• Thanks to Glyn Whelan for both of these photographs.

Keep an eye over the coming weeks on Carl’s official website [ www.carlward.co.uk ], the interview will be added to the audio section.

Toyah co-headlines, along with Ska legends The Beat, The Best 80s Party in the World… Ever! 2 at the Beau Sejour Centre, Guernsey on Friday 28th May. Carl will be hosting the concert which also includes Fade2Grey.

Friday 30 April: Mardi Gras Club: Blackpool: Live PA
Friday 28 May: Best 80’s Party: Beau Sejour Centre, Guernsey
Friday 4 June: Sparkles Showbar, Gran Canaria: Live PA
Saturday 17 July: Rock & Bike Fesival, Derbyshire [Vampires Rock]
Saturday 31 July: The Greatest Eighties Party Ever…2: Open Air Theatre, Scarborough
Friday 20 August: Flashback To The 80s: Worksop, Nottinghamshire
Friday 10 September: New Foresters: Nottingham: Live PA

Toyah is currently being mentioned in various reports as playing the ‘Back To The 80’s’ concert at the Embankment, Peterborough. This looks unlikely as the date of this is Saturday 17th July – one that clashes with Vampires Rock playing the ‘Rock & Bike Festival’ in Derbyshire.

• Toyah gig info also available at The Official Toyah MySpace.

• This photo to the left is by Stephen Bennett, who says of the gig (and I hope he doesn’t mind me reproducing his words here): “Toyah unusually kept to one spot thanks to broken hip and crutches, but performs well. Setlist the usual and would prefer removal of certain choices, but a great show. Highlights ‘Latex Messiah’, ‘Danced’ and crutch waving performance of ‘Neon Womb’!”

• There’s a growing number of video clips from The Asylum over at ‘YouTube’. View almost the entire gig (via seven clips) here, a cool one of ‘Lesser God’ here, and there’s also a lengthy highlights montage featuring ‘It’s A Mystery/Race Through Space/I Want To Be Free/Echo Beach/Jungles Of Jupiter’ here. You can also view Stephen’s Facebook clip at ‘YouTube’, here.

• There’s also been lots of positive feedback, at The Official Toyah Facebook, for The Asylum gig, as well as the MCN Live! show the following night.

• Finally, a great clip, here, of a glowing Toyah performing ‘It’s A Mystery’ at the ’80’s Madness Weekender’ concert on 16th April.

Artlovejoy: Who’s That Girl? • 27th April, 2010

In this post, just for fun, I thought I’d show you an acrylic painting on canvas that I did in high school, many moons ago. I think this was my first canvas painting. The teacher asked us to paint a portrait of a singer or celebrity based on a photo from a magazine or book. Can you guess who this is…? For those who don’t know, I will tell you at the end of this post. It might be a bit obscure actually.

As a schoolgirl, I was obsessed with pop music, and British pop music in particular. I guess I’m showing my age here… but I loved bands such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Thompson Twins, New Order, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Eurythmics, Adam and the Ants… etc. I bought piles of Smash Hits and No 1 magazines (UK editions) and I liked watching Top of the Pops.

The photo of the singer I chose for my painting came from the No 1 Magazine. I thought the portrait was very striking, and looked rather exotic and Egyptian, and that it would be a good challenge to try and paint. I spent a long time on this piece. It was very time consuming but I enjoyed trying to make it as accurate as possible, and adding the colours and details, although the earring was a bit difficult to portray.

Although its not apparent in this painting, this singer used to have a shock of flaming red hair and was pretty out there. She also had a really strong voice and sang punk/rock. But to be truthful, I can’t remember many of the songs she sang. (Well it has been a while!).

I looked her up on the internet and was interested to find out that she is still around. She is in a new band called The Humans, and is still rocking on. She is also an actress and was on TV recently as Billie Piper’s mum in Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

Anyway, did you guess who it is?? Its Toyah Willcox.

• Thanks to, longtime friend of Dreamscape, Angus Turner for these great photos. Check out Toyah Fans Club Facebook for yet more excellent photos and video clips from The Asylum gig.

