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  • 2 days ago
Taproot's Stephen Richards Interview with Meltdown

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Transcript
00:00Thank you so much for watching Rift TV. Now, this interview is obviously with video, but I don't interview everybody on Zoom.
00:07That's why I put it on my Talkin' Rock with Meltdown podcast. We talk to rock artists from all over the genre.
00:13So check out Talkin' Rock with Meltdown wherever you get your podcasts. And now, to today's video interview.
00:20Well, back here in the studio, this is a new studio. Steve, what do you think?
00:24It's gorgeous.
00:25Yeah, it's pretty cool, huh?
00:25Beautiful, yeah.
00:26Yeah, you got a nice plant behind you and everything.
00:28That's what I hear, and I think there's a truck guy coming by soon. Truck Rogers?
00:32Yeah, pretty soon. Truck Rogers, right. But listen, the big news that broke this week, and of course, everybody's talking about it, is that Patrick Kane is no longer a Chicago Blackhawk. That's the big news.
00:44That's what I hear. That's why I was going to wear my Iserman jersey if I could find it. I'm jumping ship.
00:50Now, of course, before we talk about Tapper, we've got to talk about hockey. You've been following it?
00:54Unfortunately, not as much as I wish I could. Between the family and the regular life, I haven't really had a chance to. I don't skate anymore. I used to skate with this guy. It was amazing.
01:03Yeah.
01:04They called me the turnstile because I was so slow.
01:07But, no.
01:08I have texted you in the past to come on and skate, but you've had, you know, your hand and stuff you said was bothering you.
01:12Yeah, I screwed my arm up pretty bad. I still can't feel half of my hand all the way up to my elbow.
01:16Is that right?
01:17Yeah. I saved my, when she was like six, seven months old, my daughter, Reagan. I took a fall over the older kids. She left a thing in the doorway, so I ended up basically just slamming my elbow into a dresser drawer.
01:32And the drawer closed. And so I screwed up my ulnar nerve, which is actually known as the funny bone nerve. So I lost that completely. So they moved it from under my bone to over my elbow. So now, like when I hit above my elbow, it's still not funny.
01:48No kidding. Wow. Now, will that affect you? You think when you go on stage, are you going to be told in the microphone with just your left hand or?
01:54Uh, well, no, the weird thing is when I did this new record, which we'll be talking about soon, luckily I nailed all the guitars right before it. I mean, so when I came to base, at least I could use the two fingers that I can feel.
02:10Gotcha. Well, how long ago this, this happened, this accident?
02:14Like six years ago.
02:15Oh, it's been that long. Okay.
02:17Playing guitar on this new album.
02:18All right. Okay. Yeah. This has been a long process for sure.
02:20Yeah. I only get to do like three hours a week. So it's been a long time.
02:25Yeah. Uh, well, let's talk about it here. Uh, first of all, let's talk about the gig. September 29th is when the record drops.
02:31Yeah. And it's called scissors. Yeah. And that's, uh, um, S C slash S S R S. Now explain that because I think I know, but go ahead. Explain what's going on with that.
02:41Okay. Well, the slash is supposed to be an I, right?
02:43It's, uh, obviously a certain act that females perform together, which I didn't know that where that's where this was going.
02:53But anyways, it's a bummer. I had the website spelled that way. It's not spelled like scissors. It's spelled S C I S S R S.
02:59And I owned the website hoping I, you know, hoping I could sell it to a, you know, commercial people that might want to have lesbian acts.
03:08Well, this, uh, this conversation took a real turn here, but anyways, um, no, my initials are SSR though. So it turns into scissors. So, and your middle name is steel, which is pretty cool.
03:18It is. Yeah. But you know, us hockey guys, we always have nicknames for each other. So I always called myself scissors. So I was like, eh, that's what I'll go with. Cause originally I was kind of doing this record kind of as an independent kind of release.
03:32I was going to release it as taproot anyway, because I wrote the material to be the next taproot record a long time ago when we were touring on the episodes.
03:40So I wrote it for taproot, but you know, some stuff ended up going away for a while, health issues and whatever. So finally get to put it out later and later.
03:51So, so you wrote it for yourself and then you decided to bring it to taproot or was it vice versa?
