2/22/2006
Check out pic's from our most recent show in Santa Maria, CA. right here.
Hey Everyone, most of you already have heard Toad will
be playing about 24 shows this summer. The schedule is
being finalized right now and we'll let you know as
soon as we have info about ticket sales and all that.

Live Lapdog in April!!! --
We are playing Saturday April 8th at the Firestone
Taproom in Buelleton.
Also, we are back at the Loading Dock on Cinco de
Mayo. Friday May 5th. Advanced tickets are available
for both shows. Come check us out!
See you later - Todd

12/15/2005
I know it's only been a week since the last update, but we wanted a reason to update you again without you feeling like you have just been spammed! Here is an mp3 of a super-rare Toad song that was written, rehearsed and performed just once. It was recorded live at the Athens Theater, Georgia in 1991. I had completely forgot about it until I went through some old cassette tapes the other day. It's called "All I'll Ever Need" - sorry about the quality but it's the only version that exists. -todd

12/09/2005
We just recorded our 6th annual Lapdog Christmas song Happy Christmas (War is Over). Check out the holiday music page for all six songs. We also have some shows coming up. Friday, January 27th in Santa Maria at the Loading Dock. Tickets will be pre-sold as it is a smaller club. The next night, we might play in San Luis Obispo, and then L.A.. More details soon on show specifics. Come see us if you can, we'll even play a half dozen Toad songs as well as songs from Lapdog's two CD's: Near Tonight and Mayfly.

If your looking for that last minute Christmas gift, go to our store and orders received by Dec. 21th will arrive by USPS Priority for Christmas. The first 25 orders will also get a free Lapdog DVD.  So get a new Abe's Record's ringer tee or hat- just like Johnny!  Speaking of Johnny: Lapdog's guitarist now has an 11 song CD and it's available here on Abe's Records for only $9.95. You can check out a few clips on the Abe's Records music page.

Hope you all have a great new year.- Todd

5/25/05 DVD Release
Happy Springtime folks. I hope everyone is doing well. The past few months I have been learning my new Pro Tools setup producing several artists along with Lapdog guitarist Johnny Hawthorn. This "time off" has also let my carpal tunnel syndrome calm down a bit as guitar playing became uncomfortable, but with the help of a wrist brace I am back and Lapdog will start rehearsing in the next few months, preparing for a summer of shows here and there. Some more acoustic and some rockin'. See ya later. -Todd

Get a copy of Lapdog's awesome new DVD containing the hi-res version of the 'I Fall Apart' video. It also has an unreleased Lapdog track 'Blow Wind Blow' set to a cool slide show. It's only $4.99...Get it here.

Lapdog guitarist Johnny Hawthorn has a great new 7 song CD and it's available here on Abe's Records for $4.99. You can check out a few of his clips on the Abe's Records music page.

We've marked down the 'Mardi-Dog' t-shirts to $9.95, and all hats and visors are on sale at $12.95...Don't miss out.

Oh yeah...I wanted to wait until I was sure it would succeed before I announced this: I opened a restaurant here in Santa Barbara almost a year ago called Beachbreak Cafe. I have been very busy getting it dialed in for the past 12 months and am finally happy with the food, service, and decor. When in SB, stop by and say hi. We have live music on our patio every Sunday afternoon at 4 with some great talent: Lapdog's Johnny Hawthorn, local legend Spencer, and on August 7th: Lapdog! Be there. Joe Lyons

4/20/05
Hey everybody-  I have been busy working on Lapdog guitarist Johnny's new solo CD. Some of you saw Johnny on stage playing with us during the Toad reunion tour. You can download one of the tunes now -- plus with any order on our site such as hats, CD's or shirts - we will throw in a full copy of Johnny's CD. I think there's only 7 songs, but hey It's kinda free, and it sounds great.  You will need to order by 5:00 PM Sunday, Dec. 19 for Christmas delivery, but we'll send out the free CD with any order until New Years Day 2005. After that it'll be available here for $6.99.
Check out the video - I think it came out pretty darn good If I say so myself.  Till later- Todd

Lapdog is still together, but unfortunately Toad is not. I honestly had the best time ever on our last tour. It was so great to see the support after all these years. If it were up to me I would love to continue on with Toad, but it is not.