Ok. I have waited a LONG time to see Toyah perform live. Having been an on/off fan for pretty much all of my life I have spent the last 2 years of it buying up and completely immersing myself in this lady’s varied back catalogue – and I’ve enjoyed every minute. Only one thing left for me to find out now…Can she cut it live?

I’d seen the “Wild Essence” DVD of course, so I had an idea of what to expect. I’d even managed to watch some of the old concerts from the early 80’s – Toyah at her performance peak?  I was about to find out! Her infamous penchant for ill advised cover versions had me feeling nervous to say the least. With so many great songs of her own under her huge orange belt, why so many covers?

Please click here or below to view the full feature, with a selection of great photos by Greg.

A selection of photos (see above) have also been added to the 1980 and 1981 Gallery pages. The “new” Gallery now has approximately 700 Toyah photos, across five dedicated pages for each year between 1979-1983, with many more to come when I have more spare time to add them. [ Thanks to Paul Lomas for his Trafford Tanzi photos & Andi for the European scans ]

As well as the evening concerts, there is stunt shows, trade stands, comedy, an interactive zone, and much, much more.Visit the ‘MCN Live!’ website here.

Good luck to Toyah for a great gig tonight.

• Toyah Live at The Asylum, April 2010 • View Dreamscape’s full coverage here.

Thanks to Michael O’Brien for these great clips.

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

•  [ Thanks to Minna, Giddy Gavin & Sean ]

They play The Asylum in Hockley – Toyah has talked about the potential set-list in recent press and radio interviews, so expect selections from ’Sheep Farming In Barnet’, ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen’, and who knows what inbetween!!

Xposed presents Toyah Willcox in Birmingham on April 23rd at the Asylum with support from Last 3 Victims, Gundogs and Deadfilmstar.

The Asylum Bar & Venue
38-43 Hampton Street
Hockley
Birmingham B19 3LS

Check out all our other news updates related to The Asylum gig here.

The set-list for this was: Race Through Space, Angels & Demons, It’s A Mystery, Indecision, Danced, (interview), It’s A Mystery.

• Toyah has mentioned in recent interviews and blog updates that The Humans will soon be recording the, highly anticipated, follow up album to their debut ‘We Are The Humans’.

• Just a reminder that we have a review of The Humans main London date, at The Scala, by Stephen Bennet. Read his excellent article here. There’s also the ‘Financial Times’ review here.

• Check out all Dreamscape’s 2010 news updates; photos, press clips, reviews, live news etc, on The Humans here.

Check out The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive for a full transcript of Toyah’s March interview from The Frank Skinner Show on Absolute Radio. The Archive has numerous other transcripts of Toyah radio appearances, including the recent Phoenix Radio Fadeout interview.

Comic genius Frank Skinner has joined Absolute Radio on Saturday mornings between 8an and 10am – catch the best bits of the show right here plus the exclusive Midweek Mini podcast which is all of the stuff that Frank never got time to talk about on air. Basically it’s Frank’s view on life, the universe and everything.

The podcast is just over 50 minutes long, and can be found here. Further info on the interview here.

• In other iTunes news: ‘This Fragile Moment’ is now available to download there. It’s also good to see Toyah tracks included on a variety of iMixes: “Over 50 & Still Brilliant” (Lesser God), “Lesser God” (Lesser God, Latex Messiah, Love Crazy), “Great New Song Compilation” (Sensational), “Purchased” (Latex Messiah [Viva La Rebel In You]), and the soon-to-be-added “When Worlds Collide” (12 songs from ‘Sheep Farming In Barnet’ and ‘In The Court Of The Crimson Queen’). I wonder who thought up that very pretentious title?

As some wise person at iTunes says of their iMix: “Thanks to the internet artists like Toyah for instance, have gained a new vigour and are gaining new fans worldwide.”

I recently had the opportunity to chat one-on-one with Toyah Willcox – and asked her all about her career, her earliest TOTP memories, her nightmares, and, of course, … penguins!

… looking at the cover artwork for these six (6) singles/album releases, please describe in just 5 words or less per cover, what was going on in your mind at that time – ‘I Want To Be Free,’ ‘Thunder In The Mountains,’ ‘Love Is The Law,’ ‘Brave New World,’ ”The Changeling,’ and ‘Minx’:

‘I Want To Be Free’ – “I love my life!”
‘Thunder In The Mountains’ – “This kicks arse!”
‘Love Is The Law’ – “God I love being tough!”
‘Brave New World’ – “Time to get weird!”
‘The Changeling’ – “I’m depressed with it all”
‘Minx’ – “I love Issey Miyake!”

