Courtesy Photo / Schwegweb.com

Schwegweb: What would be your biggest influence to get into music?
Phil Lipscomb: "My older brother influenced my musical tastes the most I think. It's hard to say if I just happened to like the same stuff he did or if I liked it because he did, but either way my brother Vince got me into heavy music. Later in life of course I started finding my own path and discovering more music myself, but in those initial few years when I was developing my tastes he played a major role."

So far taproot has put out 3 mainstream albums, What is your favorite track of them all so far and why?
"My favorite track changes all the time. Right now I'd have to say I love Promise and April Suits the most."

Who has been the biggest influence or muse for your music?
"The Simpsons."

After being on tours with Ozzfest , Chevelle , and so on who is your favorite group to play with so far?
"The Deftones. Great guys. We actually got to soundcheck their equipment on a couple of nights which was really cool too."

What CD/Playlist Do you listen to most beside your own?
"These days I don't usually listen to music just to sit back and listen to it, I usually only put on music when I'm doing something else like playing poker or cleaning the house and let it play in the background. Off the top of my head my 3 favorite albums for this are Buckethead 'Colma', Kenna 'New Sacred Cow' and Norah Jones 'Come Away With Me'."

How do you cope with being on the road all the time and taking time after the shows to meet fans? Does it ever get boring or repetitive?
"I love touring and pretty much always enjoy it. When it's really cold out or I have friends/family around are the only times I won't be hanging out as much after shows. I feel bad when I see our fans waiting out in the freezing cold for us, and I'll usually make a quick appearance, but I'm not going to keep on coming out to make sure I got everybody if you came late or didn't recognize me while I was out there signing."

During the early stages of Taproot with traveling to California to play a showcase, dealing with a certain member of Limp Bizkit, did you ever think you would make it this big?
"I always knew this band was going somewhere, from the very first time I met Stephen and Mike. They definitely had the drive to make it far, so when I started playing with them I stopped having notions of going back to school and put all my effort into the band."

Beside Detroit what's your favorite city to play a show in?
"Vegas. Vegas loves us, and we love Vegas!"

What are the plans for taproot in the future? Any Ozzfest buzz? or maybe another headling tour?
"We'll be headlining for 8 weeks starting the last week of March. Not sure exactly who we're taking out with us, but I'm looking forward to playing some long sets and playing a lot of stuff we've never played live before."