Lapdog has booked a rare live appearance November 20th at Soho in Santa Barbara. Come check us out as we will put a new twist on several old Toad songs. Randy Guss is still playing drums and you will get to meet our new bass player Albie Dunbar. He is a super addition to Lapdog. Opening for Lapdog is our old friend Zach Madden. Check out his vibe here...
 

Lapdog will again appear at The Festival of the River near Seattle on Saturday, August 9th around 5:30 or so. There will be many bands before us with The Verve Pipe following Lapdog. More info to come...
 

Hey folks,
Just a quick note to give you a Toad update. Tickets for the Washington D.C. show at the 9:30 Club go on sale tomorrow at 10am.
Go to www.tickets.com to purchase online. It will be up by 10am on Thurs. Also, we have added a show in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 20th at The Intersection. We'll post on-sale info for that show as soon as we get it.
Some shows are selling out at in 24-48 hours. See you there!

Tour Schedule
(with Bleu and Alice Peacock supporting)
2/04/03 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove - On Sale 1/6
2/05/03 - Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues - On Sale 1/4
2/06/03 - San Francisco, CA - Fillmore Auditorium - On Sale 1/12
2/08/03 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues - On Sale 12/21
2/10/03 - Salt Lake City, UT - Bricks - On Sale 1/11*
2/11/03 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre - On Sale 1/11
2/14/03 - Minneapolis, MN - The Quest - On Sale 1/11
2/15/03 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave - On Sale 1/11
(with Wheat and Bleu supporting)
2/16/03 - St. Louis, MO - Mississippi Nights - Metrotix*
2/18/03 - Chicago, IL - The Vic - On Sale 1/11
2/19/03 - Columbus, OH - PromoWest Pavilion - On Sale 1/11
2/20/03 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Intersection -
2/21/03 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall - On Sale 1/11
2/22/03 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogart's - On Sale 1/11
2/23/03 - Indianapolis, IN - Vogue Theatre - On Sale 1/11
2/25/03 - Cleveland, OH - Odeon Theatre - On Sale 1/11
2/26/03 - Pittsburgh, PA - Metropol - On Sale 1/24
2/28/03 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza - On Sale 1/24
3/01/03 - Boston, MA - Avalon Ballroom - TBA*
3/02/03 - Philly, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts - On Sale 1/10
3/04/03 - Old Bridge, NJ - Birch Hill - On Sale 1/18
3/05/03 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club - On Sale 1/23*
3/07/03 - Atlanta, GA - Cotton Club - On Sale 1/18
3/08/03 - Myrtle Beach, SC - House of Blues - On Sale 1/11
3/09/03 - Norfolk, VA - Norva Theatre - On Sale 1/11

Grand Prize
Weekend in Vegas with Lapdog (with Toad package)
Airfare for two from a major airport in the continental U.S., a hotel for Friday and Saturday nights, and full VIP treatment at a Toad show.
Winner: Matt Meier
First Prize
Todd's Taylor guitar and case
This is the acoustic guitar that Todd wrote much of Dulcinea with. The case is included and is covered with stickers from around the country when he went on tour with Toad. This is a piece of history.
Winner: Robert Cornell
Second Prize
VIP packs (5 given away)
5 VIP packs that have an autographed copy of Mayfly, a copy of Near Tonight, a ball cap and a Mardi-dog tee shirt.
Winners:
Sean Bornicke
Matt Johnson
Chad Harris
Ben Kuykendall
K. Willoughby
Third Prize
Autographed copies of Lapdog's entire catalog! (12 sets given away)
Twelve people won autographed copies of both Lapdog CD's
Winners:
Jason Anderson
Jack Coleman-Levy
Celeste Abritton
Kumi Hatano
Jeremy Stolz
Eric Smith
Manuel Roman
Christopher Atkinson
Jennifer Terry
Robert Job
Warren Ganjehsani
Bob Shryock
Thanks to all that participated and congratulations to the winners!

