Toad (band)
| Toad | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Vic Vea Band |
| Origin | Basel, Switzerland |
| Genres | Hard rock, blues rock, heavy metal, acid rock, psychedelic rock, funk rock |
| Years active | 1970–1995 |
| Labels | Hallelujah, RCA, Polydor, Frog |
| Associated acts | Brainticket, Hawkwind |
| Past members | Vittorio Vergeat Werner Fröhlich Cosimo Lampis André Buser Benjamin Jäger Caesar Perrig Claudio Salsi Kelvin Bullen |
Toad were a Swiss hard rock band, formed by ex-Brainticket members in Basel, Switzerland during 1970. Their best known songs were covers of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" and The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There", along with originals "Usin' My Life" and "Stay!". Their first two albums were engineered by Martin Birch.
Though the band was not commercially successful outside of their own country, they were a popular live act because of their furiosity, musicianship and stage antics. Most notably when lead guitarist Vic Vergeat played the guitar with his teeth. Their concerts were often compared to those of Jimi Hendrix.
The band went through lineup changes during its history, but the longest lasting and most consistent lineup was Vic Vergeat: lead guitar and vocals, Werner Fröhlich: bass and vocals and Cosimo Lampis: drums.
In 1970, European psychedelic rock band Brainticket was about to release their first album, featuring Werner Fröhlich on bass and Cosimo Lampis on drums. They departed the group and formed Toad with Vittorio 'Vic' Vergeat, who was briefly in the British space rock group Hawkwind, on guitar. They began writing and recording material for their first album in late 1970, and in 1971, Toad 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 ever accomplished in that country. The album was mixed by the legendary British producer Martin Birch (who also produced for Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath). 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 that was recorded live by the Swiss Television, but the footage was lost and to date there seems to be no further copy.
...
Wikipedia