IF VICTORY RECORDS PAYS ROYALTIES TO BANDS THE SAME WAY THEY PAY THEIR BANNER AD BILLS…
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 1:00pm by Vince Neilstein
… then Taproot are about to get fucked! Welcome to the club!
The news that Taproot have signed with Victory is a head-scratcher, to say the least. For one, the Ann Arbor, MI-based nu-metal turned radio-alt-metal band sounds nothing like any of the other bands on Victory. I believe that a big part of a band’s success on any given label is directly correlated with how psyched the label’s employees are about the project, and this especially holds true for smaller/niche labels. That said, I can’t see the recent college grads that signed on to work for A Day to Remember and Silverstein getting amped up to do menial work for Taproot.
But moreso, haven’t Taproot heard the myriad Victory Records horror stories?
It can’t be coincidence that one label enters litigation with so many of their bands… we don’t hear bands bitching about their treatment on Metal Blade or Century Media (for example), and we talk to bands on those labels and others constantly. Perhaps Taproot are so far removed from the Victory “scene” that they really haven’t heard… or maybe after basically self-releasing their last album they’re just happy a relatively bigger label offered them a deal. Either way, Tony Victory is a helluva salesman, I’ll give him that.
I always kinda liked Taproot, and not just because I lived in Ann Arbor for five years (ok fine, maybe kinda). Their early stuff was hit or miss (mostly miss) but when they ditched the nu-metal shtick in favor of catchy radio metal they ended up maturing and developing into a really decent band. It’s the opposite of the career trajectory that most bands follow, but it worked. Our Long Road Home was kind of a clunker though, so we’ll see whether Victory will give the band the support system they need to make a decent record.
-VN
I think they signed them because of the “return” of Nu-Metal. Victory Records could have picked another band that had more success but I think those bands have more sense than Taproot after hearing some of the stories on what they have done to bands.
Next week, we’ll be hearing about Adema being signed to Trustkill.
Didn’t Adema’s “comeback” record come out on Earache?
it sure did
what’s Ann Arbor like…? I might be going to school there…
its pretty shitty if you like football
Zing.
Spartans > Wolverines
Ann Arbor is ok. Most of the people (non-college students) are pretentious, or hippies. One or the other. Pot is only a $50 fine if you get busted, which is pretty sweet, and every party I have been to at UofM is always free beer. Always.
I have never been to a party in Ann Arbor that was not related to a college student, so I can not speak to those.
Pretty cool city too! Close to all the metal venues, excluding Flint, which blows nut.
The Machine Shop does sometimes get shows that aren’t anywhere else in Michigan. So, I guess they got that going for them. But, I still have no desire to go there. Lived in Flint for a couple years and it was a couple years too long. But yeah, Ann Arbor is where I go to see my shrink. Sometimes, I’ll even go to the mall out there.
I live in Ann Arbor and I would rather live somewhere else. I really can’t stand the town. It’s full of Liberal docuhebags who think they know everything. That doesn’t go without saying that Conservative douchebags don’t exist either, but they’re not quite as prominent. I just hate the whole image Ann Arbor tries to put out as “accepting everybody” and lets be hippie-like. My only reason for living here is because I go to Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti and I really would rather not live there. Once I graduate though, I plan on getting the fuck outta here.
“It’s full of Liberal docuhebags who think they know everything.”
So in other words, it’s a lot like this site?
They both suck Obama’s cock like there’s no tomorrow.
Just stay the fuck out of Michigan, everything is dead here.
How much money does Victory owe MetalSucks? What assholes.
As for Taproot, they should have probably explored their options a bit more; as you guys have already reported, Roadrunner seems to be looking to sign any band that can sell radio singles, which Taproot certainly can. I was a huge fan of “Gift” back in their heyday, though it does seem relatively dated now. I thoroughly enjoy “Blue Sky Research” as a guilty pleasure.
That’s actually a pretty good suggestion. Roadrunner would have made sense.
They were signed to Roadrunner at one point, weren’t they?
Fuck you dude!
I’ve never been able to get into Taproot, even back in my nu-metal days, the singer’s voice just irritates me and nothing about their music grabbed me at all.
Wasn’t this the band that turned down Fred Durst’s offer to sign them, so he left them hate voicemail, or something like that?
yes it was!
If memory serves, Fred “discovered them” and was interested in signing them, but they ended up getting an offer from Atlantic (??) and signed with them, thus, the hate voicemail.
Fred said something along the lines of “you’ll never work in this town again!”