11/25/02
Toad announces New Year's Eve show at the Roxy in Hollywood.
Toad the Wet Sprocket will celebrate New Year's Eve at the Roxy in Hollywood, California. Tickets will be $50 and go on sale Thanksgiving Day

10/20/02
TOAD REUNITES TO PLAY A FEW SHOWS!!!!
12/04/02 - Santa Barbara - Arlington Theater
This is a Benefit for the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center.
Nickel Creek with join them as well as other special guests.

Toad will appear with the Counting Crows for the following dates:
12/10/02 - Los Angeles - Universal Amphitheatre
12/11/02 - Los Angeles - The Wiltern
12/13/02 - San Diego - Cox Arena
12/16/02 - San Francisco - Warfield Theater
12/17/02 - San Francisco - Warfield Theater
12/20/02 - San Francisco - Warfield Theater
12/21/02 - San Francisco - Warfield Theater
12/22/02 - San Francisco - Warfield Theater
There's a possibility of a 20 city tour in February,
so you east-coasters could get lucky...Stay tuned for more info.

10/15/02
The new CD is finally available for pre-orders!
Lapdog's new CD Mayfly is about to get shipped off to the presses, but now's your chance to order early and be the first to get it in the mail...It wont ship until November 15th. You'll also be able to enter the second CD release Lapdog Sweepstakes. Every Lapdog item ordered from Abe's gets you an entry form that could win you some great prizes. Order a couple of our great new shirts and a CD and you'll triple your chances to win! Check out the prizes below...And check out a full song from  Mayfly called 'Staring at the Sun' on mp3.com while you're at it!

7/01/02
Hello everyone, what's up? The record's not ready, and will be delayed until September. Summer isn't a good time to record or release a record. There are too many distractions when the weather is good - for everyone.
However, we are playing a show in L.A. on July 25th at The Mint. Come on out and see us in a rare appearance. (They are all fairly rare!) We will be playing with a band from San Francisco called 'Luce'. Our friend manages them so check them out, and see you at the show 9:00 Thursday July 25th.

6/01/02
Just a short note to update you all that recording the new CD is going slower, but better than expected. Todd is taking his time recording the finishing touches because, well, umm, he can! We are now planning to start taking preorders next month when we will also post a taste of the new CD.

4/20/02
The recording sessions for the new CD are going great. All of the music tracks are finished...Now Todd just has to sing the vocals, mix and master, and it's done. It sounds awesome, and the recording quality is much better than the last CD. It should be ready for you by early May!

Win Big
The next time you hear from us will be for our pre-order contest. If you pre-order the new CD, you'll get a signed copy. You could even win a trip to Las Vegas for dinner with Lapdog. We're also giving away Todd's old Taylor Acoustic guitar and a few other goodies. There's more, but that's not until next month.

Video
Here's two video/audio clips of Todd and Johnny recording in the studio...

Music
Check out 'That'll Make Me' - An outtake from 'Near Tonight' on mp3.com...

2/15/02
Hello everyone.
Hope your all doing well. Just wanted to let you all know that we have started recording our (not yet titled) 2nd CD! Randy came over last night and cut some great drum tracks. Since the last CD 'Near Tonight' was released over a year ago, a lot has happened. There is a whole new band now, so this feels kinda like the first 'real' Lapdog record. We hope to have it finished and in your hands and ears by April or May. Joe will keep you all posted with some audio/visual clips throughout the process. A couple more local shows are being scheduled, but our much promised national tour is still down the road a little. -- just wanted make a great record first. Wish us luck.