03:57Was it taproot first and for yourself then?
03:59I wrote it to be the next taproot record before we took our hiatus.
04:04And then like after my mom passing, I kind of needed that outlet to kind of get it out.
04:08And obviously people were just like, you know, what's going on? We heard you had some new stuff.
04:12So I'm like, all right, I'll get it out there. And then six years, seven years later, it took me a while, but it's still there.
04:18This is like your Chinese democracy.
04:20Pretty much. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's finally coming to, we finally released the COVID restriction again.
04:26Yeah, there you go.
04:27Well, you know, it's funny because anybody that follows you on social media will see the videos you post when you're at the studios late at night and you're like, you know, you'll put up some riffs or some of the pro tool stuff or whatever the case is.
04:39So you've been working on this for a long time. When was the first note laid down on this album?
04:44Recording this album, the first note was in 2016, but the first note written would have been in like 2012.
04:52Okay. So yeah, we're talking about 11 years or so. Yeah. And what people may or may not know is that you, you played every instrument. This is your whole thing, isn't it?
05:02Yeah. Not a lot of people realize, you know, how is it going to be a taproot record without the guys or whatever. And a lot of people don't realize that we do have like, it's called the best of besides coming out to as well now, which is like a lot of the old demos from my basement and stuff, which Jared actually released like a eight CD set, you know, like a year and a half ago, two years ago, something.
05:25But most people don't realize that I started out drumming when I was like five. And then I taught myself how to play guitar when I was 13. I taught someone else that plays guitar around me how to play himself. But I wrote most of the, you know, the mainstream taproot riffs that you'd want to know on guitar. I wrote most of those. So bass is just easy. Sorry, Phil.
05:48That was really good. But yeah. So tell me about the role that your mom played in and you like really kind of, I mean, therapeutic, just, you know, you felt like you had to get this stuff out there. Tell me about that.
06:03Uh, well, that was kind of near the end of the touring taproot days. And like when I had this record written, um, she was, she'd been ill half my life with a real rare cancer. And so, I mean, I was kind of used to it, but I was also married, living in Vegas at the time. And that kind of went, yeah.
06:23So I was more than happy to come home. Um, so I got to see my mom, you know, take care of her for the last year or so before she passed. And then it was kind of just like, what do I do now? I guess I have to go get a real job and do all that normal stuff. But I was like, screw this. I need to go out to the studio. So I've been going out to the loft. It's usually been like five 30 in the morning, but I can only do it for like three hours before, you know, the normal day schedule with work and kids and all that.
06:48So, so has anybody else helped you, um, with this record? I mean, uh, writing, creating melodies or anything like that?
06:55No, no. Um, Tim Paddle and the guy that owns the loft and Celine, he produced our last two, three records. Um, it's his studio, him and his brother, Andy. Um, Tim just kind of gave me free reign. You know, um, I've done some stuff with them, you know, just kind of came out with more local type bands and came up and helped them with melodies and vocal ideas.
07:18And guitar stuff. But, uh, no, he gave me free reign, which is, you know, just really generous. So it's been six years of just me wasting their power and their water. If I have to go take a dump or something.
07:31That's so funny. Um, yeah. What, what did, did you take anything you may have learned from a Toby Wright, uh, onto this album?
07:39Absolutely. Um, Toby was, that was like one of the things, like when we did gift our first record, that was basically just us re-recording.
07:48The demos that, you know, got us signed, you know, that we'd done here in Michigan. Uh, so working with Toby was the first time that we actually worked with someone outside of the band.
07:58And that was the first time we actually wrote material for a new record, like without, you know, that's the first time we went in. Um, Toby's amazing.
08:07Um, he's one of the most knowledgeable guys that I've ever met. And, uh, you know, he did a lot of stuff with Alice in Chains, which is, it's kind of weird in hindsight because Alice in Chains dirt was what I taught myself how to play guitar too.
08:22So to me, it was always about playing the guitar and cool, you know, um, but I never really paid too much attention to how Lane's vocals were just really amazing, especially with Jerry going and doing all the three part harmonies.
08:36So Toby's kind of the one that made me take a direction to, all right, well, let's make a lot of three part harmonies. This is really cool. And I just went way too crazy with it and still do.
