Thank you so much for the opportunity to have you on the Grande Rock Website. I have to start out about the white outfits, and paying homage to your show because of the white shirt.
P: Oh, nice.
I couldn’t find anything else other than my Stepbrother’s shirt.
P: And what does it say?
It says, we’re here to f*** sh** up.
P: Oh, that’s funny, that’s funny.
Ah, I do? Oh, yeah. I can drive. And also, going along with, seriously, your get-ups for when we saw you at Taste of Madison.
P: Awesome.
My band Hijack, namely, I dress in all white when I perform as well.
P: Nice.
So, that was very cool to see, and I was actually slightly embarrassed that I didn’t actually just have my white get-up either then or even now. And of course, I’m just lucky that I remembered that I had that shirt, for that matter. We did a concert review for the show, plus photography from the show at the Taste of Madison.
P: Nice. It’s funny you say the white thing because that’s the first time we’ve really done that since OzFest 2001.
Oh, get out. Really?!
P: Yeah.
I was there. That’s so crazy. Yeah, we had an old, like that was kind of what we were semi-known for at that time.
P: You know, OzzFest 2001 was our kind of coming out party. So, we got to know each other. And when we did the second year, we decided to go all white because everyone else is wearing black all the time. And plus, it’s hot, you’re in the sun, it helps out a lot. So, we had that and we were talking about what shows to do that on for this. And inside, I don’t think we were doing so much inside for these outside festivals, it’s a lot of fun.
Yeah, it was cool to see you guys because I remember OzFest in Tinley Park, Illinois.
P: Oh, yeah.
Yeah, and it was like Drained STH, the girls out of Sweden. And it was, oh God, there was just so many bands on there that, either did really good at the time and kind of fell off or they’re still really out there.
P: And yeah, that was a cool show. I do remember you guys.
Ron: It was my first time seeing you guys live. Okay. Obviously, I’ve heard of you guys and I dove into your discography. We dove into Taproot because, when I was going through high school and all. The whole entire like, check your passive things. Okay, I followed you guys all the way up to your 2012 release, “The Episodes”. Did I say that right? And then afterwards, there was a gap. Did you want to talk a little bit about that one of, I don’t know if you guys needed to find yourself, needed a break from the tour life or what happened?
P: So, our singer was going through some health issues personally and with his mom. She has since passed away. But yeah, it was a tough time and he was dealing with a lot. And so, he said, “hey, I need a break”. And I was a little shocked because personally, I was ready to start recording the next record and continue on, this all I, in my real adult life, this is pretty much all I’d ever done. You know, other than a few, an odd job here and there. This was like, this was my career and I didn’t know what to do.
And also, we’re taking a break and it’s like, okay. I mean, I can’t make him tour. I didn’t want him to tour if he didn’t want to tour and do shows or anything. So, after that, personally, I went on tour with Smiling Through Soul for a little while. Their bass player was having a baby at home. And then, he was taking a break and then they asked me to come out because I was friends with those guys. So, I did a couple of stints with them, like a summer with them, which was a lot of fun, man. Those guys are so cool. I love touring with them. Just saw Sean this weekend at Taste of Madison as well. I hung out on Sunday to see those guys, man. That was great. And got a house now, got kids, the whole thing. Our singer, on the other hand, got married and all that stuff, but he was working on this record that whole time, just when he could, four or five in the morning, just kind of trying to just process it. And a lot of these songs that you’ll hear on it were written over 10 years ago. Even our new single “Favourite Song”, I have an old version of that from literally 10, 11 years ago, which is crazy.
That’s a beautiful song, too. Dude, I love that song. I was actually just watching a posted live footage where Elias from Nonpoint came up. I have some great photos of you guys, too.
P: Yeah, I mean, the sound guy that sounded at that was great. Like, all the footage I’ve watched, you can hear everything. My bass is just booming. I had such a fun time playing, because the last few shows, my bass sounded like, honestly, I couldn’t really hear it on stage. And this time, like, I couldn’t hear my stage stuff, because the subs and everything beneath me were so loud. I’m like, I’m listening to the video. Oh my God, it’s so good. So, yeah. And you can hear everything, though, not just bass, but you hear the guitars, you hear the drums, you hear the vocals really well.
