Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Some of the promo bits and pieces I created earlier this year for ‘The Changeling Resurrection’.

Toyah was interviewed in 1998 by Richard Evans. This included Toyah discussing the forthcoming CD reissues of ‘Anthem’ and ‘The Changeling’.

HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL TO KNOW THAT ‘ANTHEM’ AND ‘THE CHANGELING’ ARE COMING OUT AGAIN ON CD AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?

I’m relieved they’ve come out because for years people have been asking me to put them out and nothing’s been done about it, so I’m hugely relieved that they’ve been put out because there’s a demand. There’s a massive demand in the commercial world to use songs such as ‘It’s A Mystery’ and ‘Thunder In The Mountains’ on films and adverts which from a writers point of view I would really like to see happen as it gives the music a new audience.

What’s even better for me is that it’s ‘The Changeling’, which has been the most positively received… when we first released ‘The Changeling’ it was such a huge departure from ‘Anthem’ that it actually got slated in the press, it sold well, but not as well as ‘Anthem’ and it’s actually a better album. I mean it’s now getting better star-ratings in the reviews and that’s bloody brilliant, I’m really chuffed about that!

• Continue reading this great interview at ‘This Is Not Retro’ here.

Screen caps from the 1982 interview. Click on these to view larger versions.

This rare television interview is from that amazing Summer of 1982, the fantastic era of ‘The Changeling’. I’m not sure what the programme was called (possibly… It’ll Be A Laugh, Let’s Get The Office Junior To Do The Interviews This Week… just kidding, we love him really!). Toyah looks incredible here (how absolutely vibrant did Toyah look throughout 1982?) and talks ‘Brave New World’, making the video, ‘The Changeling’ tour dates and more.

Just hours before the first gig Toyah tweets: “NEW FACES, NEW WORDS, SEND MY KISSES TO THE OLD WORLD. C u at Brighton tonight or on tour to rock #changeling2012“. The Official Toyah Facebook also posted: Tonight is the night……. the doors blow open for @ THE CHANGELING RESURRECTION @ BRIGHTON with material not performed for 30 (and some 31) years at Brighton Concorde. Send your kisses to the old world and get ready to leave the approach……

This is an interesting interview from around the time of ‘The Changeling’ album and the UK tour. Toyah and Joel talk the music, the imagery, the fans, the songwriting, sex appeal and much more. Toyah also explains the origins of the “breast bared” photo(s) and why it was taken.

“I’d like to have Bo Derek’s body and someone else’s brain…”

It wasn’t until my third interview in nine weeks with Toyah that I felt confident enough to broach the subject of sex. As casually as I possibly could, I suggested to her that compared to other female artists ranging from Kim Wilde to Kate Bush to Souxsie, her image contains virtually no sex appeal, despite being a young, vivacious, attractive girl.

“I think, supposedly onstage, there’s much more sex appeal than in the photos” she counters. ” But I couldn’t do an Annabella (Lwin of Bow Wow Wow), I couldn’t show parts of my body…”

WHAAAT!! There’s that infamous pic of you with one breast bared and daubed with painted circles which has appeared almost everywhere from Sounds and Punk’s Not Dead to The Sun!

“Oh the ‘boob photo’ that’s the only one that exists, and no one knows why that was done” she offers matter of factly.

• Continue reading at the ‘Dreamscape Press Archive’ here.

Marking tonight’s premiere concert of ‘The Changeling Resurrection 2012’ UK tour: Available for one day only, ‘CASTAWAYS: Four (live) from Toyah’ EP.

1. Dawn Chorus/Moonlight Dancing (6.55 Special)
2. Brave New World (Get Set For Summer)
3. Street Creature (Get Set For Summer)
4. Castaways (Get Set For Summer)

Click on the artwork to view the EP at ‘Soundcloud’ or listen via the player below.

These tracks are all already available online, in video, at ‘You Tube’. As the new tour opens I thought creating an EP from them, showcasing four great live performances from ‘The Changeling’ era, would be a fitting way to celebrate this great occasion. Click here for a larger version of the artwork. (UPDATE: This is no longer available)

The full, and excellent, “Toyah Hits Brighton” art by Andrew York. Click for a larger version.

Yet another exciting Changeling tweet from Toyah yesterday: “6 songs from The Changeling gone into new set for Resurrection tour. Can’t wait. Love toyah“.

