Few bands have maintained their independence as TOAD THE WET SPROCKET. They met at high school in their native Santa Barbara, found in each other kindred musical spirits, and decided to form a band, giving themselves an unusual name culled from a Monty Python skit. They recorded their debut album in a cramped living room for a cost of $650, and later, as a condition for signing with Columbia Records, insisted on maintaining complete creative control. In spite of steadily increasing international success, they have never veered from that course.
From the start, Toad has crafted powerful and emotional music of uncompromising, sometimes painful, vision. Now, after two years of non-stop touring, and three years since their last release (the platinum-certified Fear), the band returns with Dulcinea, their fourth and most accomplished album to date.
From the opening lyrics of "Fly From Heaven" to the closing feedback of "Reincarnation Song," Toad the Wet Sprocket delicately explores the themes of alienation and resiliency on Dulcinea.
The album's title is taken from the story of Don Quixote, and his love of the woman he calls "Dulcinea." Don Quixote sees "Dulcinea" as a beautiful and wholesome visionwhen in reality she is none of these things.
"The thought I hold to is that Dulcinea represents an ideal of perfection that does not exist," offers bassist Dean Dinning. "But, we keep trying to reach that ideal and that's when the music happens."
"Instead of loving things for what they are, you love them for what you wish they were," explains lead vocalist/lyricist Glen Phillips. "That can drive you to do great deeds, or at least what you perceive as great deeds."
The perceptions that comprise Dulcinea document the growth of this young band both lyrically and musically over the past two and a half years. Appealing vocal harmonies and tightly-woven guitar parts, combining the yearning quality and lyrical sensibility of folk with the vital energy of rock and roll, mark the Toad sound. That delicate balance comes through on "Fall Down," the first single from Dulcinea, which describes someone that fails to step in and help a friend who's life is falling apart:
Elsewhere, a brooding and uplifting beauty emanates from such songs as "Inside" and "Begin," two songs which feature the lead vocals of guitarist/songwriter Todd Nichols. To the recently converted, this appears to be a new wrinkle for Toad, but faithful fans who have followed the band since its inception know that Nichols often handles both the vocal spotlight and songwriting duties.
"When I sing lead, Glen gets to concentrate on guitar and that's fun," Nichols relates. "Glen also does a great job of putting words to my phrasing, and that's tough to do."
One of those collaborations is "Begin," which tells an amazing, true story of a four-year-old girl's interpretation of her father's death, sung from the perspective of her father's lover.
Dealing with concepts such as life-after-death on Dulcinea further demonstrates the band's need the question convention and to explore who they are. Yet it isn't all dark and brooding. The band's sense of humor and their ability to poke fun at themselves come out on some cuts like the country and western lope of "Nanci," written about the relative merits of Nanci Griffith and Loretta Lynn (Toad are fans), and "Stupid," about an embarrassing situation Phillips experienced.
"There's more fun on this album," comments Dinning. "I've always liked this side of the band-the "Stupid" and "Nanci" type songs-and even "Fall Down," which is just straight-ahead rock and roll. In the past, when people would listen to Pale (the band's melancholy second album), they'd say 'What are these guys, suicidal or something?' I think this record is a more honest presentation of who we are."
Phillips seconds the motion. "For us, there was something missing on our last album that I think we've captured with Dulcinea. Fear (their million- selling third album) was very manicured. It was our first experience in a studio with the luxury of time, so we experimented with over-dubs and the like. As a result, we lost some of that "band" feel. We missed that."
"The last time we made a 'live' record like this was '89 and with all the shows we've done since then we've become a lot better at playing our instruments," says drummer Randy Guss. "So we didn't plan things out as much this time, they just happened."
Beginning nine years ago, teen vocalist-guitarists Glen Phillips and Todd Nichols joined with bassist Dean Dinning and drummer Randy Guss to bash out songs in the garages of their hometown, Santa Barbara, California, luring an avid following in local clubs before they'd even hit the drinking age themselves. They copped a silly bandname from a Monty Python skit, and wrote intelligent, emotional vignetted wrapped around alternatively driving pop/rock and hauntingly beautiful ballads.
One of the first things they did together was record the second album Bread and Circus for $650 in a humble 16-track home studio, which they sold at local stores and gigs, using the money to finance their second LP, Pale. When the record companies came calling in 1988, the group settled on Columbia Records, who agreed to release both albums in their original state. Although they didn't make the charts, the two recordings provided Toad with a solid core of fans, and a chance to progress at their own pace.
"We liked the fact that we could develop on our own," says Nichols. "There wasn't a lot of hype or expectations."
"I think the thing that saved us a lot of grief is that we fell into this by accident," recalls Phillips. "We got signed in the summer after what was going to be our last year together. When the summer ended, I was supposed to go off to college."
Instead, the group took off for tours in support of Deborah Harry, the B-52's, and Michael Penn, all the while expanding their fan base with a mailing list that would eventually grow to 50,000 names. By the time the group release Fear in August of 1991, they were headlining colleges and clubs, content with the steady rise in album sales.
"We were just stoked that we'd sold 100,000 copies of Fear from being on the road, and maybe off of a few AOR stations playing "Hold Her Down" (that album's second single), remembers Dinning. "We were thinking: 'This is great! We're going to do it the way we want to.'"
But then came the unexpected and slightly embarrassing beeline into the Top Forty with the single "All I Want" and it's follow-up "Walk On The Ocean." In less than eighteen months, Toad played over 275 shows in North America and Europe, and eventually Fear went platinum.
When the foursome finally got off the road, they were eager to rediscover the organic quality of playing and recording "live" in the studio and Dulcinea was born. The band and producer Galvin MacKillop selected The Site, a residential studio in Marin County, CA. According to Phillips, Toad "...wanted a place that felt natural, more like 'home.' The Site ended up being a really good environment. Since we were living there, we could just get up in the morning and start working."
Out of that work came the 12 songs on Dulcinea, including the finale, "Reincarnation Song," a simple, powerful and somewhat humorous look at the here-after:
It's a song that will be mysterious to some, and inspiring to others, just like Dulcinea as a whole. All-in-all, it's another thoughtful step forward for Toad, who continue changing shape and musical palette as they go.