Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

And that’s a wrap! A massive thanks to everyone involved in today’s Virtual Woo Fest. An incredible day of music only possible through an incredible human effort at the current time. And supported by our incredible Worcestershire community raising £12,896. Thank you from us all.

NB. Since this post the total was updated again.

Your Virtual Woo Fest donations continued into the small hours taking us to an incredible. £13,245.57!

• Continue reading at St Richard’s Hospice at Twitter.

Toyah’s July 2020 blog is available to read at toyahwillcox.com.

A lengthy new article, on the ever-enduring Quadrophenia, published today by The Independent as part of The Indy Film Club.

How Quadrophenia immortalises and scrutinises mod culture

It’s an indelible part of Brighton’s history but, as Clarisse Loughrey writes, the 1979 adaptation of The Who’s rock opera is really concerned with a search for identity

Brighton residents know the sound well – the stentorian rattle of engines, as a fleet of Vespas and Lambrettas zip down the promenade. It feels odd for a moment, as if there’s been a rip in the space-time continuum and a little of the Swinging Sixties has trickled out. But it’s tradition here. On sunny weekends, mod aficionados gather in the city to fraternise, evangelise, and compare the number of mirrors on their scooters. Brighton was a favoured hang-out spot for the original mods, who’d travel down from London to the south’s seaside resorts, eager to ruffle the feathers of middle-class daytrippers.

Trouble came in the form of the rockers, their rivals. It was like the Capulets versus the Montagues – divided not by blood, but by the way someone might wear their hair. The mods (short for “modernist”) embraced continental style, with their crisply tailored suits and Italian scooters. To protect said suit while on said scooter, parkas became a staple. The girls wore miniskirts, as popularised by Mary Quant. The rockers, meanwhile, were bikers. Their “tough guy” attitude complemented their black leather jackets, Doc Marten boots, and Elvis pompadours.

There were clashes. The most infamous of these took place in Brighton over the Whitsun weekend (18-19 May) in 1964. A small group of rockers were corned on the beach. Police tried to intervene, but it quickly spiralled into chaos. And though, in hindsight, it’s clear the press blew events out of proportion, it’s become an indelible part of the city’s history – due largely to the fact it was immortalised in 1979’s Quadrophenia.

The film, a loose adaptation of The Who’s 1973 rock opera, stars Phil Daniels as Jimmy, a disgruntled London teen. At home, his parents treat his non-conformity as a curse. At his mailroom job at an advertising firm, he’s just another drone. And so he throws himself head-on into the hell-raising, dandyish, amphetamine-fuelled world of mod culture. It becomes his entire identity. When he ends up at the centre of the Brighton brawls and gets arrested, the adrenaline sends him heavenward – only for a moment, before disillusionment sets in and he starts to spiral.

• Continue reading at The Independent/Culture (registration may be required).

Check out Dreamscape’s newly updated Features section.

NOW 80s’ mammoth 10-hour Who Won Wot? 1980 – 1989 aired yesterday, hosted by Mark Goodier. The first artist played from 1981 was Toyah, with the Thunder In The Mountains video. Mark said: “We begin 1981 with a 4ft 11 pop star who had the biggest hair of the entire decade, here’s the Most Fanciable (as voted by Smash Hits magazine readers) Toyah Willcox with Thunder In The Mountains“. Click on the screen caps to zoom.

Following last night’s four-hour Let’s Rock Lockdown Fest 2, which Toyah contributed live performances of Dance In The Hurricane and I Want To Be Free to, comes today’s Virtual Woo Fest 2020.

The Next Woo Fest – Virtual Woo!

Normal Woo Fest is cancelled due to Covid-19 however we have moved to an online festival will which will take place on 4th of July.

Supported by the wonderful DRP Group at their studios in Hartlebury. The day will run in a similar way to Comic Relief with free to air viewing but with different donation opportunities to St Richard’s Hospice. The day will include both live and pre-recorded performances from many great musicians including the odd celebrity!

