Formed in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, in 1989, this modern rock band are led by singer/guitarist Todd Lewis (b. 3 September 1965), the son of a Baptist preacher. Many critics considered the band’s records to betray some of his evangelistic background in their angry, haranguing tone. Together with Lisa Umbarger (bass), Darrel Herbert (guitar) and Mark Reznicek (b. 15 October 1962; drums), the Toadies made their recorded debut by selling copies of a tape of the songs ‘Dig A Whole’ and ‘I Hope You Die’ during local touring in 1990. Their first EP, Velvet, was self-released in 1992. A second EP followed for the Dutch East India-distributed label Grass Records, entitled Pleather. The band were then signed to Interscope Records by A&R executive Ray Santamaria, allowing the members to give up their day jobs to concentrate on music full-time. Rubberneck, their first full-length album, was promoted by the August 1994 release of ‘Mister Love’. It was followed by two further singles, ‘Backslider’ and ‘Santacide’, the latter an anti-Christmas novelty. However, the set’s strongest song was undoubtedly ‘Possum Kingdom’, which had first attracted Santamaria’s attention. After inclusion as the b-side to ‘Santacide’ this was finally issued as a single, with heavy label promotion, at the end of 1995. A busy touring schedule helped the album achieve platinum sales success. Several abortive recording sessions later, and with Herbert replaced by Clark Vogeler, the band finally released their second album, Hell Below/Stars Above, in March 2001.
