Toadies

Best known for crafting the 1995 grunge mainstay “Possum Kingdom,” the Fort Worth outfit Toadies carved out a niche amid the ’90s alternative-rock surge through guitar-driven material that blended crunch with memorable hooks and gave hard rock a distinctive twist. Drawing from Pixies-inspired songcraft and wielding guitars that balanced force with melody, the band broke through via its 1995 major-label debut Rubberneck on Interscope. Label disputes, however, postponed the considerably heavier follow-up Hell Below/Stars Above until 2001, after which the group disbanded. Revived in 2008, the Toadies began issuing material at a steady clip on their own Kirtland Records imprint; while later releases generally adhered to the approach that first earned them fans, 2015’s Heretics adopted a restrained, partly acoustic approach and 2017’s The Lower Side of Uptown restored volume and amplified guitar attack.

The Toadies came together in 1989 and spent their early years performing throughout Fort Worth, Texas. Personnel shifted frequently from the outset until frontman Todd Lewis—a musician shaped by the Pixies—emerged as the creative center, writing and producing the band’s initial output. Following a succession of self-released cassettes and the addition of drummer Mark Reznicek, the group issued its first official EP, Pleather, in 1993. The record drew interest from Interscope, which signed the Toadies shortly afterward.

Backed by major-label resources, the Toadies tracked Rubberneck with producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, whose prior collaboration included Beck’s platinum-certified Mellow Gold. Issued in August 1994, Rubberneck achieved comparable commercial traction, reaching gold status the next year and platinum by late 1996. Much of that momentum stemmed from “Possum Kingdom,” an austere track in 7/8 time that nevertheless cracked the Top 40. With Clark Vogeler now handling guitar, the quartet capitalized on its moment in the post-grunge scene, sharing stages with Bush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Butthole Surfers.

Crafting a suitable successor to Rubberneck proved difficult. Returning to the studio in 1997, the band laid down new songs slated for a 1998 release under the title Feeler, yet Interscope rejected the material and shelved the project, leading the frustrated group to pause activity for the remainder of the decade. Activity resumed in 2001 as the Toadies retrieved several Feeler tracks, added fresh recordings, and finally delivered Hell Below/Stars Above, again produced by Rothrock and Schnapf and featuring a guest piano appearance by Elliott Smith on the title cut. During the ensuing tour, longtime bassist Lisa Umbarger exited, prompting the remaining members to disband as well. Best of Toadies: Live from Paradise surfaced soon after the split.

Although the Toadies reconvened occasionally for isolated performances, they did not officially regroup until 2008, when Lewis, Reznicek, and Vogeler reconvened to record No Deliverance. Former Hagfish member Doni Blair, whose earlier band had shared the same Dallas–Fort Worth underground circuit, handled bass on the subsequent tour; one concert was documented on the 2008 release Rock Show. That same year also marked the launch of the band’s annual rock festival Dia de los Toadies, which placed the Toadies at the top of a bill filled with kindred acts from the Southwest. The comeback continued in 2010 with the resurrection of the long-abandoned Feeler project; after Interscope declined to license the original recordings, the group re-tracked the songs and issued them that summer. New material arrived with 2012’s Play. Rock. Music., followed by the semi-acoustic Heretics in 2015 and the harder-edged The Lower Side of Uptown in 2017. A second live document, Live at Billy Bob’s Texas, appeared in September 2018.