Formed in 1997 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Taproot released their debut album GIFT in 2000 on Atlantic Records, followed by extensive touring on Ozzfest 2000/2001, and tours with Deftones, Incubus , Papa Roach, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Disturbed, and Linkin Park. Welcome, the band’s first with producer Toby Wright (Alice in Chains, Korn) which Rolling Stone called, “a self-preserving transition from new metal to art metal”, went on to sell over 500,000 copies, spawning the hit Rock singles “Poem”, and “Mine”, and propelling Welcome to over 50 million digital streams. The band continued heavy touring with Alien Ant Farm, Disturbed, on the 2004 Music As A Weapon Tour, and Linkin Park. Vocalist Stephen Richards would also appear on the track “P5hng Me A*wy” on Linkin Park’s 2002 remix album REANIMATION. 2005’s Blue-Sky Research, also helmed by Wright, was the band’s final Atlantic release, ft. the hit single “Calling”, co-written with FAR vocalist Jonah Matranga, and saw the band collaborate with Billy Corgan, Nick Hexum (311), and Stephen Carpenter (Deftones), with heavy touring again, with the likes of Chevelle, Staind, POD, & Flyleaf. After several more studio albums, including 2008’s Our Long Road Home,, 2010’s Plead The Fifth, with the single “Fractured (Everything I Said was True}” reaching the top 20 on the Active Rock Chart, and 2012’s The Episodes, Taproot continued to tour consistently through 2013, when the band went on an indefinite hiatus, reforming officially in 2023.