TAPROOT Signs With VICTORY RECORDS

November 20, 2009

Michigan-based hard rock quartet TAPROOT has inked a deal with Victory Records. The band is currently working on material for a new album, tentatively due next spring/summer.

TAPROOT's latest CD, "Our Long Road Home", sold around 7,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release to enter The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 65. The follow-up to 2005's "Blue-Sky Research" was released through Velvet Hammer, the label founded by the management company of the same name (SYSTEM OF A DOWN, DEFTONES). Working with producer Tim Patalan (SPONGE, LOVEDRUG),the band penned more than fifty songs for the album, twelve of which were recorded in a converted barn just a few minutes down the road from vocalist/guitarist Stephen Richards' home.

After recording three albums for a major label, "Our Long Road Home" was TAPROOT's first as an indie band, and as Richards told it at the time, that suited them just fine. "Budget cuts and political shifts cost us our support system at the old place," he said. "When our A&R guy lost his job, we knew it was time for a change. A few years ago, that might've been a scary thing, but it's a brand-new world out there now for bands like us. We no longer have to rely on a big record company to make things happen and that's exciting. We made this record without the pressure of having to write four smash hit singles hanging over our heads and that was liberating. Of course," he laughed, "there are a few songs on the album that could do really well on radio."

TAPROOT's "Wherever I Stand" video can be viewed below. The clip was shot with director Jus10.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).