• Read the full interview online at ‘Exclusive Magazine’ here.

Saturday Night: On Saturday night we up the pace and turn up the volume with a great line up of rockin’ bands:

• Hells Bells - Tribute to AC/DC
• Toyah Willcox
• Oaisisn’t – Performing all the anthems from Oasis
• Steve Ferringo
• NEW FOR 2010! Yellow Brick Road Elton John show

Toyah plays The Greatest 80’s Party Ever!, in Scarborough, along with Boy George, Rick Astley, Paul Young, Hazel O’Connor, Nik Kershaw, Midge Ure, T’Pau, Kid Creole and Heaven 17. Flashback To The 80’s, in Worksop, features Toyah, T’Pau, ABC, Rick Astley, and Go West.

Click here to visit the Open Air Theatre website, and here for their Facebook. Go here for the Flashback/UK Events website, and visit their Facebook here. You can also view larger versions of the above promo images if you click on them.

1. Capital Radio: Mummy’s Weekly (1979): Fighting talk from Toyah! She also chats about being discovered, ‘Victims Of The Riddle’ and more. 2. Radio One: Rock On (1980): Toyah talks Shoestring, Glitter, the band’s influences, mayhem, ’Sheep Farming In Barnet’, ‘Neon Womb’, and future plans. 3. Radio Trent: (January 1981): Toyah, interviewed just before the release of the ‘Four From Toyah’ EP. Great interview with lots of interesting pre-mainstream fame chat. 4. Radio One: Rock On (May 1982): Toyah talks to, former ‘Smash Hits’ writer and eternal cynic, Mark Ellen about ‘The Changeling’, aliens, fairies, her ‘Brave New World’ image and much more.

• Thanks to Giddy Gavin (aka Logan 5) and Sean.

This includes dates the releases entered the UK chart, peak position, and weeks on the chart. The years spent on the chart and how successful those years were are also illustrated, in the form of a line graph.

Visit the website here or by clicking on the logo. [ Thanks to PJ ]

• More rare Toyah radio interviews soon [ Thanks to Sean ]

As mentioned yesterday, Toyah guested on The Jim Cathcart Show on BBC Radio Guernsey last Wednesday morning. More details on this:

The show lasts a marathon three-and-a-half hours. Toyah is interviewed approximately one hour, 10 minutes in, preceded by a play of ‘It’s A Mystery’. She talks about the weather, ‘It’s A Mystery’, the Eighties, her audience, how she dressed when she was younger and dresses now, Top Of The Pops, her childhood ambitions, Power Of Three, Songs Of Praise/religion, playing Guernsey with The Beat,  and not watching Ashes to Ashes. The interview lasts 15 minutes and ends with a spin of ‘Thunder In The Mountains’.

The show is available to listen to via BBC iPlayer until 21st April. Go here to listen.

This features a one-page interview with Toyah, along with another rare photo.

Check out Dreamscape’s Toyah Magazine Covers: 1978-2007 collection here.

[ Thanks to Paul Lomas for these excellent scans ]

Today we spoke to 80’s pop star Toyah Willcox and met a silver surfer from Alderney.

The show is available to listen to via BBC iPlayer until 21st April. Go here to listen.

Psychic medium, Smith, reveals some of the star’s innermost secrets, delving into her past and predicting her future with help from the spirit world. On Toyah’s birth, her mother apparently said, ‘This isn’t my child,’ which seems to be partly behind her sense of dislocation. Of most interest to fans.

• Click on either set of Psychic Therapy screen caps for larger versions.

Also showing on ITV4 +1, one hour (yup!) after each airing on ITV4

The site also offers a 20-page preview of the book. Toyah is included in ‘Sofa So Naked’ but isn’t among the preview pages.

‘Sofa So Naked’ was photographed between 2004 and 2005 and is available to purchase in book format for the first time.