Yep. I hope that message is online somewhere. It was truly classic.
http://www.ihatefreddurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/durst.mp3
I’m bored so I looked for it.
nu metal bands had the worst names…it was just an extension of that 90s “alt rock” bullshit..vague names,vague music,vague lyrics as if to appear “artsy”…total garbage
is it 2000 already? why doesn’t nu-metal die off already. seems to soon for a retro-nu-metal thing. better than the swing revival i suppose. but not by much.
nu-metal > metalcore > deathcore > wiggerslam
At least nu-metal brought some variety with it before the entire sub-genre became generic and old. One guy said it here a while back; listen to any of the following bands and they’re instantly recognizable, which certainly cannot be said of deathcore, etc. Korn, Incubus (old), Taproot, SOAD, Slipknot, Deftones, etc.
Boo hoo, let’s hear all the crying about how badly nu-metal sucks. I, for one, would love anything to kill off deathcore and metalcore.
what’s “wiggerslam”?
Type it into the search bar at the top right of this site.
http://www.themetalinquisition.com/2008/01/wikipedia-fascists-deleted-my-entry-on.html
Taproot’s numetal period is much better than the stuff they’re releasing now. Blue-Sky research was very meh, and Our Long Road Home blew big time.
I always hear Victory’s crappy pop bands complaining, I rarely hear the metal bands complaining. Maybe their heavier bands have a work ethic that includes doing smaller tours and not being able to buy mansions right afterwards.
I live in Ypsilanti (right by Ann Arbor) and work in Ann Arbor as well, and there is absolutely no metal scene that I know of here. Detroit and Flint (Machine Shop) does, though, and they get some good shows. As far as Taproot, Gift and Welcome were decent albums.
Victory Records though…wow. By all accounts, Tony Brummel has screwed over a LOT of bands, and while their early (hardcore) catalog has some classic albums, they seem to be signing nothing but acts designed to get radio play. Hopefully it works out the best for them, I’m not a huge fan of their latest stuff but Taproot is a talented band and deserves some exposure.
The only metal band in Ann Arbor that I can think of is Incisor. Last I remembered there were a few deathcore bands around as well but they were shitty (as is 98% of deathcore bands)
I do know for a fact that there is a ska scene here. Some well known ska bands come through here and I know quite a number of people that played in various ska bands.
BTW, I fucking hate ska
And one more thing: It always makes me laugh when I see the usual barrage of people who hate so called “nu-metal”. What is the new trendy thing in metal these days?
Let’s see, heavily downtuned guitars. Non-traditional vocal and drum patterns. Bass drops. Most of the new popular bands in metal utilize most, if not all, of these things.
And where did it all come from? That’s right kids, “nu-metal”!
No, all those things came from death metal, which nu-metal also stole from…early Korn is just Sepultura worship with whiny vocals over the top of it.
And a slight bit more of a hiphop influence, but you are completely correct.
i used to LOVE “Gift”. best nu-metal album i ever heard. but then again, i was 14 at the time
First Otep and now Taproot? Is Victory going to sign Flaw or Skrape next?
We can really only hope its both of them. Hits like “My Letter” and “Waste” are just too good to forget.
Oh good lord. Two members of my old band were OBSESSED with Flaw and wouldn’t listen to reason. I hope they get signed to a major label and put out a pop-rock album.
The label wanted a band they could make money off of. Sometimes its a good thing in the long run because they can then use that income to sign more lesser known bands that are a higher risk. Look at all the shit Roadrunner signs.
Poem from the Gift album (?) is still a very catchy tune. As for Victory these days, I believe it all comes down to signing bands that will sell X amounts of copies. Otep was a strange signing, but their new album seems to be selling well.
ive never heard a complaint from one of the good metal bands on victory. emmure, carnifex, a hero a fake, otep (although they havent had enough time yet) BTBAM, darkest hour, the autumn offering, bury your dead etc. they have some truely insane talent up in there but the other half of the label just brings them down big time. if they dropped all there shitty a day to remember and aiden typical generic bullshit theyd be set
Let me get this straight…you want a record label to better themselves by dropping bands that probably sell a decent amount of records to a mainstreamish audience and giving greater support to bands that are clearly more talented, but also decidedly less popular and more ‘niche’?
It doesn’t take a business degree to spot the hole here.
And also, to preempt, no, I am not the ‘hole in this situation.
Here’s hoping that their new album is better than the last two…I was wayyyyy into “Gift” and “Welcome” back in my high-school days.
I actually saw Taproot a few months ago at Taste of Madison (and outdoor food/music festival in Madison, WI). I’m only familiar with a few singles (poem and birthday) but they put on a pretty good show and still seem to be enthusiastic for what they’re doing. That said, they closed with Poem, directly following a much heavier song, and the singer sounded like he’d completely spent his voice. He sounded good the whole set, and then choked on their biggest hit.
And that’s a damn shame – the band played great and the sound was phenomenal, especially for a one-off outdoor show.
I really dug their CD Welcome, and still listen to select songs from time to time. I don’t see this move odd at all — Tony Victory always wanted to be the *big dog major*.
Earlier Otep, now Taproot, hmmm…
Tony Brummel ate the drummer from Avenged Sevenfold.