Saturday, 21 June 2008

Toadies expand tour plans

The Toadies [ tickets ], who are gearing up for their first full-blown US tour since disbanding in 2001, have rolled out a new batch of shows, most of which focus on the Texas-based group's home turf.The new additions to the group's schedule include several July dates in the Midwest, an early August appearance at Chicago's Lollapalooza festival, and a number of August and September dates around the Lone Star State. Details are included below.Among the new dates is an Aug. 31 event in Graham, TX, dubbed Dia De Los Toadies. In addition to a headlining set from the inaugural festival's namesake, the show will also include performances from Lions, Dove Hunter, The Backsliders and Tejas Brothers. More information is available at the event's website.The upcoming roadwork will couch the Aug. 19 release of "No Deliverance," the Toadies' first new album since 2001's "Hell Below/Stars Above." The Toadies rose to fame in the midst of the grunge era with their 1994 Interscope debut, "Rubberneck." The set spawned several hits, including "Possum Kingdom," "Away," "Tyler" and "I Come from the Water." Interscope reportedly spiked the band's planned 1998 follow-up, which the group eventually reworked for release in 2001 under the title "Hell Below/Stars Above." Five months after that album hit the street, frontman Todd Lewis announced that the group was breaking up, and cited bassist Lisa Umbarger's departure from the lineup as the catalyst for the split.The band--sans Umbarger, who remains detached from the group--eventually played a handful of well-received reunion shows in Texas between 2005 and 2007.The group's performance at 2007's St. Patrick's Day parade in Dallas surfaced later in the year in the form of a live album titled "Rock Show," and Lewis has left the door open to a possible new studio album, according to the band's online bio.