For those of you in, or heading to, Brighton for tonight’s first gig of ‘The Changeling Resurrection 2012’ tour… have a great time. For those of you not, please stay tuned to Falling To Earth throughout today for sporadic Changeling-related updates (to ease the pain just a little!). Wishing Toyah and the band an amazing first gig… (Thanks to Andrew York)

There’s now just one, yes one, day to go until the first gig of ‘The Changeling Resurrection 2012’ tour.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘The Changeling’, artist Mark Satchwill created this amazing Toyah art.

Mark said: “It’s 30 years since Toyah released The Changeling, and as she is touring the album I thought I would do a painting to mark the occasion. The painting is inspired by Toyah’s amazing and colourful image and the songs lyrics of the album. It was painted digitally in ArtRage 3.5 Pro.”

A fantastic, lasting tribute to the album, it’s lyrics, themes and imagery. Visit Mark’s official website, and his blog.

What better way to celebrate the very first gig in Toyah’s Changeling Resurrection Tour 2012 at the Brighton Concorde 2 than a Toyahtastic party after the show with a soundtrack requested by YOU!

Legendary post punk/new wave artist Toyah will be kicking off her long awaited tour of what was arguably her finest album ‘The Changeling’ at Brighton’s Concorde 2 venue incorporating some of her early groundbreaking material (as heard on the much applauded live album “Warrior Rock’) to create a stunning live show that has been eagerly awaited by Toyah fans!

Invite your friends and join everyone at The Jive Monkey (5 Steine Street, Brighton BN2 1TE) just a few minutes walk from the venue from 10pm till 2am for drinks and plenty of TOYAH TOYAH TOYAH!

FREE ADMISSION, GREAT PUB PRICED DRINKS AND A FANTASTIC FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE RIGHT IN THE HEART OF THE CITY.

• The Brighton Source: Turns out that weird woman from kids’ telly was a singer once. Had to include this just for the fact that their one sentence “article” made me laugh!

• Sign Of The Times: J is for Juju: Also in 1981 Toyah released Thunder in the Mountains… and I vividly remember having this poster next to my Fox and the Hound poster on my Bedroom wall. The ‘TITM’ image seems to be everywhere at the moment! View here.

• There’s an interesting new article on the film Starship at the ‘Revok DVD’ website. Starship is probably better known to Toyah fans as Lorca & The Outlaws. Made in 1984, Toyah appears briefly in the film, on a holographic video jukebox in the ‘Miram Bar’, performing ‘Lion Of Symmetry’. Read the article here.

• Toyah is mentioned in the ‘Gay Times’ blog Boogaloo Killed The Video Star – So, whether you want to piece together insane costumes, devise dance routines, write inappropriate lyrics or sing in your best Toyah voice…

• London Drum: Toyah Willcox, at Bush Hall London: It’s been 30 years since “The Changeling” hit the charts, and the flame-haired Toyah is still going strong. She will be celebrating the album’s 30th anniversary by performing a selection of songs from the LP, alongside some classic tracks from her back catalogue. Bush Hall is one of London’s most unique venues. Its opulent chandeliers and period plaster work betray it’s original use as an Edwardian dance hall. It is a favourite venue of up-and-coming talent, and big names that want to play an intimate gig.

• Soley Mourning: Toyah Tour: We are really looking forward to playing the gigs with Toyah over the next few weeks. Gonna be a blast!!

• The brilliant The Druids at ‘You Tube’ (by Diamondsky66, aka Dawn)

• More Toyah “press namechecks” over the last few days: Bucks Free Press: Children’s TV legend to host music fest. Times & Star: Eighties pop star David Van Day and rock act The Quireboys are the latest acts to be confirmed for Workington’s Decades festival. This is Hampshire: Radio station is in tune 40 years on. (Not only misspelling Willcox but managing to plonk a hypen into it as well – no mean feat!)

‘I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan’ in paperback is now available at Amazon Germany, France, Spain and Italy, priced €12.99. The book was already on sale at Amazon.com and .co.uk, and is also available in a Kindle edition. Further info here.

