Toad (band)
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Toad were a Swiss
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band formed in
Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, Switzerland, in 1970. The band went through lineup changes, but the longest lasting and most consistent lineup was a trio of Vic Vergeat on lead guitar and vocals, and ex- Brainticket members Werner Fröhlich on bass and vocals, and Cosimo Lampis on drums.''Toad Trilogy 3CD Set: Toad, Tomorrow Blue, Dreams-Akarma AK 083/3'' liner notes Their best known songs were covers of
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
's "
Purple Haze "Purple Haze" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and released as the second single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on March 17, 1967. The song features his inventive guitar playing, which uses the signature Hendrix chord and a mix of blues and Ea ...
" and
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' "
I Saw Her Standing There "I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album ''Please Please Me'' and their debut US album '' Introducing... The B ...
", along with originals "Usin' My Life" and "Stay!". Their first two albums were engineered by
Martin Birch Martin Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, W ...
. Though the band was not commercially successful outside of their own country, they were a popular live act because of their ferocity, musicianship and stage antics, most notably when Vergeat played the guitar with his teeth. Their concerts were often compared to those of Jimi Hendrix.


History

Toad was formed in 1970 by guitarist Vittorio 'Vic' Vergeat, who was briefly in the British space rock group
Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...
, and bassist Werner Fröhlich and drummer Cosimo Lampis, both of whom left European
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
band Brainticket after the recording of their first album, '' Cottonwoodhill''. Toad began writing and recording material for an album in late 1970, and in 1971 released their self-titled album and the single "Stay!," which did fairly well and made a great deal of headway in the Swiss charts – a feat that no other hard rock band had accomplished. The album was mixed by the British producer
Martin Birch Martin Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, W ...
(who also produced for
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
,
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
and
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
). The album also features Benjamin "Beni" Jaeger on vocals, who would leave once the album was finished. As their first album was being released in 1971, Toad performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival and was recorded live by the Swiss Television, but the footage was lost and to date there seems to be no further copy. In 1972, the band released ''Tomorrow Blue'', which was in a more
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
direction and without a lead vocalist (with Vergeat and Fröhlich taking over vocal duties). Like their first album, it was engineered by Birch. It included Helmut Lipsky on
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
, who played prominently on the tracks "Blind Chapman's Tales", "Change In Time" and the single "Green Ham." Later the same year, the band recorded the album ''Open Fire: Live in Basel 1972'', which included covers of Hendrix's " Red House" and the
Band of Gypsys ''Band of Gypsys'' is a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was recorded on January 1, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, ...
"Who Knows." They waited until 1974 to release their third album, ''Dreams'', which featured the popular single 'Purple Haze'. Their history after that is largely undocumented except for a live album recorded in Geneva during 1978 and a studio album released in the early 1990s with different versions of the band. The rest of the 1970s and 1980s were spent appearing on a few compilations, releasing live albums and performing while slowly fading into relative obscurity. Sometime between 1979 and 1988, bassist Fröhlich left the group and was replaced by Kelvin Bullen. After he too departed from the group in the early 1990s, he was replaced by André Buser, who would remain with the band until its end. In 1986, Toad made an appearance at the St. Gallen Open Air Festival in
St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...
, Switzerland. In 1993, Toad released the studio album, ''Stop This Crime''. Following its release, drummer Lampis departed from the group and was replaced by Claudio Salsi, who remained until Toad broke up. Lampis went on to create a school in
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
. In 1994, Toad played a concert in
Brienz Brienz ( , , ) is a village and municipality on the northern shore of Lake Brienz, at the foot of the Brienzer Rothorn mountain, and in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. Besides the village of Brienz, the municipality includes the sett ...
, Switzerland, which provided the material for the live album, ''The Real Thing''. In about 1995, Toad broke up, following which the album ''Hate To Hate'' was released. It contained the same tracks as ''Stop This Crime'', but with a different cover and title. Vergeat went on a solo career, releasing many albums over the years. He then formed and toured with his own band, the Vic Vergeat Band. He still records and plays live to this day, mostly in Europe. The other former members went on to other groups or retired from the music business. The band never achieved great success outside of their own country, but were influential on the Swiss heavy metal movement during the 1980s, influencing Krokus and
Celtic Frost Celtic Frost () was a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich. They are known for their strong influence on the development of extreme metalBukszpan, Daniel. ''The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal''. Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2003. p.43 and avant-ga ...
. They saw renewed interest in the early 2000s among the European hard rock scene. Their albums have been re-released and remastered for new generation of listeners and a CD boxed set, packaged to look like miniature vinyl records was released.


Band members

Original members * Benjamin "Beni" Jaeger – lead vocals * Vittorio "Vic" Vergeat – guitars, backing vocals,
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
s, piano,
mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
* Werner Fröhlich – bass, backing vocals,
moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...
* Cosimo Lampis – drums,
congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...
,
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
, backing vocals Later members * André Buser – bass * Caesar Perrig – bass * Kelvin Bullen – bass * Claudio Salsi – drums


Discography

Studio albums * 1971 - ''
Toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientif ...
'' * 1972 - '' Tomorrow Blue'' * 1974 - ''Dreams'' * 1993 - ''Stop This Crime'' * 1995 - ''Hate to Hate'' * 2003 - ''B.U.F.O (Blues United Fighting Organization)'' * 2004 - ''Behind the Wheels'' Live albums * 1973 - ''Open Fire: Live in Basel 1972'' * 1978 - ''Yearnin' Learnin': Live 1978'' (recorded live in
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
) * 1994 - ''The Real Thing'' (recorded live in Brienz) * 2005 - ''Live at St. Joseph (Basel) 22.04.1972'' (copy from Live at St. Joseph) Compilation albums * 1978 - ''The Best of Toad'' * 1979 - ''Tomorrow Blue'' * 1992 - ''Rarities'' * 1999 - ''Toad Trilogy'' * 2003 - ''Toad Box'' Singles * 1971 - "Stay!" / "Animal's World" * 1971 - "I Saw Her Standing There" / "Green Ham" * 1972 - "Fly" / "No Need" * 1975 - "Purple Haze" / "Making You Feel Right" * 1977 - "Baby You" / "I'm Going"


Filmography

*1971 - ''Montreux Jazz Festival'' (recorded live by Swiss Television) *1978 - ''Toad on the Road'' (directed by Paul Grau) *1986 - ''St. Gallen Open Air Festival'' *1994 - ''The Real Thing'' (recorded live in Brienz)


See also

*
Rock music in Switzerland Rock and roll first entered Switzerland in the 1950s, as a series of American musicians popularized the style internationally. Summary The first Swiss rock band of note were Les Sauterelles, formed in 1962 and often referred to as "the Swiss Be ...


References


Sources

* * '' Toad Trilogy 3CD Set: Toad, Tomorrow Blue, Dreams-Akarma AK 083/3'' liner notes {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1971 Swiss hard rock musical groups Swiss rock music groups