Credit: Stefanie MoserOf all the many eras of music, the late-’90s/early-2000s rock scene is among the most maligned. While acts like Nickelback, Creed and Limp Bizkit ruled the charts back then, you’re probably more likely to find them now on a “worst bands” list than any critic’s ranking. But don’t tell Jeris Johnson that.
Over the last few months, the TikTok sensation has collaborated with Papa Roach on a new version of their nu metal standard “Last Resort,” and released a remix of his own song “damn!” featuring Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger. As Johnson tells ABC Audio, that era of rock was “all [he] was listening to growing up.”
“It’s such a forgotten era of music to me,” Johnson says. “It’s like people pretend like it never existed or something.”
“All these bands that were just so massive and dominating the charts forever, it just gets so…left behind to me or something,” he adds. “Just kind of, like, s*** on, I guess.”
Beyond his own personal affinity for aughts rock, Johnson feels like there’s a large, mostly unexplored opportunity to bring that sound into modern music in a cool and interesting way.
“To me, it’s like a massive hole of, like, ‘Why has nobody tried to re-energize this and bring it into a modern place?'” he says.
Johnson adds that working with Papa Roach and Kroeger has felt like a “passing of the torch”-type moment.
“I get to honor…my heroes by channeling this,” Johnson says. “Jacoby [Shaddix] and Chad have both reciprocated this and been, like, ‘F*** yeah! Go, kid, you’re awesome!'”
“It’s just been a really cool experience for me,” he adds. “I’m just trying to f***ing keep doing it, ’cause it’s awesome.”
By Josh Johnson
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