Toyah will be interviewed on ‘BBC WM’ at around 8.30am on Monday. Pete Morgan @ Breakfast airs at this time, so presumably the interview will be part of this show.
Toyah will receive her star at her induction to the the “Walk Of Fame” York Road, King’s Heath at 11.30am. It will be presented by Bev Bevan, followed by a celebratory lunch in Kings Heath. The Homecoming gig at the Hare and Hounds takes place on Monday evening. Doors open at 7.30pm. (Thanks to Colette Timothy)
Thanks to Wayne Evans for a fantastic Toyah Special. A great interview and so good to hear all those legendary Toyah songs on the radio! The full playlist was: Elusive Stranger; Ieya; Angel & Me; Blue Meanings; Street Creature; Brave New World; Victims Of The Riddle; Race Through Space; Danced; It’s A Mystery; Jungles Of Jupiter; We Are; I Want To Be Free; Latex Messiah (Viva La Rebel In You); These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.
A few news snippets gleaned from the interview: Toyah also revealed there are four new songs already written and she will be getting together with Simon Darlow to work on a new album. There will also be a new image for the Autumn ‘Changeling Resurrection II’ tour, and the third Humans album will be recorded in Seattle in September. The 60-date tour for next year, mentioned by Toyah in a press interview last week is a “Rock with Laughter” comedy tour, with Toyah providing the music.
Look out for a full transcript of the interview at ‘The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive’ soon.
Rebel Run, Victims Of The Riddle, Blue Meanings, Elusive Stranger, Latex Messiah (Viva La Rebel In You) and Little Tears Of Love have all been confirmed for the setlist(s) at this Monday’s Hare & Hounds gig.
The latter five won’t feature on the Autumn ‘Changeling Resurrection II’ tour and are being performed exclusively on Monday evening as part of the special 2-set retrospective gig. (News Source: Official Toyah Facebook)
Just an hour to go until the Wayne’s Asylum Toyah Special airs on Switch Radio. 15 Toyah classics plus an exclusive interview with the Homecoming Queen prior to being the first ‘King’s Heath Walk Of Fame’ inductee on Monday! Listen online live by clicking below…
PREVIEW: Toyah Willcox – Walk of Fame presentation & concert @ Hare & Hounds, July 16th
Musician, songwriter, actress and author, Toyah Willcox is one of Birmingham’s best known contemporaries.
And on Monday July 16th, Toyah will be the first person celebrated on King Heath’s Walk of Fame, with her memorial star being presented on York Road – before a one off concert at the Hare & Hounds.
Born in Kings Heath, growing up in the family house on Grove Road, Toyah Willcox is a self confessed enemy of convention. Reportedly suffering bullying at school, due to her limp (from a spine defect at birth) and lisp, Toyah turned the tables one day, when she ‘got into class, picked up chair and threw it at the main bully.’
After school, Toyah worked to pay her way through drama school; where a chance referral saw her as ‘Sue’ – in Tony Bicat’s short play ‘Glitter’. From there Toyah was picked for a place at the National Theatre, where she met Derek Jarman – first appearing as ‘Mad’ in his seminal punk film, ‘Jubilee’.
• Continue reading at Birmingham Review.
Someone has, just today, uploaded the full HQ Rock In The City Toyah Special, from 1981, to You Tube. A 30-minute programme filmed at Toyah’s Ulster Hall, Belfast gig: Setlist: Race Through Space, Angels & Demons, It’s A Mystery, Indecision, Danced, It’s A Mystery (again), plus an interview with Toyah! Click below to watch. View larger versions of the caps here.
NB: Screen caps not taken from the YT upload. These are my originals first posted years ago!
• Had some lovely feedback on the recent Classic Toyah photos and articles I’ve been adding. As someone said: “it’s good to mix the old with the new”. Toyah has such a rich and vast career history so delving into it is a good idea (I think!). There are more press & photos to come, including larger versions of the photos to the right. (Thanks to Andi Westhorpe for making so many Toyah goodies available | Thanks also to Andrew York)
• Toyah and Robert were filmed all day yesterday for a BBC documentary on the tradition of marriage. Mr Fripp even agreed to be interviewed for the docu!! (News Source: Official Toyah Twitter)
• On a personal note: I’d just like to say a huge congratulations to Toyah on her induction into the King’s Heath Walk Of Fame. I grew up reading interviews with Toyah talking about her early life and teenage years in King’s Heath. How exciting for her to be honoured by her hometown. I’m sure Monday will be a great day and a proud moment for Toyah!
