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I'm going to let you in a little game that I used to play in highschool way before beer pong was ever invented. We used to play the Taproot drinking game. What you do is get a couple of your buddies together and get a Taproot album. We used to play with the Taproot albums Birth and Welcome but any of their albums will work. So put the album on and everytime Steve the singer says "I" you all take a drink. Whoever makes it through the entire album is the winner. To play the advanced version the same rules apply but take an additional drink everytimeSteve says "Me" as well. Believe me you will be wasted by the end of one album. One of my buddies made it through the entire Gift and Welcome album. Consequently, later on that night we had to take him to the hospital to get his stomach pumped. Warning:: Morbid MIller is not responsible for any deaths or murders that occur while playing this game. Play at your own risk!!!
What was Taproot like during your local days?
We're from Ann Arbor, MI which is home to the University of MI. Like most college towns, the scene their was more jam bands and cover bands. We had to work hard to build up a following their. We'd play small clubs and some very empty large venues in the surrounding areas, from Ypsilanti to Detroit. It took us a while to break into our home town. It started off with just a few friends and families coming to our shows in Ann Arbor, and they started bringing more and more people as well as us earning new fans. By the time we were packing the Blind Pig, it was an eclectic mix of fans from goth to hard core to college kids and parents. It's always surprised me therange of people our music has touched.
What national acts did you guys play with as a local band?
We actually won a battle of the bands to play for Blue Oyster Cult, lol. We never got to play it because the people that put on the contest felt we didn't fit in so they put one of the other bands on. We only ever played with one national when we were local, and that's the gig that scored us our management who in turn got us our record deal. We played a show with System of a Down back in 1999, and their management Velvet Hammer brought us on board got us showcases for all the major labels.
What made you guys sign with Velvet Hammer? From my understanding you guys were getting offers from all over the place.
They really believed in us. They have a love for the music. It's not just business with them, it's a passion.
How has Taproot managed to survive the decline of the music industry. In an age were most bands are dropped after putting out one record how did you guys make it?
I attribute our continued success to our friendship within the band. We were friends before we were famous, before we were even in a band together, and we have a really strong bond there. We love what we do, and even when times are tough, we're willing to work hard to be able to continue doing it. Oh, and I think we write some pretty kick ass music.
Explain some of the reasons you guys changed your style early on in your career... Gift to Welcome are two very different syles. What influenced you guys to do that?
Gift was an accumulation of everything we did in our early career from the birth of Taproot to when we were signed to Atlantic Records. It's raw, heavy, and immature. There's something about the vibe on Gift that people were really able to feel. Our hardcore fans fell in love with Gift when they first heard it and to this day those songs get the biggest mosh reactions from our crowds. When we wrote Welcome, we'd done two Ozzfest tours as well as bands from Slipknot to Deftones to Disturbed and Papa Roach. We grew up a lot and we wanted to show that on the next record. Welcome we spent some serious time in the rehearsal studio writing music with Toby Wright, and in some ways Welcome can be considered our 4th or 5th record because we wrote so many songs and passed them over to get to the songs we have on Welcome. That's why their was such a difference in the two records.
I have all of your independent cd's and they are all very impressive! DId you guys sell a lot of them independently?
We were burning all of those CDs ourselves and selling them at shows and online on a "as we need them" basis. Mike and I were getting up early every morning and going to the University of Michigan computer lab, taking up 10 computers and burning as many CDs as we could before the students came in. I have no idea how many we sold because we never had a total to count from...we just made them and sold them. I actually have about twenty or so "...something more then nothing" CDs in storage somewhere.
What do you think you would be doing if Taproot wouldn't have happen?
I was going to school to be an accountant. I'm not sure if that's where I would've ended up, but I'm glad I ended up here instead.
Have you been able to make a decent living for yourself as a musician or do you have a day job when your not on tour?
I worked in a convenience store in Ann Arbor from 1996 to the end of 1999, almost every day unless we had a show. Thanks to the hard work of the band, I've never had to have another job since. 10. Is taproot still on a label? if so which label are you on? "Our Long Road Home" was released through Velvet Hammer music and distributed by RED. We are still technically on Velvet Hammer, btu we're not sure what will happen with our next album.
Can you tell me some of the pro's and con's of doing an album independently rather than through a major label?
We were always lucky in that our label never tried to get us to fit in with a particular style, they never tried to tell us what to do. I've heard stories from other bands being told what kind of songs to write, and I'm glad we never had to put up with that. In that respect, not much has changed in our writing style. We pretty much do what we've always done which is write music that we like to listen to. Obviously there's not as much money behind the record without the label, both in recording and promoting. On the other hand, doing it on our own means we don't have to use an expensive LA studio so we can be more cost effective, therefore we can break even and make see a profit sooner through record sales. It's a risk though because it's all of our own money being put into the record, so if we don't sell any records, that's our money we lose. Thankfully we've been touring extensively for the past decade and have a strong base of fans all around the world.
What can we expect from Taproot in 2009?
Touring, touring, touring! We released Our Long Road Home in the later part of 2008, so now it's time to tour and promote the music we worked so hard on the last few years.
Which album is your favorite Taproot album?
For me, it's Blue-Sky Research. That album took so much work, so much time, and we made such a huge step musically on that record, I listen to it and all of that comes back to me. It was a big accomplishment for us. I will say I love all of our albums for different reasons, but BSR is my favorite if I have to choose.
If you could only have one album to listen to for the rest of your life who would it be?
Starborn, Tome I by The Chronicles of Israfel. It's the guitarist from Pulse Ultra's new project, and it's absolutely amazing. It takes you on an incredible journey and leaves you wanting more when it's over. I can't wait for the next installment.
Who or what are your influences?
I grew up on Metallica, Iron Maiden, Guns N Roses, as well as a lot of 80's hair metal. I get a lot of crap for always putting on Bon Jovi when we're driving, but I can't help it...it's good driving music. Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers is probably my biggest inspiration as a bass player, although I don't try to imitate him.
Who are you listening to right now?
The Chronicles of Israfel, Emmure, 311, From Autumn to Ashes, Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters, Kenna...all sorts of stuff.
What is Taproots purpose or goal as a band?
To keep making music that touches people. We hear stories all the time about how a song or an album of ours helped someone through a tough time, sometimes they even say it saved their life, and that's an amazing feeling...music is such a powerful thing, it's done so much for us, how could we not use it to give something back since we have that opportunity?
Is their anything you would like to add?
I just want to thank everyone that's stuck with us through out the years. We appreciate the loyalty and support. Thank you all, and keep supporting rock music!
http://www.myspace.com/taproot
8:20 PM
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