… take a look back at last year’s ‘From Sheep Farming To Anthem’ tour. View 100s of photos, from many of the dates, at the dedicated Dreamscape Gallery. (Thanks to Lärwi & Damon)

• A previously unseen photo was added to Toyah’s Official Facebook on Tuesday, with Toyah wearing a classic, and rare, Melissa Caplan outfit. The photo looks like it was taken at the same time as last year’s Dean Stockings’ promo shots for the ‘From Sheep Farming…’ tour. Toyah’s Facebook said: Just 4 days until Toyah premieres her new show THE CHANGELING RESURRECTION @ BRIGHTON with new set list and new costume….. what do you think she will be wearing? (PS it’s not the outfit in this photo). View the full/larger version of this photo at Facebook (© Dean Stockings/Official Toyah)

• Official Toyah ‘Resurrection Countdown’ tweet from Monday: “LUCK’S ON OUR SIDE, WE THROW OUR CARES INTO THE SKY, IT’S YOU & I…. 5 days until #changeling2012“.

• Toyah ‘Resurrection Countdown’ tweet from Tuesday: “EYES ALIGHT, I AM THE NIGHT… I’M A VOODOO DOLL! great rehearsal today for #changeling2012 just 4 days to go ’til Brighton Concorde“.

• This morning Toyah tweeted: “WILD BOYS WITH THEIR BATONS AND PEARLS, HELLO BOYS! WE’RE THE MIDNIGHT GIRLS Just 2days til we rock #changeling“, and then followed up with this important info: “P.S. i will be on stage at Brighton Concorde THIS SAT at 8.30pm prompt so don’t miss the start….u don’t want to!!!“

There are now just two days to go until ‘The Changeling Resurrection 2012’ is finally unleashed. What will be included in the set list? Which songs from the album have made it into the 30th anniversary celebratory tour? What will Toyah look like? What will she be wearing?

It really is fantastic that Toyah is taking the time to, yet again, indulge her fans in this way. I’m sure everyone who is heading to Brighton for Saturday’s gig must be getting ridiculously excited.

The imagery created for ‘The Changeling’ album is not only some of the finest of Toyah’s many different looks and guises but also probably the best of any pop star’s visuals. Especially when you consider that they were achieved without digital trickery, airbrushing and photoshop. Astounding creativity and ideas. The two below are particularly beautiful and timeless.

Just a reminder that Celebrity Antiques Road Trip with Toyah and Tony Blackburn, which originally aired last October, is showing again this evening on BBC2.

The programme is airing simultaneously on BBC HD, and will be available to view, post-broadcast, for one week only at ‘BBC iPlayer’ here.

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip: BBC2
Thursday 12th April: 6.30pm
Episode 4. Tony Blackburn and Toyah Willcox take to the road with antiques experts Charlie Ross and Charles Hanson. Their journey starts in the historic town of York and ends up with an auction in Stanstead, Essex.

It looks as though the DVD release of More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS has been delayed until 2013, the 50th anniversary year of Doctor Who.

The Doctor Who tv documentary Toyah participated in, filmed and televised in 1993, is to be released on DVD, as part of a set titled ‘The Legacy Box’.

The set will feature the incomplete 1979 Tom Baker story Shada (completed with animation), MTTYITT and a variety of exciting extras. There was no definite word that this would be released in 2012 but rumours were rife that it would be.

30 Years In The TARDIS originally aired on the BBC as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of Doctor Who in 1993. When an extended version was released on BBC Video in 1994, it was retitled More Than Thirty Years In The TARDIS.

The, vaguely strange, tv programme Toyah guested in back in December 2005 on E4, Rajan And His Evil Hypnotists, is repeated later this month for the first time in over six years.

Toyah is interviewed by someone who seems to think they are hypnotised, resulting in an amusing discussion. She has no idea the “interviewer” is hypnotised. Post interview, Toyah says: “I’ve just been interviewed by someone who didn’t seem to be completely giving me their attention.”

Rajan And His Evil Hypnotists: 4Music
Wed 25th April: 11.35pm/Mon 30th April : 11pm
Rajan and his evil team make a grown man petrified of Santa Claus, while 80s pop star Toyah has a most unusual chat show experience – with no idea that her host is a hypnotised member of the public. Other trance subjects drink vinegar, pour ice down their trousers, arrest the over-60s for underage drinking, and regress to being a three-year-old child in a supermarket.