In other news, we just posted another mp3. It's the song 'Such is Life', and is available for a short time here. It's an outtake from 'Near Tonight' as it is little different sound for Lapdog. Enjoy - See you later - Todd

12/15/01
Hey there - Just wanted to say Happy Holidays to all the ‘doggers out there! The recent live shows have been going great, and it has been nice seeing some familiar faces in the crowd. Thanks for coming. By the way, we just got our new Lapdog ball caps and snow hats like the one I'm wearing in the goofy picture above.

We finally have ball caps and snow hats. They are high quality, stylish, and feature the Lapdog logo embroidered on the front. The ball caps have a brass buckle. Makes a great gift!

A free song every week! In keeping with the holiday spirit, we’re giving away a song every week in December. The final song, Another Day, is available now so go get it!

12/01/01
A free CD!
Purchase any Lapdog item online, and you will receive a free live 5-song EP! This was recorded live November 21st at SOhO in Santa Barbara through Todd’s stereo mic and into his digital mini disc player. It's a 5-song CD including 3 new Lapdog tunes, plus Rescue Me and Anywhere You Are. Just order any Lapdog item online in the month of December, and you get the above mentioned live CD with your delivery.
Order by December 14th for Christmas. 

10/01/01
We now have 5 shows on our calendar. Come check us out!
14 Below in Santa Monica on Friday, October 19th.
The Mint in Hollywood on Saturday, November 3rd.
Soho in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, November 21st.
Velvet Jones in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, December 5th.
The Gig in Hollywood on Saturday, December 8th.

Check the Live Shows page for details and advance ticket info.
The band will play different set lists at each show, so come to them all!
Look for a San Diego and a Bay Area show soon, with more extensive touring after the holidays. Hope to see you there.

We have yet another song up for your listening pleasure. Some call it the  rarest Toad song ever. It's a live version of Neil Young's 'Cinnamon Girl'  recorded direct to tape at The Georgia Theater in Athens on May 28th, 1992. This is from the promo-only Columbia Indestructible sampler.
This rare live Toad recording is available for a short time only.
Listen to it here.

9/19/01
We have booked another show in L.A! It's Saturday, November 3rd at
The Mint in Hollywood. We go on at 10:00, so don't be late. Advance ticket sales are available for this show from The Mint's website. $10

9/5/01
Well, it finally happened. And you thought it never would. Lapdog has booked their first show in a long time! We'll be at 14 Below in Santa Monica on Friday, October 19th at 10:30 or so. Can't make it? Don't worry; we are in the middle of booking lots more shows, and we'll send another newsletter very soon with more chances to see us live. Hope to see you there.

Speaking of shows, we need flyers! We're having a contest where there will be many winners. Design us a flyer with a blank space for the club name, time and date. If we use it, you'll get a free Lapdog t-shirt. Use your imagination, we're open to anything. It should be 8.5" x 11", black and white, and easy to open with my PC. Maybe convert it to an Adobe PDF file so others can download it. Send entries to: fliers@lapdogmusic.com. We may also need a street team in each city we play in. If you help promote the show and hang some flyers, you'll get in free, as well as get a Lapdog t-shirt. More on that as we add shows.
 

There has been another lineup change in Lapdog.
Now that the band is based in Los Angeles, the traveling and scheduling strains on our lead guitar player and Santa Barbara holdout, Rob Taylor, were too much. We'll miss him, but he will still appear a little on the next Lapdog record and will remain a member of the Abe's Records family. But more on that later.

I am happy to introduce our new guitar player and background vocalist, Johnny Hawthorn and our new bass player, Eric Holden. They join myself on guitar and Randy Guss on drums. Check out our newly redesigned website, www.lapdogmusic.com, for more information.

We are currently rehearsing the new songs for the next record, and will work them out live at some soon-to-be-announced shows. We plan to sneak out and play somewhere in September as a warm-up (Bay area?), and we'll be announcing some west-coast shows in October. Everyone else don¹t feel left out , we¹ll come out your way sooner or later.