08:46So we're going to hear some of that in the new record. Uh, yeah, you'll hear quite a bit of that. Yeah, for sure. There's lots of three part harmonies and lots of killer riffs. And then there's, you know, a couple of album tracks.
08:59So, so tell everybody, um, about the, about the album. So it comes out September 29. Um, what kind of stuff are you singing about? What are some of the lyrics? Uh, tell us some of the, uh, you know, the, the feeling from some of the songs.
09:11Um, well, the, it's kind of cool. The first, it's not going to be the first one we release just to be heard, but, uh, I think you heard it and it's called favorite song, which I just think's awesome that it's called favorite song. It's my favorite song off the record. Um, but that one's literally just about kind of what I was saying about when I taught myself guitar to Alice in Chains dirt.
09:35That's one of my favorite records. I still wouldn't be able to sing 80% of the lyrics correctly. And it's kind of like that Tommy boy joke, you know, where you're going down the road and you're just singing in the car. I don't know the words, but then there's like the, Hey, Oh, all right. You know, I know this part. Sweet. Sweet. Now, is that the song with a special guest on it?
09:55There is a special guest on that. That is not publicly known.
09:59Okay. We can't talk about it yet. Uh, I mean, you don't, you don't have to, I'm not, I'm not forced you to.
10:03No, no, we totally can. I mean, at this point, why not? Um, if anyone likes a band called non point, there's a guy that we know from that band that might sing on that song or play drums, but probably sings.
10:16Any other special guests on the record or is that it?
10:19Uh, we have, if it sticks, hopefully there's a, a really, it was weird. Cause I wrote the song I wrote in 2007 for then my ex fiance. And it's like my, I call it my, every rose has it.
10:33Thorn. That's like the only acoustic. That's the weird thing is that after I hurt my hand, that was the one that I had to go in and play acoustic too. Yeah. I was dropping picks left and right. So it is edited like crazy. And it's the only taproot song that has like a solo on it. So I like actually lay down two solos, which is like, so it's totally different. And it's very more country ish. Um, kind of really, it's my, it's my nasally voice, but I do have a guest artist. Her name's, uh, Audrey Ray.
11:02And she's a country artist local. She's always down in Nashville playing, but she's from Michigan. Tim's working with her a lot and like trying to set her up to make her career take off. So she's really cool. Check her out. Audrey Ray. She's on Instagram and all that, but she does. It's almost like when I wrote it, it was just me, me doing harmonies and stuff. But then I was kind of like, man, that would be so cool. Cause it's, I'm, it's like a love ballad and it works out with a girl.
11:29Which is weird to hear from you, but go ahead.
11:31It is. And I don't want to say too much of the lyrics cause it's, I want to do some really special stuff. Um, but the chorus is really catchy. It's catchy enough that I trademarked the lyrics in 2007.
11:45Oh, no kidding.
11:46Yeah. Like there's, I want to do like Hallmark card type things with it. Like it'll, it'll, it'll definitely live up to what it is.
11:54Yeah. Yeah. The two tracks that you sent me that I listened to a very like Deftones ish, you know, and that, that's kind of like an, in your wheelhouse right there.
12:02Yeah. The first one that I sent you the real heavy one. That's, you know, to me, that's just the go-to taproot opening song. Like, so, you know, that'll probably be the first one you hear live whenever we're playing. And that's the first one on the record. It's kind of like when you go back to gift, it's very smile for opening song. It's just the same type of rhythm that people are like, Oh, how do you do? Like even, you know, Dominic from pulse ultra.
12:24One of the best guitarists I'd ever met in person. Like he kind of couldn't even figure out how to play it. Cause I have like a weird drummer hammer on anything that I can do like as a drummer, but even he's just like, I don't get the whole hammer ons while you're playing power chords and all that stuff. So it's that type of thing. So it gets really heavy. I'm sure you think that song's pretty heavy. There's a song that's even heavier than that.
12:45Oh, no kidding.
12:46But then there's the commercial type song that I think, you know, the other one that you heard with a special drummer or singer on it. And, uh, and then we have, you know, the acoustic one where I did solos and acoustic guitar and love lyrics. And so that's the whole gamut.
