Toadies

30+ years. The status quo is a long time to maintain relevance, especially in the music community. But that’s exactly what Toadies and especially their legendary Rubberneck album have done. Released during the height of the grunge era, it’s mistakenly labeled a grunge record. But it’s not, not by a long shot. Described as “the Pixies meets Metallica”, the Toadies had their feet firmly ensconced in indie, alternative, punk and (near) metal to forge a sound truly all their own. There’s a place in the hearts for Rubberneck that seems to transcend generations. Parents bring their kids to shows, they know all the words to the songs, get tattoos, wear the shirts and generally go crazy when any of those 11 songs come up in Toadies sets. “Possum Kingdom” remains one of the most played recurrent tracks on Active Rock and Alternative radio and still pops up all over the place to this day: Earlier this year Ultimate Guitar named Rubberneck one of the Top 10 Grunge albums that survived the ’00’s and the album also made Rolling Stone’s ’50 Greatest Grunge Albums’ as well as their list for 1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative’s Greatest Year. The album hit #1 on Billboard Heatseakers chart and went on to spend 49 weeks on the Billboard 200. The songs on Rubberneck are fearless, literate and visceral. Certainly, they are not your average accessible radio fodder. “We didn’t even have singles in mind,” drummer Mark Reznicek says. “Or the idea of even possibly ever getting on the radio.” Tracks from the album continue to appear in unexpected places from Guitar Hero to as far away as England’s NME, including it in their A History Of Rock’N’Roll in 100 Riffs right along with The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen, Ramones, The Smiths, Metallica, Rage, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and White Stripes. TV shows from Beavis and Butthead to the much more recent, This is Us to For All Mankind, to The Midnight Club and Reacher have included Rubberneck tracks. Robotman in Season 2 of Doom Patrol even wore a vintage Toadies shirt. Girl Talk’s ‘This is the Remix’ sampled “Possum Kingdom,” while Kelly Clarkson was heard singing along to the song in her dressing room during an episode of last season’s The Voice. Indie chanteuse, St. Vincent also covered the song on a Sirius XMU Session. More inspiration from Rubberneck has made its way to the written page with Marvel Comics featuring the band in two X-Men comics and NY Times and USA Today best selling author Xio Axelrod’s latest novel The Girl With the Stars in Her Eyes has the main character’s band cover Toadies ‘I Burn’ off Rubberneck. Rubberneck’s staying power breeds new fans to go along with Toadies’ cult like early fans, whose faith never lagged even as the band struggled to release new music. Interscope rejected Toadies next album Feeler. It then took 7 years after Rubberneck for Toadies to release their follow up album, Hell Below /Stars Above. A few months after its release, the band broke up. A one-off gig in 2006 became a full-fledged reunion. A third album, the independently released No Deliverance, came out in 2008 and saw the band playing Lollapalooza and ACL. Toadies have been active ever since, releasing 4 more full lengths and consistently touring nationally. Toadies most recent release is an unlikely cover of Kelly Clarkson’s smash hit “Since U Been Gone.” The track is part of the compilation, Texas Wild, celebrating 100 years of Texas State Parks. It features Texas musicians covering other Texas musicians, including Ryan Bingham’s version of the Toadies “Possum Kingdom.” What’s next? Toadies have just recorded their next record, The Charmer, with Steve Albini in Chicago. Bassist Doni Blair refers to Albini as a “bucket list producer. Guitarist Clark Vogeler adds “There are records in each of our collections that were recorded by him which mean the world to us. The sound he brought to records like The Pixies Surfer Rosa, and PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, capture the feeling of being in a room with a band while they play, (quite loudly, it would appear). His recordings of bands are honest; there’s not much in the way of Pro Toos fixing or studio trickery. We’ve always felt like we deliver live so why not record the band live?” Blair says if the process “Steve was very helpful and us sound like…the Toadies. He just set up mics and let ‘er rip.” Thirty years and still going strong, so much so so that Toadies hometown of Fort Worth, Texas has even declared an annual “Toadies Day.” What’s next? Stay tuned and find out. There are surprises in store.