Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

We danced in the hurricane at Toyah’s Brighton concert.

TOYAH + THE LAST CRY – CHALK, BRIGHTON 02.11.19

There certainly was ‘Thunder in the Mountains’ in Brighton on this wet and windy Saturday night. The wind was strong on the seafront and almost blew the bristles clean off my head. Even Toyah said onstage, that upon arriving in her chariot (car) she got blown off her feet. However, the weather wasn’t going to keep her fans from watching her perform tonight at new Brighton venue ‘Chalk‘, that’s for sure.

Anyone that was around in the 80’s will need no Toyah introduction as she was permanently on our TV screens and fully ingrained in our pop culture. She’s enjoyed a career that spans over forty years and she’s still going strong. She’s been nominated for four Brit awards, been involved in over twenty albums, written books, acted in stage-plays and appeared in TV shows and films, including of course, the legendary ‘Quadrophenia’. For the younger readers benefit, she has also provided voices for Teletubbies characters. You could say that she’s been busy.

• Continue reading at Brighton and Hove News.

Nigel Glockler – drummer on Anthem, College Tour/At The Rainbow, Four From Toyah, Anthem Tour, I Want To Be Free, Sphinx/For You, Thunder In The Mountains (yeah, like I needed to detail that but he is a legend!) – was in attendance at Toyah’s final 2019 Crimson Queen Tour date at Brighton Chalk last night. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)

Toyah plays the final band gig of the year tonight. It’s also a Crimson Queen Tour date. There are two further tour dates in January. Toyah said: “What a brilliant year. Thank u everyone xxx“.

I was barely familiar with Toyah from seeing a review of “Anthem” in the pages of “Dogfood,” our local New Wave newspaper that was published by Record Mart chain in Orlando in the late 70s/early 80s. The positive review piqued by interest as it was written by Robin Shurtz; a guy I knew from teaching English at my junior high school. Robin had interesting music tastes.

Then, in 1981, I bought an issue of Flexipop that had an ad for Toyah’s “Thunder In The Mountains” single. The extreme styling and pose of the photo was sort of like a femme take on “Aladdin Sane” but the eerie calmness of the singer’s pose looked interesting.

• Continue reading at Post Punk Monk.

Toyah played two further dates of the Crimson Queen Tour this weekend, in Manchester on Friday and Nottingham last night. There’s just one more Crimson Queen gig this year, in Brighton on Saturday 2nd November, with two final dates in January.

Here’s a selection of shots from last weekend’s Southampton and Bristol gigs. The set list includes songs from Sheep Farming in Barnet, in celebration of it’s 40th Anniversary this year. Click below to view more photos at Dreamscape’s Toyah Gallery. (Photos © Ian Davis)

A great photo of Toyah – an outtake from Take The Leap 1993 – posted at Instagram this week. (Photo © Official Toyah)

Toyah performing, the awesome, We Are – from Anthem – on the Crimson Queen Tour at The Fleece in Bristol on Saturday night. Thanks to John.

Toyah Willcox, the high priestess of punk, is looking forward to returning to the “hot steamy” gigs of her youth.

She is playing a gig at Brighton’s Chalk Live – formerly The Haunt – on November 2 and thinks it will be a blast. “I’m very fond of Brighton,” she said. “When I came here in the Sixties it was a quiet sleepy seaside town, slightly invaded by hippy culture.

“What I like about the venue we’re playing is it goes right back to the punk days, it’s a hot, steamy, stand-up venue, it goes back to the punk ethos.”

Toyah, actress, author and rebel, was a key part of the Seventies/Eighties’ punk scene and starred in cult films Quadrophenia and seminal punk epic Jubilee. Now 61, she was born in Birmingham to a family she describes as remarkable and recalls the potential privilege of her childhood – her grandfather built many of the city’s landmarks.

Despite that, she calls herself the “child from hell” and says she had a violent relationship with her mother.

• Continue reading at The Argus.

Toyah’s Crimson Queen Tour officially premieres this weekend, with two dates. The first is at The Brook, Southampton tomorrow night and the second at The Fleece, Bristol on Sunday. The tour continues next weekend, with dates at Night People, Manchester on Friday 25th and Rescue Rooms, Nottingham on Saturday 26th October.

Toyah’s Crimson Queen Tour officially premieres in Southampton later this month. Alongside material from the 2019 re-imagining of Crimson Queen, classic singles and album cuts, Toyah has today revealed there will be inclusions in the set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sheep Farming In Barnet.

Here is the flyer for the tour with all the confirmed dates. Click below for links to buy tickets.

Look out for exclusive new mugs and signed prints for sale on the Crimson Queen Tour dates – Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Sheep Farming In Barnet and Toyah’s 2019 double album In The Court Of The Crimson Queen. The 2019 Dance In The Hurricane T-shirt, CQ purple vinyl and signed vintage vinyl will also be for sale.

Earlier this evening, Breaking Through, Toyah’s official newsletter confirmed Kiss Of Reality’s eponymous, and only, album – featuring Toyah on 6 of the 11 tracks- will receive its first ever digital issue very soon in a new remastered form. Details coming soon!