When Elias comes in, it’s immediate. Sometimes when the guy grabs that second mic, it’s like, and then they fade in. It’s not in levels, it’s not necessarily mated to everything else. The sound guy’s normally like, oh, how do I get, which mic is that? And he’s just trying to get them on. And it was just immediate, dude. We rehearsed well, and it was our first time doing it. That was pretty cool. It was absolutely beautiful.
So, those songs were written 10 years ago, and I was, of course, familiarizing myself a little bit more. OK, you released a single in 2019, another one in 2020, another one in 2021, and I’m like, are you guys, like, just teasing us? And then afterwards, I see the album was out September 29th. Were the singles just in a different studio underneath a different label than the album, or how does this work?
P: Well, what’s funny is, there’s been some releases recently, like you said, those ones you talk about that had nothing to do with us. Those are B-sides from our B-sides from our old stuff that Warner Electro Atlantic. Or if they’re called that still, whatever they’re called now. But they just would release those, and we found out later, like, oh, that was released, and even, “Gift” was released on vinyl at some point. I didn’t even know that was happening. These things just kind of happen around us.
What? That’s crazy!
P: All the things for us that we’ve actively been involved in were from this year, and that’s because of the conversation with Thom, our manager, when we first started talking. We talked about doing a skateboard, because we had nothing going on. I hadn’t done anything in a while. So, we were thinking, let’s get some merch out there, try to get something started.
So, we released a skateboard, some T-shirts, just kind of ramping up the interest. And then we realized Steve was almost done with the record, so that coincided with that, and we started promoting that and getting it mixed and sneaking out a couple songs there. We released two songs before “Favourite Song”. We released “VIP”, which was the first, I don’t wanna say single, it’s more just like the song that we used as the teaser, or whatever you call it, to get people hyped up about it. But “Favourite Song” was always gonna be the, “play this on the radio”, let’s get this going. But yeah, we had “VIP”, and then “No One Else to Blame”, and then “Favourite Song”. And then we have, I think, seven, eight more tracks on the record itself.
Yeah, these skate decks are legit, I skate it too, but these are legit boards. What’s funny, they’re actually working on getting cheaper wood to do, for the people that just want to hang on their walls. The people that want to hang on their walls don’t want to spend, you know, 100, 120 bucks on a legit board that they’re going to just hang on their wall. But it’ll look the same, but it’s a little bit cheaper wood, so you can just hang it on the wall, and it doesn’t need to be as durable, you know, with a, what, seven-ply or whatever a skateboard is.
It’ll be my fault to have both, and you’ll probably see me with a cast on. I used to be a skater. There’s just so much to talk about. I mean, it was good to see you guys live, of course. You guys really brought it in Madison, though. I mean, there’s a lot of buzz going on for you guys, which is really cool to see.
P: When we first started talking to Thom, when I first started talking to him, I had no idea. I wasn’t in the music scene much anymore. You know, I don’t listen to a lot of new stuff. I don’t go to concerts unless it’s my friends coming to town. So, I had no idea there was this sort of resurgence of new metal and the music that we did, and so the reaction has been just like completely wild to me. And to see all those people at the show, we got pictures from that show on Saturday, and it’s just like, people, man, just people all the way down. Yeah, it’s a sea of f*****g people. It’s a sea of people, that Capitol building in the background. I mean, like I love, we played Taste of Madison before, and you know, I appreciated then, but just having been, all the shows, having been off the road and coming back to it, dude, I appreciate this stuff so much more than I ever did before. You know, it’s been just, I don’t know, blessed would be the word to use, I guess.
It was good to see you guys play. Now, there’s a lot of tracking things that you always hear about, and there was nothing that was tracked with you guys, which is incredible.
P: Oh yeah, like it’s funny, we have maybe over a full set, if we’re headlining, we’ve got maybe three or four songs, because there’s certain sounds, like again and again, we have that little, like that weird drum machine thing at the beginning. And even with that one, we only do it at the beginning, and then we shut it off for the rest. We used to have the whole thing, and now we just don’t bother. We just need that little intro.” Favourite Song” has a couple things.
