Toad The Wet Sprocket

Toad’s debut album, Bread & Circus, recorded DIY-style in a tract home for a meager $600 and released independently in 1988, was raw and unvarnished, but clearly captured Toad’s magic as a band. The record caught the attention of major label Columbia Records, which re-released it unchanged the following year. Columbia also put out Toad’s acclaimed sophomore album, Pale, which the band recorded in Los Angeles while they were shopping for record labels, in 1990 — also in its original form at the band’s insistence.

These original four friends who met in a high school theater group were still just kids when they named themselves after a fictional band from a Monty Python skit and recorded Pale. Unbeknownst to many who thought they were fresh-faced and mild-mannered, Toad the Wet Sprocket had a grass roots DIY aesthetic, refusing to be pushed around by their record label and insisting on doing things their own way – an independent spirit they still maintain to this day.

Toad’s third full-length album, Fear, put them on the mainstream map, catapulting them from alternative college rockers to heavy pop radio rotation, late-night talk show appearances and major tours. Fear went platinum after its 1991 release.

What’s more, hot on the heels of Fear’s tremendous success, Toad released Dulcinea in 1994, another album with countless incredible songs, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Dulcinea went on to sell over a million copies and was certified by the RIAA, giving the band its second platinum album in a row.

With a remastered “greatest hits” collection, All You Want, released in 2023, and Dulcinea’s 30th anniversary celebration in 2024, Toad is working on material for a new album, as well as releasing acoustic versions of fan favorites and hits. Toad will be back on tour in 2025.