Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986. The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss, who stopped touring in 2017 and left the band in 2020. Guss was replaced by drummer Josh Daubin, who had been supporting them as their drummer on recent tours. They had chart success in the 1990s with singles that included "Walk on the Ocean", "All I Want", "Something's Always Wrong", "Fall Down", and "Good Intentions".
The band broke up in 1998 to pursue other projects; however, they began touring the United States again in 2006 for short-run tours each summer in small venues. In December 2010, the band announced their official reunion as a full-time working band and started writing songs for their first studio album of new material since their 1997 Columbia Records release, Coil.[1] Their most recent full-length album, Starting Now, was released on August 27, 2021.
History
Name origin
Toad the Wet Sprocket takes its name from a Monty Python comedy sketch called "Rock Notes",[2][3] in which a journalist delivers a nonsensical music news report:
Rex Stardust, lead electric triangle with Toad the Wet Sprocket, has had to have an elbow removed following their recent successful worldwide tour of Finland. Flamboyant ambidextrous Rex apparently fell off the back of a motorcycle. "Fell off the back of a motorcyclist, most likely," quipped ace drummer Jumbo McClooney on hearing of the accident. Plans are already afoot for a major tour of Iceland.[4]
There was also an extended skit about the fictional Toad the Wet Sprocket on one of Idle's later shows, Rutland Weekend Television (Season 1, Episode 4, "Rutland Weekend Whistle Test"). RWT musician and regular cast member Neil Innes, ex-Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and "The Seventh Python", played keyboards with the somnolent band.[5]
As their first gig approached, the band still had not chosen a name. The members facetiously adopted "Toad the Wet Sprocket" because they thought it would be "hilarious". Vocalist Glen Phillips later called it "a joke that went on too long" and, according to their website, "it was probably meant to be temporary at the time."[2][6] The name had been used once before, by a short-lived British blues band of the late 1970s that had appeared on the 1980 Metal for Muthas compilation, although the earlier band had long since split up when Philips and company formed their band.
Eric Idle, the sketch's original performer, reflected on the band's name in a 1999 performance:
I once wrote a sketch about rock musicians, and I was trying to think of a name that would be so silly nobody would ever use it, or dream it could ever be used. So I wrote the words "Toad the Wet Sprocket." And a few years later, I was driving along the freeway in LA, and a song came on the radio, and the DJ said, "that was by Toad the Wet Sprocket," and I nearly drove off the freeway.[7]
Early career (1986–1990)
Toad the Wet Sprocket was formed in 1986, with the members having known one another from San Marcos High School just outside Santa Barbara, California.[8] Singer/songwriter and guitarist Glen Phillips was only 15,[9] while guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss were 19. The band's first public appearance was at an open-mic talent contest in September 1986. The band did not win.
Toad the Wet Sprocket's first album was released in 1989. Bread & Circus was self-financed through their label, Abe's Records. The album spawned the singles "Way Away" and "One Little Girl", which made the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart but received little attention.
The follow-up to Bread & Circus, Pale, was released in 1990, and saw Toad the Wet Sprocket's sound mature. During the recording of the album, the band signed to Columbia Records while declining the opportunity to re-record Pale but negotiating to have Columbia Records reissue Bread & Circus.[10] Featuring the singles "Jam" and the modern-rock chart hit "Come Back Down", the album was still not a success, but the singles received heavy airplay on college radio stations. The band's first music video (for "One Little Girl") was directed by Mark Miremont and aired on MTV's 120 Minutes.
In 1993, the Mike Myers feature film So I Married an Axe Murderer included the song "Brother" on its soundtrack. "Brother" later appeared on the In Light Syrup compilation album, as well as on the 2004 release of the live album Welcome Home: Live at the Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara 1992.
In 1994, after years of heavy touring, Toad the Wet Sprocket released Dulcinea, their follow-up to fear. This album spawned the hit singles "Fall Down", which reached No.1 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts, as well as No.5 on the Mainstream Rock chart, and "Something's Always Wrong", which also charted. Like fear, this album was certified platinum by the RIAA.
A 1995 compilation album of b-sides and rarities, In Light Syrup, included the singles "Good Intentions", which was featured on the soundtrack for the television show Friends, as well as the aforementioned "Brother". The compilation was certified as a gold album in 2001.
