By Jason Wolford

Taproot means, the main root growing down from the stem. Soon, the word Taproot will be synonymous with incredible music. The Ann Arbor Michigan rock group has been in many a news story recently, and is now ready to give you their long awaited major label debut "Gift". Shoutweb had the joyous occasion to speak with some of the Taproot boys to discuss their album, a tour with Papa Roach, and their slot on this year's Ozzfest.

Shoutweb: How did you guys end up getting invited to Ozzfest?

Jarrod: Lately what happened, our manager is pretty good friends with Sharon Osbourne, probably through System (of a Down) and everything, and he knows that Jack Osbourne, their son, is a big fan of heavy music, so when we were doing our pre-production working on our album in January, he decided that it would be a cool idea for Jack to come over and hear us play. We hung out with him and played a couple songs for him and he really liked us. And so I think he probably told mom and dad that we're a band that he thought was cool. So it just went from there. Plus, they've heard a lot about us through some of the buzz. Yeah, we're so excited to have the opportunity.

Shoutweb: What are your expectations for that tour?

Jarrod: We just want to get up there and play a real solid, relatively short set. I know that second stage bands don't really get that long to play. So, we just plan on going out there and hopefully leave kids wanting the album and wanting to see Taproot again. Ozzfest is such a breeding ground for new bands. The coolest thing about Ozzfest is that people go there just wanting to see what's new in music 'cause I think they do a good job picking bands that have a good song and are going to do well. We just hope to mob there and tear it up and create a really solid fan-base.

Shoutweb: What's it like getting invited to play Ozzfest?

Jarrod: It's unbelievable, especially because we were confirmed on it before our album was even done. It's just incredible; I can't believe that we got such a big opportunity for such a young band. It's going to be amazing; from what I hear it's just like summer camp. Going in...

Phil: Hanging out with all the bands and stuff, just fucking having a good time.

Jarrod: Getting to meet legends like Pantera and Ozzy, and Tommy Lee.

Phil: Yeah, Tommy Lee and Methods of Mayhem.

Jarrod: So yeah, it's going to be incredible.

Shoutweb: Who are you most looking forward to playing with?

Jarrod: Probably Pantera, and we're all big Incubus fans. Although they're on the main stage, I'm looking forward to seeing Ministry and of course, Primer 55 is a good band. It's gonna be really cool to play with all those bands.

Shoutweb: Do you think that your current tour with Papa Roach is going to be a show that people will talk about in five years, seeing both bands in a small club back in 2000?

Phil: I don't want to say anything like that. I like to think that we played three shows already with them and the crowd response has been amazing. So I like to think that it's something people will talk about. Papa Roach is an amazing band. We compliment each other live; we're not the same band, we don't sound the same, we're completely different. It seems that they like us both equally, which is awesome.

Jarrod: And it's cool because Papa Roach has such a big following on the west coast and this tour takes us back to the mid-west where we have a good following too. So it's gonna be cool, I think it's an opportunity for both of us to kind of expose each other to our fans. Hopefully, these shows will turn out to be things of legends cause like the place we played last night in Palo Alto, it's the last rock show there ever, they are turning it into a jazz club. Metallica and the Deftones have played there so it would be an honor to be anywhere near the likes of those bands.

Shoutweb: Who's headlining the current tour, you or Papa Roach?

Phil: Papa Roach on the west coast, us in the mid-west.

Shoutweb: On a scale of one to ten, how sick are you of getting asked about the Family Values/SOAD thing?

Phil: Is ten the highest you can be? I'll say ten because I know I'll get sicker of it.

Jarrod: It's definitely something that happened that people are interested in. We'll talk about it as long as people are interested in it. It's something we talk about a lot.

Phil: We just don't want to be labeled like that. I hope it doesn't stick that way forever. As soon as our album comes out I hope we've made our own.

Shoutweb: Who are your influences?

Jarrod: The first band I was really into was probably INXS, like in fourth grade. But, the first time I heard Metallica in seventh grade that changed it all for me. Heavy metal is my primary influence after that. I heard "...And Justice For All" for the first time and I was like, "Oh my god, this is what I'm listening to forever." So probably Metallica's my biggest influence but, more recently, we're all big fans of Deftones, Primus, and Tool.

