Fort Worth, Texas’ Toadies kick off 2014 with the announcement of the April 1st release of the 20-year anniversary edition of their platinum-selling breakthrough debut album Rubberneck on Kirtland Records. Originally released in the summer of 1994 on Interscope, the anniversary edition has been remastered and will include three additional songs from the Rubberneck recording session with producers Tom Rothrock (Foo Fighters, Elliott Smith, Jimmy Eat World) and Rob Schnapf (Tokyo Police Club, Saves the Day, Beck) as well as two rare live songs – fan favorite “Tyler” and their most popular single to date “Possum Kingdom.”
When asked about the reissue, drummer Mark Reznicek commented:
Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since “Rubberneck” was released. It seems like yesterday, but at the same time it was a lifetime ago.
Of course, we never dreamed people would still be listening to the album 20 years later or that it would become a staple on radio after all this time. So, as a thank you to all our fans for supporting us through the years, and as a way to celebrate this milestone, the time seemed right to remaster and reissue the album.
To enhance the package and complete the “Rubberneck” experience, we’ve included some cool bonus rarities. Three songs from the original recording sessions have been included, giving fans the complete “Rubberneck” recording sessions for the first time ever. As these long-lost tracks had never even reached the mixing process, we had Rob Schnapf, co-producer of the original album, mix them especially for this release. In addition to these three rarities, we dug up live recordings of two of Rubberneck’s most popular songs in early versions recorded nearly 2 years before their more famous studio versions. In fact, this is the first time “Possum Kingdom” was ever performed live and is the earliest existing recording of the song. Attentive listeners can spot-the-differences between these early recordings and the later hit studio versions.
So it’s a really cool, fun package for longtime listeners and for casual fans as well.
It’s been 25 years since the Toadies first started playing together in Fort Worth, Texas. Over the past two and a half decades they’ve undergone some line-up changes, broke up and reunited, played reunion shows, toured, changed labels and more. They released a total of five full-length studio albums during that time period – Rubberneck (1994/Interscope), Hell Below/Stars Above (2001/Interscope), No Deliverance (2008/Kirtland), Feeler (2010/Kirtland), Play.Rock.Music (2012/Kirtland). It was after the release of their last studio album for Interscope in 2001 that the band decided to call it quits. A one-off reunion show in Dallas in 2006 changed their minds.
Shortly after that show, Dallas based Kirtland Records gave the newly reunited group a place to call home and a way to continue to release music. TThat same year the band launched the hugely successful Dia De Los Toadies – an annual roving music festival in Texas. Now in its seventh year, each Dia De Los Toadies festival starts with a semi acoustic Friday night show followed by two stages of full rock on Saturday. The eclectic Dia lineups have included performances by notable (and mostly Texas artists) Gary Clark, Jr., The Black Angels, Eisley, Secret Machines, Ben Kweller, Bowling for Soup, Riverboat Gamblers, Sarah Jaffe, Centromatic, Helmet, Mariachi El Bronx, The Sword and Black Joe Lewis.
2012 saw the release of the Toadies most recent studio album, Play.Rock.Music, as Toadies have clearly emerged after all these years stronger and more focused than ever. With the current line-up – Vaden Todd Lewis, Mark Reznicek (drums), Clark Vogeler (guitar/vocals), Doni Blair (bass) – the band is excited to revisit the album that started it all. The remastered reissue of Rubberneck will not only feature bonus material, but will be available on vinyl for the first time ever. In addition, the band plans to tour in support of the album and will be releasing their very own beer aptly titled Rubberneck Red via Martin House Brewing Company (http://martinhousebrewing.com / Martin House – Made in Texas by Texans) on release day – the catch, you have to visit Texas to drink it.