Virtual Woo Fest – bringing the festival to your homes and gardens

Woo Fest music festival is an award winning multi-genre music festival for all ages that raises funds for St Richard’s Hospice, Worcester, England. It’s set in a beautiful location near Upton upon Severn and has gone from strength to strength since its launch in 2015 raising over £57K with every single penny from every ticket going to the hospice

It has grown from a small festival of friends and family to the first festival on the calendar for many new friends.

• Visit the official Woo Fest website. Watch today’s virtual Woo Fest by clicking here or below. See a larger version of the festival flyer.

Toyah gives a sneak peek at the first ever vinyl release of the Toyah & The Humans album Strange Tales. Pressed on translucent red vinyl, the album was released yesterday. Click below to watch. (Screenshots from a video that is © Toyah Willcox)

An archive Toyah interview has been re-published today by The Guardian.

Toyah Willcox, the thinking man’s punkette – archive, 1980

3 July 1980: “No one can rip me off. I’m too much of a bitch,” the self-confessed megalomaniac tells Robin Denselow

Four years ago, Toyah Willcox left a “very boring all-girls public school” in Birmingham with only one O level, in music, and a whole heap of bad reports. At 14 she’d been banned from art, her favourite subject because her paintings were too erotic. She got into fights, confused the teachers by making her own clothes and “by wearing a Dr Spock haircut with the back of my head shaved. I was a very paranoid kid and I hated every minute of it.”

Today, at 22, Toyah is being hailed as a sort of Thinking Man’s Punk, and is certainly the most impressive female all-rounder to have emerged in the latter days of the new wave. Earlier this year she won considerable acclaim for her part as Miranda in Derek Jarman’s exquisite film version of The Tempest. Her acting career had already included everything from Jarman’s punk celebration Jubilee, to Quatermass, and Quadrophenia.

• Continue reading at The Guardian.

A digital deluxe version of Toyah & The Humans debut album, We Are The Humans, was also released today. See download/listen links here or click below for direct link to Amazon.

Toyah’s Sack The Stylist?! Top 30: NOW 80s: Sunday 5th July: 6pm
Toyah’s Sack The Stylist?! Top 30: NOW 80s: Sunday 12th July: 6pm
Pop legend Toyah brings 30 memorable videos featuring a cavalcade of clothing calamities from superstars including Bowie, Madonna, Adam Ant and many more in this crazy countdown!

Watch Let’s Rock Lockdown Fest 2 this evening at You Tube. Toyah is playing, along with Fuzzbox, Hazel O’Connor, Go West, Hue and Cry, Chesney Hawkes, Carol Decker/T’Pau and many others. All raising funds for a great cause.

Happy Humans Day! – Toyah & The Humans Day to be more specific! The Noise In Your Head box set is released today, as are the albums We Are The Humans, Sugar Rush, Strange Tales and Live At Scala London. All on gorgeous colour vinyl. Click below to see Dreamscape’s second “Releases” feature page of 2020, focusing on Toyah & The Humans.

Toyah unwraps the first ever vinyl pressings of We Are The Humans (translucent orange vinyl) and Sugar Rush (translucent olive vinyl). Both of these are released tomorrow. Click below for links to all Toyah & The Humans new releases. (Screenshots from videos that are © Toyah Willcox)

A new Elle photo feature which includes Louise Brooks, Hedy Lamarr, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Diana Ross, Debbie Harry, Farrah Fawcett, Siouxsie Sioux and Toyah.

The Best Vintage Hairstyles You Never Knew Existed

Haircuts from yesteryear reign supreme for their innovation, technique, and skill to make these larger than life styles stand the test of time. From blunt bobs to abundant afros, we’ve rounded up some of the best curls, cuts, and swirls from the 20th century in order to discover the best hairstyles from the past.

1985: Feathered Bangs – English musician Toyah Willcox’s feathered and uneven bangs became almost as much of a symbol of punk rock as her fiery orange hair colour. (NB. This is 1980 not 1985!)

• Continue reading at Yahoo News!/Elle.

