Ann Arbor, Michigan-based hard rock quartet Taproot have announced a September 16th release date for its highly anticipated new album “Our Long Road Home.” The album — Taproot’s first since 2005’s “Blue-Sky Research” — will be released through Velvet Hammer, the label founded by the management company of the same name (System Of A Down, Deftones, Alice In Chains).
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.
“We made each of our previous albums in expensive studios and always had to keep one eye on the clock to finish on budget,” says Richards. “This time we got to record an album the way we did our early demos — relaxed, at our own pace, and allowed to indulge in our own guilty pleasures. It proved that you can actually go home again.”
“Our Long Road Home” reveals a revitalized band with a broadened range and deepened perspective. The album combines the feral (”Take It“) with the grandiose (”Footprints“) while exploring themes of loss (”Be The One“), liberation (”Run To“) and the emotional carnage in-between. On tracks such as “Hand That Holds True” and smoldering lead single “Wherever I Stand,” Taproot blends iron-fisted backbeats, honeyed melodies and speaker-shattering guitars to thrilling effect.
After recording three albums for a major label, “Our Long Road Home” will be Taproot’s first as an indie band, and as Richards tells it, that suits them just fine. “Budget cuts and political shifts cost us our support system at the old place,” he says. “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 laughs, “there are a few songs on the album that could do really well on radio.”
“The album title is based on the idea that everything you ever wanted is right inside of you, you just have to dig and find it,” adds guitarist Mike DeWolf. “It’s been a long road for us, but it was all right here all along. We just had to come home to find it.”
Taproot arrived on the scene in 2000 with “Gift,” an album that shot to No. 6 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, with follow-up records “Welcome” (2002) and “Blue-Sky Research” (2005) each charting within the first 35 on Billboard’s Top 200. Along the way they garnered critical praise from the likes of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, shared stages with bands ranging from Linkin Park to Queens Of The Stone Age and saw songs like “Poem,” “Mine,” and “Calling” blanket rock radio.
With “Our Long Road Home,” Taproot is staying true to their roots, while keeping their grooves current and hearts open. “There’s a sense of energy and excitement about us that we haven’t felt since we released our first album,” says Richards. “We’re ready to hit the ground running.”
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