Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Neil Tennant’s Smash Hits Christmas aired on ‘BBC Radio 2′ on the 20th December 2012.

An interesting look back at the golden years of the magazine, including contributions from Toyah, talking about ‘Smash Hits’ in general as well as her iconic “Brave New World” cover from 1982. Listen to the full programme at You Tube.

Neil Tennant had a life as a journalist before he became famous as a Pet Shop Boy. In fact, it was on a Smash Hits trip to New York that he had his big breakthrough with the record producer Bobby O. Here, 30 years after his first stint on pop’s most successful and inventive magazine, Neil recalls the golden days of Smash Hits. We hear from founder and legendary magazine maker Nick Logan, editors David Hepworth and Mark Ellen, writers Miranda Sawyer and Sylvia Patterson, and from regular Smash Hits cover girl, Toyah.

In his fortnightly column, Shineback/Tinyfsh man Simon Godfrey reflects on his new life in the States.

September wasn’t just any old month boys and girls. It was the month King Crimson came to town.

Being located right next to the sound desk, I dutifully leaned over to a woman sat behind it and said ‘That guy is bootlegging the show I think.’ pointing in the direction of the bloke in front of me. It was only then that I realized the lady in question was Robert Fripp’s wife, Toyah Willcox. I’m not entirely sure what I expected Toyah to do with this information but the 14 year old boy in me who had fancied her madly back in the 1980s, probably hoped she would fell the guy with a well aimed flying kick and then thank me with a snog.

Well a boy can dream can’t he?

The reality was a little different. Toyah looked at me with a look of utter confusion on her face. In my haste to explain what I had seen over the thunderous sound of the band, I had taken to using hand gestures in an attempt to clarify what I had witnessed. To my horror, I realized that what had been an attempt to mimic the duel microphones using my index fingers either side of my head, actually looked like I was pretending to be a cow.

• Continue reading at Prog.

Former Toyah member, and all round legendary drummer, Simon Phillips is the cover star of two monthly magazines, Drummer and Rhythm, both dated October 2014. (Thanks to Lärwi)

There’s a great article on I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan, and an interview with its author, Chris Limb, in the latest (Issue 58, September 2014) of Mick Mercer’s The Mick magazine. It’s available in PDF for free and can be read by clicking below.  (Photo © Dean Stockings)

The brilliant I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan can be bought in paperback at Amazon. Visit the book’s website. Read more of Dreamscape’s IWATTF related news here.

As previously mentioned, Toyah is interviewed in the latest issue of Classic Pop magazine, in their “Godmothers Of Pop” feature.

From punk rock to Top Of The Pops, cinema and theatre to All Star Mr & Mrs – it’s been a frantically varied 33 years since Toyah’s first hit single It’s A Mystery and the Four From Toyah EP in 1981. We caught up with her at the start of an autumn packed full of live dates…

One of my personal highlights from your back catalogue is the acoustic album from 1994. The piano version of It’s A Mystery was very striking…
I liked the orchestral version as well. Every so often I’m given the chance to do something outside the norm. I’m touring an acoustic show at the moment and it’s going down a storm. It’s lovely that you can see the songwiriting, you can see the song. The song isn’t veiled with noise.

• Issue 13 (September 2014) is available now. Visit classicpop.com. (Thanks to Lärwi)

The latest issue, number 13, of Classic Pop magazine is published on 17th September, and it includes a new interview with Toyah. You can view a preview of some of the new issue pages at Facebook.

Toyah is the cover star of ‘Scene’, the magazine supplement that accompanies tomorrow’s ‘Rotherham Advertiser’. View a larger version at Toyah’s Twitter. (Thanks to Gareth Dennison)

There’s great Toyah content in, the just published, Issue 12 of Classic Pop magazine. She is pictured and mentioned in a review of Let’s Rock Bristol. There’s also a competition to win tickets for the Songs From The Intergalactic Ranch House UK Tour. Click below to visit the Classic Pop website. (Thanks to Lärwi for the scans)

Toyah is the cover star of the July – September 2014 issue of The Stroud Subscription Rooms magazine. Toyah plays an Acoustic, Up Close & Personal tourdate at the venue on 5th September. Click below to view the magazine online. (Thanks to Kevin McNamara)

• Smash Hits Yearbook 1984: The fantastic Smash Hits Archive uploaded scans of the full 1984 Yearbook at the weekend. This includes Toyah content in the “Gonna Write A Classic” feature, which has original lyrics by Toyah – View the page here, and the full Yearbook here.

