Stereo Embers The Podcast 0242: Glenn Phillips (Toad The Wet Sprocket)

“Starting Now” The Santa Barbara bred Toad The Wet Sprocket got their start in the late ‘80s when high school pals Glenn Phillips, Dean Dinning Randy Guss and Todd Nichols decided it was time to form a band. Cut to 1989 and the band’s demo Bread and Circus which came out on their own Abe’s Records label, was re-released by Columbia Records. From there, Toad pretty much owned the '90s, putting out albums like Pale, Fear, Dulcinea and Coil. They had massive hits with All I Want, Walk On The Ocean, Something’s Always Wrong and the Number One Modern Rock chart topper Fall Down. But as the story goes, owning the '90s was exhausting and citing creative differences, the band took a break from being a band for a long time. They played sporadic shows here and there, but for the most part, Toad The Wet Sprocket were kind of on ice. The band members went on to do different projects, Phillips had a busy solo carer and that was that. That ice melted in 2009 and the band reactivated themselves from hiatus, putting out their first new album since 1997. New Constellation was a blast of West Coast pop that reestablished Toad as a force to be reckoned with. Eight years later, we have Starting Now, the band’s 7th full length effort. A stirring platter that’s melodic, joyful and undeniably catchy, Starting Now is as rousing as it is hopeful. The band is down an original member—drummer Randy Guss left in 2020, but Josh Daubin is behind the kit now and he’s crushing it. In this conversation Phillips talks to Alex about his relationship to alcohol, vaccines and learning to not be so hard on himself….. www.toadthewetsprocket.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com STEREO EMBERS THE PODCAST Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast EMAIL: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com