“I’ve got Broken Diamonds going round & around & around in my head! One week till first show!“, Toyah tweeted today. Click below to view all the ‘Love Is The Law & More’ tour dates and links to buy your tickets. Click here to view a larger version of Dreamscape’s “Broken Diamonds” picture, and here to visit our ‘Love Is The Law: The Complete Songwords’ page. (Original photo by Dean Stockings © Toyah Willcox Ltd)
• Manchester Pride 2013: Toyah played a 30 minute set last night at the Pride event. She tweeted: “WOW! That was the most electrifying manchester pride ever! Massive jubilant crowd. Thank you“. A selection of video clips have been uploaded to You Tube – View here…
• Demotix: Annual Pride festival culminates with the Big Weekend in Manchester: Some great photos of Toyah from last night’s Pride at the Network for Freelance Photojournalists – View here…
• Reality Meltdown: As the saying goes – There’s no such thing as bad publicity – so the fact that two reality shows Toyah has appeared in make Buzz Feed’s “The 17 Most Forgettable Celebrity Reality Shows” anti-poll is vaguely impressive – Continue reading…
• Upton Festival 2013: Toyah tweeted about playing the Upton Festival on Saturday: “Upton Festival thank u. Great weather, great audience, fab sound, band amaz.”
• Pinterest: I Was An 80s Teenager – Includes some shots of Toyah – View here…
• Brighton’s Big Screen: Quadrophenia: The classic movie is showing in Brighton next month – Another MOD invasion hits Brighton Beach this August Bank Holiday Sunday. At 7pm on Sunday 25th August before the showing of Quadrophenia, Rock ‘n’ Roll Productions, in association with Brighton’s Big Screen are presenting, for ONE NIGHT ONLY, a very special preview performance of: All Or Nothing The Mod Musical – Continue reading…
• Lion of Symmetry: There’s an obscure instrumental of this mid-80s Toyah song at CD Baby. It’s by a Dutch synth musician who is a huge Tony Banks fan – Listen here to a preview… (Thanks to Giddy Gavin – Have a wonderful brave new world in Wales Gavin x)
• Fragile Humans: Rare footage of Toyah recording the This Fragile Moment album in Estonia, June 2009 – Watch at You Tube…
• Northern Pride 2013: A great selection of photos, including over a dozen of Toyah onstage in Newcastle last weekend – View at flickr…
• Jack Up The 80s: The times and running order for next month’s festival has been announced. Toyah plays on Sunday 11th August at 4pm – View more info…
• Thunder in The Mountains: The stormy weather caused many mentions of TITM on Twitter this week! Most notably was Record Collector Magazine – “RC tuned to Toyah’s euphoric Thunder In The Mountains. Not to mention in urban industrial wastelands.” – View at Twitter…
• Tatton Park Picnic Concerts 2013: Toyah backstage with Gallowglass security man Vince at last weekend’s Tatton concert – View at Twitter…
• You Tubing: Toyah talks dyslexia and the Dore Programme. I think this is from a few years ago but has just been uploaded – Watch at You Tube…
• The Producers’ Forum: Members’ & Colleagues’ News, July Week 2: Debbie Isitt Event – Tom Lawes ( Electric Flix) who sponsored the event brought his neighbour Toyah Willcox!!..can you spot her? – Continue reading… (Thanks to Sara)
• Rock The Stadium: Another great photo of Toyah onstage in fantastic Falkirk at the weekend. (Photo © Rock The Stadium/Emma Gray Photography)
• Toyah @ Twitter: WHY? – This is sad but it really doesn’t surprise me. There is no respect for anything these days.
• Ekspress.ee: Weekend Guitar Trio/Toyah Willcox/Jan Bang – “Live at King’s Place”: A review of the album (in Estonian, I think!)
• Wave 102: Interviews: Dave chats to Toyah Willcox – Not me, Dave from ‘Wave 102’. A recent audio interview, scroll down the page to listen.