The release of 1997's Coil acted as the proper follow-up to 1994's Dulcinea. Featuring a more electric, rock sound, it featured the modern-rock and mainstream rock hit "Come Down", as well as the singles "Crazy Life" (a previous recording of the song was featured on the soundtrack for the film Empire Records) and "Whatever I Fear", which did not chart. The album, despite the success of "Come Down" as a single, failed to reach any sales benchmarks. This failure is often attributed to the label doing a poor job of promoting the album.[citation needed]
Toad the Wet Sprocket formally broke up in July 1998, citing creative differences.[11]
Post-breakup and reunions (1998–2008)
Toad the Wet Sprocket, though officially broken up since 1998, worked together off and on over the years. They performed on several occasions in 1999, although only short sets. Also in 1999, Phillips, Dinning, and Guss recorded two studio tracks for a compilation release, P.S. (A Toad Retrospective), including one of the first songs the band wrote together, "P.S." Nichols declined to participate in these sessions and was replaced by Lapdog guitarist Rob Taylor.
Toad the Wet Sprocket temporarily reunited in late 2002, playing a benefit for the Rape Crisis Center in Santa Barbara and opening a few shows for Counting Crows. The group then played a few months of full-length shows in early 2003. Although these gigs were seemingly successful,[citation needed] at the end of the tour, the band decided to continue on their separate paths and careers. In 2004, the band released an album of a live show that was put to tape in 1992. This album, Welcome Home: Live at The Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara 1992, showcased the height of their popularity during the tour for fear.
Between 2004 and 2010, Toad the Wet Sprocket performed several short sets together. In the summer of 2006, the band reunited for a 34-date nationwide tour of the United States. During the summer of 2007, they played several shows with lead singer Glen Phillips serving as their opening act. On January 16, 2008, the band reunited once again to play two shows – one in St. Petersburg, Florida, then the next night at the House of BluesOrlando, prior to joining The Rock Boat VIII. On January 25, 2008, the band played a set at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On June 11–12, 2008, they played in Philadelphia and New Jersey at the Trocadero Theatre and Starland Ballroom, respectively. On June 14, 2008, they played at the 27th annual Alexandria Red Cross Waterfront Festival.[12] On June 15, 2008, the band performed at The Norva in Norfolk, Virginia. One of the show's highlights was the band performing Glen Phillip's solo hit "Everything But You".
On December 19, 2008, Toad the Wet Sprocket performed on The Adam Carolla Show at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California. In May 2009, they played a four show mini-tour, including two nights at the intimate 400 seat venue The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and also in an outdoor venue at Neptunes Park in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Continuing throughout the 2009 summer, the group played a second 12-stop mini tour, which started with a show at the House of Blues in Houston. During the show, the band noted that it had been some time since they had played a venue in Texas. However, noting the positive crowd response and energetic atmosphere, Philips stated that the group "would try to make it an annual stop" in the future.[13]
Full-time reunion, return to recording, and New Constellation (2009–present)
In 2009, bassist Dean Dinning said Toad the Wet Sprocket was now something each member considered an active project, and though they had not released a new studio album since 1997 and only did small summer tours, they no longer considered themselves "broken up". In May 2010, the band gathered at a California studio to begin re-recording some of their older hits for licensing reasons. Columbia Records owns the masters to the band's albums. Therefore, the band makes little money from them, so to be able to make a living off their own talent again, they made these re-recordings with the goal of having them used in film and TV.
On December 7, 2010, Toad the Wet Sprocket released their first new studio track in 11 years. The holiday track "It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas", a cover of a Sam Phillips original, was posted on their official site, available via Bandcamp, for free download just in time for the holidays, along with a new message on their site: "We're that band that did 'Walk on the Ocean', 'All I Want', 'Something's Always Wrong', and "Fall Down'. The one with the weird name. We're back from a long slumber and look forward to saying hello some time. Keep in touch…" The band had recently signed a deal with Primary Wave to handle their back catalog and any future releases, and on December 11, 2010, the band mentioned, both on stage and in an offstage YouTube interview, that they are currently writing songs for their first new studio album since 1997's Coil. In addition, they began playing two new songs, "Friendly Fire" and "The Moment", which were being worked on for the new album.
On April 12, 2011, Toad the Wet Sprocket released a new greatest hits album titled All You Want in digital and disc form via their official website. The 11-track CD includes brand new studio versions of their hits. The band does not have access to some of the versions they did for Columbia Records in the '90s. However, they did regain full control of the songs from their first two albums, and they planned to re-release them in remastered form on their own label, Abe's Records, following the release of their upcoming studio album.
Access pass to the August 2013 Troubadour New Constellation kickoff show, signed by the band members.
