Quadrophenia Reunited – 40 Years On: Sky Arts: Friday 11th June: August: 2am
Lauren Laverne hosts a one-off special bringing the stars of Quadrophenia together. Featuring reminiscing, interviews, a table-read of the script and plenty of surprises. (Photo © Sky Arts)
Quadrophenia – Our Generation: Sky Arts: Friday 11th June: 1am
Celebrity fans and cast members come together to shed light on the making of Quadrophenia and explore the legacy that the cult film has left behind, 40 years after its release. (Photo © Sky Arts)
Season 2, episode 21 of Toyah At Home aired on Saturday. Watch/Rewatch by clicking below.
A full transcript of Toyah’s recent interview on BBC Radio Kent’s Dominic King Show can now be read online at The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive.
• Read it here. Listen to the interview at BBC Sounds.
Toyah – The Blue Meaning (Expanded Deluxe Edition): Album Review
Dark, intense and disturbingly graphic – an early masterpiece by Toyah revisited
Release Date: 28th May 2021
Label: Cherry Red Records
Formats: 2CD + 1DVD, Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl
Cherry Red Records have done it yet again! This week’s lucky recipient of their deluxe reissue treatment is Toyah and the band’s second album, 1980’s The Blue Meaning. In fact, Cherry Red are working their way through Toyah’s Safari Records catalogue – the band’s debut album, Sheep Farming In Barnet, has already received the deluxe repackaging and the rest of the bunch, Anthem (1981) The Changeling (1982) and Love Is The Law (1983) will be along soon – a veritable treasure trove from the happiest, most productive and most creative period of Toyah’s career. Oh – and for clarity – at this stage in the career of Toyah Willcox, Toyah was the collective name for the band in which she featured – Joel Bogen on guitar, Charlie Francis on bass, Steve Bray on drums, Peter Bush on keyboards and Toyah herself on vocals (or verbals and unusual sounds, as the album’s excellent sleeve notes put it.)
• Continue reading at At The Barrier.
The Rolling Stones, Kate Bush, The Cure: Great albums’ cover stories revealed
From hiding film in Toyah’s knickers to combining Mondrian and The Rolling Stones, designer Bill Smith tells the cover stories of great albums.
The Rolling Stones, The Jam, Kate Bush, The Cure, Led Zeppelin – they’re not only among the most important musical artists of our time, they’re also some of the most visually striking. Bill Smith has designed album covers for all of them.
Bill Smith and his studio have been designing album covers since 1976. Across five decades they’ve worked with more than 200 bands and artists. They were even there at the start of the Now That’s What I Call Music juggernaut, designing the very first cover of the world-beating compilation album series.
Now Bill’s work has been collected into a suitably glossy, album-sized, 12-inch book, which also features the stories behind some of his classic album covers. He gave us a glimpse into the creative process behind some of his most famous works…
• Continue reading at bigissue.com.
Toyah guests this evening on The Dominic King Show which airs from 6pm on BBC Radio Kent. Toyah is on after 8pm.
The Dominic King Show: Chris Addison + TOYAH
Evenings on BBC Radio Kent. Featuring great music and conversation.
• Listen online at BBC Sounds for the next four weeks.
Toyah – The Blue Meaning
Expanded Edition (Cherry Red)
With the context of the passing of time, this is all brilliantly boundary-pushing music, and The Blue Meaning is an album which could astound the unprepared. Pure gold
The Cherry Red Toyah reissue programme continues with the second album, 1980’s The Blue Meaning, following on from the excellent reissue of the Sheep Farming In Barnet debut. As with its predecessor, The Blue Meaning is a very different proposition to the impression casual listeners tend to have of the pop-punk singer with the wild hair taking It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free to the upper reaches of the singles charts. In truth, that image was always a false one when the albums were listened to in their entirety, but even more in the case of these earliest records. In fact, the next studio album following this would be Anthem, the first big hit album which contained those two singles, but you would never guess that from the music contained here, which is dark, edgy and often brilliantly experimental. The Sheep Farming In Barnet album had contained a great mix of post-punk attitude with a sort of ‘difficult prog’ edge to it, but on this follow-up things got even more serious and uncompromising, both in terms of lyrical matter and musical content, and this three-disc reissue rounds it up with some tremendous extra material from the time to produce a definitive edition if ever there was one.
• Continue reading at Velvet Thunder.
Press coverage for this week’s Sunday Lunch with Toyah and Robert (and Sidney Jake)!! (Image © Toyah Willcox)
• Rolling Stone: Toyah Willcox Busts Out The Catsuit For Scorpions Cover With Robert Fripp – Continue reading…
• NME: Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox take on Scorpions’ ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ – Continue reading…
• Guitar World: Here They Are: Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox Tackle The Scorpions’ Rock You Like A Hurricane For Their Sunday Lunch… – Continue reading…
• Kerrang: Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox add “feline twist” to Scorpions Cover – Continue reading…
• Louder: Toyah Dons Catwoman Outfit and Brandishes A Whip on Rock You Like A Hurricane – Continue reading…
• Consequence Of Sound: Toyah Goes Full Catwoman As She Covers “Rock You Like A Hurricane” with Robert Fripp. Watch … – Continue reading…
• Metal Sucks: King Crimson’s Robert Fripp & Toyah Willcox Cover “Rock You Like A Hurricane” – Continue reading…
• DGM Live: Toyah & Robert’s Complete Weekend: Toyah At Home, Agony Aunts, Sunday Lunch featuring Sidney Jake – Continue reading…
Toyah unboxes the new 2CD+DVD edition of The Blue Meaning, released by Cherry Red Records this Friday, 28th May 2021. Pre-order this or the neon pink vinyl LP edition at Cherry Red.
