TAPROOT Singer On New Album: 'We Weren't Sure If We Could Finish Due To Finances'

TAPROOT have set the tentative track listing for their new album, "Blue-Sky Research", due on August 16 via Velvet Hammer Music/Atlantic.

The follow-up to 2002's "Welcome", "Blue-Sky Research" was produced by Michael Beinhorn in Los Angeles and features guest appearances by Billy Corgan (ex-SMASHING PUMPKINS) and Stephen Carpenter (DEFTONES). Download the album track "Facepeeler" in MP3 format at this location.

"Blue-Sky Research" track listing:

01. I Will Not Fall For You
02. Violent Seas
03. Birthday
04. Facepeeler
05. Calling
06. Forever Endeavor
07. April Suits
08. Lost in the Woods
09. So Eager
10. She
11. Promise
12. Nightmare
13. Blue-Sky Research/What's Left

In a recent interview with The Flint Journal, TAPROOT singer Stephen Richards said that the "Blue-Sky Research" title refers to the eclectic nature of the songs the band came up with.

"It's just a term used for a group of people hired by a big company who don't have a focus, job title or description. They brainstorm, not about anything in particular," Richards said of the title, which guitarist Mike DeWolf found in a book.

"We like the vagueness of that. There are 13 songs on this record ... They're 13 different ideas, and how we tied it in is just the idea that while there are commonalities that link the songs, with emotions and things. They're about 13 different perspectives."

According to Richards, it will be obvious that the group have grown by leaps and bounds, just as they did with second album, "Welcome", released in 2002.

"Musically, we've stayed a little bit ahead of the curve," he said. "We were lumped in with rap-rock and nu-metal. Now all those bands we knew on Ozzfest are dropping like flies. We want to make sure to represent ourselves in a way that not one particular style (dominates). We want to give ourselves a chance to grow and continue."

TAPROOT spent nearly a week in Chicago last year with Corgan, who wrote "Lost in the Woods" for them and helped them dig deeper into their own songs, including "Promise". Both songs appear on the new album.

The former SMASHING PUMPKINS leader laid down the law when TAPROOT joined him for drinks the night they landed in the Windy City.

"I'm going to hear your songs and if I think they suck, I'm going to tell you," he said, according to drummer Jarrod Montague. "If it isn't sincere, I'm going to tell you."

They played Corgan some of the songs they'd been writing, but he wasn't blown away.

"Everything we played he said, 'I understand why you liked that, which is fine, but it doesn't do anything for me,'" Montague recalled. He made suggestions and they incorporated them.

By the end of their week together, Montague added, "We were impressed with his work ethic and he with ours."

It was the highlight of a stop-and-start recording process that got unnerving at times. "There were a couple of times," Richards said, "where we weren't sure if we could finish due to finances. We were ... there so long, and there's lots of politics in the music industry. There were a couple of scary moments where we were concerned about getting it out."

"It's crazy to think," Montague added, "that this might be the process we go through every time, a year and a half of fighting and working real hard. If this is the result, then it's definitely worth it."

TAPROOT will kick off a U.S. tour with CHEVELLE and 30 SECONDS TO MARS on July 9 in Indianapolis, IN.