On March 22, 2013, it was announced via Toad the Wet Sprocket's Facebook page that recording of the new album had been completed. The album was produced and mixed by Mikal Blue at Revolver Studios in Thousand Oaks, California. On June 5, 2013, the band announced the first new single in 16 years on Rolling Stone's website titled "New Constellation". An album of the same name was released on the band's own Abe's Records on October 15, 2013.[14] The band marketed the new album via the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter.[15] The band initially set a fundraising goal of $50,000, expecting it to take about two months to raise that amount. Instead, fans contributed more than $50,000 in less than 20 hours.[15] When the Kickstarter campaign finally came to a close, they had raised a total of $264,762.[16] The band kicked off their new album with a release party for Kickstarter supporters at The Palm restaurant in Los Angeles, California, on August 23, 2013, followed immediately by a live performance at the nearby Troubadour music venue.[17]
VIP access pass to the 2015 Toad, Tonic, & Smash Mouth concert series, signed by Toad's band members.
In 2014, Toad the Wet Sprocket resumed touring and opened a number of shows for Counting Crows. They showcased some of the new material from New Constellation, the Kickstarter-funded album, including "California Wasted" and the album's title track while playing a number of their earlier hits. During summer 2015, the band went on tour with fellow '90s acts Smash Mouth and Tonic.[18] The band released an EP called Architect of the Ruin on June 16, 2015.
In 2018, Toad the Wet Sprocket announced that they had reissued their albums fear and Dulcinea on a deluxe remastered vinyl LP available through their online store.[19] The same year, they also released a limited deluxe 5-LP box set of colored vinyl for their albums fear, Dulcinea and Acoustic Dance Party.[20]
In a January 2020 interview with ChicagoNow, Glen Phillips stated that "Toad has started recording again." In addition, he confirmed the band's first official lineup change, and that drummer Guss had left the band on good terms. Previous occasional touring member Josh Daubin replaced Guss.[21]
On September 25, 2020, they released a new song entitled "Starting Now", followed by another new song "Old Habits Die Hard" on October23, from their album, Starting Now, released on August27, 2021.[22]
AllMusic writer Kelly McCarteny described Toad's early music as having a "jangle pop, garage band sound", and noted that their album Fear was a shift to "smart and catchy pop/rock songs".[29]
In the late 1990s, Nichols and Dinning formed a new band called Lapdog. They recorded and released the studio album Near Tonight (2001), and toured minimally. After this, Dinning quit the band to split his time between recording and producing local music and pursuing his acting career. Guss joined Lapdog as their drummer. Again, Lapdog recorded and released an album, called Mayfly (2002). Nichols has since ended Lapdog and is focusing on writing songs along with Dinning in Nashville for country acts, and producing bands at his studio, Abe's, in Los Angeles. A Lapdog song, "See You Again", appears in revamped/revised form on Toad the Wet Sprocket's New Constellation album under the title "I'll Bet On You".
"Fall Down" is featured in the 1994 film Drop Zone, in a November 1994 episode of the TV series My So-Called Life ("Other People's Mothers") and in TV series Billions season 6 episode 5 "Rock of Eye".
"Crazy Life" is on the Empire Records soundtrack, which was released in August 1995.
Fear is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket. The album is their second album for Columbia Records, and was released on August 27, 1991. It became the first commercially successful album for the band, selling over a million copies and was certified platinum three years after release, on September 1, 1994. The album reached #49 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums in September 1992. Two of the album's singles charted in the US top 40, "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean" which peaked at #15 and #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
Glen Phillips is an American songwriter, lyricist, singer and guitarist. He is the lead singer and songwriter of the alternative rock group Toad the Wet Sprocket and also records and performs as a solo artist.
Dulcinea is an album by Toad the Wet Sprocket released in 1994. It is their fourth studio album with Columbia Records and the follow-up to their popular album fear, which was released in 1991. Two songs from Dulcinea charted on the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts: "Fall Down" and "Something's Always Wrong". Dulcinea was RIAA Certified Gold on September 1, 1994 and Platinum on July 31, 1995.
Coil is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket released in 1997. This was the band's last album for 16 years, until 2013's New Constellation.
Pale is the second album by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket. It was recorded independently in 1989 for roughly $6000. During the recording of Pale, the band signed with Columbia Records. However, they declined to re-record any of the album in a more polished way. Columbia released the album without alterations, as it had done with the 1989 re-release of their debut 1988 album Bread & Circus. Pale was released in January 1990. "Come Back Down" was the first radio single for the album.
