Toadies: Show Tonight and How They Fit into Dallas Music

By Annie Zaleski Wed., Jul. 30 2008 at 10:00 AM

Categories: Fiesta!

The Toadies are in town tonight, reunited and on the verge of releasing a new album called No Deliverance. (Preview here.) Over the last few weeks, the amount of unabashed love and affection for the band has, frankly, astounded me. I only knew the Dallasites from the stab-my-ears-out single "Possum Kingdom," (and to a lesser extent, "Away" and "I Come From the Water") from the 1990s, and had no idea its fan base was still so rabid and loyal.

I've been asking around, though, in an attempt to try to understand what has spawned this undying Toadies love. Jeff over at Dividing By Zero, a Dallas native, is one of the biggest proponents of the band in St. Louis. In fact, he so kindly scribbled this flowchart tracing the band's place in Texas (and elsewhere) lore -- which you can view at full size by clicking anywhere on it. Impressive. If you have any other reasons why you love the Toadies -- and why they're just so good -- say so in the comments.

-- Annie Zaleski

Tags:

burden brothers, dallas, flowchart, no deliverance, pageant, reunion tour, toadies

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Mike Jerome was only in The Toadies for a few months during the early 90's I think he was in between his stints in Pop Poppins and Course of Empire at the time. I don't believe that he ever played on any of their recordings. If you wanna hear Mike Jerome at his best, check out a record by Pleasure Club. This that band was amazing - fronted by legendary frontman James Hall, formerly of the Atlanta group Mary My Hope. Just got my copy of The Toadies new album "No Deliverance" this morning. After listening to it front-to-back a couple of times now, it strikes me as their best album so far. Producer David Castell (Course of Empire, Blue October, Cottonmouth Texas, and too many others to mention) did an amazing job on the record. It's a brilliant album. You all are going to love it.
Thanks, Jeff. I had forgotten that Darrell played in the Tomorrowpeople - I would have loved to get Brutal Juice in on the chart... I did it off the top of my head... oh well. And as for Project Greenlight, I suppose that's better than Project Runway. I will admit to not knowing anythign about Jerome, so all of that info is new to me. Very impressive.
I can't believe that I forgot to mention that Mike Jerome is currently the drummer for John Cale. Mike also played on the last recording session for the late keyboard legend Billy Preston (The Beatles). Jerome has also played with Maimou (Austin), Jesca Hoop (LA) and about 15 other bands. We should also mention that former Toadies guitarist Darrell Herbert played with The Tomorrowpeople (which also included members of Brutal Juice) and Electric Shaman, and he is currently working on solo material in Los Angeles. Clark was an editor on that HBO series "Project Greenlight". Former Toadies bassist Lisa Umbarger has a new band, and former guitarist Tracey Saurwein passed away.
Sharing a compilation album (like the Old 97s/Funland link) opens it WIDE up. The Sandy Does Dallas (Grease covers) album alone contained, along with the Toadies, 13 Dallas artists not mentioned here.
I fully agree about the Toadies being awesome tonight. It was exactly what I was looking for. I couldn't believe how many people were there. I figured it would be a ghost town. One of the better shows I've seen in a long time. I almost don't want to see them at Lollapalooza now because there really is no need to after tonight.
WOW - my little off-the-the-top-of-my-head chart attracted Mr. Jeff Liles to A to Z. I am humbled. I COMPLETELY defer to anything you have to say on the topic. For what what it's worth, The Toadies destroyed my face tonight. It was exactly what I expected and wanted. Only 2 song from Hell Below... I also forgot to mention in my chart by way of non-player distractions that guitarist Clark Vogeler was nominated for an Emmy for his editing work on Project Runway... This completely brought me back to high school in the mid 90s in Dallas....
Former Toadies drummer Mike Jerome has also played with Pleasure Club, Richard Thompson, Blind Boy of Alabama, Course of Empire, pop poppins, and Cottonmouth, Texas.
uhh, not really on the congleton part...besides, once you bring the 'spree in on any chart, you run out of ink. the old 97's connection would be ok if you mention the old 97's and funland...they released a split 10" on idol records in 1995.
Yeah, I was trying to limit it to shared players only (with the completely unnecessary and superfluous exception of the Old 97's song... I was just showing off on that one)
John Congleton produced Polyphonic Spree and Hagfish, so that could go: Toadies>Hagfish>PolyphonicSpree>UFOFU>SecretMachines (through Congleton, Joe Butcher, then the Curtis Brothers). Bringing Joe Butcher in the mix also adds Pleasant Grove. And bringing Congleton on also adds The Paper Chase.
The Toadies remind me of days when The Point didn't play the same tired Breaking Benjamin/Hinder/Staind/Disturbed type bullshit, but perhaps that meant music as a whole had a lot more to offer. Also, it reminds me of the days when the Galaxy, Mississippi Nights, and American Theater all had shows/existed and they were solid from top to bottom. Nowadays, you're lucky to have good bands come through town much less a whole card of good bands. One that stands out that I could kick myself for missing is RHCP/Pearl Jam/Smashing Pumpkins at the American. Oh and their songs are actually good. I'm pretty sure they opened for RHCP here at the American way back when as well.
@pete: actually, dallas is really lucky to have had such good/quality bands in such great quantities (as the chart shows). st. louis doesn't have - and hasn't had -- many bands that break out of the regional scene and become nationally known.
Funny stuff, Jeff. Isn't it like this in every city with a scene, though?
I didn't even include the Ministry/Revolting Cocks branch... And I'm pretty sure there's a branch involving Polyphonic Spree/Tripping Daisy/UFOFU/Secret Machines, but I couldn't think of what it was.
nerd alert
Can't really vouch for the Toadies; I'm just happy to see Centro-matic as the center of this (or any) constellation.
oh man, I (heart) the toadies. the reason? southern-friend ROCK music played with great skill. plus the dude's voice is total Rush/Journey style. chances are some record stores have Rubberneck on a bargain rack, shame, but a good chance to pick it up the second album after Rubberneck was called Hell Below/Stars Above and is full of killer music - check out "Plane Crash", "What We Have We Steal" and the "Little Sin"