I’ve listened to our tracks, because we’re doing this, you know, whole think new again. And it’s just like, just that tick, tick, tick, tick, for the whole time, then occasionally some weird sound, or some bass drop, or something like that. But there’s no guitars, there’s no background vocals. We’ve always prided ourselves on as full, as live, I guess, as we can do it. And while still making it, like I said, some songs we’ve, just for the record, we threw on some weird sounds, and things that help compliment what we were doing, but they’re not necessary. And almost every song we do live, we’ve had to do it without. You can, they’ll still work without the sounds.
I gotta ask what bass is that you play?
P: I have a few.
Dude, that thing is f*****g gorgeous.
P: So, the one I’m playing right now, is, it’s a guy that used to make basses, Jeremy Thompson, really good friend of mine, haven’t talked to him in way too long. But yeah, he made this one for me. He’s originally from South Bend, but yeah, great dude. And he’s made me, there’s an old gray one with that same shape, that I used to play all the time. And this is the blonde one he made me. This one just sounds awesome.
That thing’s gorgeous, man.
P: It’s gorgeous. And it sounds, it really cuts through live, better than my other ones. You know, I got some bass, I got a lot of bass I love, some are easier, to play than this one. But this one has a certain tone to it, that just really works. Yeah, I dig that thing. It stands out. It’s kind of makes you go, what the h**l is that? Mainly that, because I’m like, what’s this beluga shape?
Alright, so, between the name of the band, which I’m sure you’re beat up about, what it means to you?
P: So, the name of the band is, you know, the Taproot is like the main root of a tree. That the other roots come off of. It’s actually the equivalent of like, you have the trunk of the tree, and branches that come off, you have the Taproot, and then the roots come off. And it’s like that idea of, I don’t know if, I wouldn’t necessarily say we’re live up fully to that name of being this thing that everyone else thinks come off of by any means, but it’s just, I liked the idea. And so that’s the name of the band. And as far as like, just kind of making your own way, and create roots, or not even necessarily copy, just do more with what you’ve done. You stand on the shoulders of the people before you. So, it’s kind of like that idea.
How about the name of the new album “SC\SSRS”?
P: As far as the name of the record, that’s more of our singer, Steve. So, a little bit is, his initials are, Steven Steele Richards, SSR. So, and that’s kind of turned into, if you see the scissors, it’s written in there, it’s got the SSR in there. So, that’s part of it. We’re big South Park fans. I’m sure there’s a little bit of that there. You might not confirm or deny it, but I would wager there’s something there.
So, since we’re already on the new album itself, that was out on September 29th, if I remember correctly. I’m kind of curious because, historically you kind of label hopped a little bit. I’m going to guess then that you also studio hopped a little bit then too. Was there anything notable about the studio setting for “SC\SSRS” or even the label that “SC\SSRS” is underneath?
P: We did this independently. And then after the fact signed with THC, which is Thom, our manager’s label. But as far as unique to this record would be that Steve did all on his own. I didn’t record the bass on it. Jared didn’t record the drums. No one recorded, you know, Steve did his own drums. Steve did all the bass, all the guitars, all the vocals, all the harmonies. He engineered it. The only thing he didn’t do is the mixing and mastering. So, all the tracking was actually Steve on this. It’s something he was talking about doing a solo project at one point. And I was like, dude, don’t do a solo project. Solo projects, especially if Taproot’s not doing anything, why not use the name? He’s been the main songwriter all this time. Anyway, he was one of the founding members. And it’s like, there’s no reason for you to just drop this off as a “SC\SSRS”, like a SC\SSRS was going to be the name of the band. Just here’s a “SC\SSRS” record. No one knows what “SC\SSRS” is.
I look back on like some of the people that, like even Dave Matthews band, when Dave Matthews had his own thing called Dave Matthews. No one cares as much. You know what I mean? And that’s just like saying Matt Damon twice. So, the thing about this record is it’s all Steve, all the writing, everything is all Steve. This is sort of his pet project. And then I told him, dude, do not release this just on your own. I’ll get behind it. I’ll start because, I’m more of the business guy with the band anyway, you know? And so, I kind of sat on it for a while because he wasn’t record ready. And I’m like, let’s see what happens. And I just met Thom. I’ve known Thom forever. And then from there, it just turned into all this other stuff. And it’s been fantastic. Like Thom has been such an inspiration for me to get excited about the music industry. And this whole thing is like, just kind of reinvigorated all of us. And we had a new guitarist, Taylor Roberts. He’s in a band Riding With Killers, but he’s like just young enough to still be enthusiastic. He’s done a lot in the music industry, but he hasn’t done like the big tours and all that stuff. So, he’s so pumped up to do all these things that we’re doing, but still professional. He’s been around long enough. He’s still professional. He’s not fangirling over people backstage, but he’s got this enthusiasm and everyone loves him.