• DVD Active: Doctor Who: Regeneration (UK – DVD R2): Toyah is mentioned in this, frankly, massive review of the new Doctor Who box set – The last couple of scenes with William Hartnell have a sense of eeriness to them, as you can see that The Doctor really isn’t well and he cryptically says something to Ben and Polly before heading off into the TARDIS and falling over shortly afterward; it’s easy to imagine that young viewers at the time must have been scared when they watched it, as the concept of regeneration hadn’t been mentioned then, let alone stuck in the public consciousness like it is today and Toyah Wilcox said it best in Thirty Years in the TARDIS, when she said “in my eyes, he was dying“.
Toyah at Rock The Stadium in Falkirk on Saturday, playing the ‘Here and Now’ concert alongside Paul Young, Altered Images, Five Star and many more. View other photos here and here. Click below to view a larger version of the photo. (Thanks to @RockTheStadium)
A great photo of Toyah, looking forward to playing the Jack Up The 80s festival later in the Summer. ‘Jack Up The 80s’ say “80’s icon Toyah is gearing up for her performance on Sunday 11th August at Jack Up The 80’s!“. View a larger version of the photo by clicking below, and further info on ‘Jack Up The 80s’ here. (Thanks to @JackUpThe80s)
• Toyah @ Twitter & Instagram: Toyah has been tweeting and Instagramming photos a-plenty over the last few weeks: Love Is The Law & More, WillyFred, fanmail, food, Robert Fripp, Rock The Stadium…
• Jubilee: A rare-ish photo of Jordan and Toyah was recently listed on Ebay.
• Stamford Advocate: The Original Punks: Circa 1980: British actress and pop singer Toyah Willcox, lead singer of the punk band Toyah.
• Chester Chronicle: Toyah Willcox stars in Hormonal Housewives at Crewe’s Lyceum Theatre: There was the feisty, whip-cracking heroine of Calamity Jane, then a femme fatale devil in high-heeled boots in Vampire’s Rock. Now Toyah Willcox is one of a trio of ‘hormonal housewives’ in the show of the same name which visits Crewe’s Lyceum Theatre next week.
• The Mirror: Trending Today: Toyah Willcox · Robert Fripp · Richard Hammond · Harry Potter · Rod Stewart.
• Twitter: Toyah tweeted earlier today that the Autumn tour dates will be announced very, very soon – London, Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Brighton and more.
• This is Lincolnshire: Housewives get personal about all things female: The Hormonal Housewives are back on stage and in discussion, getting up close and humorously personal about all things female, with their spring national tour.
• Daily Track: Toyah was the “daily track” for four days running this week … ‘It’s A Mystery’, ‘Thunder In The Mountains’, ‘Danced’, and ending with ‘I Want To Be Free’ on Tuesday.
• Worcester News: Win a pair of tickets to see Hormonal Housewives at Chelmsford Civic Theatre!
• Toyah @ Twitter: A couple of interesting tweets from Toyah recently: “Just driven past Battle. Where Sheep farming In Barnet was recorded ……35yrs ago !!!!!!!” and “…on another subject Toyah Autumn dates will announced soon“. Twitter is also a great way to stay updated on Hormonal Housewives with news direct from Toyah.
• Edinburgh Evening News: City star of The Voice happy for second chance: Toyah is mentioned in this article on former Bilbo Baggins singer Colin Chisholm. Colin appeared in Glitter in 1976, alongside Toyah in her first TV role.
• Tamworth Herald: Laughs and gasps aplenty at Garrick: They have caused “mayhem and mania in theatres across the country” – and now the Hormonal Housewives cast are heading to Lichfield.
• Toyah received a name check on the Snooker World Championships 2013 on Wednesday afternoon: “As Toyah Willcox said, it’s a mystery…” said one of the commentators. The snooker is currently airing on BBC2 and Eurosport.