 Now to our other recent news. Joe and I are proud to announce the formal debut of Abe's Records and www.abesrecords.com . In addition to Lapdog, Abe's will feature friends and other artists that deserve to be heard. Check out our two new EP's currently available. One is from Lapdog's former guitar player, Rob Taylor, and the other is from the band, Mark Twain. Both sound awesome, and Abe's has songs available for your listening pleasure.
 

Lapdog celebrates 1,000,000th song upload at mp3.com.
We played for the 300 employees of mp3.com for a press release to announce the 1,000,000th song uploaded. You can download the entire press release and us performing 'So Long' right here!

A new song is up!
You can now download 'So Long' for your listening pleasure. Not one of Todd's favorites, it was left off of 'Near Tonight, but we put it up for you guys 'cause you have been so patient.

A new store!
Todd and I are about to unveil our new label, Abe's Records, but you can get a sneak peek at the store now. It's the official spot for Lapdog gear, and soon we'll have releases from other artists you have been asking about. The grand opening will be in May, so check back soon.

Todd had surgery Friday, 4/12. He is having a polyp removed from his throat, and should be fine in a month or so.

Mandy Lee is Lapdog's newest employee, and we want to give her a warm welcome. She is a longtime Toad fan that we met on tour in 1997, and she'll be doing our shipping, sending out stickers; stuff like that. She has been a huge help, and we are very grateful for it.

The Lapdog store is now open! A secure shopping cart with no more paypal! Hassle-free ordering with no sign-up. International orders too! We have 4 different shirt designs, some very rare!

Thank you for your support. Because you folks helped us become # 1 at mp3.com, we want to say thanks. We are going to use some of the mp3.com earnings to make official Lapdog stickers to give away. These will be given out with future orders, and we'll have a limited-time mail giveaway when they are finished. This makes me pleased to announce the first annual...

Lapdog Sticker Contest. Want to design our first sticker? Now's your chance. We'll take entries until January 17 at 9:00am pst. We will then post our favorites here on the news page for you to vote on. (Only 1 vote per person, no cheating!) I'll post the voting results daily until January 26 at 9:00 a.m. pst when we rush the winning artwork off to the printer. The winner will receive fame and a Lapdog goodie bag with a t-shirt, autographed CD, and a stack of stickers.
And the winner is....Michael Lane!

Happy New Year! Well, I don't know about you guys, but it seems that the year 2000 has vanished twice as quick as the one before! This year Lapdog used the internet as the record store, and you folks as the record company. (With all of your pre-orders we were able to finance the printing of the record!) So, thanks to everyone who bought our first CD 'Near Tonight' and all of you that continue to be our 'unpaid promotion staff'. We couldn't have done it without all of you. In case you aren't up to date: former Toad drummer and longtime friend Randy Guss, has joined Lapdog and we'll begin working on the next record within the next couple of months or so. Oh yeah, Glen's first record 'Abulum' is out and it sounds great! My favorites are Fred Myers and the one with the distorted bass. You can purchase it exclusively at www.glenphillips.com. Hey wouldn't it be cool to do a show together some time? Glen could start acoustic, and then Lapdog, maybe a little THB and then finally everyone together playing Toad songs! Sorry, it's just a crazy idea - don't get all excited, I was just winding you guys up!
Again, thanks to everyone - Todd

The winners of the "WEEKEND IN VEGAS" Lapdog Sweepstakes Contest Extravaganza: 
GRAND PRIZE - Weekend for 2 at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino on the strip in Las Vegas, Nevada! Airfare will be provided, plus dinner with Todd and Joe: Kris McHale.
SECOND PRIZE - Lapdog care package including: An 11" x 14" photo of each of the original band members, two copies of 'Near Tonight', and two different limited edition t-shirts, a super-rare Lapdog sticker: Travis Blair.
11 RUNNER-UP PRIZES - Limited edition Lapdog T-shirt: Quincy Yuen, Jeff Farrell, John Shearson, Tim Saari, Rick Nociti, Robin Rae, Johnny Limon, Brady Bagwell, Chuck Konfirst, Kim Jones, Anna Jackson.

