Awhile ago I did an online interview with Mike of Taproot. Here it is. Enjoy.

How did you all meet?
-actually myself and steve met in the third grade, lost contact, and met back up in ninth grade and started playin together. phil and jrod lived with steves cousin at a party type house on campus. steve would go over there and mess around with them sometimes, and i'd go once in a while. we finally asked phil to play bass with us, and then jrod.

Did you ever expect you would be touring with Ozzfest?
-i guess i never really thought of it that way. its awesome, and we are all excited as hell to be a part of it, but i never looked at it like "im gonna play on that tour some day" ya know? but it is a huge honor and we are thankful.

When you were first starting out, did you do lots of touring?
-actually no. when we were starting out we pretty much concentrated on our local surroundings. we played every chance we could and anywhere we could, but we never really packed up and left to go out touring. we just wanted to build up a good following at home first.

Have you met with the other bands playing on Ozzfest? Which bands are you particularly happy to be playing with?
-we've met some of the people playin, but not really. it will be kool to have time to meet all these people and get to hang out on a day to day basis, so we are all looking forward to that. im just lookin forward to the whole experience.

We all know you love your fans a lot, but if you could, what would you want to do for them?
-hahah, ill do anything (within reason) it's like friends to me ya know? wouldnt you do anything you could for a friend? yup.

What type of music do you say you play?
-we've kinda choosen to stick with heavy alternative. just so we dont confuse too many people haha. thats always a hard one, but most people have a understanding of the basics of "alternative". i think we are somewhat close to that, just alot heavier at times.

Who were your favorite music artists before you were in Taproot?
-theres tons, but for me it was like the clash and the sexpistols, then it was metallica and van halen, wich turned to sepultura and heavier bands. then right befor taproot started i bagan to explore into other types of music and thats what really open everything up for me.

How do you feel about all the Taproot websites/clubs that are popping up on the net?
-they totally own. the people participating in them and running them are the shit, and so loyal. i go online almost everyday and check out everything thats goin on and its dope. we cant thank you guys enough so...

Streetwise has helped you all out with promotions and such, how did you get involved with them?
-actually thats how we got signed. we were doing everything on our own and people started to realize this, so mark (now our manager) heard us through a street team member and fell in love. they set us up with a show opening for system of a down. they came to check us out, liked it and did everything for us from that point on that we could ever ask for. we've been with them ever since.

Are there any cities that you particularly love to be in?
-well we havnt really had a chance to explore, but as far as a place that we had a great show at one really stands out to me and that was st. luis. that place was insane. downtown, dirty, and beautiful.

Gift is coming out next month, how do you think fans will like it?
-its an album that you will want to listen to over and over. thats what ive always strived for. i never wanted to have an album that had a few great songs and the rest you skipped through. i hate that, and wont listen to those. everyone of these songs i love playing ever night, thats a great feeling. to me this is something that im really proud of and i hope everyone will enjoy it as much as we do.

thank you so much for the interview, it means even more to me, so there :)