An award-winning county music festival, taking place virtually this summer because of social distancing measures, has secured new big-name acts including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Grant Nicholas, from Feeder, and Toyah Willcox.

Woo Fest, which will be streamed live to homes and gardens around Worcestershire and beyond on Saturday (July 4), will feature a mix of live and pre-recorded sets and will be hosted by Richard ‘Hursty’ Hurst. Previously confirmed performers include Nigel Clark from Dodgy, Andy Bennett, formerly of Ocean Colour Scene, Nick Parker and a host of Woo Fest regulars.

The family-friendly festival, which donates every penny to St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester, was set up in 2015 by Luke Simons and his sister, Ria, in memory of their dad John. Last year Woo Fest was named Best Small Festival at the UK Festival Awards in London.

• Continue reading at Worcester Observer.

Get ready for Noise In Your Head. Toyah & The Humans new retrospective five-disc box set – three studio albums, live concert CD, live concert DVD + 40-page booklet – is released this Friday. Pictured below is the regular box set (without signed print) which is still available to order here. Watch Toyah unbox the set by clicking here.

Info from Saturday’s second Toyah At Home, which aired at Toyah’s official You Tube channel.

• Good Morning Universe: was the song of the morning, with Toyah explaining how it got its title. Joel Bogen wrote the music and as soon as Toyah heard the joyous track she wanted to call it Good Morning Universe.

• Good Morning Universe: Toyah performed a live version of the title song from Toyah’s third EP, and ninth single, released in November 1981. I’ve always loved this song, and all the others on the Four More From Toyah EP.

• Shirley Manson: Toyah mentioned the Garbage lead singer’s recent comments about Toyah being one of her early influences.

• Early Influences: Toyah talked about her own early influences, Dusty Springfield and Sandie Shaw in the 1960s, as well as Curved Air, Grace Slick, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed and David Bowie in the 70s.

• Movies: To Be Someone will hopefully be showing later this year, with press and publicity happening soon. Toyah also mentioned Give Them Wings.

• Take The Leap!: Jolyon Dixon, the guitarist from Friday Forever and Toyah’s Take The Leap! band asked Toyah if she would be interested in a Leap! anniversary tour.

• Steve Strange: Toyah talked about the Visage frontman back in the days of her Mayhem warehouse and the Blitz Club and the last time she met him, at the V&A Club To Catwalk exhibition in 2013.

• Favourite Venues/Tours: Toyah reminisced about playing (the legendary) Glasgow Apollo. Her favourite venue is Wembley Arena, and she loves playing in churches because of their great acoustics. Toyah loved all of The Humans tours, and also the recent Thunder In The Highlands tour.

• Computer: Will this ever be played live? There are plans for some of the Safari album songs to be played live during Toyah At Home to coincide with the Cherry Red release of Toyah’s Safari back catalogue.

• Ophelia’s Shadow: Some of the songs are too studio layered to perform live but Lords Of The Never Known and Brilliant Day will be (Toyah mentioned the late Keith Tippett).

• Prostitute: Toyah talked about the possibility of the album being performed live as an art project with visuals. She also talked about performing the album during the FrippFripp tour in 1988, and about the legacy of the album and its meanings now as the world changes and evolves.

• Toyah also chatted about which song took the longest to write (Slow Descent by The Humans was mentioned), and the show ended with live footage of She’s Fast by The Humans from Trading Boundaries in East Sussex.

Today’s Sunday lunch from Toyah & Robert is for all of you who miss the ones you love. x (My Dad is a big fan of Dance In The Hurricane, and he loved Toyah and Robert’s performance of it today, and the sentiment expressed).

