Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

A great new interview with Toyah & Robert, from The Inverness Courier, talking about their visit to Scotland, more specifically the Highlands, happening later today to play Belladrum’s Tartan Heart Festival…

Belladrum: Toyah & Robert on keeping the love alive and why they adore the Highlands

We caught up with music legends Toyah & Robert before they take the stage at Belladrum this weekend.

What is your favourite love song?
Toyah: For me it’s The Twelfth of Never by Johnny Mathis! But I’ve got a whole list…The Moody Blues, Nights In White Satin, Tasmin Archer’s Sleeping Satellite and Shakespeares Sister, Stay! They all make me really experience love!

Robert: I have no singing voice but there have been occasions I’ve sung Twelfth of Never to my wife! For me, it’s I Will Always Love You by Whitney Housten, the Dolly Parton song! Also, any early Elvis is when your heart aches!

Have you been to the Highlands before? What do you think of it?
Toyah: I’ve been there many times and I played there just before lockdown. I absolutely adore it. Inverness is just so different to Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. I’ve done plays there, toured there in theatre and done music shows there. People are very connected to the land, and it’s a very different feel. I’m looking forward to that grounded-ness and connection.

The sky feels so much lower than anywhere else in the UK. It does feel like a ceiling there and I’m just looking forward to being outside in that experience.

• Continue reading at The Inverness Courier. See all of Toyah & Robert’s upcoming live dates at toyahwillcox.com.

Toyah & Robert are thrilled to be No.1 in The Heritage Charts with Roses In Chains.

Toyah will be performing at Rewind Festival in Dubai on February 22nd, 2025! Tickets now on sale.

Toyah & Robert’s Rock Party will take over the Coro on Saturday

Ulverston will welcome an ‘iconic duo’ for an evening of rock classics this weekend.

The Coronation Hall is hosting Toyah and Robert, who are both renowned for their ‘legendary artistic twists’.

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Toyah Willcox has had eight Top 40 singles, released 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays and ten feature films, and voiced and presented numerous television shows.

Composer, record producer and author Robert Fripp is best known as the guitarist, founder and continuing member of rock band King Crimson. He has worked as a studio player and collaborator with Brian Eno, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall, David Sylvian, Blondie and The Damned among others.

• Continue reading at The Mail. See also The Westmorland Gazette.

• Saturday Song: America For Beginners (Pebble Mill 1985) – Watch… • Toyah & Robert: UpBeat Moments – Watch… • Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – Crazy Train – Watch… (Image © Toyah Willcox)

Stars give music fans ‘blast from the past’ at festival

Hundreds of music fans have enjoyed a “blast from the past” at a one-day festival celebrating some of the stars of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Pop acts such as Toyah, Haircut 100, Damage and Liberty X took to the stage at Hits On The Pitch at Stockport Rugby Club in Greater Manchester on Saturday.

The event saw many memorable moments, including singer Chesney Hawkes leading the crowd in a rendition of The Beatles’ Hey Jude, in tribute to England footballer Jude Bellingham before the nation’s appearance in the Euros 2024 final.

Organiser Paul Taylor said it had been a chance to go “back to the good old glory days” and enjoy “guilty pleasures and forgotten treasures spanning across three unforgettable decades”.

• Continue reading at BBC News.

• Saturday Song: Don’t Fall In Love (I Said) Classic Razzmatazz Performance – Watch… • Toyah & Robert: UpBeat Moments – Watch… • Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – Kleine Lust – Watch… (Image © Toyah Willcox)

Minder: ITV4: Thursday 25th July: 3.35pm
Minder: ITV4: Friday 26th July: 6.10am
Minder: ITV4: Thursday 1st August: 1.50am
All Mod Cons. Series 2, Episode 8. Terry tries to help his friend Kate evict some unwanted tenants, but comes to doubt her motives. Meanwhile, Arthur is desperate to get into the property market and tries to sell Terry’s flat without telling him. Guest starring Toyah Willcox and Simon Cadell. Director: Ian Sharp. Also starring: George Cole, Dennis Waterman, Peter Childs, George Layton, Patrick Malahide, Michael Troughton. Also showing on ITV4 HD.

I sometimes get asked why I still regularly update a website that’s been online for close to 25 years… Well, I’ve always saw this as, essentially, a great hobby and something I enjoy doing. I have a busy, and varied, life but I’ve always found time to update this website and having been a Toyah fan for the past 44 years, I’ve enjoyed reporting on Toyah’s career for the past 25… One other reason is that Dreamscape is still an incredibly popular, much visited website. The stats aren’t always as busy as they were in the past week but we do get a lot of visitors!

A short Toyah press clip from Yours magazine, issue dated 9th July 2024.

If asked who you’d consider to be the ‘original punk rocker’ it’s unlikely that Princess Margaret would spring to mind. But after meeting Her Royal Highness and the Queen Mother at St James’ Palace many years ago, singer Toyah Willcox believes she was just that.

