Toad the Wet Sprocket
Toad the Wet Sprocket was an
American folk rock band consisting of
singer Glen Phillips,
guitarist Todd Nichols,
bassist Dean Dinning, and
drummer Randy Guss.
Toad the Wet Sprocket was formed in
1986 at
San Marcos High School just outside of
Santa Barbara, California when singer/songwriter Glen Phillips was only 14 and a freshman, the other members were 17 and juniors. The band drew its name from the
Eric Idle monologue "Rock Notes" on
Monty Python's
Contractual Obligation Album from 1980, although the name is featured in a parody of
The Old Grey Whistle Test on
Rutland Weekend Television in 1975. The band's first public appearance was at an open-microphone talent contest in September 1986. The band lost the competition.
Toad the Wet Sprocket's first album came out in 1989.
Bread and Circus was self-financed through their label, Abe Records. The album spawned the singles "Way Away" and "One Little Girl," which made the
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, but did not receive much attention.
The follow-up to
Bread and Circus,
Pale, was released in 1990 and saw their sound mature. During the recording of the album, Toad signed to
Columbia Records while declining the opportunity to re-record
Pale, but negotiating to have Columbia Records reissue
Bread and Circus.
[ See the Biography section.] 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 finally achieved fame with their third album,
fear. The album was released in 1991, and saw the single "
All I Want" reach the top twenty on the
Billboard Hot 100. The single "
Walk on the Ocean" also reached the top twenty of the Hot 100, and the album became the band's first
RIAA certified platinum album.
In 1994, after years of heavy touring, the band released their follow-up to
Fear,
Dulcinea. This album spawned the hit singles "Fall Down," which reached #1 on the US Modern Rock charts as well as #5 on the Mainstream Rock chart, as well as "Something's Always Wrong," which also charted. This album was also certified platinum by the
RIAA.
A compilation album of
b-sides and rarities,
In Light Syrup, was released in 1995; it included the single "Good Intentions" which was featured on the soundtrack for the television show
Friends. The compilation was certified as a
gold album in 2001.
The release of
Coil in 1997 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," 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.
Toad the Wet Sprocket formally broke up in July
1998, citing creative differences.
Toad The Wet Sprocket, though officially broken up since 1998, has worked together off and on over the years. They performed several occasions in 1999, although only short sets. Also in 1999, they recorded two studio tracks (Todd sat out for both) for a compilation release called
P.S. A Retrospective (a not-quite greatest hits type of album).
Toad the Wet Sprocket temporarily reunited in December 2002, playing a month of full-length shows. Although seemingly successful, at the end of the tour, the band decided to continue on their separate paths and careers.
In 2004, Toad 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.
In summer of 2006, the band reunited for a 34-date nationwide tour of the United States.
Glen Phillips's solo career
Immediately after the July breakup in 1998,
Glen Phillips began his own solo career. He has toured almost constantly up to the present time, usually just him and his guitar, but often with regular guest musicians. He has a close friendship with the members of
Nickel Creek, and they often perform together; they recorded a studio album called
Mutual Admiration Society in 2000, released in 2004. In addition to that collaboration, Glen has released three solo studio albums,
Abulum (2000),
Winter Pays For Summer (2005), and
Mr. Lemons (2006) and a live album,
Live At Largo (2003). Also in spring 2006, Glen released a studio EP called
Unlucky 7 featuring outtakes from his studio sessions.
Lapdog
Todd, Dean and Randy have also continued in music. In the late
1990s, Todd and Dean formed a new band called
Lapdog. They recorded and released the studio album
Near Tonight (2001), and toured minimally. After this, Dean quit the band to pursue his acting career, and Randy joined Lapdog as drummer. Again Lapdog recorded and released an album, called
Mayfly (2002). Since then Lapdog has kept a fairly low profile, though they still occasionally perform publicly.
Toad the Wet Sprocket released five studio albums, two live
EPs, a rarities compilation, a posthumous live album and hits compilation for
Columbia Records. The band was also featured on a number of soundtracks and uncatalogued singles and tapes not listed here.
Albums
*
Bread and Circus (CD) - Columbia Records - 1989
*
Pale (CD) - Columbia Records - 1990
*
fear (CD) - Columbia Records - 1991
*
Dulcinea (CD) - Columbia Records - 1994
*
In Light Syrup (CD) - Columbia Records - 1995
*
Coil (CD) - Columbia Records - 1997
*
P.S. (A Toad Retrospective) (CD) - Columbia Records - 1999
*
Welcome Home: Live At The Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara 1992 (CD) -
Aware Records/Columbia Records - 2004
EPs
*
Five Live (CD) - Columbia Records - 1992
*
Acoustic Dance Party (CD) - Columbia Records - 1994
Video
*
Seven Songs Seldom Seen (1992)
Singles information
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | | US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Mainstream Rock | UK |
| 1989 | "One Little Girl" | - | #24 | - | - | Bread & Circus |
| 1990 | "Come Back Down" | - | #27 | - | - | Pale |
| 1990 | "Jam" | - | - | - | - | Pale |
| 1992 | "Is It For Me" | - | - | - | - | fear |
| 1992 | "All I Want" | #15 | #22 | #22 | - | fear |
| 1992 | "Hold Her Down" | - | - | - | - | fear |
| 1993 | "Walk on the Ocean" | #18 | - | #27 | - | fear |
| 1993 | "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" | - | - | - | - | fear |
| 1994 | "Fall Down" | #33 | #1 | #5 | - | Dulcinea |
| 1994 | "Something's Always Wrong" | #41 | - | #22 | - | Dulcinea |
| 1995 | "Fly From Heaven" | - | - | - | - | Dulcinea |
| 1995 | "Stupid" | - | - | - | - | Dulcinea |
| 1995 | "Good Intentions" | - | #20 | #19 | - | In Light Syrup |
| 1997 | "Come Down" | - | #13 | #17 | - | Coil |
| 1997 | "Whatever I Fear" | - | - | - | - | Coil |
| 1997 | "Crazy Life" | - | - | - | - | Coil |
| 1999 | "P.S." | - | - | - | - | P.S. A Retrospective |
*
ToadTheWetSprocket.com; official site; major update, May 2006*
ComeBackDownload.com; fan site; updated regularly*
Toad The WWWet Sprocket; the very first fan site; not updated since 2003*
GlenPhillips.com; Official Glen Phillips site (Toad's frontman)*
LapdogMusic.com; Official Lapdog site (Toad's lead guitarist and drummer)*
Live shows available from The Internet Archive*
How Toad Got Their Name w/sound clip
