Although Toad started adding names to their mailing list back in 1989, it's a safe bet that most of the visitors to the House Of Toad discovered the band in 1992 with their third album: "fear." If you are interested in a bit of Toad history from those four years, point your browser to the Toad Touring Trilogy. That's where you'll find three stories that originally appeared at the House Of Toad over a year ago.

TOAD TOURING TALES TIP TODAY'S TOPIC

Chapter One

The 1995 holiday season finds the four members of Toad The Wet Sprocket at home in California with family and friends, a situation for which they are truly grateful (especially when they hear about sub-zero artic conditions on the East Coast) since they have spent many a Thanksgiving eating pizza in hotel rooms around the country. Yet the band's touring legacy is one that would make any performer proud. In the past six years Toad has seen both the high and low points of the road, from such enjoyable excursions as the Toad/Hootie jaunt earlier this year, to the emotional anguish of having their tour bus robbed not once, but twice in the city of St. Louis. Playing one night stands for a year-and-a-half straight (as they did on the recently completed DULCINEA tour) is a grueling, yet often exhilarating way to make a living, as the following anecdotes illustrate.

Toad's very first performance was at a now-defunct Santa Barbara eatery named "Joe's Two" on September 3, 1986. High school pals Todd Nichols (guitar), Dean Dinning (bass), and Glen Phillips (lead vocals) were all set to play on "talent night" but they needed a drummer (historically the hardest musician to find for any rock group) so they tabbed Todd's childhood buddy Randy Guss for the gig.

"At that point, I didn't think I was good enough for the band," Randy later remembered in the local paper. "But now I think I'm too good," he jokingly added.

Although the band had once called themselves "Three Young Studs and Glen" in jest, they eventually stuck with the "Toad" moniker which they lifted from a Monty Python skit called "Rock Notes" from the album CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION. For the next three years the band played their own songs on the local club circuit, while opening for such diverse acts as Camper Van Beethoven, Let's Active, Deacon Blue, Ziggy Marley and Blue Rodeo. In the wake of signing a record deal with Columbia Records, Toad played their first stadium show on May 6, 1989 at UC Santa Barbara, a so-called "Spring Fling" for the students, with headliners Jane's Addiction. At that time, Glen told a local rag:

"We don't perform at people, we perform with people," a sentiment that has guided the band since their initial days. Perhaps it explains why you can see various of members of Toad in the crowd at any given show, watching other acts on the bill, or even working their lights, as Randy did for Hootie and The Blowfish, before they get their own turn on stage. They are not the kind of band who stays holed up in their dressing room or tour bus, and that could partly explain the success they've enjoyed as a touring act in the nineties.

Yet when it came time for their first "real" tour in 1989, they were four fairly nervous and shy guys who rented a van and took off in support of their first album, BREAD AND CIRCUS, as opening act for Deborah Harry, the former lead singer of Blondie, a seminal New Wave band who had lit up the charts a decade earlier with such hits as "Rapture" and "The Tide Is High." In the fall of '89, Harry was trying to kick-start her solo career, which had met with uneven success in the eighties. As far as Toad was concerned, they were just glad to have a record label to financially support their touring, a sentiment that Randy once shared with an audience:

"Even if Columbia drops us, at least I got a cool drum set."

That remark summed up Toad's "happy-to-be-here" attitude in the midst of the tour which took them to such exotic locales as Victoria and Vancouver, Canada. During their stay in the latter city, the news broke of a major earthquake in the San Francisco region, which not only cancelled the upcoming Toad/Harry gigs set for the Bay Area, but also postponed the World Series. This was Toad's first experience with on-the-road natural calamities, but certainly not their last, and resulted in an abbreviated tour of just six shows in eight days.

In November of the same year, Toad went out on a two month jaunt opening for the B-52s, another New Wave act looking to get back on the charts. Instead of the clubs that made up the Deborah Harry tour, the band found themselves performing on this trek in front of 4,000 or so fans a night who had come to hear the B-52s fast-breaking hit, "Love Shack." Suddenly the stakes had changed. Now Toad traveled with a tour "crew", which was actually two high school pals named Gary Allen and Ray Bobgan, and they also began to get noticed by the press. The Press Herald of Portland, Maine had this to say about Toad's opening night performance at the University of Maine on November 9, 1989:

"The opening band was greeted with enthusiasm. With a sound reminiscent of early REM, their jangly guitar pop sound brought some people out just to hear them, a fact that speaks loudly for any new band. Is there room for another REM sound?..there must be."

Actually, the "REM-type-sound" label dogged Toad from the beginning, yet the band has never shied away from admitting that the quartet from Athens, GA was a huge influence in their seminal days. This respect was returned in part when Michael Stipe sent the band a letter complimenting them for the power of "Hold Her Down" in 1992. But that kind of acceptance was three years away when Toad was learning about big-time touring with the B-52s.

