Fort Worth, TX · alt-rock

Toadies

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'Possum Kingdom' — Texas alt-rock's eternal dark ride, still promising to be your angel nightly, Texas gothic in radio form.

Toadies formed in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1989, built around singer and guitarist Vaden Todd Lewis, who self-released an early album, Slaphead, before the band's lineup stabilized around bassist Lisa Umbarger, guitarist Darrel Herbert and drummer Mark Reznicek.

Their sound sits between grunge-era alternative rock and hard rock, built on tight, angular guitar riffs and odd time signatures, with Lewis's narrative lyrics often drawing on Southern gothic imagery and unreliable narrators.

They signed to Interscope Records and released their debut album, Rubberneck, in 1994, which yielded six singles including 'Possum Kingdom,' named for a Texas lake and still the band's best-known recording. Interscope held off promoting the record for a year, until 'Possum Kingdom' reached number nine on the Mainstream Rock chart in late 1995, prompting extensive touring alongside acts such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, White Zombie and Bush.

A planned second album, Feeler, was rejected by Interscope in 1998; salvaged songs from those sessions eventually became Hell Below/Stars Above, released in 2001 with piano backing from Elliott Smith on the title track. The album sold poorly, and bassist Lisa Umbarger left partway through the supporting tour, prompting the band to split.

Toadies reformed in 2006 and released a third album, No Deliverance, in 2008. Feeler finally saw release in 2010 through Kirtland Records, and the band's most recent album, The Charmer, came out in 2026. They remain closely identified with the Texas rock scene.

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alt-rock