• Kylie channels her inner Toyah: Kylie Minogue is celebrating the 25th anniversary of her music career this year, “K25”. I’m not sure how recent this photo is, though it does have the anniversary logo on it. There’s definitely a Toyah, circa 1981, influence going on. The ‘TITM’ swirls & hairpiece, the ‘GMU’ braids, the forehead make-up :)
• Toyah fan (and my friend since the beginning of Dreamscape) Sabine Bode from Germany has started her own comedy show. Sabine takes to the stage to the sound of Toyah’s ‘Sensational’ from 2008’s ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen’.
• Toyah on TV (in Sweden): Toyah’s edition of Celebrity Fantasy Homes airs on BBC Lifestyle, Friday 6th April at 11.45am.
Another recent, and interesting, article on Jubilee, the film that becomes more celebrated by the month. This one by ‘Network Awesome’.
After the release of Derek Jarman’s Jubilee in 1978, Vivienne Westwood, outraged at what she saw as a misrepresentation of punk, took to her then preferred medium, the t-shirt, to express her displeasure. The “Open T-Shirt to Derek Jarman,” with its wordy scrawl, is a rather confusing cultural artifact in that it now seems rather counterproductive. For starters, punk certainly had more important enemies in 1978 than a queer experimental filmmaker and visual artist, a fellow member of the counterculture whether she liked it or not…
Let me run riot of colour, over you…
You wait 25 years and then, not one but, two very rare photos of Toyah from 1987 (a year I prefer to refer to as “the ‘Desire’ era”) surface.
This one is from an official EG print, and, as with all of the fantastic ‘Desire’ promotional photography, is likely to have been taken by Carrie Branovan.
If I was wealthy I would definitely publish a Toyah Photo Book: ‘Visions’. Full sessions, rare photos, outtakes… Every coffee table would want one! Toyah’s amazing visual imagery, both past and present, really should be captured for posterity. Anyway, back to reality! (Thanks to Michael for this great photo)
The full edition of Tonight with Jonathan Ross, which originally aired on Channel 4 in January 1991, with Toyah guesting is available to watch at ‘You Tube’. Watch here and click below to view larger versions of the caps.
This incredibly rare shot of Toyah, from the 1987 ‘Desire’ era photo shoot, has recently been listed on eBay.
The seller is a photographer who has taken photos of numerous pop stars and says of this one: From my own collection… A posed and gorgeous, stunning, different and rare, promo 35mm slide, a great posed close up. One of the best we ever had. Cool pic!
Great that an unseen photo should surface in the 25th anniversary year of ‘Desire’.
Another tour-related Toyah tweet yesterday, with some amazing news included. ‘Voodoo Doll’ from 1981, released on the 12″ of ‘Thunder In The Mountains’, will be included in ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ setlist:
“My goodness VooDoo Doll is a really good song! My B-sides rocked! Even if I say so myself . Def in the new set.”
Of course many of Toyah’s “b-sides” were better than most band’s “a-sides”: Laughing With The Fools, Street Addict, War Boys, Alien, In The Fairground, Warrior Rock, Baptised in Fire, I Explode, Haunted, Snow Covers The Kiss, Plenty… (not forgetting For You, a flexi b-side). An almost perfect setlist in itself! A Toyah “Blistering B-Sides” tour, anyone?
Four brilliant photos of, ‘I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan’ author, Chris Limb and Toyah. One of each from the last four decades: 1983, 1993, 2001 and 2011.
Win an ‘I Was A Teenage Toyah Fan – Were You?’ t-shirt. Visit the book’s Facebook page for more details.
There’s further info on the book and the various ways you can purchase a copy over at toyah.org.
It’s a Mad world: The trailer for Jubilee has just been uploaded to ‘You Tube’. View here and click below for larger screen caps. The movie, Toyah’s first, premiered in 1978 and just celebrated its 34th anniversary.
A 5DVD box set of Derek Jarman films is released, by Umbrella Entertainment (who just uploaded the trailer for Jubilee to ‘You Tube’), in Australia on 2nd May 2012. The set includes both films Toyah starred in, Jubilee and The Tempest.
The Derek Jarman Collection: DVD A collection of five astonishing films from a visionary British filmmaker: Actors: Tilda Swinton, Laurence Olivier, Sean Bean, Toyah Willcox, Adam Ant.
The Tempest (1979): The tale of a potent magician, banished by his brother and the King to live on a desolate isle with his daughter. Last Of England (1988): A dark meditation on London under Thatcher. Jubilee (1978): Queen Elizabeth I visits late twentieth century Britain to discover a confronting civilisation. Sebastiane (1976): In Rome, 300 A.D, a man is exiled to a remote outpost populated exclusively by men. War Requiem (1989): A stirring visual representation of Benjamin Brittens famed work.
