With over three decades of heartfelt songwriting, timeless hits, and an unshakable bond with their fans, Toad the Wet Sprocket remains one of the most enduring acts to emerge from the ’90s alternative rock boom. As they hit the road once again for their coast-to-coast Good Intentions 2025 Tour—joined on select dates by artists like KT Tunstall, Vertical Horizon, and The Jayhawks—the band continues to prove that their music is as relevant and resonant as ever.
In this exclusive conversation, bassist Dean Dinning reflects on the journey so far, the excitement behind the current tour, and the connection that keeps them coming back to the stage year after year. A lifelong musician with a deep family lineage in music, Dinning brings not only technical expertise to the band’s signature sound but also a multi-generational passion that fuels his artistry to this day. Whether you’re spinning classics like “Fear” or “Dulcinea” or catching them live for the first time, this interview offers a look behind the curtain at one of modern rock’s most beloved bands.
It’s a pleasure to connect with you today, Dean! I’m excited to chat with you about everything Toad The Wet Sprocket has cooking at the moment. Before I get to that, I wanted to explore your musical roots. It’s quite a tale. Tell us about how it all began.
It started when my dad was born on a farm in Oklahoma. He was one of nine children. He had three sisters who, when they were teenagers, began singing close harmony, much like The Andrews Sisters and other Sister groups of the time. They were really good when they were teenagers. My dad, who was their older brother, took them to Chicago and got them signed to NBC Radio. This was before people had record players and would gather around the radio at a particular time and listen to a radio program. They were known as The Dinning Sisters — my three aunts. My dad was their manager, and they lived in an apartment in Chicago. There, he would pick the songs, hire an arranger, and then teach the girls their parts around the piano. They would then perform them live on the radio. It wasn’t long before they also started doing recordings when recording became a thing and began working in movies. They were around before people had record players. So that was my dad’s thing. He did that with them for a long time. They managed to last in various configurations up until around the 1960s.
My dad’s other brother, Mark Dinning, had a number-one song in 1960 called “Teen Angel.” That song was actually written by one of The Dinning Sisters, and parts of it were actually recorded in the living room of the farmhouse where they grew up. That song went all the way to number one and then was later used in American Graffiti, the movie that George Lucas did, which was so successful that it enabled him to make Star Wars. So, I feel like I can claim a little credit; Star Wars wouldn’t have happened without my uncle’s song. So I can take some responsibility for that.
My Aunt Dolores was also in the recording business and was a big-time backup singer. She lived in Nashville and sang backup for everyone as part of a singing group called The Nashville Edition, which appeared on the entire run of the “Hee Haw” television show. It was the “Baywatch” of its time. It was the most popular syndicated television show, boasting an incredible reach. She was on the show for the entire run. Well, I would go to their house in Tennessee. They had a lovely home on a farm, and she had gold records all over the walls in the hallway. I was just blown away by the fact that someone I knew actually did that for a living. I suppose when it came to what I wanted to do, no one was shocked, which was nice. It doesn’t seem crazy when three other people in the same family have all managed to pull it off!
Tell us a little bit about how you first started gravitating toward the arts, and what was it about music that really drew you in?
I didn’t have much control over it. Music had an incredible pull for me. I started out playing the piano. Actually, I started by learning to play the piano by playing the organ. My parents left me at a friend’s house who had an organ. They went out for the evening, and by the time they had come back from wherever they went, I had taught myself how to play “America, The Beautiful” on the organ! Music was always there for me. It was very natural, and it was always fun. It never seemed like work but rather a way to amuse myself.
That’s incredible!
I had a good ear, and I could pick up songs really easily. From there, I started taking piano lessons, which led to learning the clarinet so that I could be in the band when I was in junior high school. That’s really when I met the guys in Toad for the first time! In fact, Randy, our original drummer, played trumpet, and he sat right behind me in the band. So, all of those things are completely connected!
Any memories from those early days?
I remember I was still playing the piano a lot. I did a Tom Lehrer song called “The Masochism Tango” at our school talent show. Looking back, I don’t know how I got away with that! There was a lot of pearl fletching going on, let’s say that!
People come up to you all the time and say, “Your music is the soundtrack to my youth,” or “That record really brings back memories for me.” Can you tell me a little about the albums that spoke to you back in the day?
