Say what you will about Papa Roach, but that band apparently has a pretty good sense of humor. At least, that’s what Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner learned last night after she got flowers from lead singer Jacoby Shaddix just a week after saying she hated his song, “Scars,” in an A.V. Club feature. Wasner got the flowers backstage at a Music Hall Of Williamsburg show and was convinced it was a joke and tweeted as such. Turns out it wasn’t, and Shaddix wrote back via the Papa Roach account, telling Wasner he wasn’t mad at her and wishing her, “good luck in this crazy biz we call show!”
We had to know the whole story, obviously, so we got Wasner on the phone this morning for all the flowery details.
The A.V. Club: So the flowers just came to the green room?
Jenn Wasner: They were delivered to the green room and I was afraid to open the card because I thought it might be some Anthrax shit. I’ve never received flowers before, so it felt very ominous.
AVC: And are they with you in the van now?
JW: Of course. You can’t leave flowers behind.
AVC: What did you think when you got them?
JW: I thought it wasn’t real. It took a lot to convince me it was real. I was convinced my manager had played a prank on me. He was in the room when it happened, and of course he would set it up so he would be there. I was certain he’d pranked me, but he wouldn’t fess up, so I took it to Twitter. Then I found out it was real.
AVC: Did the flowers change your opinion about the song?
JW: It doesn’t change my opinion about the song, but I was noticeably conflicted about it even when I was doing the interview, just the very nature of picking apart some else’s work like that. I thought it was a very gracious move on his part. I appreciate it. I felt really bad until I realized he wasn’t mad and then I thought it was funny.
When it comes down to it, whether you like what he does or what I do or not, we both essentially do the same thing. It felt like some sort of betrayal to speak out against something like that in a public way, even though I still hate the song and can’t say I’m a fan. I’d imagine he’d say the same about our band and I wouldn’t take offense at all. It was a gracious thing to do, and very funny. Hilarious is what it was.
AVC: So it’s all good.
JW: I really appreciated it. It basically went down exactly the way you’d hope for it to go down. I mean, it’s pretty insane. It happened. I thought it was a classy move and I’m not sure if I’ll ever publicly talk shit about anything ever again. This is what happens. You get flowers from Papa Roach. It’s all in the game, as they say.