The Wayne’s Asylum Toyah Special airs this evening on Switch Radio.
As well as Wayne’s exclusive interview there will also be 15 Toyah songs, hit singles and album tracks, played through the show, so this really isn’t to be missed!
A great way to kick off the build-up to Monday’s ‘King’s Heath Walk Of Fame’ induction and the Hare & Hounds gig. Listen online from 7pm.
The winning songs in the ‘Walk Of Fame’ setlist vote, both of which will be played at next Monday’s Hare & Hounds gig, are Blue Meanings and Elusive Stranger.
From VICTIMS OF THE RIDDLE to LATEX MESSIAH via BRAVE NEW WORLD… this gig promises to be a very special night for Toyah fans. An unmissable concert with classic album tracks, singles, b-sides & rarely performed tracks. Tickets are available here.
IT’S NO MYSTERY
Toyah Willcox will be going back to her roots with a full band performance at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath on Monday (7.30pm). The Walk of Fame concert will include two sets spanning Toyah’s punk beginnings…
• Continue reading at the Birmingham Mail.
Yet another rare retro Toyah interview. This one is from ‘Rock Star News’ in 1980 and it’s vaguely bizarre. Definitely “of its time” but still an interesting read. Toyah talks ‘The Blue Meaning’, death dreams, her teenage years and more. Click below to read. View all of our recent retro Toyah press articles & interviews here. (Thanks again to Andi)
It’s the most exciting date on the Fylde calendar! Cuffe & Taylor present the Lytham Proms Festival Weekend from Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th August.
Friday is the ultimate pop party with Here and Now – The Very Best of the 80s. DJ Pat Sharp will kick off an incredible line up of acts including Rick Astley, The Real Thing, Belinda Carlisle, Toyah, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Bananarama and T’Pau.
• Continue reading at Radio Wave 96.5fm | View more Lytham Proms news.
Previously available, and definitely worth another look! Random Toyah songwords: Sphinx; Dreamscape; Lion of Symmetry; Symbiotic. Please click on each to view larger versions.
Also available: The complete songwords for Four More From Toyah, and The Changeling (+ Paradise Child). Plus the ‘From Sheep Farming To Anthem’ set: Computer; Elusive Stranger; Bird in Flight; Blue Meanings; Love Me; Obsolete; For You.
Florence & The Machine’s ‘Spectrum’ is on course to enter the UK Top 40 at number one this Sunday. If it does so it will be the band’s first. Florence’s image, and the imagery used in the accompanying promo video, is very Toyahesque (with a smidge of Kate Bush too).
The fifth monthly online live track has been added to Toyah’s official website. It’s ‘Demolition Men’, recorded live at Ropetackle Arts Centre in October 2011, on the ‘From Sheep Farming To Anthem’ tour.
Toyah’s official website will be offering visitors exclusive live tracks each month as Toyah’s summer festival/concert dates and The Changeling Resurrection II approach. 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 ‘Demolition Men’, live at Ropetackle Arts Centre, here | View news on the previous live tracks here (these are no longer available).
It’s now confirmed that Toyah will be playing at the ‘Here and Now: The Very Best Of The 80’s’ show at Glasgow Green on Saturday 21st July.
The Biggest Party On The Green This Summer. Join Rick Astley, Belinda Carlisle, Paul Young, Toyah, The Real Thing, Curiosity Killed The Cat and Carol Decker (T’Pau) at Glasgow Green.
Here And Now brings the best of the ’80s artists together for a night of nostalgia, hit after hit at Glasgow Green.
From the first Here And Now in 2001 the shows have become a runaway success and have been attended by over one million people worldwide. The Here and Now tour is stopping off at Glasgow Green this summer.
Buy tickets here | View all of our H&N Glasgow Green news.
