Singled Out: Toadies' Feeler

In August of 1996, we finished two years of solid touring for our debut album, Rubberneck. During the course of those two years, the album had gone gold and then platinum. Way beyond our wildest dreams. So, after the tour was over, we parted ways with our guitar player Darrel and held auditions for a new guy. Eventually we chose Clark, and began writing and rehearsing songs in earnest. Every so often, we'd submit demos of our latest batch of songs to our label, and finally they determined we had enough songs to go in the studio and record an album.

So, in January of 1998, we went into Pedernales Studio in Spicewood, Texas (outside Austin) with producer Paul Leary (of the legendary Butthole Surfers). This was in the early days of ProTools, a new-ish technology without much precedent. After a month and a half, with the basic drum and bass tracks done, we moved to Austin's Arlen studio for overdubs. During this time, SXSW was going on, and a lot of our friends from various DFW bands came into town (like Baboon and Caulk), and we hung out and partied and went to a few rock shows. It was a nice break from the tedium and tension of the studio.

By this point there had been several disagreements with the producer and his manager (who also happened to be our manager, too). This led to arguments with both of them and between all of us in the band. It seemed like there was a lot of pressure to create this follow-up to our big million-seller, and everyone was feeling it. Finally, around the end of March or early April, the album was completely recorded. All that was needed was a "big name" to mix it (the label wanted a "big name" to attach to it). Somehow in the midst of all this, the label decided that they didn't hear a single in the fifteen tracks we had recorded (that they'd already approved!). The entire recording, as well as the last year and a half of our lives, was down the tubes.

Eventually we came up with some new songs, rearranged a few of the songs from the Austin sessions, and recorded Hell Below/Stars Above, the long-awaited (by us anyway) follow-up to Rubberneck with Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock, the production team we had worked with on Rubberneck. By the time the label got around to releasing the album in Spring 2001, 7 years had passed since our last album, a lifetime in the music industry. We went on tour, only to find that a substantial portion of our fan base had moved on. After a few months, our bass player Lisa decided she'd had enough and announced she was quitting the band. A day or two later, Todd, our singer (and the guy who started the band in the first place) announced he was breaking the band up. So in a roundabout way, Feeler was the album that broke the Toadies back.

Well, a few years later we were asked to reunite for a special, high-paying gig. We did it and it was fun, and then we all went back to what we were doing (I was playing in a country band, Todd had started another band, and Clark was editing film out in California). The following year, we were offered another tidy sum to reunite again, which we did and which ultimately led to a full-on reunion: a new album, a new tour, and even some new fans thanks to our inclusion in the Guitar Hero II game.

Talk would always come back around to that rejected album from 1998. By this point it had been leaked out onto the internet, and was traded and discussed by our fans, who often asked when we were going to release it. After some discussion, we decided it would be better to re-record our favorite songs from that session rather than just mix the old tracks from 1998. So, in late Spring of 2010, we got together with Rob Schnapf (who had already done Rubberneck and Hell Below with us) and recorded the best songs from that long ago era, with a few lyric and arrangement tweaks. And so the album that was meant to be our 2nd became our 4th, Feeler, and is finally seeing the light of day in the Summer of 2010.

Grab more info about the album and more - right here!

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