A few days before their appearance on the second day of the 2025 Shabang Music Festival, members of the local band Toad sat down with SLO Review contributor Lindsay McKee to talk about their beginnings and how each of them became familiar with their instruments.
Winning “Battle” Leads to Shabang
Last month, hundreds of people crowded the barricades of the Fremont Theater stage in downtown San Luis Obispo with signs and homemade t-shirts, waiting for the final band to play its 15-minute set for the third annual Battle of the Bands. All for a chance to win $1,000 and a slot at the most anticipated local music festival of the year.
The band that won the event was a four-piece group of fourth-year students from Cal Poly called Toad. They celebrated their win and their three-year anniversary on the Cuesta Ridge Stage Saturday, May 3 at Shabang Music Festival.
“I started teaching myself guitar junior year of high school, and I started singing when I was in kindergarten,” said Toad’s lead singer and guitarist Annie Pagel, an anthropology and geography major. Her love of singing came from her family, and she participated in musical performances in her early school years.
“I started playing piano when I was in second grade,” lead guitarist and experience industry management major Matthew Hendricks said. “I always wanted to play guitar, but my dad said I had to take piano lessons before I learn guitar, because he plays guitar. When I was in fifth grade, my parents bought me a Squire Strat for Christmas, and that’s when I started taking lessons.”
Drummer Casey Brandt started playing guitar when he was 12, and drums about four years after that. “It was nice that my school offered these classes where you could just get in a group of your choice, so you could form a band in class and then just play cover songs the entire quarter.” Brandt is a sociology and public policy major.
“I started playing junior year of high school,” bassist and marine science major Rayne Lejano said. “My friend was really good at guitar. I wanted to try and play with him, but guitar was too hard to jump into, so I just went straight to bass. My sister had an acoustic guitar, and I’d learn bass songs on her guitar. And then when I’d go to my friend’s house, I would play on his bass.”
It All Started Freshman Year
The band members met shortly after starting Cal Poly.
“We met our freshman year at Cal Poly in the dorms. We used to jam at the yakʔitʸutʸu parking garage,” Hendricks said. “And one day, Henry from Skipping Breakfast walked by the garage when we were playing and heard us, and told us that they were having a house show. So we kind of pulled together a set list, and came up with a band name, and then went from there.”
Their early performances also consisted of performing around Cal Poly’s campus.
“Our friend put a bunch of musicians that she knew in a group chat, and she wanted to put together a garden show at the Cal Poly garden,” Pagel said. “I was just gonna play a solo set. And then someone texted me and asked if I would sing covers.”
Other band members got to know each other one-on-one through jam sessions in their college dorms
“I remember I kind of knew Rayne because we had mutual friends,” Hendricks said. “And then one day I was playing guitar in my dorm. He walked by the window and yelled up and was like, ‘Yo Matt, let’s jam.’”
The Libertine Proves Influential
While Toad’s appearance at the Fremont Theater helped them win their spot at Shabang, the band credits its close connection with Libertine Brewing Company in downtown SLO for helping to shape the band it is today.
“When we first started playing the Libertine, all the bands were just standing on the floor,” Hendricks said. “Not really that many bands played there.” They began playing at Libertine during September of their third year at Cal Poly, even before a stage was built inside.
“Since then, they’ve developed their live music scene a lot better, to the point where they now have a stage, and they have touring artists stopping by in town,” Brandt said.
The band has now played at Libertine almost ten times. They appreciate how Libertine was a space where friends could attend and watch them perform. The venue featured specialty drinks inspired by the band, and also was the location of one of the band’s most memorable performances. One Halloween night, the band dressed up as the characters of Rocky Horror Picture Show and performed the film’s music.
Libertine was also where they went after the Battle of the Bands event to celebrate their win with friends and loved ones.
“It’s been really cool to watch it grow,” Hendricks said. “I feel like building up that venue has really helped the SLO music scene grow too, because it gives a lot of college bands opportunities to play in a bigger space and venue. Makes you feel pretty legit.”
Pagel said Libertine gives younger bands a chance to come in and experience a better sound system and a bigger stage. “Even though it’s only 21 and up who can come watch, you can still play if you’re not 21,” she said.
“We’ve gotten to be really good friends with the guy, John, there that does all the booking,” Brandt said. “So I would say we’ve watched the Libertine grow, and maybe in John’s eyes, he would say that we’ve helped it grow too.”
Turning from Covers to Original Music
While the band expressed their love for performing at venues around SLO, they also note the stress that comes with balancing being fourth-year students and musicians.
“It can be pretty brutal, because we all have jobs, we’re all full-time students and involved in other things than just music,” Pagel said. “So getting all of our schedules coordinated is kind of a miracle sometimes.
“I mean, for me, it’s my favorite part of the week when I get to come and play music, and favorite part of any month when we get to do a show. So it’s totally worth it.”
Brandt agreed. “We kind of realized that in order to get consistent practices going, we kind of need to book shows to do that. So we just kept continuing to book shows.”
The band started performances with covers by artists such as The Beatles, Elton John, and Jimi Hendrix, but with aspirations of participating in future Battle of the Bands, Toad soon moved to writing and releasing original music on Soundcloud.
“I’ll write songs for myself and then bring them to practice, Pagel said. “And then we’ll make it our own and change things up. Everyone adds something. It always makes the song way better.”
The band is now looking ahead to its plans for after graduation, and what that will mean for future performances. The members are planning to stay in SLO for a certain time.
“I think we all want to keep playing, whether it’s with the band, by ourselves or with other bands.” Pagel said. “I think it’s all important to us. To not give up music.”