We were so fortunate to have grown up in the 80s. That’s all I can say. That’s not all I can say at the beginning of what I have to say! [laughs] I’ve been revisiting things like The Police and thinking about the musicianship all present in that band. When those records came out, and you heard “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” or “Every Breath You Take,” you knew they were incredible records. The other bands we really looked up to were those that were similar to us, having formed in school, such as U2 and REM. These bands were all doing something that seemed obtainable. It felt like if we just worked at it a bit, we might be able to do something like that! Those were the people who really inspired us to get out there and play. They had formed either in college or in high school and were friends who took the initiative and did it. While it seemed like they were having fun, they also had a social conscience and had something to say. They weren’t afraid to take a position on things. It was a great time to be listening to music and to be influenced by it.
Often, people say that our music sounds somewhat happy and sad at the same time and that the music sounds happier than the lyrics. Well, look no further than the Smiths to find that! A lot of that band’s work has a brightness to it that belies something slightly darker underneath and more meaningful. We didn’t want to be just a pop band. We wanted to be a band that could stand for something and do something that would last. If you look at the music that we were influenced by, that was a good plan.
It’s a rarity for a band to stay together as long as you have. To what do you attribute your longevity, and what do you consider the keys to successful collaboration in that space?
We were always trying to make music that would stand the test of time. I’ve sometimes said that the most alternative thing about us is the name of the band itself. The music is really guitars, bass, drums, a little bit of keyboard, and then a lot of vocals. These are the things that worked for the Beatles, Eagles, and plenty of others along the way. If you can write great songs, perform them, and sing them with three-part harmony, there’s something about that that appeals to people.
In the beginning, we didn’t know that the songs we were writing at that time would stand the test of time. However, we’ve been fortunate that they’ve attached themselves to our audience, and they have never stopped listening. They feel that the music is timeless. I think that is why we’re still around today. If it wasn’t for our fans and their incredible support from people who love this music, we wouldn’t be doing it!
What lessons did you learn early on that continue to resonate?
It has been very important for us to get control of our music through owning the publishing of all of our songs. For instance, not having someone like Scooter Braun or someone else who might do something with one of your compositions that you wouldn’t be happy with. We got all of our publishing back around 2011, which means that we own all of our songs. By doing that, it’s allowed us to take our catalog and rework it in various ways. First, we recorded new versions of all our hit songs, ensuring that if people wanted to use them in films or TV, we would have versions of the master recordings that we actually owned. We were doing the Taylor Swift thing before Taylor Swift ever did! We have used those versions in several television shows and in movies because nothing says 1993, like filling up your car at a gas station while “Walk on the Ocean” is blasting out of the speakers. Apparently, if you need a flashback, we’re your guys!
There’s nothing wrong with that!
No, you’re right, there’s nothing wrong with that. Having control of the whole thing has been a big thing for us. We’re not on a major label anymore, but we’ve been working on this acoustic album because we have a catalog of songs, and we can do whatever we want with it. We started recording new versions of them that were all acoustic arrangements. They turned out so great due to the work of everyone. Having that freedom, at the end of the day, keeps it fun, and you don’t feel like you’re working for somebody else. It puts you into a more “small business” mindset.
Are there specific things you do to keep yourself stimulated creatively? Any tips there?
One of the biggest things for me has been that I have never stopped discovering new music along the way. They say a lot of people stop discovering music in their 20s, but streaming has been great for me. I have been able to discover a lot of new artists along the way. Going to live shows has been really important as well. I live close enough to Los Angeles that I can easily go and see anybody, and it’s just about an hour for me, driving-wise. Nothing inspires me more than seeing what someone’s doing in front of their audience and bringing it back into our thing. I’ve been doing that for 20 or 30 years — going to shows to see what others are bringing to the table. So many times, I find myself saying, “Oh, wow! Look at what they did!” or even including a certain type of song that you might not have thought to do before that makes you think, “Oh, you know, that worked really well in the context of a of a set!” When you create something, it’s inspiring to be a part of that discovery process, which makes you want to keep creating. You want to assume that there are people out there who haven’t heard our music and who are going to be discovering it right now. So everything you do has to be great!
Toad the Wet Sprocket is about to hit the road for the 2025 Good Intentions Tour. Tell us a little bit about what goes into the lead-up to a new tour.
I practice like crazy because I don’t like to get out there and have to think about anything when I’m on stage. I play! This year’s show will not be the same as last year’s show. However, I can put on my headphones, plug my bass into a little device I have called a Mustang Micro, and I can play back last year’s show. I literally walk around the house playing the show, and I do that for a few weeks before the new tour. At a certain point, I always stop and go, “What am I doing? I know this stuff. I don’t have to practice this anymore!”