• Unless there’s something we aren’t privvy to yet it looks like yesterday’s Evening Standard got a little confused. I think we can categorically confirm that Rizzle Kicks are not, and never have been, Toyah’s band :) Click on the clipping to zoom. (Thanks to Larwi)
• This did cause much merriment last night on Twitter. One tweet in particular I did find slightly amusing: “Whilst stuck on the m’way all night, Cheryl Baker, Toyah and Rizzlekicks have formed a 2 girl 2 boy band. Bucks Fizzlekicks“.
• You are probably all very bored with hearing/reading about the weather/traffic by now, but here are just a few more reports anyway (when did Dreamscape ever subscribe to the “less is more” notion?): Celebrity Hollywood Gossip: Toyah Willcox Among Stars Caught Up In Snow Hell, another article from the Mirror: Going Snowhere: Pop stars Rizzle Kicks, Cheryl Baker and Toyah Willcox among hundreds stranded in cars overnight, Scotsman: Cold Snap To Last Most Of Week: Toyah Willcox and hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks also posted details of their battles through snow-covered roads.
• Every little thing that you say or do… I couldn’t resist giving yesterday’s photo of Toyah as Madonna, circa Hung Up/Confessions On A Dancefloor, a bit of a makeover. Time goes by, so slowly! Click to zoom!
• Toyah has tweeted about the first night of Hormonal Housewives: “An exceptionally good First night. Great audience, great show. WOW! Loving it“. Toyah fan Jacqui Keeler saw the show last night in Bromley and loved it, saying Toyah is full of energy.
• Hormonal Housewives second show is tonight at the Ipswich Regent Theatre.
• PR Newswire: Toyah is mentioned (as a supporter of previous BUAV campaigns) in this press release today: Joanna Lumley, Twiggy, Jenny Seagrove, Chrissie Hynde and Kimberly Wyatt Join Cruelty Free International to Celebrate the End of Animal Cosmetics Testing in Europe
• Toyah fan Vanessa has named her gorgeous new goat after one of her favourite female singers. The newly christened Toyah not only now shares the same name but also has very similar looking Changeling horns too. (Thanks to Vanessa)
• The Hormonal Housewives are now into their third week of rehearsals. There are now only six days until the first show at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley. Info here.
• A new Creative Team page has been added, and updated, at the Official Hormonal Housewives website.
• Toyah has tweeted a couple of updates about rehearsals over the last couple of days: “Starting 2 get 1st night nerves! Just a week 2 go. Rehearsed bizarrest dance I’ve ever done“, and “ran ACT 1, 4 1st time today. It’s really good fun, but wait 4 my madonna dance end of act 2! Its the weirdest thing!”
• The Cresset What’s On: The Show Everyone’s Talking About: A great page dedicated to Hormonal Housewives, which plays at The Cresset Theatre, Peterborough on 12th March.
• Term Times Family Magazine: Win A Pair Of Tickets To See Hormonal Housewives: To win “Like” the Term Times Facebook page and share this post.
• Toyah has also been discussing her involvement with the Hormonal Housewives tour in various recent interviews, including Woman’s Weekly, Birmingham Mail and This is Sussex.
Tons of activity for the Hormonal Housewives, in the second week of their rehearsals.
• Toyah has tweeted a couple of photos from the rehearsals: “dear ray, the only man on the Hormonal Housewives tour has decided he needs a bigger pair of balls :-)“, view photo here, and “Ray had the balls 2 wear a Playboy t-shirt 2 rehearsals….now he’s knackered! :-)“, view photo here.
• A new article on Hormonal Housewives by Cheshire Today: Toyah Willcox and Julie Coombe to star in Hormonal Housewives at the Liverpool Empire: The irrepressible Hormonal Housewives are back this spring with a second national tour, stopping at the Liverpool Empire for one night only on 10 April 2013.
• A new interview with Toyah, focusing on Hormonal Housewives, by This is Sussex: Toyah Willcox is going to pull no punches. Toyah explained: “It’s a sketch show with three acts and we play ourselves in between. It’s a comedy, and it’s not political – but it is very rude and naughty.
• Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone have a Hormonal Housewives competition: (Be quick, it closes at Midday today!!) We are giving away 10 pairs of tickets to come and see Hormonal Housewives at the LCH on Saturday 9 March 7:30pm! For your chance to win email your name and contact details to folkestonemarketing@theambassadors.com by 12pm today. The lucky winners will be picked at random and contacted after the closing date. Good Luck!!
• Keep updated with all the official Hormonal Housewives news at Twitter and Facebook.
It’s the second instalment of Dreamscape’s new Keeping Up With The Hormonal Housewives. There are now just 18 days to go until the tour begins, with the first show at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley.
• Toyah tweeted this week: “Started Hormonal Housewives rehearsals! Very funny! Very rude! Absolutely no phone reception @ venue….heaven” and also “Down deep in the bowels of churchill theatre, bromley, rehearsing HH. world could end we wouldn’t know!!!!”
• The Hormonal Housewives have been tweeting and facebooking over the last couple of days too, keeping everyone updated. View their Twitter and check out their Facebook.
• Get your tickets for the first week’s performances: Churchill Theatre, Bromley (5th March), Regent Theatre, Ipswich (6th), Corn Exchange, Kings Lynn (7th), Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage (8th) and Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone (9th March).
Welcome to Dreamscape’s new “Keeping Up with the Hormonal Housewives” strand: Regular posts in which we will endeavour to keep you updated on what those Hormonal Housewives are up to (I know the title is self-explanatory and didn’t need explaining but…). Here goes:
• Toyah tweeted on Sunday: “So much 2 do! Not packed yet! Start Hormonal Housewives tomorrow! Can’t wait :-)”
• Hormonal Housewives tweeted yesterday: “We are starting today with our rehearsals!!! Happy Monday to everyone! #laughingladies”
• Hormonal Housewives also linked to News Shopper‘s ticket competition yesterday, at Twitter and Facebook, and kindly gave Dreamscape a namecheck! (Thank you!)
• Visit the Official Hormonal Housewives website, and check out Dreamscape’s dedicated page.
• News Shopper: Win a night at the theatre with friends and Hormonal Housewives: News Shopper has teamed up with The Churchill Theatre in Bromley to offer one lucky reader, and five friends, the chance to win tickets to the opening night on 5th March. You can enter online or by text. (Closing date for entries: 21st February)
• The Hormonal Houswives begin rehearsals today for their mammoth three month tour. They tweeted on Friday: “The hormonal housewives are gearing up for a relaxing weekend before rehearsals start on Monday.”
• The first of the BBC’s two-part Queens Of British Pop series airs again tonight on BBC Four at 11pm. Toyah was, inexplicably, left out of the television series when it first aired in March 2009. Dreamscape and other fans were suitably outraged at the time. However an online vote after the series aired placed her 7th in the BBC Queens Of British Pop poll: 1. Kate Bush, 2. Annie Lennox, 3. Kim Wilde, 4. Kylie Minogue, 5. Dusty Springfield, 6. Leona Lewis, 7. Toyah, 8. Geri Halliwell, 9. Siouxsie Sioux, 10. Kirsty MacColl. It’s an interesting programme all the same, featuring Siouxsie, Kate Bush, Dusty Springfield and Marianne Faithfull, among others, in this first part, which will be available to watch at BBC iPlayer post broadcast.
• Twitter: Toyah tweeted yesterday that “”My guilty pleasure has arrived in the post…rabbiting on magazine….heaven”
• King’s Heath Walk Of Stars: Two new plaques will be joining Toyah on the King’s Heath Walk Of Fame later this year. The Birmingham Post reports that the organisers are “creating new plaques for Fuzzbox’s Jo Dunne and The Move guitarist Trevor Burton following on from the first last year for Kings Heath-born Toyah Willcox.”
