backing except our passion. That’s the same thing right now with Lovers Are Lunatics. I didn't want to go license it to a big company right off the bat because I feel that if we could survive the infancy of the brand and build it together independently, If we can make it through that as business partners we can do this for real. Then we’ll be the company that won’t need someone behind us & I’m very excited about it.
5. So I understand that Lovers Are Lunatics merch cannot be purchased on any of Papa Roach tours. Did you want to keep those two things separate from each other?
Most Definitely, I think that its very important that when we’re doing live shows that it’s about Papa Roach. You know my band is totally cool with me doing this and are very supportive of it. It’s kind of like my side project essentially but it’s with clothes and not another band. I get to express everything I want to do with Papa Roach, musically.
6. So we already just chatted about the inspiration of the style of the clothing, but how did the idea generally come to you. What made you decide I need to make a clothing line? (Was there something you were wearing that you didn't like or wanted more of?)
Well you know I just saw some of the clothing lines out there that are cool but it’s not what I want to see. I think that instead of just sitting there complaining about somebody else's art that I’m not impressed with. Then fucking let me go do something myself and see what we can come together with and see what inspires us. It’s definitely hitting right in line with who we are. We’re dreamers, we dream of having a clothing company that people are passionate about, so we made a t-shirt called dreamer. It’s a reflection of who we are as people and our motivation towards art.
7. Is there a certain guideline you and Jeff follow when designing new merch?
As far as our guideline right now, it’s definitely focused in on the brand right now. It’s very basic, bold & simple and I think that thats the process for us right now. I think our color palette right now is pretty limited to just black and white, black and grey, black white and grey, black and red, red and grey, and things like that. I mean I’ve been wearing black my whole life. So its just like thats where it needs to be but it will grow from that and we will continue to evolve what we do but it’s definitely a great harnessing point of where were beginning from.
8. Do you endorse any current bands other then Papa Roach with LAL Clothing? Do You Plan to begin endorsing bands?
No, We currently do not but Yes, Most definitely. My friends in Islander are going to start rocking the gear, their vocalist has already been wearing the stuff during their live shows. There is a band called Eye’s Set To Kill which is a younger band thats really digs our stuff too, so we’re about to reach out to them and give them some gear. Yes, that’s definitely a way for us to market our brand.
9. What would you say was the most successful design this far along in the Lover Are Lunatics Clothing collection? Why do you think it was the most successful?
So far the most successful designs are: Crackhead Skull, Until Death Do Us Part, & Sex No Drugs and Rock and Roll. I think that that really just speaks a lot about who we are, We love music and I got caught up on that wrong path back in the day. So hence the SEX, NO DRUGS and Rock and roll shirt Which is also a great way to promote the healthy sober lifestyle. I just want to be on the positive side of things and not the self destructive element. The Until Death Do Us Part design was inspired by just the way that we approach our lives the way that we both Jeff and I are both into commitment. We’re both committed to this line and me I’m committed to my band; I’ve been with them for over 20 years,
My Wife; I’ve been with her for over 20 years as well. I think that kind of ethos's is strong and it lets the fans know that its not just a flash in the pan. The Crackhead Skull, man I’ve been drawing that thing for years on my autographs and it just felt very natural and organic to use that as one of the premiere icons for the brand and the fans love it. I love seeing fans wearing the line to our shows it’s just really cool.
10. Where do you see the future of Lovers Are Lunatics Clothing? What Do you hope to achieve with the line?
Oh man, I mean it is baby steps. I don't want to get to far ahead of myself but definitely the sky is the limit in this world. You never know how a brand like this can and will take off and catch fire. Who knows it might end up being big in Japan & big in Southeast Asia, and big in Europe and it would be awesome to travel around the world and show up in clothing stores and see our products of our brand and people wearing it throughout the world. For me it’s always about trying to lift people up and if people feel and look good wearing our stuff, that’s a great thing! I am involved in a lot of social causes as well and philanthropy is definitely something i’ve been involved in for the lat 5 years of my life. So who knows what organizations and causes we partner up with in the future as well.
11. Will your Clothing Line be launching new products seasonally or just whenever a design comes about?
Oh, No its definitely going to be seasonally released. We are actually working on our spring line right now and so that will probably be unveiled in March or April 2015 but we are actively working on that right now.
12. What made you decide to hide a LAL Clothing gift packages on each stop of tour? What is inside each of these packages?
The Hide & Creep, Jeff & I were trying to come up with something DIY and fun ways to market our brand and thought that it was a cool way to engage with the fans in not only social media but with the real world in a physical aspect. Its been going really cool and the fans been having a great time with that and we’re just going to continue doing that. #HideAndCreep
13. Anything else you would like to mention about LAL Clothing or want your fans to know about it?
Definitely go follow us on all of our socials, it’s got me very active in my social media again, I kind of fell off and didn't really pay to much attention to that and I saw this as an opportunity to really engage with the fans again & also a great way to promote the line and stay connected with whats going on there and keeping my thumb on the pulse. Just hit us up on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and all that stuff and you guys can stay tuned for whats next.
14. Would you say that Social media is impacting your brand? (better promoting and marketing for your brand?)
Yes, It is the best way for us to do it right now especially for this start up, Do it yourself company.
Thank you all so much for supporting us and following our clothing line.
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