• Official Countdown: Following the excellent second Digital Advent another countdown happened in early January – Toyah’s Official Facebook page posted water-themed updates, including the great cover photo from The Lady Or The Tiger. Of course these were leading to the Splash! announcement but it was also mentioned that the 1986 spoken word album has now been digitised and could be available digitally at some point in time.

• Birmingham Post: Proud city film-maker salutes hero: A Birmingham film-maker is giving away his new movie to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of city inventor Alexander Parkes… On January 18, Steve will begin his next feature production, Fun With Caravans, starring actor David Proud, who was Graham in N.F.A. “I’d love to get Toyah involved in that one,” he says – Continue reading…

• The Skinny: Film News: Derek Jarman at BFI; Boba Fett movie rumours; the death of Optimus Prime: Derek Jarman, one of the most important British filmmakers of the last 50 years, will be given an in-depth retrospective in February and March this year at London’s BFI – Continue reading…

• Toyah Live 2014: A new Acoustic, Up Close & Personal date has been added to Toyah’s gig diary: Victoria Hall, Settle on 25th July – Visit Toyah’s Official Gigs page…

• Toyah @ Twitter: Lots of tweets from Toyah through Christmas and into the New Year- Follow Toyah here…

• Splash! Tickets: The tickets for next Saturday’s show featuring Toyah’s dive are fully booked but here is the link which also includes 18 January should Toyah also be diving that evening too!

• Sugar Rush: A great new look for 2014 from The Humans’ fansite Sugar Rush.

The latest issue, number eight, of ‘Classic Pop’, is available to buy from today. The magazine counts down “The Top 100 Singles Of The 1980s – The Definitive Pop Playlist”, and Toyah’s classic 1981 single, the unforgettable ‘Thunder In The Mountains’ is included at number 51 in the list.

Classic Pop say: “Toyah had a run of eight UK chart hits from 1981 – 1985 and, joint with It’s a Mystery, this was the biggest, reaching number four in 1981. Toyah’s since become a mainstay of daytime TV and panel shows, but a quick Youtube look at Godley & Creme’s video for this song is a reminder of just how freaky and powerful she was in those days, appearing as a flash forward to the era of Florence, Marina and Paloma”.

• The magazine is available in selected stores, visit their Facebook page. (Thanks to Andrew Moore)

Uploaded to the Smash Hits Archive exactly 30 years since originally being published, the latest issue of ‘Smash Hits’. This one includes full-page songwords for ‘The Vow’. Click below to view.

A few Toyah bits & pieces included in the latest issue of ‘Smash Hits’, November 10 – 23, 1983, uploaded to the Smash Hits Archive exactly 30 years since originally being published.

Singles: Reviewed by Mark Steels TOYAH: The Vow (Safari) Not yer classic rock ballad but enough folksy guitar bits and flowery keyboard patterns to get a whole forest of peace-signs pointing skywards at next year’s Reading Festival. Laurence Olivier will love it – View at the SH Archive…

Bitz: Toyah’s latest single, “The Vow” precedes a massive British tour – her first since her pre-Christmas jaunt in ’82 – that takes her through November and December. See Dates for details  – View at the SH Archive…

Dates: Includes a Love Is The Law photo of Toyah and the full tour dates for the Rebel Run Tour  – View at the SH Archive…

Just uploaded to the Smash Hits Archive, the latest issue (October 27 – November 9 1983) of the late 70s/early 80s must-have magazine, exactly 30 years to the day it was originally published. This includes a full page advert for the Love Is The Law album and a 7 out of 10 review for the album too.

