Toyah Willcox is a true renaissance woman and die-hard Midlands lass. Her career spans over three decades and ranges from stage and song as well as ticks in the bestselling author and charitable activist columns. In 2010, she emerges again as a rock star, touring and recording with new band The Humans. 

In advance of an upcoming appearance at the Asylum, Juanita Appleby speaks to this punk, new wave icon about her passions, her thoughts on the music industry and what people can expect from her concert on April 23rd.

JA: I’m going to throw some stats at you, Toyah, because it just blows my mind. 30 albums plus, 13 UK Top 40s, best-selling author, musicals, stage, TV, movie, radio, presenting, voiceovers, charitable activist…so tell me what’s your real passion?

TW: Wow, that’s a good question. I prefer work in front of the camera but work like that is few and far between so I need to be constantly engaged with a kind of creative experience. I’m the kind of person if there isn’t an opportunity happening in one genre I’ll find it happening in another. So that’s probably why I have so much on my CV.

JA: So you get cabin fever if something isn’t happening?

TW: I have cabin fever daily, hourly even.

• Read the full interview online at ‘Midlands Rocks’ here. An expanded version of the interview is also available at the ’Rokpool FM’ website, here, accompanied by a brilliant photo of Toyah, and fans, at The Robin. It’s also available at ‘Beatlebabe.com’ here, the interviewer’s personal blog.

Checkout Dreamscape’s archive of news coverage for her gig at The Robin in Wolverhampton last month: There’s pre-show info; set-list details; press interviews; song clips; and some great fan photos.

There’s also info on and a link to DJ Cruel Britannia’s Toyah interview that took place at The Robin on the evening of the gig.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. View The Robin news archive here.

Toyah Live! 2010: The Robin: Soundcheck/Onstage Photos • 8th April, 2010

Three utter Toyah classics; ‘Race Through Space’, ‘Neon Womb’ and ‘Ieya’, from Toyah’s Robin, Wolverhampton gig last month.

Thanks to Paul Lomas for the videos: Paul you are a star, and always have been from the beginning of Dreamscape.

Please click below to watch, or double click to go to ‘YouTube’.

Sheep Farming … I hate saying this but if I heard Sheep Farming and didn’t know it was me I’d buy that album! It’s just got some of my favouritest songs on. “Waiting”. I just … oh, I love “Waiting”! I love singing it but very few bands can pick it up because there’s no form in it.

Read the interview here. You can also listen to or download the podcast which includes the interview here. [ Thanks to Minna ]

Toyah introduces the podcast, and her interview is approximately 30 minutes into the hour-long show.

It’s an interesting chat covering numerous topics; beginning with ‘The Blue Meaning’… Toyah talks about the early albums, as well as ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen’, The Humans, playing the House Of Commons(!), the Robin 2 gig, the Thunder/Free/BNW videos, The Power of Three, developing a chat show for daytime tv, Jubilee, the ‘Here & Now’ tours, not wanting to be pigeonholed, and much more.

Short clips of ‘I Want To Be Free’, ‘Waiting’, ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’, ‘Brave New World’, ‘Thunder In The Mountains’ and ‘Lesser God’ are played.

A great selection of other music too; Bauhaus, Ghost Dance, Christian Death, Pop Will Eat Itself… Took me way back to going to Glasgow Uni QMU Friday nights, Glasgow Tech Saturday nights, every week, drinking far too much snakebite… hic!

The interview airs again this evening, 8pm, on Radio Nightbreed. Listen online here.

If you missed it, Fadeout will air again tonight on Radio Nightbreed at 8pm.The show will also be available as a podcast on the Fadeout website very soon.

A full transcript of the Toyah interview will also be available at The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive, here, soon.

In a career spanning over 30 years Toyah Willcox has had 13 top 40 singles, recorded 20 albums, written 2 books, appeared in over 40 stage plays, made 10 feature films and presented hundreds of television programmes from The Good Sex Guide Late to Songs Of Praise. Tune in to Fadeout on Saturday 3rd April at 7.00pm to hear Toyah in an exclusive interview with Cruel Britannia where she talks about her musical beginnings right through to her current tour and her involvement in alternative/experimental band The Humans.

To hear from Toyah – and Cruel Britannia (pictured together during the interview on the left)- make sure you are tuned in to Phoenix Radio at 7pm UK time this Saturday, 3 April.

www.phoenixradio.co.uk
http://www.praysilence.org/page/radio-nightbreed

Birmingham-born Willcox may be a recognisable face on the TV thanks to numerous presenting and reality show roles, but at the Robin 2 on Saturday night she returned to what she does best.

The It’s a Mystery star let loose with some of her biggest hits and a number of cover versions.

“Tonight, I’m going to play songs I love to party out to and I want you to party as well,”

Willcox told the crowd at the Mount Pleasant music venue.

She joked: “I’m so glad I wore PVC – it’s hot up here.” The diminutive star proved she still has the same big voice that helped catapult her to cult status in the 1980s as she blasted out old favourites like It’s a Mystery and I Want To Be Free, as well as new songs such as Lesser God. [ By Catherine Dalton ]

Visit the ‘Express & Star’ website here.  Check out the Toyah Fans Club Facebook for some great photos of Toyah from The Robin gig.

Thunder In The Mountains, Lesser God, Are You Gonna Go My Way, Neon Womb, Schools Out, Obsolete, Echo Beach, Word Up, Latex Messiah (Viva La Rebel In You), These Boots Are Made For Walkin’, Jungles Of Jupiter, She Sells Sanctuary, Its A Mystery, Rebel Yell, Race Through Space, Sweet Child O’ Mine, I Want To Be Free, Ieya, Crazy Horses, and Danced.

Three from ‘Sheep Farming’, four from ‘Anthem’ and one from ‘The Blue Meaning’.

Please click here or on the pictures for fantastic footage, at ‘YouTube’, from last night’s gig – Toyah performing the iconic ‘Neon Womb’. [Thanks to Paul Lomas]

Toyah plays The Robin 2 in Bilston – It looks like it will be a great gig with an interesting set-list (See ‘Sheep Farming in Bilston’ update below).

Sanctuary Music (Dudley) Ltd and Drunken Dragon Promotions in conjunction with The Robin 2 are pleased to present : An Evening With Toyah Willcox + supports Deadfilmstar and Last 3 Victim.

Visit Drunken Dragon Promotions MySpace here. Visit the Xistance Xposed MySpace here.

The Robin 2, 24-26 Mount Pleasant
Bilston, Wolverhampton, Midlands WV14 7LJ

‘Last.fm’, ‘Surge Music’, ‘Pray Silence’, ‘107.7 The Wolf’, ‘Birmingham Gig Guide’, Gig Guide Midlands’, ‘TourDates.co.uk’, ‘Galaxy Birmingham’, ‘City Local’, ‘The Stirrer’, ‘UKPunkandOi.co.uk’, ‘Whats On Live’, and ‘Ents24' are just some of the websites who have devoted webspace to it.

Toyah last played at the Bilston venue in 2005. A concert that was captured for posterity and released as her first, and so far only, official DVD – Wild Essence: Live In The 21st Century.

On Saturday Toyah is supported by Last 3 Victims and Deadfilmstar. It’s going to be a great night.

Drunken Dragon Promotions & XiStance Xposed present Toyah at The Robin 2, Bilston, Wolverhampton on the 27th March 2010, and The Asylum Venue in Birmingham on the 23rd April 2010.

These will be two amazing nights and tickets are selling fast so get yours now. Visit Drunken Dragon Promotions & XiStance Xposed MySpace here, or their Facebook here.