Taproot

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

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. Taproot '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 Taproot '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 Taproot 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 Taproot 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 Taproot 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).


Taproot 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, Taproot 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, Taproot took a long two year break.

Returning from exile, Taproot 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.

Taproot 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.

On March 5, 2007, Taproot confirmed that they were in the process of recording their new album with producer Tim Patalan.

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