Taproot (band)

Taproot is a four-piece rock music group from Ann Arbor, Michigan that has toured with bands such as Korn, Deftones, Staind, P.O.D., Disturbed, and Linkin Park.

History

The beginnings (1997-1999)

File:Taproot Gift.jpg

Gift, Taproot's first major release.

Back in the mid 90's a band called Cymonic Drive featured Dan now in the band Madhops on bass and Dennis AKA D-hauz now ex-20 Dead Flower Children on vocals. While another band called Skumbag featured Steve now of Taproot on drums and Mike now of Taproot on guitar, one day these bands played a gig together and both took interest in each others band. After a few conversations the 4 members dissolved their current bands and got together to form the first incarnation of a band we now know as Taproot the line-up then featured D-hauz on vocals, Mike on guitar, Dan on bass and Steve on drums. The band's first song was "Coma 99" which later went on to became a 20 Dead Flower Children song in a different version. Things went well at the start but the band's line-up only lasted about 3-4 months when it was cut short by D-hauz leaving the band to join 20 Dead Flower Children after their original singer left the band. With no singer to front the band Dan left shortly after and formed Madhops. Taproot's future wasn't looking to bright until Steve stepped out from behind the drumkit and attempted the vocal duties, it turned out that Steve could sing quite well which brought Dan back into the fold to lay down the bass on some demo tracks one of which included the song from Taproot's debut album ...Something More Than Nothing "Negative Rein4sment" in which Dan can also be heard busting a freestyle on. The new band configuration worked out well but Dan was well into Madhops and returned back to them which left Steve and Mike to search out some new musicians to take their place, they first found Phil their current bass player and then J-rod their current drummer which worked well and is now their current line-up.

In 1998, the band sent their demo to Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. Impressed with their material, he offered to get them a recording contract through Interscope Records. However, after extended negotiations, Taproot looked elsewhere, where they finally landed a lucrative record deal with Atlantic Records. Feeling betrayed, Durst heavily cursed the band on vocalist Stephen Richards' answering machine. He also put some blame on System of a Down, who assisted Taproot in securing the Atlantic deal. In retaliation, Durst kicked System of a Down off the 1999 Family Values Tour, replacing them with Staind. During this time period, Taproot independently released three discs in ...Something More Than Nothing (1998), Mentobe (1998) and Upon Us (1999).

Gift/Welcome (2000-2004)

File:Taproot Welcome.jpg

Welcome , Taproot's second major release.

The band released their debut album Gift on June 27, 2000. With the album's lead single, "Again & Again", gaining heavy exposure through MTV2, the band's mainstream rise gained momentum.

With the help of Ozzy Osbourne's son Jack, Taproot landed a spot on the second stage of the 2000 and 2001 Ozzfest Tour.

After spending seven months in Los Angeles, the band released their second album Welcome on October 15, 2002. Considered to be a more melodic effort, the album debuted at #17 on the Billboard 200, selling over 51,000 copies in its first week of release. Much of this was due to the success of the the album's first single, "Poem", which shot to #5 on the Mainstream Rock charts. The album's second single, "Mine", followed with more moderate success. Welcome is Taproot's most successful album to-date, achieving near gold status, with approximately 475,000+ copies sold.

After touring across the country on Disturbed's Music as a Weapon Tour, as well as a European tour, the band took a long two year break.

Blue-Sky Research (2005-2006)

Returning from exile, the band released their third major album Blue-Sky Research on August 16, 2005. Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins frontman) assisted in song-writing on the album, which was produced by Toby Wright. It debuted at #33 on the Billboard 200, with approximately 28,000 first week sales.

The band headlined a major tour with Evans Blue and From Satellite to promote its release. Prior to the headline tour, Taproot acted as direct support to Chevelle on their tour alongside 30 Seconds to Mars. They also participated in the Fall Brawl Tour which featured Staind and P.O.D. as headliners, and is notable for taking the then unknown Flyleaf along as the opening act for the three bands.

On May 23, 2006, it was reported that Taproot had parted ways with Atlantic Records, after disappointing sales of Blue-Sky Research. At the time, the album had sold 112,000 copies since its release. On June 13 2006, drummer Jarrod Montague, via Taproot's MySpace blog, confirmed the news.

Present news (2007-present)

On March 5, 2007, the band confirmed that they were in the process of recording their new album with producer Tim Patalan. A summer (July-September) release is expected.

According to Philip Lipscomb's (Bassist) MySpace site, drums and bass are now officially recorded, while guitar tracks still needs to be recorded. As for vocals, Stephen Richards (Vocalist) still has a lot of work to do.

Members

• Stephen Richards – Vocals, Guitar
• Mike DeWolf – Guitar
• Phil Lipscomb – Bass
• Jarrod Montague - Drums

Discography

Albums

Album Cover	Date of Release	Title	Label	US Chart Peak	US Sales
File:Taproot Gift.jpg	Jun 27, 2000	Gift	Atlantic Records	#160	250,000 +
File:Taproot Welcome.jpg	Oct 15, 2002	Welcome	Atlantic Records	#17	475,000 +
	Aug 16, 2005	Blue-Sky Research	Atlantic Records	#33	125,000 +
	Summertime, 2007	TBA	TBR

Singles

Year	Song	US Hot 100	U.S. Modern Rock	U.S. Mainstream Rock	Album
2000	"Again & Again"	-	-	39	Gift
2001	"I"	-	-	34	Gift
2002	"Poem"	-	10	5	Welcome
2002	"Mine"	-	26	23	Welcome
2005	"Calling"	-	23	11	Blue-Sky Research
2005	"Birthday"	-	-	34	Blue-Sky Research

Trivia

• The band members birth dates are: Stephen Richards (Oct 17, 1977), Mike DeWolf (Jul 5, 1976), Phil Lipscomb (Sep 2, 1976), Jarrod Montague (Jan 28, 1976).
• Bassist Phil Lipscomb is part of a side project called The Toques. They have released the song "Breakdown" which was featured on the soundtrack to the film Stick It.
• The song "Poem" was featured on the MVP Baseball 2003 soundtrack, as well as the soundtrack for True Crime: Streets of L.A.
• The song "Calling" was used as the official theme song for WWE Unforgiven 2005.
• The band came out on stage to I AM X's introduction to the song "Kiss and Swallow" during part of their spring 2006 tour.
• The band's manager Mark Wakefield is the former singer of Xero, the band that eventually became Linkin Park.

Collaborations

• Stephen Richards was featured on the Linkin Park album Reanimation in the track "P5hng Me A*wy".
• Stephen Richards was also featured on the Pulse Ultra album 'Headspace', on a track called "Big Brother".
• Stephen Richards was featured on a track called "Plastic" from the band Reveille.
• Jarrod Montague plays drums on the Celldweller song "I Believe You".

Non-Album Songs

• D.J. Muggs' Mixtape, The Aftermash, features a mashup of Calling with 50 Cent's "Just a lil' Bit".
• "Day by Day" is featured on the Dracula 2000 soundtrack.
• "Free" was cut from Welcome, however can be found on the 'Poem' single
• "Get Me", an early cut from Welcome, debuted on the band's MySpace page
• "Stay Away" was cut from Blue Sky Research, however can be found on the Import version
• "Strive", also an early cut from Welcome, debuted with "Get Me" on the band's MySpace page
• "Thriftwhore" was a late cut from their debut album, Gift
• "Transparent", left off of Welcome, can be found on the 'Poem' single with "Free"

External links

• Official site
• Template:MySpace
• Taproot at AllMusic