He brought it on stage. It’s good to see a guitar player really getting into something that he’s relatively new to. I mean, some of the photos that I caught, you could see it.
P: He’s a shredder, dude. This guy can shred and at the same time, just rock out. He’s sick, man. He’s a great dude. You know, once he moved to Michigan it was almost a no brainer that this is going to be the guy that’s going to play for us. He was in a band called Catharsis. We played some shows with them down South. They were the local opener. I was like, who are these guys? So, I talked to him, he is a really cool guy. Talked to all the guys in the band, great guys. And then they played another festival with us, CPR Fest down in Biloxi. I think Biloxi. Nope. Gulfport, Mississippi. Something like that. I think Gulfport. And then talk to him again and then brought him on tour with us for a bit. Brought Catharsis on tour with us on one of those, like 2012 and 2013 runs. Cause I like to do that. I don’t like to just bring whoever; I like to bring bands I want to hear night after night. We brought those guys out and then he ended up joining a band with our third drummer, Dave Coughlin. Cause Jared was back. They had a band, Dave and Taylor formed Riding With Killers together. And from there, he was living in Michigan and then, you know, we asked him to join us. It’s this whole family affair. And what’s funny is there’s a lot of guys I know from Michigan. So, when we all connected and have him in the band, it’s this whole full, full circle thing. And everyone that already knew him is so supportive of him being with us because they also know us. And it’s like, yeah, dude, that’s so awesome. What a good fit for you guys, man. It’s great.
You said that you’re more of the businessman. I have a question on band dynamics. Who takes the role of the business things? Who takes the role of, well, I’m going to guess you’re the one for the interview things? Who takes the role of the different creators?
P: Well, both. Depends. So, this record’s a little different in that, it’s Steve’s baby. So almost all the creative stuff is all him. And then Thom has been getting like certain graphic designers or artists, whatever to help kind of bring that vision. Thom’s done a lot of himself, honestly. So, he’s bringing that vision to life. But as far as like, so business side is me. I deal with our taxes. I deal with any name issues, booking agent stuff, talking and Thom helps me advance shows. But I used to advance the shows, making sure our routing is good. All the little things that you do that just kept the day to day. Plus, the big picture stuff was me. Well, it’s funny because Jared was at first. Jared’s the one that kind of took on those roles. Cause I didn’t want to, but then when he originally quit the band, I had to step in. It’s always those rhythm guys to have that foundation. But then Jared left, and then it’s kind of left that gap for me to have to fill in. And I became a much more responsible person because of that. I learned a lot having to do all those things. I was just a bass player, just enjoying life. Like, ‘hey, you know, this is easy’, right? I just had to play. Didn’t have to do anything else. And then as more stuff happened, and we didn’t have the big labels anymore and all that. Now it’s like, ‘Oh, I got to figure out how to buy a van. I got to figure out how to buy a trailer. I got to figure out what size trailer we need’. We’ve got to figure out all of these little things, like insurance. So, over the years, I’ve just picked all that up and just, and it helped me with the job I’ve got now, because I learned how to do budgets. I learned how to talk to people. I learned how to manage people.
Mike, our original guitarist was our, like more of the social media guy. We would all kind of find, fill those gaps. That’s what a good team does. They just find the gaps that they can fill and then just step up. And the team we have now, we have a videographer that’s been going out to every show with us. A friend of mine from back here. We have a guitar tech that’s a friend of mine from here. I think I’ve talked to both actually. Yeah, I mean, all the guys we have are just friends of ours that have worked with us and have worked with other people in the past that we know. And, and the team dynamic is just couldn’t be better. We’re not perfect by any means. There’s still a lot of like, oh shit, I forgot that. Or did you do that? But at the same time, there’s no like MFR you did this or you did that. Everyone’s just so supportive. If something happens that it’s wrong, we’ll make it work. We’ll make something happen. There’s no finger pointing and, and grudge holding. People make mistakes, man. You know, and we just move on and we just try not to make them again. I’ve noticed some people don’t know how to do that. Some people find their role, they think there it is and they just stay there. They stay in that one lane and they don’t go beyond that and try to help out in other aspects and find out how much more valuable they can be. And with the job I have now both, my day-to-day job and then also this, it’s like those kinds of things are what make the whole thing that much better is when everyone kind of contributes to that.
