Toad

Toad were a Swiss hard rock band formed in Basel, 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. 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 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, and bassist Werner Fröhlich and drummer Cosimo Lampis, both of whom left European psychedelic rock band Brainticket after the recording of their first album, Cottonwoodhill. Toad wrote and recorded material for their self-titled album in late 1970, and released the record in 1971, along with "Stay!", a single that 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 British producer Martin Birch (who also produced for Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath). It featured singer Benjamin "Beni" Jaeger, who left the band once it was finished. As the album was being released in 1971, Swiss Television filmed Toad performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival, but the footage has been lost. In 1972, the band released Tomorrow Blue, which was in a more blues direction and without a lead vocalist (with Vergeat and Fröhlich taking over vocal duties). It also was engineered by Birch. It included Helmut Lipsky on violin, 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' "Who Knows."