Mutual Admiration Society is a musical collaboration between singer/songwriter Glen Phillips and progressive bluegrass trio Nickel Creek.
Mutual Admiration Society is an album featuring the collaboration between Nickel Creek's Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins, and Glen Phillips, the lead singer of alternative-rock group Toad the Wet Sprocket. It was recorded in three days in December 2000, but took 3½ years to be released.
P.S. is a compilation by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket. Released in 1999, it was a posthumous look back at their career featuring hits and fan favorites. Although the band had officially split up prior to this release, Glen Phillips, Dean Dinning and Randy Guss reunited to record a new version of "P.S.", one of Toad's earliest songs. In addition, Phillips, Dinning, and Guss wrote and recorded an entirely new song titled "Eyes Open Wide," without the participation of Todd Nichols, who felt some of the remaining unrecorded studio outtakes the band had would be better to release than a new song. Rob Taylor, who at the time was the lead guitar player in the band Lapdog, with Nichols and Dinning, is credited as playing "additional guitar" on the track.
Bread & Circus is the debut album by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket, originally self-released on cassette in 1988, and re-released in 1989 by Columbia Records.
Jonathan Kingham is a folk, pop and jazz musician from Nashville, TN. He was born in Woodland, California and graduated from Woodland Senior High School in 1992. Kingham has released three full-length albums, one EP, and appeared on Meet The Bixbys as a band member for The Bixbys in 1999. Since 1997, he has toured nationally. His vocal work has been featured in The WB network's television seriesFelicity. Kingham is among a group of Seattle artists whose music is featured when a person calling the City of Seattle is put on hold. He is currently playing keyboards and slide guitar with Toad the Wet Sprocket, supporting the release of New Constellation, and tours extensively with the band's lead singer, Glen Phillips, in his solo shows. Kingham also teaches songwriting workshops with students all over the country with Ryan Shea Smith with a program called "Songwriting Made Simple".
Aware Records is an American record label. The label has worked with a range of artists, including John Mayer, Train, Five for Fighting, Mat Kearney, and Guster.
"Walk on the Ocean" is a song by American alternative rock group Toad the Wet Sprocket from their third studio album, Fear (1991). Two different versions of the song were released: the album version with a cold ending and the single version with the chorus repeated until fade. Commercially, "Walk on the Ocean" peaked at number 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 40 in Canada, New Zealand, and Norway.
"Fall Down" is a song by alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket from their fourth studio album, Dulcinea (1994). "Fall Down" was co-written by Glen Phillips and Todd Nichols. Released to US radio in April 1994, the song topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, the song peaked at number 10 and ended 1994 as the country's 76th-most-successful single. The music video for the song was directed by Samuel Bayer. In 2017, Consequence magazine ranked the song number 245 on their list of "Every Alternative Rock No. 1 Hit from Worst to Best".
"All I Want" is a song by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket from their 1991 album, Fear. "All I Want" was Toad the Wet Sprocket's first successful song. It became one of their most well-known songs, reaching the top 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart.
"Something's Always Wrong" is a single by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket. The song is included on their fourth studio album, Dulcinea (1994). "Something's Always Wrong" was co-written by Glen Phillips and Todd Nichols. Although not as popular as "Fall Down", "Something's Always Wrong" became a chart hit in the United States and Canada.
Amber Rubarth is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea and South Africa.
New Constellation is the sixth studio album by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket, released October 15, 2013, through Abe's Records. It is available on CD, vinyl and as a digital download. Financed with more than $250,000 from approximately 6,300 contributors on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, it is their first full-length studio release since the band's 1997 album Coil. This marks the final album with longtime drummer Randy Guss, who had been with the band since its formation in 1986, before his departure in 2020.
"Good Intentions" is a song by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket. It is included on both the band's album In Light Syrup and the Friends soundtrack, Friends Original TV Soundtrack. This version was recorded in January 1991 during the sessions for the band's third album fear but was not included because they felt it was too catchy and sounded like an obvious "hit single". Serviced to radio in September 1995, the song reached number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, number eight in Canada, and number 28 in Iceland.
Randel "Randy" Guss is an American musician and drummer. He was best known as the drummer for the band Toad the Wet Sprocket from its formation in 1986 until he stopped touring in 2017 and left the band in 2020.
Starting Now is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket released on August 27, 2021 through Abe’s Records. This is the first album since the departure of longtime drummer Randy Guss in 2020.
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