13:02Now, what was the impetus? I mean, you talked about your mom and stuff, but, uh, you know, that really pushed you along to, to finish up this album.
13:10And then do you contact the guys, uh, along the way somewhere and say, Hey, I've, you know, the other guys in the band and say, I've got the records finished. Um, and do they push back and say, well, wait a second, I didn't write anything or I didn't play any notes on it. Or how does that work?
13:24Um, well, no, I mean, the crazy thing is, is like the stuff so old that while we were on tour on the episodes, like Phil knows all these songs for the most part, cause we were jamming them in the car as I was like, Oh, here's a new one. Jam it. And, you know, so we're all rocking out to this stuff years ago in the van while we're on tour. So Phil's pretty aware of most of the songs from back then. Um, but this time around, it was kind of just me going me, not woe is me, but you know, just kind of doing it for friends and fans.
13:54Um, but Phil came out with a good point along with Tom, a guy that we're working with now.
14:01Yeah. Tom Hazard, we have to mention him by the way or else he'll be mad.
14:03Yeah, no, he's stepping up to the, like he literally two weeks ago, a month ago, my day was, you know, just wake up, maybe don't have a job that day for a minute, you know, just take the kids to school and all that. And next thing I know we have shows coming up, you know, we're trying to get this thing mastered immediately, get some records printed, you know, we've got pre-sales digital.
14:24In April, I think we're going to try to do an April 1st because, you know, I'm an idiot and find everything ironic. And it's kind of cool. My mom's ashes when the box showed up, it's April fool's days on the box.
14:37That's very fitting. Um, but so I think we're going to do a digital release of the heavier song that you've heard first, uh, just to get it out there and get some hype going.
14:47Um, but back to the question, sorry. Yeah, you're right. Um, now Phil and Tom, like on a conference call, we're just like, we know this is all you, it's all you, you know, but if you're going to release it as Taproot, which I planned on doing since I wrote it, um, but I still just planned on having it be a small release, but they were like, you know, to the name Taproot, like it shouldn't just be a kind of like, pull it out of your butt and throw it out to me.
15:17Maybe a couple thousand people, like it should be a record and, you know, present it as a Taproot record. And I was like, I am so sorry for thinking anything otherwise. And like, so correct. And now next thing you know, two weeks later, you know, shows announced, like we're playing a huge festival in Virginia, Blue Rock Ridge Fest or Blue Ridge Rock Fest.
15:38Yeah. And that's going to be cool. That's what, you know, Pantera and all those guys, uh, Limp Bizkit's going to be there. Maybe you can dust off a copy for Fred.
15:45No, I'm, I'm actually trying to reach out somehow. Cause I want to see if I can go guest vocal and sing stuck with them. Cause I'm pretty sure he's buried the hatchet and I never had a hatchet with the guy.
15:55So I think it would be like huge, like their fans wouldn't care if I come out, but I think there'd be a lot of buzz, like, holy cow, you know, finally 20, whatever years later, that would be sweet.
16:07Yeah. For people that don't know, um, I don't want to get too much into the weeds here, but, uh, you and Fred kind of like, I'm not exactly sure if I even really remember the story, but there was that nasty, uh, voicemail he left.
16:19Yeah. Back in the day when it was, uh, actually on tape at my mom's house.
16:23And what, and what now he wanted to sign you guys, but you guys signed with someone else or something. Is that kind of the gist of it?
16:27Yeah. Yeah. We were hanging out. Um, we got a headstart when they released their record in Ann Arbor. Um, back then CDs were released to colleges to kind of get a review ahead of time to promote.
16:40And so we came across their first record at a record store, you know, kid trying to get beer money or whatever. So we had a two week jump before it came out and it had, you know, if you have demo, send it here. So we had to jump on everybody.
16:52He liked what he heard and got in contact with us. Uh, we were buddies for well over a year. I went and stayed at his house in California for a while, but the only thing we didn't like when he came with a deal and we started talking like that legal stuff. Um, the deal he offered was only a demo deal. So it's like, is it good enough to sign or, you know, do we need work? And then that's when velvet hammer, um, Bino and, uh, they got hold of us and they were like,
17:22uh, like, so they got us to open for system of a down, see if we were the real deal. Our day to day mark from velvet hammer was blown away and was like, yeah, we got to get them out. And so after playing one show, a system of a down in Grand Rapids, which was cool as hell. Um, next thing you know, we're playing for like Rick Rugen, uh, all the record companies. And, uh, that's, we were the first velvet hammer release under Atlantic records. So we were like,
17:48we popped their cherry with Atlantic records and then ruined it too.
