Metal Tour Guide

Hailing from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Taproot formed in late 1997, and has toured with Deftones, Sevendust, Incubus, and Ko?n. Taproot's album "Blue Sky Research" was released on 16 August 2005. Their song "Calling" was the official theme song of WWE's Unforgiven pay-per-view event in September 2005. The second single from the album, "Birthday," received minimal radio airtime on the East Coast.

Taproot originally sent a demo to Limp Bizkit frontman and businessman/entrepreneur/producer Fred Durst in 1998. He promised the four-piece band the world on a silver platter, but never followed-through. Taproot landed a deal with Atlantic Records soon after. Durst felt betrayed by this and ignited a hilarious one-sided rivalry with the band even as Limp Bizkit's star was fading, the culmination of which was a ridiculous answering machine message from Durst which has circulated download sites ever since. He also laid blame on System of a Down, who had apparently assisted Taproot in inking their deal. Their Velvet Hammer Atlantic debut, "gift," (yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a....) was released in June 2000. Thanks to the liking of Ozzy Osbourne's son, Jack, Taproot scored a spot at the second stage at the 2000 OzzFest tour. Two years later, Rolling Stone hailed Taproot as the "next contenders for the new-metal crown." Taproot then spent seven months in Los Angeles recording a follow-up to "Gift." The end result was "Welcome," a more melodic effort. The band later followed up the album with "Blue Sky Research" in 2005. Taproot briefly toured with Chevelle and 30 Seconds to Mars in 2005 after a touring hiatus. Taproot will be going on a headlining tour in March 2006 with Evans Blue and From Satellite. Taproot is great in concert, involving the audience in every song, going so far as to jumping in the mosh pit during songs. The energy Taproot creates live cannot be captured.

Band:
Vocals, Guitar: Stephen Richards, 16 October 1977
Guitar: Mike DeWolf, 05 July 1976
Bass: Phil Lipscomb, 02 September 1976
Drums: Jarrod Montague, 28 January 1976