Toys Out of the Attic
by Josef Woodard
On the curious beginnings of Toy Matinee, there was young upstart Kevin Gilbert, full of new ideas about art pop. Eager to bust out of San Jose, with his band Giraffe, Gilbert climbed to the top of the Yamaha-sponsored battle of the bands contest called Sound Check.
Enter producer-of-note Patrick Leonard, a judge at Sound Check’s final heat at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Leonard, then knee-deep in lucrative production gigs with the likes of Madonna and itching to get a taste of the old rock band ethic, offered to form a partnership with Gilbert.
“I found out through Sound check,” said Gilbert, “that you can still be an artist in America and make it work. It introduced me to a contingent of people who were still interested in pursuing that avenue. Pat had had it with being the Madonna pop machine. His roots were early Genesis and Gentle Giant.”
Add a rhythm section, several collaborative songs, a deal with Warner Bros., shake vigorously, and voila, Toy Matinee was born. “It was more than a two-man operation all through the record,” recalled Leonard. “The concept was for five guys to get in a room with a producer and thrash it out. That’s exactly how it was done.”
Two years after recording the album at Leonard’s home studio in Burbank, the album - already almost a year out of the chute - is slowly catching on, thanks to the sleek charm of tunes like “The Ballad of Jenny Ledge,” the closest thing to Pretzel Logic-era Steely Dan you’ll hear on the radio. Generally speaking, Toy Matinee is much smarter than the average pop outing.
After the album failed to take off instantly, the band members went on to their respective lives. Leonard went off producing the likes of Roger Waters. But, following the belated airplay momentum of the album, a version of Toy Matinee featuring Gilbert as kingpin is hitting the road - and the Venture Theatre.
Collaborating comes naturally for Leonard, who, as a producer, often cowrites with his artists. “What you learn [by collaborating] are existential concepts about what working is, where you’re not just vying for space and trying to get your ideas to work and whatever it takes to get this thing to happen. The ego battles can be so severe. They exist in me as much as anyone.”
The future of Toy Matinee is in the air, not as ephemeral as it might have seemed. “Toy Matinee is really, on record, a band,” said Gilbert. “We’re not living together. We’re not the Monkees.” An understatement, to be sure.