17:55Yeah. And then Fred wasn't happy about that, but you, you have, have you talked to him? I mean,
18:00no, we played, uh, rock on the range. Oh, a long time ago, maybe 2010, something like that. Um, we kind of made eye contact, but it was nothing bad. He didn't run over and hit me or anything or didn't invite me over to the bus or anything, but I'm pretty sure.
18:18It's cool. Now. Um, he was mad. He left a voicemail, uh, you know, threatening Bino of all things. And then now Bino's got like all his best friends. He's got corn. He's got, you know, deftones. He's got, yeah. So Bino's got the whole, like, I think we're the only one from that era that just isn't still with them.
18:36Yeah. That, that was one of the first things I, I, I thought of when I saw that, you know, Limp Bizkit was playing out there. I'm like, okay, here we go.
18:45You know, I'll watch that. It sucks. Cause it's a four day festival. I don't know. Like none of us know what day we're on and what time we're on. I'm sure we'll be, you know, early in the day. So maybe we'll get to watch some cool bands, but I don't think we're going to stay there all four days camping out in a camper or anything.
19:00Yeah. Well, you know, I remember when, uh, when that was announced, you guys were the first band and I texted you right away. And I said, you got to come in and do an interview, you know, what's going on? Yeah. And by that, by that time, like you were saying, Tom had, he had everything percolating, didn't he?
19:12That was, yeah. Like Phil did that. Phil has been the business guy for a while. Um, you know, the random few shows that we've done over the last, you know, couple of years or whatever, that's been, you know, Phil still the business guy. We still have random money just coming in that he disperses and helps out with. Cause he's just the helper.
19:29He's the guy that's still, still in the band. Um, luckily Jared's going to be playing some of these shows. So at least it'll be three of the four and it's going to be great to have him. We've jammed with him one or two times when we did the last couple of machine shop shows, but it's always fun.
19:45That's so great. Cause he kind of lives up in that area and stuff and he can take his 17 kids. He has up there to see the show. Jared's a great guy. He's just the nicest guy. And then, uh, uh, Dave is going to be a touring with you guys. Uh, Dave Coughlin from, from a sponge and whatnot.
19:59He's going to be playing some shows. Yep. That's another thing. I see him at the loft out in Saline where I record cause Tim's in sponge when he chooses to be. If it's a good show or LA or something local, he'll do it. But if it's like somewhere else, you know, he'll have, there's another basis that goes, but Dave's the guy that, you know, he's a drummer with them now too. So that's cool.
20:17And then you got a new, a new member. Yep. Taylor. Um, he's doing his own thing right now, riding with killers. Um, that stuff sounds and looks amazing. Like, you know, but I think he's going to take time off from promoting his own thing to, I mean, he helped us. He was like a roadie for us, helped us out for quite some time. And he knows his, he knows his stuff. So.
20:39Is he a local guy from a, where you're from your, from an Ann Arbor area?
20:42Not Ann Arbor. Um, I can't remember somewhere closer to here. Yeah. He's, he's a local guy, but not Ann Arbor. Um, I actually ended up just texting him last night. Crap face. Like I told you when I sent you the songs, I did way too much, but, uh, just to make sure we start standing in contact cause it's going to be so nice cause he plays guitar and sings too. So I'll at least the nights that Jared's not there, at least I'll have some high harmonies going with me. Cause you know, I'm sick of doing like trying to bounce
21:12up and down between three part harmonies. It's just me like filling in to make it sound right. But did you ever think, uh, I mean, it's been a long time since you guys have toured, but it seems like the hot thing nowadays is to have some, uh, backing tracks. Have you ever thought about doing that?
21:25Um, yeah, we have. Um, we honestly, even the first record we kind of did, it was mostly like drum machine and noise type of stuff. We were never too into it. Like as far as backup vocals or guitars or anything, it's usually just noise.