Toyah’s newly published blog – for October 2019 – is available to read at toyahwillcox.com – Toyah talks the 40th Anniversary of Sheep Farming in Barnet and more. Click below to go there…

I can’t wait for the AUTUMN TOUR. We have some surprises for fans from way back in the late 70s! After all it’s the 40th anniversary of SHEEP FARMING IN BARNET. This album continues to surprise me every time I revisit it. The synth sounds are a joy, the songs are highly original and fresh today.

LAST GOODBYE is going into the set plus a few songs that haven’t been performed since 1980. Pete Bush, one of the co-writers on Sheep Farming came to St. Alban Arena last week and we dedicated Neon Womb and Danced to him.

Toyah & The Humans back catalogue is available to stream and download now by clicking on the iconic album artwork imagery below. #Toyah #discography #albums #1980s #1990s #2000s #2010s #pop #rock #thehumans #billrieflin #desire #ophelia #velvetlinedshell #taketheleap

The opening date of The Crimson Queen Tour, at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton, Dorset, is just a few hours away. Tickets are close to being sold out. Grab yours, and prepare to Dance In The Hurricane, by clicking below. See Toyah’s tweet about tonight’s tour opener gig here. Check out our In The Court Of The Crimson Queen archive here.

A belated Happy Anniversary/Birthday to an incredibly important single/AP/EP!

Not only is it one of the most important but also one of the best – all six songs are amazing and all stand the test of time, still sounding fresh, vibrant and way ahead of anything else that was released in 79!

Toyah’s second single, the Sheep Farming In Barnet (EP/AP) – following the debut single, Victims Of The Riddle, a few months earlier – was released in July 1979. The traditional EP contained four songs, Toyah’s record label wanted to differentiate from that format and decided to release SIX songs on one single (a mini album really). This was the first, and last, AP release. Tracks were: A. Neon Womb, Indecision, Waiting; B. Our Movie, Danced, Last Goodbye.

The band members were Pete Bush: Keyboards, Mark Henry: Bass, Joel Bogen: Guitar, Steve Bray: Drums, Toyah Willcox: Verbals. As with the debut single, this was a huge hit on the UK indie chart, and also increased the band’s, already growing, popularity in other parts of Europe. The, now iconic, cover shot for the single was taken at the RAF Fylingdales radar station near Whitby in Yorkshire. Unfortunately, the “golf balls” were demolished in the mid 1980′s.

• Continue the celebration – See Official Toyah’s Sheep Farming in Barnet collage/info post at Instagram (part of the Crimson Queen Tour countdown). Visit the SFIB AP page at the Toyah Discography. You can also check out our Toyah 40 Archive.

The first date of the Crimson Queen Tour 2019 is just weeks away.

Toyah’s autumn concerts tour will see her celebrate and perform material from her re-imagined double album In The Court Of The Crimson Queen, released by Edsel Records on 12 April 2019. The album, written and arranged by Toyah Willcox and Simon Darlow, presents a collection of finely honed songcraft, killer hooks and brings together two lifetimes of performing, writing and producing music.

This concert will see Toyah present songs from the album including lead single Sensational and the epic album opener Dance In The Hurricane alongside instantly recognisable classics from her revered catalogue of hit singles, live favourites and renowned album tracks. Simon Darlow will also join Toyah on stage at some of the tour dates.

• Further info and Crimson Queen Tour ticket links available at toyahwillcox.com. Check out our In The Court Of The Crimson Queen news archive here.

Catching up… Toyah is the cover star of the August issue of Let’s Talk magazine, with a great three-page interview feature inside.

Age is just a concept to Toyah as she celebrates 40 years in music

As Toyah Willcox celebrates more than 40 years as a top music draw with a performance at Holt Festival, she tells Rachel Banham about her show, why she belives that age is just a concept and how a Norfolk beach is one of her favourite places in the world.

“I’ve had a new album out this year called In The Court Of The Crimson Queen which has has national radio play, so we’re featuring the new material, but we also do the hits as well so the hits like It’s A Mystery, Good Morning Universe. I Want To Be Free, Thunder In The Mountains.. there are quite a few,” she says.

“I could actually just do the whole set of singles! It’s very high. So everyone is welcome.”

NB: Let’s Talk is a lifestyle magazine covering East Anglia, from North Essex to the “bump” that is the north Norfolk coast.

• Let’s Talk magazine is on sale now, in the aforementioned areas above, as well as online.

A brand new Radio Mix of Dance In The Hurricane is out now digitally. Toyah said of DITH: “This is my favourite song which I want to be remembered by“. Click below for links.

Dreamscape’s Toyah news for the first four, sensationally busy, months of 2019 have now been archived. Tons of interviews, press clips, live gig info, radio appearances, television listings and much more, including comprehensive coverage of the new release of Toyah’s album In The Court Of The Crimson Queen and related news… Click below to visit our News Archive, where you can also explore almost 20 years of news… news… news!