Mother Nature gave the band an unplanned break in Mid-November when they arrived in Montreal just before a huge blizzard hit the East Coast. The B-52s were stranded in New York, having just finished a video for the song "Roam," and were unable to make it to Canada for the scheduled gigs. So Dean, Todd, Randy, and Glen spent 5 days in Montreal killing time and learning French. None of them made it home to California for Thanksgiving.

All told, the band played 22 shows with the The B-52s, an eye-opening experience that would prepare them for their first headlining tour in 1990 in support of their second album, PALE. This was a tour that I was a part of, so you can bet I'll have some interesting stories to tell in the next issue of Toad News.



TOAD TOURING TALES TIP OFF NEW YEAR

Chapter Two

Toad The Wet Sprocket began the nineties by releasing their second album PALE on Columbia Records and hitting the road as the opening act for the red hot Michael Penn, who was enjoying the success from his debut album MARCH and the hit single "No Myth." Penn assembled a top-notch band of studio musicians, including drummer D.J. Bonebreak of the band X, for his first tour and they played a warm-up show in Toad's hometown of Santa Barbara where Penn's brother, actor Sean, showed up to wish them luck. The real tour began on March 12, 1990 at the Tunnel Club in Austin, Texas, and the members of Toad were surprised by the welcome they received from the capacity audience who brought them back for an encore of "Stairway To Heaven." Subsequent shows brought the tour to the legendary Rockefeller's club in Houston (where Toad barely squeezed themselves onto the tiny stage filled with Penn's equipment) and the 930 Club in Washington DC where Penn announced: "There are rats the size of dogs out back" and indeed, there were. After the latter show, Todd and Dean grabbed their new camcorder for a round of late night monument gazing, as they visited the Lincoln, Jefferson and Vietnam memorials (little did they know three years later they would be playing at Bill Clinton's inaugural celebration and then to half-a-million spectators attending a NOW rally on the Washington Mall!) When Penn and Co. took off for a week in Europe, Toad played a few shows on their own, most notably at Max's On Broadway in Baltimore, where the band played for a packed house that demanded (and received) three encores. Unfortunately, the next night in Asbury Park they found a crowd of about thirty in attendance, giving Dean the opportunity to do his incrediblely funny impersonation of Bruce Springsteen singing Bon Jovi (as a tribute to New Jersey's favorite sons, of course). That forty-eight hour period could easily sum up the situation for any new band headlining it's own shows without a hit single on the airwaves: in one town the hotel is good and so is the crowd‹the next evening it's exactly the opposite. "From the penthouse to the pavement" was a rallying cry for the Toad outfit as their Spring tour continued.

Musically speaking, the majority of Toad's set list on this tour included songs from BREAD & CIRCUS and PALE. Other tunes that were "new" at the time included "Nightingale Song" and "Stories I Tell" (which would later end up on FEAR) and Glen and Todd's duet: "All In All" which would finally appear on IN LIGHT SYRUP. At this time, Glen started playing The Waterboy's "Spirit" as an introduction to "Know Me," replacing the album track "Humble" which appears on BREAD & CIRCUS. An encore usually found Randy and Todd switching instruments so Randy could tackle the guitar solo for "The Ballad Of Randy Guss," the raucous anthem which featured the sing-along chorus of: "Tonight it's Camel Filters" in reference to the drummer's tobacco tastes. It was this song that caused Jon Bon Jovi and actor Lou Diamond Phillips to come backstage and meet Toad after their show at The Bottom Line in NYC. Both stars thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen and nearly fell out of their chairs laughing, a reaction repeated by most audience members whenever the "ballad" was performed. When Toad and Michael Penn played their final show together on April 12th, 1990 at the Fine Line in Minneapolis, D.J. Bonebreak joined Randy for his "ballad" and the subsequent cacophony of feedback and sour notes that followed was enough to make any real guitar players faint.

Until that show, the Penn/Toad tour played to sell out crowds from Texas to Toronto, including a stop at "Toad's Place" in New Haven, across the street from Yale University, where Toad (the band) was presented with Toad (the nightclub) sweatshirts and other goodies. In Boston after a show at the Paradise, Toad recorded a "new" version of the song "Jam" at the legendary Fort Apache Studios. This version appears only on a promotional CD (Columbia CSK 2059) and was used as the soundtrack for the "Jam" video which is included on the SEVEN SONGS SELDOM SEEN Sony video compilation. After parting ways with Penn and his band, however, Toad embarked on what is always a crucial event in a band's career: their first tour as a headlining act. Considering that the band's first two albums had received scant radio airplay or MTV exposure, and that sales had been quite modest, it was indeed a giant step to go from the security of being a supporting act for guaranteed draws like Michael Penn or The B 52s, to the pressure of selling tickets on just their own merits. For the next three months, Toad would travel thousands of miles in support of their album PALE, and you'll hear more about this tour in the next issue of Toad News.



