The melodic sound and introspective lyrics of alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket were a contrast to the grunge bands breaking through to commercial success in the 1990s, and propelled them into the Billboard Top 20 and a platinum-selling album.
The curious name is a reference to a sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
"My family growing up, we watched Monty Python, Star Trek, and The Prisoner," said the band's lead singer, Glen Phillips.
Phillips said that Monty Python's Eric Idle reached out to them some years ago, after hearing their name announced on the radio.
"It was a name designed with the idea that no band would ever be so audacious as to use it," explained Phillips. "And he [Idle] sent us a lovely little letter saying, I almost drove my car off the road when I heard you on the radio, and I will do you the dignity of not suing you if you send me a gold record, should you ever earn one. So we sent him a gold record and he left us alone."
Toad was founded in Santa Barbara when Phillips was just 15 years old, and he admits he was, perhaps, a bit of an old soul at a young age.
"You could say that, or you could say I was maudlin or dramatic or I was aiming at pseudo profundity," said Phillips. "I came from kind of an academic family, and I think also found my first wife when I was 18. I had kids at 24. You know, I got on with life kind of early. Life for me was not about going out and partying, so we wrote accordingly."
"I think the other part of that is before nerds ruled the world, I mean, now it's malignant, narcissistic nerds, but before nerds ran the world, I think we spoke to people who, you know, I mean I love Nirvana, I love Soundgarden, but there were, in the '90s, this age of a particular kind of angst, and we were a lot more soft around the edges, and you know it was more emotional, more introspective than a lot of that," he said.
The band broke up for a few years but reformed, and Phillips says they are stronger than ever. They appreciate the longevity of their music careers more than ever.
"The culture in the band was really unhealthy when we broke up, and even when we got back together, it took a very long time to get the culture of the band together," he said.
"I kind of wish we'd had more pressure to get a mediator and work it out and do some solo projects and not actually break the thing up. That would have been a better path," said Phillips.
"The great thing is, like the last five years, I just feel we went from a band where if you looked at somebody on stage, the reaction would be 'what what?!' to now, if you look at someone on stage, they smile. So it's been really amazing to have stayed together long enough to have gone through some peaks and valleys and be feeling kind of grateful and enjoying it, like loving our job again as a unit."
Toad the Wet Sprocket headlines the Good Intentions Tour with KT Tunstall and Vertical Horizon at Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center on Friday.
