It’s been 25+ years since the Toadies started playing rock music in Fort Worth, Texas. Through lineup changes, shelved albums, band break-ups, and reunions, the Toadies have experienced nearly everything.
They burst onto the scene in 1994 with the breakthrough Rubberneck, including the singles “Possum Kingdom,” “Tyler.” Toadies returned to the studio in 1998 with the pressure of trying to match their first album’s success. That success didn’t translate to label support. “We got approval for a record,” says Vaden Todd Lewis, “ somewhere it got unapproved. So we went back to the drawing board.” Eventually some tracks made it onto Hell Below/Stars Above which came out seven years after Rubberneck. Disappointed and dejected, the band dissolved just a few months later.
Meanwhile, “Possum Kingdom” never left the airwaves, enjoying constant rotation at modern rock stations. Fans clamored for a Toadies reunion. “The band never went all the way away,” says Lewis. A one-off show in 2006 became a full-fledged reunion and ever since, the Toadies have steadily built momentum. A third album, No Deliverance, came in 2008 and saw the band selling out shows nationwide while also playing Lollapalooza and ACL.
The “lost album,” Feeler, finally materialized in 2010 followed by Play.Rock.Music. in 2012. In 2014, Toadies celebrated the 20th anniversary of Rubberneck. In 2016 Toadies released Heretics, an acoustic twist on classic songs. The band is currently finishing a new record, The Lower Side of Uptown, with Rubberneck producer Rob Schnapf for a September 2017 release.