21:39Um, I don't think we'll go too crazy on the new stuff with like vocals and guitars. Um, but it was crazy cause episodes, most people don't even know about that record, but that was so much fun to make for me. Cause like I had to do so much editing of like, there's a lot of soundtrack behind the music. There's like a narrator, which everyone hates the Stephen Hawking voice, which I had to put on this record because everyone hates it. I love it. So up yours deal with it.
22:09Um, but it was telling a story. So that entire record was like when we'd play that live, I felt so bad. I screwed taproot fans over. We just, on that tour, it was like the episodes tour plus poem.
22:22Um, so that was like hit play. All right. We're going for 45 minutes or whatever, and we're not hitting stop. It's just a, so we have had backtrack stuff before. Um, mostly this time around, it'll be some eight Oh eights and some drum machine stuff. Um, just to break stuff up. But yeah, as bad as I sing live, I don't want to try to sing to something really good. That's already going on behind me to point it out. I'll just try to hit notes, but Tyler or Taylor,
22:52it'll be really good with me. It'll be really good to have. He's a really good guitarist. He's a sweetheart and he'll be helping me keep my guitars strong, freshly. And I know nothing about that stuff. I just know how to play.
23:04Yeah. That makes two of us. So, so, so is this record like totally finished?
23:11Yeah. Yeah.
23:12Um, it's finished for the most part. It's got to get mixed and all that stuff probably. Right. But yeah, I sent you my mixes, which, you know, I'm a little too abrasive. You know, I love the, I thought they were killer. I played them downstairs and I, they were loud in the studio. I'll tell you that.
23:24Okay. Good. Good. Um, yeah. So I think they just need a little bit of warmth to be, you know, competitive with what is relevant these days. I don't think anyone wants, you know, like a new life is peachy. Like, Oh, that's a great record, but sounds like, Hey, so that's probably what it would have been. So we're trying to tighten that up.
23:41At least it'll happen with the mastering. But, um, as of now, Andy paddling, Tim's brother, he's going to be doing the mastering. Um, and the one version that we have mastered that, uh, we've heard the other guys love. So we're just going to go with that, you know, so I'm letting other people have input on the mastering and stuff. Cause my mixes are how I like it.
24:03Now the, uh, the, the first show at the, at the, uh, world famous, uh, machine shop in Flint sold out that September 29th. The second show is going on sale. That's for probably the following day. I take it.
24:14It's the next night. Yeah. So now I've got to try to figure out how many songs I have to tell the guys that we're going to have to relearn and play. Cause you know, obviously we're not going to play the same set two nights in a row.
24:24Oh, okay, cool. So I may have to go up there twice.
24:27Yeah. If you want to hear a couple of different songs, you know, obviously we have a handful that we'll have to play. Um, but obviously with the new record release,
24:34I'm going to want to play a decent chunk of the new stuff, right. But not make one night, the entire record plus poem. Yeah. And then the other night, like a real show, which we did when we did the gift reunion or whatever. But, uh, yeah. So I'm probably, instead of having the guys learn like 16 songs, we'll probably have to learn like 21, 22, switch it up. Cause we always have people coming from like all over the world, these random shows.
25:00So like, I know people are coming from Europe already and it sold out so fast, you know? So yeah. I was going to say, have you been, uh, have you been surprised by the, um, by just how much, uh, energy and how much news this has generated from, you know, kind of, I guess, for lack of a better term, putting the band back together.
25:17Yeah. Especially for me, you know, I, I kind of just had that tunnel vision of like, just let me wrap this up and put it out, you know, cause I had, I knew of people who'd want to hear it, you know, and I have a couple thousand followers.
25:29It would probably get it or whatever, but you know, boom, here, you actually want to talk to me. Thanks.
25:34You would anyway, but appreciate it. But yeah, I mean, now it's like kind of all over the place.
25:39Well, here's, here's my thing. You know, when I, listen, we've known each other for a long time.
25:44I really like you. I admire you. I'm super happy for you. And I wanted your fans to kind of, you know, to, to, to, to at least have this local connection that we could tell them what was going on.
25:55You know what I'm saying?
