April 26th 1997. Tadpoles await their slot at the first Terrastock festival in Providence, RI. As more people wander to the main stage to see the end of Mary Lou Lord's set and await Tadpoles and Flying Saucer Attack following her, they sit quietly and listen, knowing that the sonic jump into hyperspace was soon to follow.

It was the beginning of a great tidal wave of new psych music and live events, that continues today. 

Terrastock festivals would go on to inspire everything from All Tomorrow's Parties to Levitation Festival and dozens of local psych fests that are now ubiquitous worldwide. If you were there, you could sense the gravity. Tadpoles were right there, in the main vein, so to speak.

Tadpoles had been playing a mix of heavy space rock, pastoral psych mixed with whimsical elements, feedback and found strangeness’ since they came together in 1990 NYC. Gigging around the clubs of NYC and surrounding east coast venues, Tadpoles released several self produced and Mark Kramer (Shimmydisc) co-produced records on their own imprint, Bakery Records located in Hoboken, NJ. Their second LP, 1996s Far Out got a 4 star review in Rolling Stone from famed journalist Jim Derogatis. Tadpoles disbanded in 2000 after playing their final live show opening for Thurston Moore at Maxwells.

Core members Todd Parker, Nick Kramer and David Max went on to other musical projects and careers. Since disbanding they have collaborated over the years on musical projects with Psychic TV (Hell is Invisible Heaven is Her/e, Alien Brain vs. The Skinwalkers), Dean and Britta (It Don’t Rain in Beverly Hills), Sonic Boom (Sonic Souvenirs, War Sucks), Gibby Haynes (Maximum Swing), Cheval Sombre (Self titled Debut), Panda Bear (Tomboy), MGMT (Congratulations) and most recently, Anton Barbeau (Klaust).

In 2021 Tadpoles reconvened as a recording project. Despite being in 3 separate locations, NYC, Sacramento, and Basel, Switzerland respectively, songs started to get written together by sending projects back and forth digitally. The magic was still there, yet changed. After years apart the 3 artists found the music they were creating to be profoundly different from the space rock band that destroyed at Terrastock 97. This new music is still recognisable as having grown from the same soil, but now 20 plus years later, the sound has expanded, has become vinous. The complexities are wrapped within simple concepts and forms. Universes within universes, you might say.

The result is a 4 song EP. Tadpoles Make Believe. The first in a series of three 4 song EPs on NYC based label The Sound of Sinners.

More releases are planned. Live performances will be challenging going forward, given the logistical difficulties, but we are excited about the prospects for future gigs!!