“We talked about the philosophy of punk rock and how it was opening doors for women and she was fascinated,” says Toyah. “I met her many times after that and she was a wicked and very sharp woman. I realised later that Princess Margaret was probably the original punk rocker as she just rebelled and rebelled and rebelled.”

• Yours magazine is on sale now. (Photo taken from Yours magazine).

Toyah during Saturday’s Toyah At Home: “Look out, as there are more announcements coming up over the next few months… Oh boy! Are there more announcements coming up! Yes!” Pre-order the Rebel Run EP.

Sign of the Times music festival is a wet wet wet weekend saved by great music

The Waterboys were an apt first-night headline act for the Sign of the Times festival at Church End, Little Hadham.

If you add in a set by Toyah, complete with a guest appearance by husband and King Crimson guitar hero Robert Fripp, what more could you want?

• Continue reading at Bishop’s Stortford Independent.

Two more rare photos of Toyah have been made available recently, from the Love Is The Law and Minx eras, in anticipation of the reissue of both albums, and the Rebel Run 2024 EP.

• See two other, previously unseen, shots here. Pre-order the Rebel Run EP, and Minx. (Photos  © Cherry Red/Demon Music)

Toyah’s blog for June is available to read at toyahwillcox.com. Lots direct from Toyah, including the news that Cherry Red are keen to make a physical release of Roses In Chains available.

What a great year 2023 was for Weightless! See the collection of awards and nominations the short film received by clicking below.

• Toyah At Home: July 2024 with Glastonbury footage (+ Rebel Run 10″ vinyl release) – Watch… • Toyah & Robert: UpBeat Moments – Watch… • Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – Blind – Watch… (Image © Toyah Willcox)

Toyah’s Sack The Stylist?! Top 30: NOW 80s: Sunday 14th July: 10pm
Pop legend Toyah brings 30 memorable videos featuring a cavalcade of clothing calamities from superstars including Visage, Five Star, Divine, Cher, The Jam, Bananarama, Dead Or Alive, Bucks Fizz, ABC, Depeche Mode, David Bowie, Madonna, Adam & The Ants, A Flock Of Seagulls, Roxy Music, Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran, Grace Jones, Su Pollard, Toyah herself and more in this crazy countdown!

Ever wondered what a remixed and mega-extended – almost nine minute – version of Thunder In The Mountains would sound like?

Another exciting Toyah reissue. Rebel Run, Toyah’s penultimate physical single release on Safari Records, receives a 10″ colour vinyl EP release on 20th September 2024.

NB. This release features a number of previously unseen Rebel Run/Love Is The Law era Toyah photos, including the great new cover shot – See another at toyahwillcox.com.

TOYAH: REBEL RUN, 10-INCH COLOURED VINYL EXPANDED EP

Newly expanded and remastered EP version of Toyah’s 1983 Top 30 single ‘Rebel Run’. This specially expanded EP is a pre-cursor to the forthcoming Cherry Red reissue of the Toyah band’s final studio album ‘Love Is The Law’.

Recorded in July 1983 at the Marquee Studios, Rebel Run was produced by Nick Tauber, and saw Toyah and Joel Bogen joined by songwriter and keyboardist Simon Darlow to create new material following the silver- certified album ‘The Changeling’.

Pressed on grey-coloured 10” vinyl, the EP is led by a previously unreleased extended version of ‘Rebel Run’, mixed during the original album recording sessions in 1983, but which remained in the vaults. Also making its debut from the archives is an Alternate version of the album title track ‘Love Is The Law’ featuring alternate lyrics. Side Two presents new remasters of the two original B-Sides of ‘Rebel Run’ and an unheard Instrumental version of the EP’s title track.

The tracks have been remastered by Nick Watson from the original master tapes and approved by Joel Bogen.

The EP features stunning previously unseen photography from the album photo sessions, depicting a futuristic aesthetic with Toyah in red body armour custom-designed by Swanky Modes. The outfit was worn by Toyah in the single’s promo video inspired by sci-fi movie Tron. A colour inner bag features yet further rare imagery.

A limited edition postcard of a previously-unseen image of Toyah will come with every 10” vinyl EP.

TRACK LISTING

REBEL SIDE (SIDE ONE)
1. Rebel Run (Extended)*
2. Love Is The Law (Alternate)*

RUN SIDE (SIDE TWO)
1. Rebel Run (Instrumental)*
2. To The Mountains High
3. Baptised In Fire
* previously unreleased

• Pre-order at Cherry Red Records. See further info at toyahwillcox.com. See Toyah announce the release at this morning’s Toyah At Home.

Heroes – Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp – Avalon Stage – Glastonbury Festival 2024.

• Saturday Song: World In Action – Watch… • Toyah & Robert: UpBeat Moments (and Isle Of Wight – Heroes) – Watch… • Toyah & Robert’s Sunday Lunch – Roses In Chains – Watch… (Image © Toyah Willcox)