25:56Yeah, no, I appreciate it. No, it's, it's really, really cool. It went from zero to like 70. Now that that's the new speed limit, 70.
26:06It's really cool to see. It went, you know, just from me, whatever. And now we're getting big shows and it seems like people care, you know, I've kind of been in a bubble, man, family.
26:17But I don't really listen to music very often. It's either me in the car judging myself or listening to a certain morning show from around here that I love that I won't say.
26:27Search of the DNC.
26:28Yeah, but I don't really listen to music too much, but it's kind of opened me back up to like caring, like, because, you know, I think my car is the only car modern days that still has a CD player in it.
26:41I didn't know that till driving cars at work that like they don't even have CD players anymore.
26:47And then I realized I can put my new stuff on a USB to listen to.
26:51But, uh, no, I'm back into like actually on the way here, I was actually checking out what's going on, Jade and, you know, like rocking out.
26:58And then of course now I still have Motley Crue stuck in my head.
27:01So, hey, Vince, what? Right there. Hey.
27:04All right. Great.
27:05So nothing wrong with Motley Crue.
27:07Yep. Thanks.
27:08John Five. I don't know if you know this or not, but, uh, John Five, who's now playing guitar some, you know, as Mick has decided to kind of hang up touring.
27:16I didn't know that.
27:17Yeah. Okay.
27:18So John Five, do you know John Five?
27:19Uh, not well.
27:21I mean, he's from here.
27:21Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:22No, we've played shows with him and I know obviously he's worked with, you know, Manson and Zombie.
27:27I mean, talk about guitar players.
27:29Oh, yeah.
27:30That's insane.
27:30Yeah, he can play anybody.
27:32Anything.
27:32I think clearly, yep.
27:33He walked off the stage one night.
27:35It might have been at the machine shop or the token lounge.
27:37I can't remember.
27:37And he, I said, hey, I think you missed a note.
27:39He goes, no, I didn't.
27:41Right.
27:41No, no, no, no, he's solid.
27:44Um, I think we've only like communicated in passing just shows that we've played, but he seems like a sweetheart.
27:50And like, and I know when he was with Zombie, I mean, Zombie's whole crew is amazing, but John, he was, seems like a sweetheart.
27:57Yeah.
27:58Well, I'll tell you what, man, I couldn't be happier for you.
28:01So Scissors comes out on September 29th, SC slash SSRS.
28:06And I didn't think we were going to get into the lesbian talk, but there we were.
28:10And now it's like, you know, it's coming out.
28:13I'll tell you what, I can't wait that that weekend up there is going to be great.
28:17What is the Blue Ridge thing, by the way?
28:19Uh, it's just a huge festival.
28:22No, when is that date, do you know?
28:24Oh, uh, that's what.
28:25Is that before or after?
28:26I think it's September.
28:28Oh, it's, uh, before.
28:32Okay.
28:32I think it's September.
28:36Okay.
28:36Well, anyways, the only gigs we were.
28:3817th?
28:38Yeah.
28:38The only gigs we were allowed to talk about so far was that Blue Ridge and, uh, and, and
28:43the other one, but you do have some others lined up there.
28:45You're going to be announcing soon enough.
28:46Yeah.
28:46Like I said, so much has popped.
28:47Like even my last two posts on Instagram that I've done, I haven't even had full time
28:52to even read.
28:53Like, I know we have like four new websites, taprootmerch.com.
28:56Yeah.
28:56Yeah.
28:56Yeah.
28:56Talk about the merch real fast.
28:58Like out of nowhere, like all of a sudden, boom, we have skateboard decks.
29:02Like I think through a company called volatile and then they, Phil ended up putting out shirts
29:08and merch clothes with Tom and next thing you know, so we have a merch store, a taproot
29:12merch.
29:12So I think you can get skateboards and hats and hoodies and everything, everything like
29:17that.
29:18And then obviously the new records coming out and then all the shows.
29:21And so there's a whole bunch of stuff going on.
29:23I don't know all the dates.
29:24I know that the new release of one of the songs is supposed to be in April and then around,
29:30you know, the, the show, the 29th of September, we're probably going to try to get out that
29:35more commercial type song, see if it gets any traction anywhere.
