 Beginning ten years ago, teen vocalist-guitarists Glen Phillips and Todd Nichols joined with bassist Dean Dinning and drummer Randy Guss to bash out songs in the garages of their hometown, Santa Barbara, California, luring an avid following in local clubs before they'd even hit the drinking age themselves. They copped a silly band name from a Monty Python skit, and wrote intelligent, emotional vignetted wrapped around alternatively driving pop/rock and hauntingly beautiful ballads. One of the first things they did together was record the second album Bread and Circus for $650 in a humble 16-track home studio, which they sold at local stores and gigs, using the money to finance their second LP, Pale. When the record companies came calling in 1988, the group settled on Columbia Records, who agreed to release both albums in their original state. Although they didn't make the charts, the two recordings provided Toad with a solid core of fans, and a chance to progress at their own pace. The group took off for tours in support of Deborah Harry, the B-52's, and Michael Penn, all the while expanding their fan base with a mailing list that would eventually grow to 50,000 names. By the time the group released Fear in August of 1991, they were headlining colleges and clubs, content with the steady rise in album sales. "We were just stoked that we'd sold 100,000 copies of Fear from being on the road, and maybe off of a few AOR stations playing "Hold Her Down" (that album's second single), remembers Dinning. "We were thinking: 'This is great! We're going to do it the way we want to.'" But then came the unexpected and slightly embarrassing beeline into the Top Forty with the single "All I Want" and it's follow-up "Walk On The Ocean." In less than eighteen months, Toad played over 275 shows in North America and Europe, and eventually Fear went platinum. When the foursome finally got off the road, they were eager to rediscover the organic quality of playing and recording "live" in the studio and Dulcinea was born. The band and producer Galvin MacKillop selected The Site, a residential studio in Marin County, CA. According to Phillips, Toad "...wanted a place that felt natural, more like 'home.' The Site ended up being a really good environment. Since we were living there, we could just get up in the morning and start working."
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