TOAD TOURING TALES OF TRIPS & TRAVAILS

Chapter Three

Against the backdrop of a steel-gray sky whose horizon was interrupted by the scrawny winter stalks of leafless trees, Glen Phillips dug into his soul and came up with the second verse of the song "Torn" and opened his mouth to let it out into the icy Pennsylvania air:

"I feel nothing..." he sang, and he was literally telling the truth.

In front of maybe fifty people tops, Toad The Wet Sprocket was playing the first gig of their first full-length nationwide headlining tour‹in a field outside of Pittsburgh on an afternoon when the mercury would peak at twenty degrees. Five days earlier they had just played the friendly confines of the Fine Line Cafe in Minneapolis, on the last night of their tour supporting Michael Penn, to a sold-out audience of 500. Now, on April 17, 1990, they were on their own, doing a hastily-put-together promotion show for the fledgling X15AM radio station, in the parking lot and out in the boonies. Once again, the band's rallying cry rang true: "From the penthouse to the pavement!" But for no money and no beer, they played as long as they could, until Todd admitted: "I can't even feel my fingers anymore," illustrating the fact that guitarists cannot wear gloves while performing, a distinct advantage for Randy that day, who had strategically placed his drum kit near the band's RV (more on that later) which still had some warmth left inside. On that early spring day, Dean was the best prepared, sporting a natty long scarf and long overcoat, and of course, his always impressive Warwick custom bass. It was a moment when life imitated art, as in the cover art for the band's recently released PALE album, and for the next two months, life also imitated the lyrics from that album's "I Think About:"

"My feet, firm upon a pathway I am far too blind to see, leading me/Funny how the days go by invisibly and faster than I realize..."

The band was traveling in a good ol' American R.V. because they couldn't afford a real tour bus but at least they had moved up from traveling in vans. Sometimes one of the crew members would actually cook up a big meal on the propane stove and microwave oven, and there was even a lounge area with a small black and white TV for the long drives which could number 550 miles at a stretch (that lovely Denver to Salt Lake City route). This vehicle was ridden for thousands of miles, robbed in St. Louis, and couldn't quite make it back to the rental office when the tour ended. That's right...it broke down less than four blocks from the dealership after never missing a Toad show in three-and-a-half months service. It's a wonder that the band didn't break down as well.

Without a hit single, ("Come Back Down" was getting college airplay but that was about it), Toad The Wet Sprocket took any gig their booking agency CAA could throw their way, including ten straight shows in the south, highlighted by packed houses at Sid & Harry's in Oxford MS, The Nick in Birmingham AL, and Juanita's in Little Rock. Some of the more enjoyable shows were the outdoor spring concerts (where it was warmer than Pittsburgh thankfully) at the University of West Virginia (complete with police escort to the stage!) and Kansas University, where they played on a bill with Buffalo Tom. Toad even returned to Max's On Broadway in Baltimore for their second sold out show within a month. The club owner was so happy he loaded the band down with pizzas and beer before the drive to the next town.

Moments like those were exceptions to the rule, unfortunately, but as the tour headed west on it's last leg and more importantly, toward California, Toad really began to hit their stride on stage and in the attendance numbers. Dean would brandish a clarinet for "Liars Everywhere" and then take over on piano while Todd sang lead on "Nothing Is Alone." Glen would move from bass to acoustic guitar to mandolin, the latter now added to the older tune "Way Away." Randy, as always, delivered his encore salutation and often added his own guitar skills (?) to the "Ballad Of Randy Guss." "In My Ear," a new song that would later appear on FEAR, was performed more and more frequently. Toad played for a full house at The Garage in Denver one night after Nirvana had headlined there; they listened while up-and-coming singer Mae Moore opened for them in Vancouver; they packed the DNA Lounge in San Francisco. Finally, after playing over fifty shows, they arrived home in Santa Barbara, for two "get back" performances at The Carnival nightclub. They were relieved to have survived their first headlining tour (although their RV didn't) and the locals were happy to have them back. For the next year they would stay mostly in Santa Barbara; relaxing, rehearsing and writing the songs that would appear on their first platinum album, FEAR. But at the end of June, 1990, a platinum record was the last thing on the collective mind of Toad The Wet Sprocket. What they had dreamed of for so long was a night in their own beds, and even tho ugh they had gone from "the penthouse to the pavement" and back again numerous times on their tour, they had finally made it home with plenty of sleep to catch up on.

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