There are constant creative things that are happening. We just had a really cool thing happen that we did for the first time, actually. We have a great lighting designer who designs our show for us. He created a visualization using avatars that resemble us on screen, showing us what the entire show would look like with our avatar versions. This allowed us to provide him with feedback. We could say, “You know, I think the lights flashing is a little bit too busy on this part. Let’s dial it back here. Let’s go more in this direction.” It’s been really interesting because, as a band, you can never see your own show unless you’re sick and someone is covering for you, and you happen to be out in the crowd or something. So, not likely to happen. However, being able to visualize every aspect of the show before we put it out there has been really great.
There’s also the more mundane stuff, like going over the shopping list for the dressing room or the bus situation dialed in. It’s little stupid things like that, too. There’s always some drama involved in getting the right bus, routing the tour, and discovering we’re going to end up on days off. A lot of thought goes into everything, and we have a great tour manager who takes care of most of it, but he likes to bounce things off me. So I ended up getting on the phone with him and helping him figure stuff out, but we’re all very involved in the tour and the planning. It’s a lot like packing for a camping trip, where you also need to bring a trailer full of music gear! [laughs] It’s the most fun camping trip you can do. With all those guitars, keyboards, and drums going up every night, it’s really something to look forward to.
As a band, you’ve got countless live shows under your belt. When do you feel the band really came into its own in the live setting, and what are some of the high-water marks for you?
Gosh, there have been so many along the way. One moment from the old days would be the time we were playing at a club called The Paradise in Boston, which was absolutely packed and sold out. We were stunned by the fact that there were so many people there. I remember that we played a song, and the response from the crowd was so intense that it pushed me physically backward on the stage. It was one of those moments where you think, “Wow, this is out of our hands. This ball is going to roll down the hill now!” I mean, we still had to push the ball, it turned out, but that first glimmer was a big deal. You know, that moment where you realize this is really working. It’s incredible when you can have that realization.
Another one would be when we did a Kickstarter campaign. When we came back and did a new album in 2014, we did what was, and quite possibly still is at this time, the third or fourth biggest Kickstarter campaign in history. We were trying to raise $50,000 to release the record, and we ended up getting over $250,000 from our fans to put this record out. It all happened so quickly. I remember that it was my birthday, and we were also playing that night. That one was really special. There was a lot of love in the world for this band, and it came at a time when we weren’t quite sure whether it was going to be there, and then it was! It was an incredible night.
Another big one from back in the mid-90s. At the time, the greatest thing you can do is to go get booked on the David Letterman Show. Performing our song on the Letterman Show, then walking out the back door and crossing the street to the Roseland Ballroom to play to a sold-out crowd, was incredible. To walk on stage after just having come out of the Letterman Show, there was nothing quite like that!
Definitely a high-water mark! That’s a fantastic night, for sure!
That’s about as good as it gets.
The band has hit some major milestones lately, with early albums like Bread & Circus, Pale, Fear, and Dulcinea all celebrating anniversaries. Do you—personally or as a band—ever take time to reflect on how far this musical journey has taken you?
I think so. In making this acoustic album, we’ve been exploring songs from our entire career. There are songs from our first record, “Bread and Circus,” that are as far back as 1989. Recording them again with these acoustic arrangements, you realize that the songs were always great, even if we weren’t able to fully realize them in the studio because we were just kids when we started out. Now, we can go back. It’s really been a process of going back, looking at these songs, and realizing how good the material always was! You can put a song from 1989 next to a song from 2020, and they sound like they’re a part of the same catalog or part of the same project. I didn’t realize that that was going to be the case. I thought we would want to move past those early songs, but in many cases, we did for a long time. Now, we’re going back to look at them in context; yeah, I guess we just did a lot of things right, without realizing it, along the way! We’ve stayed true to ourselves, which I guess is the most important thing.
What does success mean to you at this point in your career?
Well, we’re not going to compete with the Olivia Rodrigos of the world, ya know? [laughs] That’s not what we’re doing. However, we’re at a really good level. It’s a level we’ve been trying to get to for a long time. We’re able to go out and play shows with other bands that we’re fans of as well. We’re picking the bands that come out with us! We’ve got Sixpence None the Richer, who we’ve known for a long time. We’ve also got Vertical Horizon coming out with us in the fall. We’ve got KT Tunstall coming out, who we’ve never worked with before but who is just terrific! We’ve also got The Jayhawks coming out, who we are huge fans of, and their album lived in our tour van cassette deck for months at a time. It’s just to be able to do that and to be able to put together a night of music that we think our fans will really love. That’s what we’ve been trying to achieve all along: making people happy with our music. It just means everything!
We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us with the tour. Thanks for your time and insight today, Dean! Stay safe out there.
Thank you, Jason. See you soon!