There have been a few new changes in the world of Lapdog. First, Joe 'ambassador' Lyons has been promoted to manager! Joe will still take care of the website and has some new exciting web stuff on the way. But most importantly there has been a change in the band lineup. Erik is no longer playing drums for Lapdog. He is just too busy with all 10 of his bands! After all, he is one of the most sought after drummers in Santa Barbara. So who could fill Erik's shoes?? None other than Randy Guss. Randy and I now both live in L.A. - only about 10 min apart. So we are going to do the Christmas song and then get to work on the new record! Rob will still grace us with his tasty guitar chops, and I will attempt the bass lines until we find a real bass player who can sing as well as Dean. Dean-are you out there??? Then we can hit the road for a little bit, until my stomach says no more fast food.

Okay, It's on it's way soon! Check the news page for the back of the CD jewel case. It's got all of the songs and the album title as well. We don't want to reveal the cover (painted by Brad Nack) just yet...That will come soon enough. This is just a little tease of what's to come, and we hope to be ready for the pre-orders sometime next week. When the CD is shipped, it will have a postcard that you early birds can send back for a raffle to win some really cool lapdog prizes. Hang in there - the album will be here soon!

Well, those of you that were skeptical of our unofficial "by August" CD release claim - you were right. As usual the release will be delayed "a few weeks". Unfortunately the printing company has just informed us of unusually high volume and that they are running 3-6 weeks behind. But don't worry - it is on the way. The CD will first be available here on our website - and then it will be nationally distributed for those that are behind the times and don't know about www.lapdogmusic.com. We will be taking pre-orders for the CD shortly through a soon to be announced P.O. box - so you can be assured of getting the CD as soon as possible. The CD consists of 12 songs - two of the songs "See You Again" and "Why Believe" have been available for download on our music page, but they are the only songs you will have heard entirely. A few of the other songs have been posted as clips so it will be nice for you to finally hear their full versions. We also might even throw in a bonus hidden track. We are planning our first mass email within the next few days to test the new system - so if you don't get this email by this Thursday July 27th - you should sign up for our mailing list again. Also if you have previously signed up, all we have retained is your email address - so when you get a chance you can add other info to your email address if you wish to do so.

I know what your all thinking, when the heck is that Lapdog CD coming out? Well, not much longer folks. The songs have been picked and the artwork is being worked on right now. (Check back soon for the song listing and album title). The album will initially be available here on our website and we are also looking into some national distribution options. Keep your fingers crossed and it should be out before August. Also, hope you enjoy the mp3 album outtake posted on our music page. It is from the first recording session before Rob and Erik joined the band. It features Canadian hero Pat Steward on drums and was produced by Craig Northey from the band the Odds. It joins our other posted mp3's - I Think About (Toad cover), and See You Again (a song I wrote with a little help from the guys in the band Athaneum). In other news - The recording studio that I have been building in my garage was finished last week and was quickly broken in when my friend Dean Felber from Hootie and the Blowfish visited. We had a lot of fun writing and recording some of his songs. We called up Randy Guss to drum on the demos and it was good to see and hear him play again. Randy has stayed very involved in music - not only managing acts but also playing in several bands, and is even on the road with Kerry Candaele as I write this.

Well folks - sorry to say the rumors about Dean leaving Lapdog are true. It came as somewhat of a surprise to me and I am very bummed out by it. I can't tell you much about the reasons behind his decision (because he hasn't said much) but I think he is leaving music altogether. I think that after Toad broke up Dean saw Lapdog as an easier transition out of that situation. He is now pursuing a career in voice-over work and attempting to live a rock and roll-free life. As for myself, I will continue on with Lapdog, as music is what makes me feel alive. It is what I *have* to do- regardless of big labels and big money, and so-called success. The album will still come out so don't worry. I am really proud of these songs and can't wait for you guys to hear the CD. We have been set back by this loss, musically and even more personally, but we are starting to move on and hope you