It looks like the forthcoming ‘Changeling Resurrection II’ tour dates could be your last opportunity to see a “Toyah” gig for the next year: Toyah says in her latest blog: “If you missed the spring dates, be sure to catch the autumn because live TOYAH dates possibly won’t be happening again for about 12 months!” The tour begins very soon – a week tomorrow in Middlesbrough – Check out the full itinerary and ticket links by clicking below.
The fantastic ‘In The Fairground’ from Four More From Toyah was included in Q The 80s playlist (Show #105) yesterday evening. Such a great song. View the songwords and click below to view a larger version of the photo (Thanks to David Herd & Andrew York)
• I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan: The Kindle edition of “I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan” is available for just 80p at Amazon – A coming of age tale of Adolescent Misadventures in Eighties Pop. You don’t have to have a Kindle to read it – Kindle editions are also readable on iPhones, iPads, Macs, PCs and many more portable devices with the Kindle app. The paperback has been dropped to £5.99 + P&P on Lulu.
• Behind The Sofa: Celebrity Memories Of Doctor Who: In which Toyah contributes a memory, is now available to pre-order and goes on general release, in print and digitally, in late September: Behind The Sofa is a collection of over 100 celebrity memories of Doctor Who, compiled in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK. Steve Berry decided to undertake this project in memory of his mother Janet, who suffered from Alzheimer’s in her final years and passed away in 2009. The book has taken more than four years to put together and its publication has been “crowd-funded” by the pre-orders of an enthusiastic Whovian community. More details at Troubador and Amazon.
• The Changeling Tour 1982: ‘Angel and Me’, live at the, now demolished, Glasgow Apollo in July 1982. Listen at Fuck Yeah Toyah – and browse some rare photos too, including Toyah with Marianne Faithfull in 1981!
• Angels and Demons: 350 Months Later: Some of the A&D Toyah fans, who famously provided backing vocals on the title track of ‘Love Is The Law’ in Summer 1983, revisited the Mermaid Theatre last week, 30 years after they made it their temporary home while Toyah played Trafford Tanzi. View some photos of the reunion at the ‘I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan’ Facebook.
• From Sheep Farming To Anthem 2011: Ieya at the 02 Islington, London in June 2011. View at You Tube. (Thanks to Mark Evans)
As previously reported, Toyah is the cover star of the Autumn 2012 issue of the National Trust Magazine.
Did you know? The magazine has a readership of 3.76 million, and it currently has the sixth highest magazine circulation in Britain (and that figure doesn’t include the digital version).
Three issues are sent out every year – Spring, Summer and Autumn – and are delivered as part of the National Trust members’ mailout, which includes local newsletters and other information for Trust members.
Meaning those great photos of Toyah with the umbrella will be seen by almost four million people! View the digital version online.
Punk princess Toyah Willcox has named Croome Park, near Pershore, as her favourite place to walk.
The actress and singer, who lives in Pershore, named the historic landscape park as her top spot as its owners the National Trust launched a nationwide search to discover the country’s Ten Greatest British Walks.
She said: “Croome Park is just absolutely stunning. It’s designed yet you think you’re in natural countryside. You look out across these gentle rolling hills and you see wonderful monuments, follies and statues and the lake in particular is really lovely.”
• Continue reading at Worcester News.
Toyah Willcox: The reason I became a make up artist.
In the studio today playing one of my favourite 80′s playlists from my iPod, a Toyah Willcox track came on. I was describing to my model (who hadn’t even been born in Toyah’s heyday) the very first time I saw Toyah perform on TV as a girl. I was blown away by her New Romantic/Punk image, her trademark flame red hair and her incredible make up. This was the first time I consciously thought, “I want to be a make up artist!”.
• Continue reading at The Truth About Beauty.
Toyah’s September blog is now available to read at toyahwillcox.com. A busy update, direct from Toyah, with news on the forthcoming Autumn tour, The Humans’ third album recording sessions in Seattle, unintentionally breaking BBC cameras, being the ‘National Trust’ cover girl, not opening fetes and much more… Click below for a great read.
