{"id":21701,"date":"2009-10-08T11:25:15","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T10:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toyah.net\/?p=21701"},"modified":"2015-03-03T11:26:52","modified_gmt":"2015-03-03T11:26:52","slug":"sunday-mercury-its-only-humans-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/sunday-mercury-its-only-humans-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Mercury: It&#8217;s Only Humans Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\"><em><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; border: 0px;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.toyah.net\/humsm09a.jpg\" width=\"220\" height=\"221\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"6\" \/>A Toyah interview\/feature, on The Humans, from Birmingham&#8217;s &#8216;Sunday Mercury&#8217;. This was published on 20th September.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you just love Brummie pop icon Toyah Willcox for her 1980s hits, then you\u2019re in for a rude awakening. If you thought she was wonderful as Calamity Jane, and adore her on the panto stage, look away now. Because the 51 year-old singer and actress has a new band so darkly disturbing that it will send the unwary running for cover. The Humans comprise Toyah, husband guitarist Robert Fripp, bass virtuoso ChrisWong and REM drummer Bill Rieflin. But don\u2019t expect an easy ride. From the album insert image of a porcelain baby doll smoking a cigarette to a setlist of songs suggesting the future is bleak, this is edgy.<\/p>\n<p>Remember the way Bowie deconstructed pop in Low and Lodger? Toyah pulls off the same trick, only more so. \u201cI love European film noir,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a love affair reflected in the album. It\u2019s bleak territory exploring the deeper emotions that are only hinted at on the surface. \u201cWe\u2019ve stripped down the traditional pop song, then rebuilt it, adding things you don\u2019t hear on first listen, but which later creep up and surprise you.\u201d Certainly, the band\u2019s taster single, a cover of Nancy Sinatra\u2019s These Boots Are Made For Walkin\u2019 doesn\u2019t prepare you for the stark sonic surrounds of the main course. And what about that doll?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite all the efforts of the NHS, and news coverage of the importance of a healthy lifestyle, the tobacco industry causes more damage than anything else on the planet,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had to use the doll because in the USA, you\u2019re not allowed to show images of people smoking. And it\u2019s more disturbing, too.\u201d We Are The Humans is released tomorrow, a second album has already been written, and they\u2019ll tour in February next year. The real Toyah is back.<\/p>\n<p>By Paul Cole. Please click on the picture to view a larger version of the article.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Toyah interview\/feature, on The Humans, from Birmingham&#8217;s &#8216;Sunday Mercury&#8217;. This was published on 20th September. If you just love Brummie pop icon Toyah Willcox for her 1980s hits, then you\u2019re in for a rude awakening. If you thought she was wonderful as Calamity Jane, and adore her on the panto stage, look away now. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21702,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21701\/revisions\/21702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toyah.net\/ds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}