Much of this was due to the success of the album's first single, "Poem", which shot to #5 on the Mainstream Rock charts. 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. With the help of Ozzy Osbourne's son Jack, Taproot landed a spot on the second stage of the 20 Ozzfest tour.Īfter spending seven months in Los Angeles, the band released their second album Welcome on October 15, 2002. With the album's lead single "Again & Again" gaining heavy exposure through MTV2, the band's mainstream rise gained momentum. The band released their debut album Gift on June 27, 2000. Something More Than Nothing (1998), Mentobe (1998) and Upon Us (1999). Taproot later went on to independently release three albums. In retaliation, Durst also kicked System of a Down off the 1999 Family Values Tour, replacing them with Psycho Enhancer. He also put some blame on System of a Down, who assisted Taproot in securing the Atlantic deal. Durst heavily cursed the band on vocalist Stephen Richards' answering machine. However, after extended negotiations, Taproot looked elsewhere, where they finally landed a lucrative record deal with Atlantic Records. Impressed with their material, he offered to get them a recording contract through Interscope Records. In 1997, Taproot sent their demo to Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. They first found Phil, their current bass player, before finding J-rod, their current drummer, which worked well and is now their current line-up. The new band configuration worked out well but Dan was well into Madhops and returned to them leaving Steve and Mike to search out a few new musicians to take their place. Something More Than Nothing, called "Negative Rein4sment", in which Dan can also be heard busting a freestyle on). Taproot's future wasn't looking too 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. With no singer to front the band Dan left shortly after and formed Madhops. 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. The band's first song was "Coma 99" which later went on to become a 20 Dead Flower Children song in a different version. The line-up then featured D-hauz on vocals, Mike on guitar, Dan on bass and Steve on drums. 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. One day these bands played a gig together and they both took an interest in each others' band. While another band called Skumbag featured Steve (now of Taproot) on drums and Mike (now of Taproot) on guitar. 1.6 Signing with Victory Records & Plead the Fifth (2010-present)īack 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.Those who loved the power and aggression of “Gift” and the melodic introspective of “Welcome” will be thoroughly impressed with “Blue Sky Research”. Much of the issues fans had with “Welcome” have been addressed this time around. Richards’ trademark growl gets put to good use, and the end of the song signifies how well the album fits well together as a whole. Tracks such as “Facepeeler”, “Nightmare“, and “Blue Sky Research, What’s Left” bring back much of the harnessed power that was missing in Taproot’s previous release “Welcome”.Ī strong highlight track, “Blue Sky Research, What’s Left” starts off as what seems to be an electric-acoustic, instrumental final track, yet turns into one of the heaviest tracks of the album. The melodic yet driving tracks “I Will Not Fall for You”, “Promise”, “Lost in the Woods” or “Birthday” could have easily taken the place of “Calling”, while staying mainstream friendly for airplay.īut mainstream recycled garbage is far from what this album offers. In no way does it show the highlights of Stephen Richards’ lyrics, nor the amplified aggression used at precisely the right moments in many of the songs. Easily the weakest track of the album, its bland hook and radio friendly styling gives the wrong impression of the album. With such a solid album, using “Calling” as the first single is a mistake. Blue Sky Research is the amalgamation of the best parts of Taproot’s previous albums. Three years later, “Blue Sky Research” comes along and successfully blends together the raw elements of “Gift” along with the more melodic moments of “Welcome”. After making a flawless debut with “Gift”, many felt that Taproot’s follow up album “Welcome” was a disappointment that never really tapped into their potential.