The seventh monthly online live track has been added to Toyah’s official website. It’s the mighty ‘Bird in Flight’, recorded live at the Ruby Lounge, Manchester in April of this year, on ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ Spring tour.
Toyah’s official website will be offering visitors exclusive live tracks each month as ‘The Changeling Resurrection II’ tour approaches. At the beginning of each month an exclusive live track recorded from Toyah’s extensive 2011 tour dates will feature on the Gigs page.
The live tracks will be available to listen to for a limited time only with a new track replacing it each month. These live tracks are a taster for a special live album release planned for digital release in autumn/winter of 2012.
• Listen to ‘Bird in Flight’, live at the Ruby Lounge, Manchester, here | View news on the previous live tracks here (these are no longer available).
Three more photos of Toyah from another late 70s session, and this one is definitely 1979. These were taken in, and around, Toyah’s famous Mayhem warehouse in Battersea, London. The first photo has been around for a few years but the others have just recently surfaced online. Click on each to zoom. (Thanks to Craig Watkins/1, and Andi/2&3)
Another old/new photo from the late 70s (fourth along). Here is the full, or at least what’s available of the, photo session, of Toyah at Mayhem in, either, late 1978 or very early 1979! Excellent early photos of Toyah – Click below to view larger. (Thanks to Andi who has sent these to Dreamscape as they became available over the years – a great collection)
• Trey Gunn’s The Third Star album, originally released in 1996, was reissued in a remastered/extended edition last year, with six unreleased tracks. Toyah, of course, co-wrote and sings vocals on the brilliant ‘Symbiotic’. More info here.
• The Burbank Leader: DVD review: ‘Quadrophenia’ gets remixed: The visuals have been nicely restored, but the greatest effort has clearly gone into the creation of a 5.1 surround track.
• Toyah @ Twitter: Lots of tweets over the last few days from Seattle, and the recording sessions for The Humans’ third elpee!
• Shapers Of The 80s: Are giving The Changeling Resurrection II a great ‘plug’ at their website: ✱ Sep 19–Nov 3: Expect new sounds and new styles as Toyah Willcox celebrates various 30th anniversaries with her Changeling Resurrection II Tour, roaming the UK from Middlesbrough to Brighton.
• The Official Toyah Facebook is getting ready for The Changeling Resurrection II.
Very sad news. Terry Nutkins, presenter of Animal Magic and bona fide kid”s TV legend, passed away yesterday. Toyah appeared on Animal Magic in 1982, alongside presenters Johnny Morris and Terry, when a mischievious monkey was named after her. Rest in Peace, Terry.
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: BBC Lifestyle (Sweden): Friday 21st September: 12.15pm
The original punk girl has set her heart on moving to the Richmond area.
Celebrity Ghost Stories UK: Bio: Friday 21st September: 11.00pm
Sue Cook reveals creepy encounters with a malevolent nutcracker and a UFO, Toyah Willcox speaks of a spooky apparation, and Alex Fearns discusses sinister sounds he caught on tape.
The issue of ‘Lifestyle’ magazine mentioned a few days ago, with Toyah as the cover star, is now available to read online in digital format.
The entertainment and arts publication is available to buy in the North East of England region.
As well as being the undisputed Queen of Punk, Toyah Willcox is also a celebrated actress and has played everybody from Mad, in punk film Jubilee, to Calamity Jane. Nicolle Thompson chatted to the talented chameleon about her hometown, growing old and the huge impact punk had on a generation.
Just last month you became the inaugural star on the new King’s Heath Walk of Fame!
It’s very, very sweet. The business people of King’s Heath put this together because King’s Heath has this amazing history which I actually didn’t know about. People like The Beatles did their first gig in King’s Heath, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and people like Laurel and Hardy even performed there.
• Read the full three-page interview, Toyah: Still Hot, online here.
Toyah is the cover star of the Autumn 2012 issue of the ‘National Trust Magazine’, plus an interview & great photos.