For instance, our videographer at our third show, he noticed that we had these scrims, but we didn’t have the frames yet. And so, we’re there just sitting there. And he’s like, ‘Hey, I had these things in my van. You know, I think I could probably use them’. I’m like, yeah, sure. But I’m busy. I’m running around, and I don’t follow up on them. And he gets them anyway, without me giving him like the full on the, yeah, man, let’s go get them right now. Gets them on his own, sets them up, gets them, you know, he was doing, I’m like, Oh, let’s try this. And they worked fricking great, you know, cause he’s a camera guy. He just had these little boom things, whatever, and made it work. And it’s, you know, zip tied some parts and, and it worked. And he did that without being asked, just on his own, just like he saw the need and filled it. And that’s how most of the guys are in with different things. And that’s what makes our team great. That’s the beauty of the team. You have to MacGyver, whether it’s, mentally or physically.
So, I do have another, actually two more album questions, actually. Okay. So tracking was done by Steve. What did you guys go to mix it then?
P: It’s funny with the mixing. We were kind of a little bit behind the eight ball, just like, we were, cause we had it on at the studio at the loft, which is where it’s leading Michigan, where we recorded it. But there were some issues with some plugins and a few other things that just getting off of there was taking a little longer than we wanted to. And people didn’t have time, the people that were supposed to help work on it, they’re busy in their lives too. So, they couldn’t just drop everything, run over there and load everything up and send it, you know? So, once we got it, we used Matt LaPlante, who we’ve been friends with forever. He’s out of Wisconsin. At the record plant. Sent it to him. He mixed it, I think the first one he did, ah, I forget, I forget what he did, but the first one he sent, it might’ve been favorite song, but he sent it. I’m like, ‘Oh my God. It’s like, like this sounds fricking great’. And then he did a couple more and it was just like, dude, he’s got this man. And once he got ahold of it, it just took it from like pretty good to fricking great. Beautiful. And then, okay.
So Matt LaPlante is the guy who mixed the album. Who did the mastering?
P: Same. He kind of mixed and mastered himself. He does both!
One more question. We have, in a sense, “SC\SSRS”, Steve’s baby. You guys are touring, most likely promoting this for a little bit. What’s the future then? Are you guys also kind of secretly writing too, as you’re going, or are you kind of thinking like, eh, I could probably do this on the next album or something like that.
P: I know it’s early. So, the vague outline depends a lot on how this record does. Assuming it continues and things are going well, we wanted to come out and headline on this one because we’ve been gone so long. We don’t want to act like, ‘Hey, we’re back and come see us play for 30 minutes, opening for somebody, just so we can play to a bigger crowd’. We’re like, no, we want to be the headliners. These shows are for our fans. We’re coming out there, headline playing as much as we can for them, play the new songs and play the old songs. That’s what this part is. This year will probably be more of us getting on some of these big festivals. Let’s get played to bigger people, bigger crowds where people that might not know us or know we’re back, can see us and be like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe Taproot’s part of Incarceration or Taproot’s part of this or that festival’. Any of these big festivals that we want to do, the Danny Wimmer festivals, any of those would be great for us to be on. And so that’s what we’re going to focus on next year is to try to get more of that stuff. Still do some headliners, make some money and be able to play some of that stuff. But yeah, hit some of these markets we haven’t hit because, right now, everything’s pretty much driving distance. Even if it takes, 16 hours, it’s still driving distance. Next year, we’re looking at trying to hit Florida, make our way across to Texas, hit some California, some Vegas, but still weekend warrior stuff. I’m not looking to be gone for weeks at a time. This new model that we’re doing is just, Fridays and Saturdays, maybe a Sunday, maybe a Thursday, if it’s a good market. But for the most part, Fridays and Saturdays and minimize my days off that I have to take and just make it work.
Well, we really appreciate you and your music! Thank you so much for your time!
P: Thank you guys!!
