Although it's basically a bunch of white guys sitting around playing guitar, the Glen Phillips/John Doe/Steve Poltz/Pete Droge tour has been given the tongue-in-cheek name Frasier Fair, a tag that Phillips, until recently frontman for Toad the Wet Sprocket, finds a source of great embarrassment. |

"Oh no, is that what they're calling it?" he asks bleakly. "This certainly isn't the answer to Lilith Fair [in any way]." Currently in the middle of a cross-country tour of large clubs, the sheer lack of misty-eyed backstage camaraderie alone sets them apart from its estrogen-only predecessor. "God, no," says Phillips, with something approaching horror. "There's none of that. Male bonding is a scary thing. There's too much of it as it is. But I'm hoping that being around three other writers will inspire me to start writing again."

Frasier Fair would seem a good way for Phillips, who had been in Toad since he was in high school, to ease the transition from bandleader to solo artist. Except for a brief late summer Los Angeles club appearance, Frasier Fair marks Phillips' official solo debut, and the tour's intimate acoustic vibe appears to fit his low-key sensibilities.

"I always felt slightly at odds with the rock show part of it," Phillips says of his years in Toad. "But I'm not going to become an acoustic guy or something. I'm comfortable with the living room thing [like Frasier]. With acoustic shows you don't have to convince anyone. They're kind of already into it."

Toad officially dissolved in July, more than a year after the poorly received Coil was released, and just as they intended to begin work on what would have been the band's sixth studio album. "We were trying to do a new record but we weren't excited about it at all," says Phillips, who says Toad was long split into two not-always-compatible factions, with himself and drummer Randy Guss on one side, and guitarist Todd Nichols and bassist Dean Dinning on the other. Phillips had traditionally been the primary songwriter; Nichols wanted more to do. Battles over sonic direction and songwriting duties were growing increasingly common. "There were two really distinct kind of creative influences," says Phillips politely. "Everyone gets along fine now." (Nichols and Dinning have since formed a new band, Toast).

Phillips now contemplates the "exhilarating and scary" prospect of a solo career, although plans to record his debut lie in the distant future. Phillips also says recent published reports that suggest he'll soon collaborate with friend Ben Folds were premature, and worries that the ensuing publicity might have scared Folds off. "It shouldn't have been a story, but it was," he says. "Ben wasn't pissed off about it, at least," he says. "It might not happen. But if it does, it would be incredible. Creatively, he would be a good guy to kick my ass."

ALLISON STEWART(October 26, 1998)