This season sees the start of our big walking festival, with some 3,000 outdoor events scheduled for our sites nationwide. To help us launch it we’ve asked four familiar faces to reveal where – and why – they love to roam…
Toyah Willcox: Singer, author and presenter, at Croome
The benefits of walking are so underestimed! It’s free and it gives you instant access to the wonderful diversity of the British landscape. I think it’s so important to walk; to explore and to escape your very day routine – it’s so good for your body and mind. I’ve always loved walking as it has proved to be the perfect exercise for me. I’ve had problems with my joints throughout my life, particularly my hips, so I can’t go running…
Croome is a very special place to walk. I live nearby and make sure I come here at least twice a month…
• Continue reading online at the digital edition of the ‘National Trust Magazine’. It is also available to buy for £3.95 as a physical publication. (Photos © National Trust)
Pershore celebrity Toyah Willcox is urging people in the Vale to explore the sights of the countryside by taking part in the Great British Walk.
The actress, singer and writer wants as many people to join National Trust’s new campaign which aims to celebrate the British countryside in the autumn season. In order to celebrate this, more than 3,000 walking events, activities and trails at National Trust places across Britain including the Vale’s own Croome Court near Pershore.
And the former I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here star urged people to view the surroundings at Croome. “Croome Park is just absolutely stunning,” she said. “It’s designed yet you think you’re in natural countryside. You look out across these gentle rolling hills and you see wonderful monuments, follies and statues and the lake in particular is really lovely. You truly feel you own the whole park while you walk around it.”
• Continue reading at the Evesham Observer.
The ‘Vintage TV’ September newsletter has been emailed to subscribers, and again Toyah is mentioned in one of their updates.
Three is a magic number: Excitement is in the air as we begin our third year of broadcasting. Our audience continues to grow like our enthusiasm for bringing you the best in classic music television programming. Thanks to you, our viewers, our own independent productions continue to swell, giving the artists and celebrities you care about a chance to talk directly about the vintage music that we love. Toyah Willcox, Janice Long, Mike Hurst, Pat Sharp, Nik Kershaw and many others in the coming months will appear exclusively on Vintage TV, here and even further afield as we premiere internationally. The third time is a charm it seems, and we look forward to discovering more vintage music with you in 2013.
• It’s already been confirmed that Toyah will present a new (possibly 12-part) music series on ‘Vintage TV’, beginning later this year.
Over the last, almost, 13 years Dreamscape has been sent thousands of photos of Toyah from the numerous live gigs, tours and PA’s of the late 90’s, through the Noughties and into this decade (the Teenies?). I’m thinking of maybe celebrating the generous photographers by looking back at some of their photos in a new feature I’m considering calling ‘Fotofriends’ (hey! stop sniggering). To begin with… Brian Marsh, and just a few of his great Toyah photos.
These are from: 80’s Weekender, Camber Sands (March 2010), The Faerie Ball, Canterbury (April 2011), The 48 Hour Party, Camber Sands (March 2009), Battle Abbey, Hastings (August 2007), and the main photo is from The Best Of The 80’s UK Tour (October 2004). That’s Brian with Toyah at Target 30: The Quadrophenia Convention (April 2008), bottom left.
Five more amazing, and rare, photos, featuring three icons: Toyah, Hazel O’Connor and Ian Dury. These are from the April 1980 gig by The Stranglers at The Rainbow Theatre, London. View our other related posts here. View the full versions of the photos below at Dreamscape’s Gallery. I’d like to dedicate these great photos to Alec Kelly! (Thanks again to Andi)
10 Things I Learned: Quadrophenia, By Susan Arosteguy
2. Quadrophenia was made in 1979, at the height of the British punk movement, and the filmmakers contemplated casting a punk musician as the lead, to lend Jimmy an authentic air of rebellion. They considered Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols for the role, but the film’s insurance company refused to allow him to be cast. Rotten apparently would have turned down the role anyway, saying he didn’t want to “live out any of Pete Townshend’s fantasies.”
4. Wingett and Phil Daniels, who ultimately played Jimmy, were reunited a year after Quadrophenia came out, in Brian Gibson’s 1980 cult film Breaking Glass, starring Hazel O’Connor as a singer in a new wave band struggling to get to the top. The film was coproduced by the future boyfriend of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed.
• Continue reading at The Criterion Collection.
