Tad
Biography
Tad (often styled as TAD) was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1988 by Tad Doyle. The band is associated with the early grunge movement.
Tad began as a solo project by Tad Doyle (born Thomas Andrew Doyle), formerly the drummer of H-Hour, in early 1988. Doyle sang and played guitar, bass and drums and recorded a three-song demo. Tad was among the first bands signed to the independent label Sub Pop Records. In 1988, Doyle released the "Daisy/Ritual Device" single on Sub Pop, produced by Jack Endino, with Doyle writing and performing all the music. Doyle subsequently expanded the project into a full band, recruiting bassist Kurt Danielson, whose band Bundle of Hiss had previously played with H-Hour. Drummer Steve Wied, formerly of Skin Yard, and guitarist Gary Thorstensen completed the initial lineup. Tad's debut album, "God's Balls", was released in early 1989 and was also produced by Endino. The band toured Europe later that year, with Nirvana as the opening act.
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In March 1990, Tad released "Salt Lick", recorded by Steve Albini. The vinyl release contained six tracks, while the CD edition was expanded to nine tracks. It included the song "Wood Goblins", which was accompanied by the band's first music video. Tad recorded its third album, "8-Way Santa", in Seattle in 1991. The album's title referred to a type of blotter acid. Produced by Butch Vig, it had a more pop-oriented sound than the band's previous releases and included the singles "Jinx" and "Jack Pepsi".
"Jack Pepsi" was released as a single, but Pepsi filed a lawsuit over its cover artwork, which depicted the Pepsi logo with "Tad" replacing the word "Pepsi". Another lawsuit concerned the cover of "8-Way Santa", which used a found photograph depicting a man touching a woman's breast. The couple in the photograph objected to its use, and the album cover was subsequently replaced with a photograph of the band.
After appearing in the film "Singles", Tad was offered a major-label recording contract by Giant Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. Around this time, Wied left the band to join Willard and later Foil. Rey Washam, formerly of Scratch Acid, briefly played drums with Tad in 1991 before being replaced by Josh Sinder, formerly of The Accüsed. Sinder made his debut on Tad's final Sub Pop release, the "Salem"/"Leper" single, whose cover featured Sinder's brother, identified as "Mud-Man". Tad's major-label debut, "Inhaler", was released later in 1991 and received positive reviews. The album did not achieve significant commercial success, although Tad was selected as the opening act for Soundgarden's 1994 "Superunknown" tour. Giant Records subsequently dropped the band after a promotional poster for "Inhaler" was released depicting Bill Clinton smoking a joint with the caption "It's heavy shit".
In 1995, Tad released "Live Alien Broadcasts" on Futurist Records. Thorstensen left the band the same year, after which Tad signed a second major-label deal with East West/Elektra Records. The band's final studio album, "Infrared Riding Hood", was released in 1995. Following Thorstensen's departure, Doyle and producer Jack Endino performed the album's guitar parts. Within a month of the album's release, Tad's A&R representative was dismissed, and the label released all of the acts associated with the representative. Tad continued performing for the remainder of the year before Sinder left to form the Hot Rod Lunatics. Mike Mongrain of Foil subsequently became the band's drummer. Tad's final single, "Oppenheimer's Pretty Nightmare"/"Accident on the Way to Church", was released by Up Records in 1998. The band dissolved in 1999.
Following Tad's breakup, Doyle formed Hog Molly in 2001 with Willard bassist Ty Garcia and 50 Paces guitarist Martin Chandler. The band released the album "Kung-Fu Cocktail Grip" later that year. Garcia and Chandler had been recommended by Willard guitarist Mark Spiders. Hog Molly subsequently broke up, and its members other than Doyle formed the band The Ones. Chandler joined The Supersuckers in 2009.
Doyle later formed the band Hoof. His other band, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, performed in Seattle clubs. Danielson formed Valis, a project involving members of Screaming Trees and Mudhoney, and later formed The Quaranteens, a post-punk and new wave band with Craig Paul, before moving to France. He returned to Seattle in 2008 and began writing a novel. Danielson also performed with other Seattle bands, including Misericords, which featured former Tad drummer Mike Mongrain. Sinder played drums with The Insurgence and with Marky Felchtone of Zeke in Hellbound for Glory.
A documentary about Tad, "Busted Circuits and Ringing Ears", was released in February 2008. In July 2009, Doyle's website announced plans for Brothers of the Sonic Cloth to release a split 10-inch vinyl record with Seattle sludge metal band Mico de Noche. The record was released in October 2009 in an edition of 500 copies and contained two songs by Mico de Noche and one by Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, "Fires Burn Dim in the Shadows of the Mountain". It received positive reviews and was included on Seattle Weekly's list of the year's best local releases.
In 2009, Doyle performed with members of Soundgarden and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine in Seattle. Soundgarden's original vocalist Chris Cornell was absent, and Doyle performed the vocals. The performance marked Soundgarden's first performance in more than a decade.
A partial reunion of Tad took place at the Sub Pop Records 25th Anniversary Show in Seattle on July 13, 2013. Doyle and Thorstensen joined Brothers of the Sonic Cloth for a set featuring songs from "God's Balls", "Salt Lick" and "8-Way Santa".
Danielson subsequently performed with vocalist Ron Nine, guitarist Kevin Whitworth of Love Battery, vocalist Katie Scarberry and drummer Garret Shavlik, formerly of The Fluid, on the self-produced album "Vaporland", released in 2014. Danielson and Nine later performed in Purple Strange with Jared Stroud, Matthew Candenberghe and Endino, releasing another self-produced album, "Purple Strange", in 2021.
The vinyl-only archival album "Quick and Dirty" was released in April 2018 as part of Record Store Day. It contained previously unreleased recordings made by Tad between 1995 and 1999, along with several live recordings.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tad_(band)
Studio albums
God's Balls (1989)
Salt Lick (1990)
8-Way Santa (1991)
Inhaler (1993)
Infrared Riding Hood (1995)
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.