I'm a Toadie

So I love and follow the music of Toad the Wet Sprocket, a band I first encountered when I was in college more than 20 years ago! My roommate had purchased a CD sampler of alternative college bands, and one of the tracks was Come Back Down, by Toad, off their second album, Pale. Great, great tune. Soon it was finals time and we were both cramming. We stuck the song on repeat and must have listened to it a hundred times! I was hooked!

Talking with one of the band members later, he said at the time they were recording their second album, there were many homeless around the recording studio, and they literally had to step over them to get in the door. Come Back Down touches on that reality.

Toad the Wet Sprocket is certainly a unique name for a band; it turns out they took their name from a Monty Python skit, and before they could change it, it stuck.

I think it was the passion of their music that drew me to them; the subtle but intense feeling of their lead singer, Glen Phillips, that won over my heart. There were some wounds there, and he let it out through his music. Know Me off their first album, Bread and Circus, was particularly powerful.

I love music. I really do—I get into it. While in seminary, I actually wrote a paper on how listening to music was a kind of spiritual discipline for me, a way I connect with the divine. A song does not have to be overtly religious. Sometimes just a phrase or two or one line will make me think of God. But Toad got me through some rough patches in my life, and they were great to see in concert. At a time when I was not very “religious,” I realize now that God ministered to me through their music.

I already mentioned Come Back Down and Know Me, but some other favorites through the years: Is It For Me, All I Want, Fly from Heaven (we actually listened to this one in seminary), Windmills, Throw it All Away (I had Ginger play this is church once), Little Man Big Man.

Anyway, I bring up Toad cause they just completed a new album, New Constellation, 15 years since their last “hit”! I thought they had gone the way of the dinosaur, but this just proves there is still such a thing as resurrection! I’ve been listening to it a lot lately—I got an early copy cause I supported them on Kickstarter as they raised money to finalize and promote it. It really is quite good.

At Toad Concert, Austin, May 19, 2013

Jan went with me recently to see them in concert in Austin. Most of the folks in the crowd were my age. Ran into the drummer, Randy, in the bathroom before the show—great, down-to-earth guy. He’s a little guy (maybe even shorter than me), and he waddles up to the urinal and says, “Man, I need a step stool to reach this thing.” Hey—I’m a Toadie—these things are memorable! I enjoyed the show very much.

So a big Thank You to Glen, Todd, Dean, and Randy for bringing me some more music. You’ll never know how much your music has meant to me. God bless you.

Ron Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas. Click here to visit Hope United's website.