The rock band Taproot emerged from Michigan in the mid 90’s. By the later part of the decade, things were looking pretty exciting for the band as they started to court major record labels and some high profile rock n’ roll stars.
“Dozens of my friends were coming to Taproot shows and buying our homemade demos and t-shirts.” – Jarred Montague
Former Taproot drummer Jarred Montague released a book called True Rockstars: 12 Guiding Principles For Success and Happiness. In the book, Montague recalled attending college and playing with Taproot on the weekends in and around Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“Dozens of my friends were coming to Taproot shows and buying our homemade demos and t-shirts. Taproot was also building a following on the internet. In early 1999, there was only two unsigned bands that were marketing themselves well in that relatively new medium: Taproot and Juice. We found small pockets of fans were developing outside of Michigan. Across the country one or two people would order a CD, send us cash or a check, and then we would ship them a CD with a hand-written ‘thank you’ note.”
The band became so successful outside of Michigan that their fans offered them hotel and gas money to come through their cities, which they did.
“We were fans, we loved it and we knew their record was coming out…” – Stephen Richards
Taproot frontman Stephen Richards would tell Loudwire about the band’s early days and how they caught the attention of Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, revealing, “Mike DeWolf and I saw Korn with Limp Bizkit before Limp Bizkit actually released a record, so we had the drop on that. We were fans, we loved it and we knew their record was coming out…”
Richards would go on to reveal that he and his bandmates got their hands on Limp Bizkit’s debut record before it came out. The local student newspaper reviewed it and it was normal back then for student writers to sell albums after reviewing them.
Taproot Sends Demo to Limp Bizkit
When the members of Taproot got their hands on an advance copy of Limp Bizkit’s first album, they noticed an address on the record asking for demos. They sent in their demo nearly 2 weeks before the record came out, giving them a leg up on the competition.
Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst took a liking to the band and got in touch with Taproot. Richards recalled to CMJ Magazine what came next, saying, “We started hanging out and he promised us the world.”
“We were itching to go and he was getting really busy.” – Stephen Richards
In a separate interview with Loudwire, Richard recalled, “Every time they’d come through town, we’d hang out and he was really good to us. I’d sing with him onstage and stuff. We were itching to go and he was getting really busy. He was cool though. I went to L.A. and stayed with him and got to sit through Interscope meetings about their second record coming out at the time.”
Not only did Fred Durst hang out with the band, but he started giving shoutouts to Taproot in various press interviews and wearing their shirts on stage. Montague wrote in his book, “He told us that we were the ‘next big thing’ and he wanted to make a deal with us. It frankly seemed too good to be true given that we had become such adoring fans of Limp Bizkit.”
Taproot Gains the Attention of Record Labels
During this time, the band was putting out independent releases and cutting new music. While Limp Bizkit was promoting their second album, Significant Other and giving shoutouts to Taproot in the press, Taproot started to gain the attention of other record labels.
Jarred Montague wrote in his book, “Soon after this epic 24 hour hang, we got a call from a representative from Arista Records, and he asked to have lunch with us to discuss our aspirations. This was definitely an indicator that things were now escalating to a new level for Taproot. Here was someone from outside the Bizkit crew expressing interest in our band.”
Taproot had done some pretty impressive stuff up until this point, already selling 10,000 albums through their own efforts.
Taproot Receives Unimpressive Contract from Interscope
Taproot finally received a contract from Durst’s label, Interscope. The contract was less than ideal though. The paperwork stated the band would record 3 songs for the label and if Interscope liked it, they could get a proper recording contract. However, if Interscope opted not to sign the band, the label would retain the rights to the songs they recorded and Taproot couldn’t use those songs for future records.
Jarred Montague wrote in his book, “Our opinion was that this seemed a bit shady because we would obviously want to record our best three songs on whichever label would take us. The fact that we would be prohibited from using songs on another label if this didn’t pan out, didn’t seem fair.”
Taproot Signs with Atlantic
Taproot was talking to other record labels and eventually signed to Atlantic and System of a Down’s management company. Fred Durst was obviously upset.
Richards told Loudwire, “When Fred heard, he left a scary, stupid message on my mom’s answering machine about how we’d be blackballed from the industry and if I ever showed up to one of his shows, he’d kick my ass.”
Fred Durst’s Angry Voicemail
Durst’s voicemail was leaked online by the members of Taproot.
“Steve, Fred Durst. Hey man, you f—ed up. You don’t ever bite the hand that feeds in this business bro. And your f—in manager so-called guy is a f—in idiot, a loser mother f—er, goin’ nowhere.
You have just chosen that path. Took you under my wing, brought you to my house, f—in talked about your ass on radio, on press, and you embarrassed like me and Interscope family. Your association with Limp Bizkit doesn’t exist.
Your manager slings that name around, he’s gonna be blackballed and probably be erased, and you will to. He’s a f—in idiot. You’re gonna f—in learn from this time right here. I hope you let your band know that you just f—ed yourself.
You need to be associated with somebody in this business. You need somethin’ to get you out there, put you out there, and believe in. Now you got enemies, and you’re f—in yourself already. Tell your friend that.
Don’t f—in show up at my show, cuz, if you do, you’re gonna get f—ed. Alright? You and your f—in punk ass, man. Y-you call yer f—in manager, David Manifestease-whatever ask him what he’s done and doin’. Yer-yer a f—in dumb mother fucker.
Yer learnin’ right now exactly how to ruin your career before it gets started. All of the luck brother. F— you.”
Limp Bizkit Kicks System of a Down from Tour
System of a Down, meanwhile, were on the bill of the Family Values tour in the late 90’s and suddenly got booted off. It was rumoured that Limp Bizkit, who was headlining the festival, more specifically, Fred Durst was upset about the whole Taproot deal and kicked System of a Down off the tour before having a change of heart and bringing System of a Down out on tour with Limp Bizkit.
Like this story? Check out How Negativland Exposed U2’s Hypocrisy
Check out our YouTube channel