• Yorkshire Times: Let’s Rock Announce On Line 80’s Lockdownfest2: Following the huge success of the first 80s LockdownFest last month, Let’s Rock have announced a second online festival, 80s LockdownFest2, happening on Friday 3rd July from 7:00pm – Continue reading…

• Glastonbury/PRS for Music: Rewatch Toyah’s 2016 Interview which has just been added to PRS for Music’s Glasto Playlist – Toyah Willcox chats to M magazine in the PRS for Music tent at Glastonbury 2016 about her creative highs, early inspirations and ongoing love affair with songwriting – Continue watching…

• The Audiophile Man: Vinyl Review Round-Up #1: Reviews of Toyah’s recent vinyl releases, including Minx, Prostitute and Ophelia’s Shadow – Watch here (from 8.04)…

• Octopus TV: Andrew Eborn is joined by Chris Wong who talks about his life and career including as Toyah Willcox’s musical director and guitarist, working with Toyah in The Humans along with REM’s Bill Rieflin and 25 years in panto at Marlowe Theatre where he has played the Ghostbusters theme tune over 13,500 times! – Continue watching…

• Jools Holland: Toyah chooses her favourite acts: if anyone missed this when it aired or was available on BBC Sounds, you can listen to it here…

Woo Fest secures big-name acts in new virtual format

An award-winning county music festival taking place virtually this summer, because of social distancing measures, has secured new big-name acts including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Grant Nicholas, from Feeder, and Toyah Willcox.

Woo Fest, which will be streamed live to homes and gardens around Worcestershire and beyond on Saturday 4th July, will feature a mix of live and pre-recorded sets and will be hosted by Richard ‘Hursty’ Hurst. Previously confirmed performers include Nigel Clark from Dodgy, Andy Bennett, formerly of Ocean Colour Scene, Nick Parker and a host of Woo Fest regulars.

The family-friendly festival, which donates every penny to St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester, was set up in 2015 by Luke Simons and his sister, Ria, in memory of their Dad, John. Last year Woo Fest was named Best Small Festival at the UK Festival Awards in London.

Luke Simons, festival organiser, said: “We’ve been blown away by the response from artists keen to take part in a virtual festival this year and support the care that St Richard’s provides locally at the same time.

“With the help of our friends at creative communication agency DRPG, who are streaming the event live on their website, we’re hoping to bring some festival fun to those missing live music events and so much more this summer.”

Woo Fest will take place on Saturday 4th July and will be live streamed on the DRPG Communications website virtualwoofest.drpg.events – Woo Fest will get underway at 3pm and run until 10.30pm.

• Continue reading at strichards.org.uk. See more info on Virtual Woo Fest 2020. The festival will air online here.

Some info gleaned from the first, fact packed, Toyah At Home, which aired yesterday at You Tube. This is going to be a great series.

• Thunder In The Mountains: was the first song of the series, with Toyah discussing the background to the song, and life at the time of the writing and release of the single in the summer and autumn of 1981 respectively.

• Thunder In The Mountains: Toyah performed a live version of the classic single (Toyah’s eighth), written by Toyah, Adrian Lee and Nigel Glockler. It truly is an incredible track.

• Good Morning Universe – Live at Drury Lane: Toyah reminisced about the Christmas Eve 1981 gig which aired on The Old Grey Whistle Test.

• Street Addict: Toyah revealed the meaning behind the lyrics of this much loved song. The b-side of Thunder In The Mountains.

• Anthem: Yes, there are plans for the 40th anniversary of Anthem. The album is being re-released in 2021 and there will be an Anthem Tour in the autumn of that year. Dates will be announced once the Electric Ladies Of The 80s Tour is completed in June of next year. Toyah said: “It’s a fantastic album, and we can’t wait to revisit it and play it for you“.

• Joel Bogen: Toyah revealed she has “been inviting Joel to come and join us, and hopefully one day that might happen, But let’s see“.

• Strictly Come Dancing: The Toyah song Toyah would dance to on Strictly would be I Want To Be Free, “and do something really anarchic“.

• Sympathy: A song, from Minx, never performed live before. The question gave Toyah an idea about the song!

• Toyah also discussed vocal warm-ups, the radio play Headcrash, the lockdown dances with Robert. The half hour programme ended with a new version of Sensational – One World In Transition, May Every Child Flourish.

• See you next week for Toyah At Home #2.