Catch Toad the Wet Sprocket on the road during their Good Intentions 2025 Tour—visit toadthewetsprocketmusic.com for tickets, tour dates, and merch, and follow the band on Instagram, Facebook, and X (Twitter) for all the latest updates.
TOAD THE WET SPROCKET – GOOD INTENTIONS 2025 TOUR
JUL 17 / SAN DIEGO, CA @ Balboa Theatre^
JUL 18 / TULARE, CA @ AdventistHealth Amphitheater^
JUL 19 / BERKELEY, CA @ The UC Theatre^
JUL 20 / ROCKLIN, CA @ Amphitheatre at Quarry Park^
JUL 23 / EUGENE, OR @ McDonald Theatre^
JUL 24 / BELLINGHAM, WA @ Mount Baker Theatre#
JUL 25 / SEATTLE, WA @ Moore Theatre#
JUL 26 / SANDPOINT, ID @ Festival at Sandpoint#
JUL 28 / SALT LAKE CITY, UT @ Red Butte Garden# **SOLD OUT**
JUL 30 / DENVER, CO @ Denver Botanic Gardens# **SOLD OUT**
AUG 1 / OMAHA, NE @ Astro Theater#
AUG 2 / KANSAS CITY, MO @ Grinders KC#
AUG 3 / CHESTERFIELD, MO @ The Factory#
AUG 5 / HUBER HEIGHTS, OH @ Rose Music Center#
AUG 7 / CHICAGO, IL @ The Salt Shed#
AUG 8 / INDIANAPOLIS, IN @ Broad Ripple Park#
AUG 9 / INTERLOCHEN, MI @ Kresge Auditorium#
AUG 10 / PAW PAW, MI @ Warner Vineyards#
AUG 13 / TYSONS, VA @ Capital One Hall*
AUG 14 / NEW HAVEN, CT @ Westville Music Bowl*
AUG 15 / LEWISTON, NY @ ArtPark*
AUG 16 / MEDFORD, MA @ Chevalier Theatre*
AUG 18 / DEERFIELD, MA @ Tree House Brewing Company*
AUG 19 / READING, PA @ Santander Performing Arts Center*
AUG 21 / CARY, NC @ Koka Booth Amphitheatre*
AUG 22 / ATLANTA, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall*
AUG 23 / CHARLOTTE, NC @ The Amp Ballantyne*
AUG 30 / LAS VEGAS, NV @ Fremont Street (w/ Vertical Horizon)
SEPT 6 / HONOLULU, HI @ Hawaii Theatre
SEPT 11 / CERRITOS, CA @ Cerritos Center for the Arts+
SEPT 12 / THOUSAND OAKS, CA @ Fred Kavli Theater+
SEPT 13 / MESA, AZ @ Mesa Arts Center+
SEPT 15 / OKLAHOMA CITY, OK @ The Jones Assembly
SEPT 16 / AUSTIN, TX @ The Paramount Theatre+
SEPT 19 / DALLAS, TX @ Longhorn Ballroom+
SEPT 20 / HOUSTON, TX @ House of Blues+
SEPT 21 / HATTIESBURG, MS @ Hattiesburg Saenger Theater (w/ KT Tunstall)
SEPT 23 / LEXINGTON, KY @ Lexington Opera House+
SEPT 24 / NASHVILLE, TN @ Ryman Auditorium+
SEPT 26 / ROCKFORD, IL @ Coronado Arts Center+
SEPT 27 / BURNSVILLE, MN @ Ames Center+
SEPT 28 / WAUKEE, IA @ Vibrant Music Hall+
SEPT 29 / MILWAUKEE, WI @ The Pabst Theatre+
OCT 1 / MUNHALL, PA @ Carnegie Homestead Music Hall (w/ Vertical Horizon)
OCT 2 / BALTIMORE, MD @ The Lyric Baltimore+
OCT 3 / ALBANY, NY @ Palace Theatre+
OCT 5 / CONCORD, NH @ Chubb Theatre+
OCT 6 / PORTLAND, ME @ State Theatre+
OCT 8 / PLYMOUTH, MA @ Plymouth Memorial Hall%
OCT 9 / CRANSTON, RI @ Historic Park Theatre and Event Center%
OCT 10 / NEW YORK, NY @ Palladium Times Square+
OCT 11 / TRENTON, NJ @ CURE Insurance Arena+
^ w/ Sixpence None The Richer
# w/ The Jayhawks, Sixpence None The Richer
* w/ KT Tunstall, Sixpence None The Richer
+w/ KT Tunstall, Vertical Horizon
% w/ Denitia