TOYAH: Love Is The Law (Safari) This has imaginatively powerful tracks such as “Broken Diamonds” and “Dreamscape” which conjure up vivid futuristic images of things such as “scrapyards of human emotion” and general planetary desolation. Even so, Toyah has developed a softer side to her music. “The Vow” is a haunting romantic melody and one of the high points of the album. Don’t know whether it will gain her any new admirers but her fans will love it (7 out of 10) Lisa Anthony

• Visit the ‘Smash Hits Archive’ here. Here are direct links to view the advert and review.

Issue 22 (October 2013) of Respect Magazine has just been published and included is a great four-page interview with Toyah. The magazine is available online in digital format and Toyah’s interview is on pages 48-51. She talks Love Is The Law, who she would like to collaborate with, her dream party guest list and much more. Click below to read at Issuu.

Dreamscape’s Love Is The Law Month doesn’t begin until Tuesday but I thought I’d add this today rather than wait, especially as it went on sale exactly 30 years ago. Toyah: Return Of The Rebel, there were more smaller articles, such as “Personal File” and the like over the next few years but this was Toyah’s final big double-page interview feature for ‘Smash Hits’. Click below to read at Dreamscape’s Press Archive.

• The full 29 September – 12 October 1983 issue has also just been uploaded to The Smash Hits Archive.

The other three mock “Q Special Edition” Toyah magazine covers Andy designed for my birthday. Just amazing! One day perhaps something like this may really happen. Thanks again to Andy and I’d like to dedicate these to Lärwi, another great friend to me and this website (thanks for the pressie & card Lärwi x). Click below to view larger versions of these covers.

I had to share this with Dreamscape’s visitors – The only way this could be better is if it was a real magazine. Andy Westhorpe has designed a collection of mock “Q Special Edition” Toyah magazine covers for my birthday this weekend, using iconic Toyah photos, and I think they are utterly fantastic. So thoughtful of Andy to take the time to do this but he has always been a great friend to me and this website. I’ll add the other three covers tomorrow. Click below to view a larger version.

A fantastic retro, and quite lengthy, Toyah interview from Finnish magazine SOUNDI.

A huge thanks to Lärwi. of The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive, for the scans and translation.

Interview by Dougie Gordon, published in June 1981.

The door opens. A short, 145 cm tall figure stands in front of me. She’s wearing a blue and grey tunic which has gold embroidery on it. The fiery red hair looks a like a burning bush against the backdrop of the outfit. The figure moves forwards like a Samurai warrior poised for an attack but you can see a smile on her face which you can not resist. She’s Toyah Willcox, England’s Jeanne d’Arc of latter times.

Her moves are a part of her carefully calculated image. She’s has consciously made herself into a mystery which invites the audience to explore her world further. But you can’t fit all of the pieces together – it’s not easy to find the real person behind this made-up facade. Her aggression can turn into warmth in a second – and the other way round. Her mindset changes from a hearty laugh into the deepest despair. Her sentences are deep and meaningful half of the time, the other half you’re left wondering what on earth is she on about? Toyah is like dynamite made out of flesh, the slightest emotional spark will set her off.

She also has a soft sweeter side which the audience rarely gets to see. The aggression she hides behind when dealing with the mass media is of course there on purpose. The media in turn treats her with contempt and suspicion. For this reason she feels misunderstood and defends herself in a way even Lou Reed would be proud of.

• Continue reading at Dreamscape’s Press Archive. Read another rare Finnish interview with Toyah here.

The Smash Hits Archive collection at flickr has a new layout, making browsing each issue far easier than previously. The archive is currently at mid 1983, with tons of Toyah content including her three cover issues: View 27 November – 10 December 1980, September 3 – 16 1981 and May 27 – June 9 1982.

• More retro Toyah magazine articles: View Toyah articles from three issues of 80’s music magazine ZigZag. (Thanks to John Kidd)

A rare 1982 article from German music magazine Popcorn, featuring great photos of Toyah, Joel Bogen and Phil Spalding from ‘The Changeling’ Tour. Would any German visitors care to translate? Click below to view a larger version. (Thanks to Glyn Whelan for this great scan)