Episode 409 - Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket

Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986.

The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss, who stopped touring in 2017 and left the band in 2020. Guss was replaced by drummer Josh Daubin, who had been supporting them as their drummer on recent tours. They had chart success in the 1990s with singles that included "Walk on the Ocean," "All I Want," "Something's Always Wrong," "Fall Down," and "Good Intentions." 

The band broke up in 1998 to pursue other projects. Although re-united periodically for short tours.

In December 2010, the band announced their official reunion as a full-time working band and started writing songs for their first studio album of new material. That album would become New Constellation, followed by The Architect of the Ruin.  

Toad the Wet Sprocket's most recent full-length album, Starting Now, was released on August 27, 2021.

As a solo artist, Glen Phillips released Abulum in 2000. 

In 2004, he released a long-awaited collaboration with Nickel Creek under the Mutual Admiration Society. The self-titled album was recorded in 2000 and featured songs written by Phillips alone and collaborative efforts with Sean and Sara Watkins, released on Sugar Hill Records.

In 2005, Phillips released the critically acclaimed Winter Pays For Summer. The album included the radio single "Duck and Cover," but Phillips and the label would part ways due to creative differences. 

A compilation of six outtakes from that album was published as an EP titled Unlucky 7, the first track ("The Hole") featured in the second episode of the AMC television series Breaking Bad.

Phillips released his third proper solo album, Mr. Lemons, in the spring of 2006. 

In January 2008, it was reported by Billboard that a new supergroup had formed. The ensemble gathered in Jim Scott's recording studio, and by September 2008, the collective settled upon the name Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.).

In its octet configuration, WPA features Phillips, Sean Watkins (guitar), his sister Sara Watkins (fiddle), Benmont Tench (piano), Luke Bulla (fiddle), Greg Leisz (various), Pete Thomas (drums), and Davey Faragher (bass). The group also performs as a quintet featuring Phillips, Watkins, Bulla, and bassist Sebastian Steinberg. The results of the 2008 recording sessions were released as an album on September 15, 2009.

Phillips has also completed an album with Neilson Hubbard and Garrison Starr under the band name, Plover, released on October 23, 2008.

In 2009, Phillips was involved in the soundtrack of the film Imagine That. He covers The Beatles' song "I'll Follow the Sun."

On April 5, 2018, Glen Phillips signed with Compass Records Group. His 2016 album, Swallowed by the New, was followed by There Is So Much Here in 2021.

Keith & Geoff welcomed Toad the Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips to Thunderlove Studio and had a delightful conversation about, but not limited to, disco, hippies, and mental health. 

Go figure.  

Toad the Wet Sprocket is hitting the road this summer.

LINKS

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Glen Phillips

Toad the Wet Sprocket Tour Dates

W.P.A. on Spotify

Mutual Admiration Society on Spotify 

Compass Records

Remote Tree Children - one of Glen’s side projects

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