Phil: I grew up listening to Metallica and Iron Maiden so I didn't until I was 19 years old. So bass-wise, Free Lovin' and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Primus. That's what I've been listening to since I started playing bass. Earlier roots were definitely metal, but lately it's been more of the funkier, group-oriented music. Incubus is a major thing.

Shoutweb: Who do you guy's listen to right now?

Jarrod: We're all addicted to the new Incubus record. It's so good.

Phil: There's a crazy punk band called Refused that has blown us all away. The music on that is incredible.

Jarrod: We still like our old favorites. We listen to Far and Primus, and I like listening to Dave Mathews once in a while.

Phil: Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys are main influences for all of us.

Jarrod: Yeah, those guys are sick. Our guitar player really likes mellower stuff like Depeche Mode.

Phil: More on the evil side.

Shoutweb: What's your first single?

Jarrod: We really haven't talked much about that yet. We definitely have a couple in mind. We're concentrating on touring and building our fan-base of kids who like our music and that heavy stuff. We're going to focus on touring and building the fan-base. We'll definitely be releasing a single but we really haven't focused on it yet.

Phil: Everything that has been going on with us has worked itself out. The proper single will come out.

Shoutweb: What kind of reaction have you been getting from fans?

Phil: They've been great. We'll start the show; they'll start the getting into it even though they are waiting for Papa Roach. But, even if they've never heard us, one or two songs into the set and they're going crazy. It's been really great.

Jarrod: It's cool, we'll have people come up to us after the show and ask for autographs. We've even seen a couple kids wearing Taproot shirts that we were selling on our website three years ago. Fans will say to us, "I've been waiting so long to see you guys, so nice to meet you." It's cool; we definitely have a few fans. I think we are definitely building some more.

Shoutweb: Do you guys have a decent-sized following more east?

Jarrod: Yeah, we play this little club in our hometown of Ann Arbor that we've sold out the last two or three times we've played there. We're probably an hour away from Detroit; we've got a pretty good following there too. We've played with a couple other local bands like Factor 81 and when we play together we can get six to eight hundred people in the place. It's pretty good back home.

Shoutweb: How are you handling the buzz behind your band?

Phil: I don't know. There's all this talk but it's not like we're getting mobbed on the street, nothing crazy. It's just kind of part of what's going on. We're just doing our thing. We're doing our tours, we're recording our album, it's not getting to our heads or anything. We're not driving Mercedes around, thinking we're the shit. We're just doing our thing.

Shoutweb: What's your view on the whole Napster issue?

Phil: I know Metallica's still in there but I just feel that it's another way to get your music out there. One kid might download the album and then not buy the album, but he'll get his friends to listen to it and if they buy the album the music is getting out there still. I don't see it as much of a problem as many people are viewing it as. I don't think it's going to cause millions of albums to go unsold.

Jarrod: I can see Metallica, who is probably one of the biggest bands in the world, they are probably legitimately losing some money from that but for probably any other band, especially for bands just starting out, it's only a great opportunity to get your name out there and have a lot of people listen to your music.

Shoutweb: How would you guys describe your music to someone who's never heard it?

Jarrod: Most people describe it as heavy alternative. I like to tell people it's heavy, primarily, but it has real good melodies and catchy choruses that will stick in your head. And that it's really group oriented, its just good music. We have a lot of fans at home that didn't even really listen to heavy music before they heard us. They started coming to our shows and it was after they came to our shows that they started listening to the Deftones, Korn, and stuff like that. We've gotten a really good response from people.

Shoutweb: Is there anything that you want the Shoutweb audience to know about Taproot that I haven't covered?

Jarrod: I can't really think of anything. Just know that we are doing this because we love music, we love our fans. We're on the Internet all the time talking to our fans. It's really cool. Kids come up to us all the time at shows and introduce themselves. We're really excited about the possibility of how big this thing could be.

Phil: If you see us come talk to us. We have no problem talking to anybody.

Jarrod: Thanks for the support. There's a lot of kids out there working our stuff, handing out samplers on the street. It definitely works, without the word of mouth thing, we would have never gotten this far. We'd like to say thank you to anyone who's ever told anyone about Taproot.