Toyah to play live in Neo-Classical style former church in East Sussex
Toyah will be hitting the road again next spring, when she will be performing an up close and personal show in East Sussex on Saturday 12th March 2022. The concert will take place within a grade II* listed former Church, which was constructed in the Neo-Classical style. The venue is known as St Marys In The Castle and is located in Hastings.
This will be a truly unique experience to watch and listen to an electric acoustic Toyah show, that will have a lively cinematic sound. The venue will be filled with Toyah’s vocals and storytelling along with keyboards and stand up bass.
It will include her much loved hit singles and classic songs, alongside recalling stories from her colourful, forty year career. Toyah will perform stunning arrangements of hits, ‘It’s A Mystery’, ‘Thunder In The Mountains’, ‘Good Morning Universe’, ‘I Want To Be Free’, alongside modern days classics ‘Sensational’ and ‘Dance In The Hurricane’.
• Continue reading at Brighton and Hove News.
To a generation of teenagers, the 1980s punk pop star Toyah Willcox was an inspiration with brightly dyed hair and dramatic make up.
The singer and actor joins RTÉ Arena to discuss her new album Posh Pop, out in July and her hit YouTube series Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch.
• Listen to this great interview at the RTE website.
Toyah will be joining Cathy Grant for an interview on her, newly launched, Reignite channel at You Tube – This Tuesday, 25th May, at 11am.
Toyah and Robert cover Scorpion’s Rock You Like A Hurricane in today’s Sunday Lunch. Toyah for the next Catwoman movie please :) (Image © Toyah Willcox)
The Toyah & Robert T-shirt collection celebrates a crazy year with a bonkers pair, featuring extracts from their iconic Sunday Lunch videos. A brand new design has also just been made available today: “Fripp’s Ma Bitch”. Click below for further info/or to pre-order.
Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt
S1E38: Toyah Willcox
This week, Guy and Gary chat to a creative tour de force. Musician, actress, TV presenter and now lockdown YouTube sensation, Toyah Willcox.
What a career! 20 albums, over 40 stage plays, at least 10 films including the iconic mod classic ‘Quadrophenia’.
The interview with Toyah was great fun and we can’t wait to share it with you.
• Listen to the Rockonteurs podcast here.
Today’s Toyah At Home was a one-hour special dedicated to The Blue Meaning, which is reissued in deluxe CD/DVD format and colour vinyl next week! Watch at You Tube by clicking below.
Toyah features in the new book, Bill Smith Studio: Cover Stories.
A beautiful 12-inch square hardback book featuring the influential album art produced by Bill Smith Studio and the stories behind them.
Across five decades Bill Smith Studio worked on countless covers for the likes of Kate Bush, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, Toyah, Marillion, Genesis, No-Man, Thomas Dolby, Richard Barbieri, Mike Oldfield and others.
In Cover Stories you’ll find the stories of over 70 albums, featuring contributions from the bands, artists, photographers and painters involved, all offering a unique insight into the creation of several iconic sleeves.
Includes 40 album covers at original 12-inch size. Cover Stories offers a unique insight into the creation of several iconic sleeves and includes 40 album covers at original 12-inch size.
• Further info/Order the book at Burning Shed.
Episode 21 – Toyah Willcox
Season 4, Ep. 21
I have always been a huge fan of Toyah’s so to have the chance to chat to her about everything that keeps her creative was incredible for me!
Toyah shared some of the secrets of her boundless energy, her musical inspirations and how to survive a lockdown with a husband of 35 years without throwing the kettle at him! So let’s get listening!
In loving memory of Isobel Glennie.
• Listen to The Evelyn Glennie Podcast here.
Toyah returns to Pointless Celebrities next weekend for a fifth guest appearance on the ever popular teatime quiz show. This time pairing up with Mike Nolan of Bucks Fizz/The Fizz.
Toyah was previously on the quiz show with Cheryl Baker (of Bucks Fizz) in December 2012, Mark King (of Level 42) in August 2014, Nick Heyward in September 2016, and most recently with Sonique in November 2018.
Pointless Celebrities: BBC1: Saturday 29th May: 7.15pm
Special Episode (Series 14). A celebrity special edition of the general knowledge quiz in which four teams try to come up with the answers that no-one else could think of. Presented by Alexander Armstrong and co-host Richard Osman, with contestants Mike Nolan, Toyah Willcox, Dr Linda Papadopolous, Dr Zoe Williams, Nathan Caton, Suzi Ruffell, Anthony Costa and Shaun Williamson.
