Taproot vocalist/guitarist Stephen Richards has shared some more insight on the band’s forthcoming seventh studio album “SC\SSRS“. Originally intended to be a solo release, Richards himself spearheaded the creative process for that effort, having taken to writing and recording it over the past decade. At one point, Richards even launched a crowdfunding campaign to help with the costs of the sessions for it.
With the backing of his bandmates, he eventually decided to shifting the material over into the Taproot lane, leading us to the forthcoming September 29th release date of that effort via THC Music/Amplified Distribution.
Richards commented:
“I had written most of this record to be the next Taproot release years ago, following The Episodes, when some health and other issues arose, we decided to take a break that turned into a longer than anticipated hiatus. After my mother’s passing, I decided I needed to record these songs and share them with friends and fans that were interested in hearing what was next.
I’ve spent the last 6 years doing as much as I could around my personal life to make it happen, and after all of the hard work, the other guys jumped behind me to support and we decided to get it out there and release what IS the new Taproot record SC\SSRS.”
Bassist Phil Lipscomb added:
“Steve had all these great songs recorded that he’d originally written for the next Taproot record that he was planning to just release independently as part of his solo project, but we started talking, and I encouraged him that we should just do it as a Taproot record and pay it the respect that it deserves. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Pre-orders for the record will officially launch on Wednesday, March 15th via taprootmerch.com. As previously reported, the arrival of “SC\SSRS” will coincide with the band’s first club show in six years. That album release show will take place at The Machine Shop in Flint, MI on September 29th. Tickets will be up this Friday, March 03rd at 10:00am EDT.
In addition to Richards and Lipscomb, drummer Jarrod Montague will be back with the band for both the aforementioned show at theirs set at this year’s ‘Blue Ridge Rock Festival‘. It would appear that some further shows may wind up occurring, as a press release notes that Dave Coughlin (Sponge) is expected to appear at other live performances.
Newcomer Taylor Roberts will take on the guitar duties in this latest incarnation of the group.