The film airs on TV at least once every couple of months, most recently on BBC4, STV, ITV4 and Sky Indie, it’s just about to be released on Region 1 Blu-ray, and it seems to be as popular now as it was when first released 33 years ago! Quadrophenia! Here are a few rare items related to the film that I’ve spotted over the years: An advert for the soundtrack album; Japanese promo poster for the film; Japanese movie program, a car bumper sticker; and the Quadrophenia poster magazine. View a larger version of these and the full poster mag.
Another retro Toyah interview, this one from ‘Zig Zag’ magazine in mid-1980. Alan Anger follows Toyah on the first few dates of the, now legendary, ‘Ieya Tour’. It’s a really interesting read: Last time I did a feature on Toyah was in March. It was based on an interview with Miss Willcox just as she and her band began to take off outside London. Since then, Toyah have been regular chart toppers of the alternative charts, her appearance in Derek Jarman’s film of ‘The Tempest’ has received much acclaim and the band have, by now, completed a UK tour to coincide with the release of the new album, “The Blue Meaning”. Click below to read. (Thanks again to Andi)
• British comedy legend Eric Sykes passed away on 4th July. There have, of course, been numerous tributes to him and his fantastic career over the last week. A number of these have also mentioned Toyah! Why? Well, Toyah and Eric shared the distinction of being two of the three voices on the opening credits of the phenomenon that was/is Teletubbies.
• BBC America: RIP Eric Sykes: Five Of His Best Moments: Teletubbies: The first voice you hear is that of flame-haired post-punker Toyah Willcox, the second is Eric Sykes. You might want to switch off after a bit, unless you’re really into pre-literate TV. Kinda relaxing though, isn’t it…
• Music-News.com yesterday mentioned Toyah in their Learn to play with Elbow and The Charlatans at BIMM Music Summer Schools article: Incidentally, can you guess the musical link between the Foo Fighters, Toyah Willcox, Alien Sex Fiend, Ke$ha, Gwar and the cast of Glee? Yes, they all covered the title track from Alice Cooper 1972 album School’s Out.
• Lärwi’s been busy with her new All Toyah ‘You Tube’ channel. Already added are ‘Nine to Five’ by Maneaters, Sheep Farming In Barnet, Bird in Flight/Tribal Look, The Blue Meaning and all the songs from the 1981 singles It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free!
…on King’s Heath’s Walk of Fame
Singer and actress Toyah Willcox is to be honoured as the first star on King’s Heath’s very own Walk of Fame on York Road on Monday 16 July at 11.30 a.m. Interviewed recently on Radio WM, Toyah said “My DNA is firmly rooted in King’s Heath. Not only was I born on Grove Road, my grandfather, a construction developer, built most of the buildings there. And then my father took over the business that was then known as Willcox-Lang”. Later in the evening Toyah will play a special intimate homecoming show at the Hare & Hounds with tickets priced £15 available at www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk
Toyah’s induction is the latest stage in an ambitious plan to create a Walk of Fame to rival that of Hollywood. Starting last month with the unveiling of the first Musical Heritage Plate to commemorate the Ritz Ballroom, it has continued with the erection of a specially commissioned Guitar and Microphone Floral Display as part of Kings Heath’s 2012 Britain in Bloom entry. And now Toyah is to be honoured in the first pavement plaque.
• Continue reading at King’s Heath Floral Trail.
• On This Day: It feels like only yesterday but four years ago today the artwork for Toyah’s most recent studio album ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen’ was revealed by toyahwillcox.com. Toyah has recently said that she will be working again with Simon Darlow on a new solo album.
• Lytham Proms: Pat Sharp To Kickstart Lytham Proms!!! Toyah plays this festival which takes place between 3rd – 5th August 2012.
• Brian Aris took some incredible photos of Toyah in the early to mid 1980s. One of those shots is available to buy as a signed print.
• A recent screenshot of Toyah is included at the Track 2 website, in their “head & shoulders” section.
• Apparently there have been rumours that this year’s ‘Rock & Bike Festival’ isn’t going ahead! The official festival website says: The show is going ahead, don’t listen to those rumours!! Gates open Midday on Thursday. Toyah comperes on Saturday and guests on a couple of songs with The Sweet too!