• Total Bliss: Define Colour: It’s hard to imagine a world without hair color… This photo feature includes a great shot of “redhead” Toyah from Parkinson in 1981 – the one that was also used in a hairstyles article in Vogue last year.
• Worcestershire Life: 2012 Christmas Quiz Answers: A question about Toyah was included in this festive quiz and the answers have now been revealed… and may just surprise you! 46. Who is Worcestershire actress Toyah Willcox married to? a) Robert Plant.
• NME: Elton John’s Top 10 Batshit Crazy Concert Outfits: Toyah Willcox called – she wants her hair back.
Toyah will guest on a future edition of the long-running BBC Radio 4 series Ramblings. The programme in which, the fantastic (yes I’m a fan ;)), Clare Balding joins notable and interesting people on a walk through the countryside.
Earlier today Clare tweeted: “Today I am walking with Toyah Wilcox for Ramblings. She has a bad ankle so it may be more of a shuffle“. Someone then replied telling her that “Wilcox” was “Willcox”, and there then followed a series of tweets which, if Twitter had existed, could have been posted anytime between 1987 and now: 
“It’s a Mystery“, “turning suburbia upside down“, “Mum deodorant“… Such fun! Clare’s tweet was also posted by Celeb Tweets (Not being a follower of Twitterers, I have to admit this is where I first spotted it).
Series 23 of Ramblings begins on BBC Radio 4 next Thursday (7th February) at 3pm. More details on when Toyah will guest when the information becomes available.
UPDATE: Toyah has also tweeted about Ramblings (including this great photo of herself and Clare): “Recording radio 4 Ramblings with claire balding, I’m very slow, still limping“. View the original photo here. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)
• The Toyah Top 50 (Unofficial): In 2008 Toyah’s Official Website published the Toyah Top 50 to mark Toyah’s 50th birthday (view those results here). Five years later, just for fun and completely unofficial, Larwi and James at Facebook are doing something similar. Click here for more info and to take part. (Thanks to James Armstrong & Lärwi)
• Texas Toyah Potatoes!: Toyah’s been unpacking and tweeted a great photo from her travels yesterday: “Finally unpacking from changeling tour & found this TOYAH POTATO sack from texas!!!!! Excellent!” (PS. How cute is WilyFred the rabbit?)
• 25th Anniversary Gig: 10 years ago Toyah played an amazing concert at the Mean Fiddler, London in celebration of 25 years of being a live performer. I’d thought no footage from this had ever been made available. Until yesterday when Damon posted this. No sound and only 21 seconds but still great to see even a teeny weeny bit of film from that fantastic night. (Thanks to Damon King)
• 25th Anniversary Gig: View tons of info on this, now legendary, gig at Dreamscape’s mini-site.
• Toyah’s appearance on last night’s Channel 4 News saw an increase in visitors to Dreamscape, certainly our busiest day for a while. Unfortunately a high-profile appearance also brings out the keypad warriors of Twitter, questioning whether Toyah was “punk”. There’s something slightly hilarious about people associated with punk nitpicking about who was more punk! Wasn’t that the sort of petty, elitist, judgemental way of thinking punk was fighting against?
• You Tube: Fart For Your Rights: Toyah tweeted on Monday: “Take note, my hubby’s response to no royalty payments“.
• You Tube: It’s A Mystery and I Want To Be Free – Acoustic covers of two Toyah classics by Danny McEvoy.
• This is Sussex: Go on and have a bit of a laugh this year: The Hormonal Housewives are back, and this time they mean business.
• WS County Times: Comedy classics at the Hawth: The Hormonal Housewives are back, plus this time Toyah Willcox takes on a leading role.
Keep an eye on Channel 4 News. Toyah tweeted yesterday that she was being interviewed this morning for the programme: “C4 news filming me in dressing room at 9am. How punk changed the role of women! ”
Channel 4 News airs in the UK at 7pm Monday to Saturday and 6.30pm on Sundays.