This great ‘Crimson Queen’ Toyah art by Cliff Matthews is definitely worth another look. It really captures Toyah’s “Crimson Queen” aura and would look amazing on a wall!
It’s available to buy: £285 (70x50cm, acrylics on box canvas), and Toyah herself has saw the painting and given it her seal of approval and trademark “Big Love” autograph.
View the painting here and Toyah with Cliff, here.
It would be good if the same could happen with Mark Satchwill’s amazing works of Toyah art.
Your never too old and it’s never too late to live your dreams. All you need is the Power of Three.
Next week The Power Of Three, the film Toyah has a lead role in, plays at two US film festivals.
The Women’s International Film & Arts Festival: March 28-April 1, taking place in Miami and The Brooklyn Girl Film Festival: March 29-31 in New York.
The film plays on the opening day of WIFF and is a “Red Carpet Event”, and on Saturday 31st March at BGFF. View further details and the film festival’s respective shedules here (WIFF) and here (BGFF).
‘She-Bop-A-Lula’, the photo exhibition in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer Charity, opened at the Strand Gallery, London on the 7th March.
The exhibition features over 60 pictures of some of the most successful and creative women singers from the last six decades. The pictures, all taken by women photographers, are a mix of candid and intimate backstage scenes, sensitive and stylised portraits, through to the excitement and raw power of live performance.
It’s highly likely that the photograph of Toyah and Jenny Runacre, from 1977, by Caroline Coon is included in the exhibition. View further info on ‘She-Bop-A-Lula’ here. There are also recent online press articles on the exhibition by The Guardian, The Independent and NME.
The revised dates for ‘The Changeling Resurrection’ are confirmed and Toyah tweeted yesterday: “2’day I officially start learning the tour set. Its meaty, its chewy, its deep, its dark, its moody, its dance-able“. Get set for the Madhatter’s tea party: The Resurrection begins soon…
Toyah’s ninth song choice from My Vintage, ‘Stay’.
“1992 was not the greatest year of my life I have to say. It was a year of massive changes and challenges. Deeply personal things going on, and when I first heard this song it actually made me burst into tears, because this song, I think, encapsulates how women feel about letting go of something. It encapsulates how women feel so intensly connected… to a person, and things in their lives. I don’t think I’m wrong in saying this and I don’t think I’m sexist in saying this…”
• Read the full transcript of the reasons for this song choice here.
An interesting Toyah-related blog from, the brilliantly titled, ‘Unthought Of, Though, Somehow’.
By November 1979 I had been in my first full-time job, at an insurance company, for around 18 months.It was soul-destroyingly dull, a dullness only alleviated by some of the good people I worked with and also the chance to spend my lunch & post-work hours hanging out in the local independent record shop – a matter of yards away. I spent a huge amount of time (and money) in the place and got to know most of the staff quite well.
• Read the the rest of this blog here. (Thanks to Andrew York for the photo)
Simon Fowler took some iconic photos of Toyah in the late 70s/early 80s and he is responsible for a handful of the best Toyah photo shoots, as well as amazing photos of other bands. Visit his website by clicking below.
80s Music. All Grown Up. ‘Remember The Eighties’ website was relaunched today and is now ‘This Is Not Retro’. The site is looking great and is packed full of news, interviews, reviews and much more. There is also substantial Toyah content, including four interviews. Visit ‘This Is Not Retro’ here and click below for lots of Toyah.
• Steve Lillywhite, producer of ‘The Changeling’ and numerous other great albums, by among many others, Morrissey, U2 and The Chameleons, was recently awarded a CBE. (Thanks to Stephen Bennett)
• BBC2’s documentary series The Tube, behind the scenes of London Underground, this week featured the underground’s most unusual employee, a hawk called Toyah. If you missed it The Tube is repeated tonight at 11.20pm on BBC2. (Thanks to Paul Johnson)
• It looks like Remember The Eighties will be returning very shortly. The new website is currently “99% completed”.
There’s another new Toyah website on the block. Check it out (and good luck to David).
Lytham Proms Festival Weekends three day event line-up is now complete, with Friday 3rd welcoming ‘Here and Now The Very Best of The 80’s’ and Saturday 4th ‘Alfie Boe- Last Night of the Proms’. The winner of local talent competition Fylde’s Got Talent will perform alongside Olly Murs on Sunday night.
Friday 3rd August 2012 – “Here and Now, The Very Best of the 80’s”
A fantastic selection of iconic 80’s popstars will headline the opening night of Lytham Proms Festival Weekend 2012.
“Here and Now, The Very Best of the 80’s” will feature stars: Bananarama, Rick Astley, The Real Thing, Belinda Carlisle, Toyah, Curiosity Killed the Cat and T’Pau in what is dubbed as being the Fylde Coast’s biggest party EVER!
