Chris Orwig
Three men sitting on a bench, all wearing black.
Toad the West Sprocket
Toad the Wet Sprocket has covered a lot of ground in their 37-year career. Though the Santa Barbara band formed in 1986, they didn’t break out until their third album, 1991’s Fear. It went platinum; the band’s music was suddenly everywhere. They cemented their place on mainstream radio with anthems like “All I Want” and “Walk on The Ocean.” Their catchy hits served as the soundtrack of movies in the ’90s, too, including the 1995 film Empire Records and in an episode of Friends. They released followup Dulcinea in 1994; their 1997 album, Coil, was the last release before they abruptly broke up in 1998, citing creative differences.
Now reunited, the members of Toad are experiencing a second chapter of their career. After wrapping up a 40-stop summer tour, they’re embarking on a fall tour, with a stop at the Barrymore Theatre on September 13.
“Everything’s going great,” bassist Dean Dinning tells Isthmus in a phone interview. “We’re having a great year.”
Original Toad members Glen Phillips (vocals, guitar), Todd Nichols (guitar), Randy Guss (drums), and Dinning began performing together while still in high school. Their eccentric band name derives from a fictional band mentioned in a Monty Python sketch, which they adopted half-jokingly when they still needed a name right before a show.
Dinning points to an authenticity in Toad’s music that stood out from other local acts.
“The big difference is these guys had real songs,” Dinning says. “They would get stuck in my head in ways other songs didn’t. That was what I noticed first — just the creativity and the level of accomplishment that was already evident in the songwriting.”
Their collaborative songwriting process set Toad apart from their early-'90s contemporaries. Hits like “Something’s Always Wrong” and “All I Want” showcase Phillips’ ability to deliver catchy choruses with introspective lyrics, backed by drummer Guss’s upbeat rhythms, Dinning’s basslines, and a blend of acoustic and electric guitar riffs from Nichols and Phillips. It’s why their style of alternative-rock earworms still resonates with fans to this day.
“I guess I feel incredibly thankful every time we can play those songs,” Dinning says. “It’s a peak moment.”
After the breakup in 1998, Phillips started a solo career while the other members formed a new band, Lapdog. “We had broken up, and we didn’t need to break up. But we weren’t mature enough to recognize that we needed to take a break. We wanted to be all dramatic and break up,” Dinning says.
Still, Toad would perform live shows again intermittently. In 2006, Phillips received a call from Adam Duritz, frontman of Counting Crows and Toad’s longtime cohort. Counting Crows had an upcoming West Coast tour, and Duritz wanted Toad to reunite to open the 15-stop run. It was an automatic yes for all four Toad members, who had been throwing around the idea of a reunion. When they hit the stage again for the first time, they didn’t expect the enthusiastic reaction from fans. “Their audience welcomed us back with open arms. That was the best way to come back,” Dinning says.
The four members worked their way to being a band again in 2010, working on a greatest hits collection to be called All You Want (2011) — re-recording tracks because Columbia Records retained the rights to some songs. They released a new album, New Constellations, in 2013. After Randy Guss left the band in 2020, they recorded their latest, Starting Now (2021), and this year released a re-mastered version of the greatest hits album, All You Want (Bonus Edition).
Starting Now feels like a new chapter for Toad the Wet Sprocket. On the single “Transient Whales,” Phillips sings about cherishing the fleeting moments of life while they’re still here. “It really hits on what we do best,” Dinning says. “It’s pretty, and it’s also very sad, but it’s also uplifting at the same time. It really has all the Toad beats in it.”
Their dedicated fans have influenced their perspective on live shows, as well. “I don’t think that we’re afraid of losing people anymore.” Dinning says. “We can just do what we do and know that they’re appreciating it. We don’t have to be constantly fighting for their attention.”
Every time Toad breaks out a deep cut or fan favorite in their set, they can feel the connection with those singing along. “Sometimes it’s a physical thing, sometimes it’s an emotional thing,” Dinning says. “You don’t get that unless you’re really connecting with people.”