29:38Who knows nowadays, but you know, people should hopefully enjoy it.
29:41And that's why I did everything to begin with was just to put it out there for people that
29:46cared still.
29:47But it sounds like more people than I thought still give a flying F.
29:50Well, that's, that's like what I was getting at just a little while ago.
29:53It's like people, you know, as soon as you announce this, you're like, you know, it was
29:56like this avalanche of support seems like.
29:59Yeah.
29:59Yeah.
29:59And it's, it's kind of cool to looking at all the roster, the band's playing the Blue
30:03Ridge.
30:03It's kind of like, yeah, like right now is when we realize like, oh yeah, I guess right
30:08now we are classic rock at this point.
30:12Well, you're in your 26th year, correct?
30:14Uh, yeah.
30:15I mean, we got signed in 2000, yeah, 2000.
30:19So.
30:19Well, the band started in 1997.
30:21Yeah.
30:21So you're 26.
30:23Yes.
30:24To a certain degree with the, with, with a little bit of a, with a little bit of lapse.
30:27Right.
30:28And that's another lesser known fact.
30:30Uh, the band actually started in 95 and I was the original drummer.
30:34That's right.
30:35I remember that.
30:35Yeah.
30:35Do you remember a band called 20 dead flower children at all?
30:39No.
30:39They, he was our original singer.
30:41And then our original bassist ended up going on to a pretty good sized band called Mad
30:46Hops.
30:47But, so it was kind of just the four of us.
30:49But once we lost a singer, it's hard to find singers.
30:52And so I just gave it my, still trying to learn how to do it.
30:56That's, that's so funny.
30:56You say that like James Hetfield never wanted to be a singer.
30:59Right.
30:59Uh, Sully from Godsmack was a drummer.
31:02Brad from three doors down was the drummer, you know, and then, then all of a sudden these
31:06bands need singers and they're like, Hey, how about the drummer?
31:08Yeah.
31:09Yeah.
31:09Well, and that was the cool thing too, was, uh, my cousin, Mark rest in peace.
31:15Jeez.
31:15I lost everybody.
31:16Um, he went to U of M with, he lived in a party house with Phil and Jared.
31:21So it was kind of like, all right, well we lost our drummer and bassist.
31:24And then, you know, we're like, Hey Phil, you play bass, right?
31:27And he's like, yeah.
31:28Okay, cool.
31:29Let's go play a show in Jackson.
31:30At that time we were thinking it would be cool just to have a drum machine with three
31:35guys going crazy and heavy.
31:37My dumb ass already was starting to wander around in the crowd, not paying any attention
31:41to the stage.
31:42I ended up going off stage and unplugging the drum machine to be funny and then plugged it
31:46back in, not realizing it wouldn't even like continue.
31:48I'd have to restart the song.
31:49So I'm like, all right, we need a drummer.
31:52And so we got back to the house after that show and you're like, Jared, you play drums,
31:56right?
31:56So it was like through my cousin living in a house.
31:59We had, you know, our bassist and drummer live together with my cousin.
32:02So, well, I'm super happy that you guys are getting back together and doing this.
32:05I can't wait for the record.
32:06And like I said before, just wishing all you guys and yourself, especially since, you know,
32:10we've known each other for a long time, all the best, dude.
32:12It's really great that you're getting back out there.
32:14And I know that you've had your share of struggles, you know, in your personal life and other
32:20things.
32:20So it's great to see you getting back out there and, you know, performing.
32:23Your kids will be able to see you perform.
32:26Yeah.
32:26Oh, we'll try to get them at one of these outdoor shows.
32:29Maybe.
32:29I don't think we're taking them into the shops.
32:31Right.
32:32My last time we played there, my wife was pregnant and almost lost her crap because she
32:37got touched in the belly by one of our really inebriated fans.
32:40And you don't want to mess with my wife.
32:42She used to do roller derby.
32:43So it was bad, but yeah, no, I appreciate it, man.
32:47Thank you so much.
32:48Yeah.
32:48Well, listen, man, good luck to everything.
32:50And thank you for doing this.
32:51I really appreciate it.
32:52No doubt.
32:52Awkward.
32:54I told you, stop staring at the camera.
32:56Stop looking at the people.