• Visit ‘Blurb’ here, and Dean Stockings website, here. [ Thanks to Paul Lomas ]

Toyah Willcox is a true renaissance woman and die-hard Midlands lass.  Her career spans over 3 decades and ranges from stage and song as well as ticks in the bestselling author and charitable activist columns.  In 2010, she emerges yet again as a rock star, touring and recording with her 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.

• ‘I Want To Be Free’ 2010 – That 1981 top ten hit still inspiring rebels almost 30 years later!! View at ‘YouTube’ here [ Thanks to Stephen Bennett ]

• Recent online namechecks for Toyah; At ‘The Stage’ here, and ‘Norfolk Eastern Daily Press’ here.

• They seemed to have disappeared but the ‘Brighton Music Scene’ interview with Toyah (from late 2009), plus their Vampires Rock review, are both back online. Read both here.

• ‘Island FM’ have been tweeting about Toyah: Toyah Willcox fans watch out- she’s joining Fade2Grey in May, for the Best 80s Party in the World… part 2! View here.

Toyah has a busy Summer 2010, ahead, of sporadic gigs and PAs around the UK (and Canary Islands!).

Listed are details of The Asylum, Birmingham; Mardi Gras Club, Blackpool; Best 80’s Party, Guernsey; Sparkles Showbar, Gran Canaria; Greatest Eighties Party Ever, Scarborough; Flashback To The 80’s, Worksop; and the live PA at New Foresters, Nottingham.

Click here to visit the Official Toyah website.

• Apparently this is being shown as a tribute to Malcolm McLaren?!

Every issue of ‘Smash Hits’ from 1979 to 1985 will be available. Currently there is content up to the mid-80s so there is a lot of Toyah to come as the site continues to grow.

Toyah featured in numerous issues of the magazine between late 1980 and 1982, and then more sporadically through until 1985.

• Visit ‘Like Punk Never Happened’ here.

News Archive: Updated with complete 2007 news. View here

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.

Eighties icon Toyah Willcox and 2-Tone ska legends The Beat have been announced as the headline acts for The Best 80s Party in the World Ever…Part 2!

Thanks to a new sponsorship deal with Airtel-Vodafone, the party will double in size from the inaugural event which took place last November and is being held in Beau Sejour’s Sir John Loveridge Hall on Friday 28th May.

The best 80s Party in the World Ever…Part 2! will be hosted by Island FM’s Carl Ward. Also in the line up is eighties electronic band Fade2Grey and other special guests.

Image One/Three: www.carlward.co.uk. Image Two: TBEPITW…E!2 @ Facebook. Image Four: Sponsors Airtel-Vodafone.

Memories in Music would like fans of Toyah to contact them regarding taking part in creating a portion of the display to represent her as one of the influential artists of the area. The event has support from many musicians who are loaning items from their personal collections; among them Bev Bevan, Steve Gibbons, Trevor Burton, Carl Palmer, and Steve Winwood.

They are looking for items of memorabilia to display, such as photographs, concert tickets, posters, signed items, and fan memories of concerts or of meeting Toyah. All items will be insured, kept secure during public viewing hours, and promptly returned at the end of the exhibit. If any fans are able to help put the exhibit together or staff it during opening hours, that would be great too. 

The exhibit will be held at the St Pauls Gallery in Birmingham running for one month from September 18th. Contributors are invited to the private party in the Gallery on September 17th. The proceeds will benefit Macmillan Cancer Support and Task Brasil, who work with the street children of Rio.

Further information on this and contact details can be found at the Memories in Music website here.

News Archive: Updated with complete 2009/2008 news. View here.

An animal welfare group warns the real thing takes effort to look after and costs owners up to £1,000 a year.

Each year thousands of unwanted Easter bunnies end up in rescue centres.

Comedian Paul O’Grady, who backs the Make Mine Chocolate! campaign, said: “Unwanted gifts can be returned, exchanged or taken to a charity shop – an unwanted rabbit can’t.”

Lisa Whitty, of the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund, which set up the group, added: “Almost 40% of rabbits being given up to shelters are within six months of being bought. Many people simply aren’t aware of what’s involved in keeping one.”

For more on the campaign – also backed by Strictly winner Tom Chambers and Toyah Willcox – visit www.makeminechocolate.co.uk or www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk.

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 ]

First up: the brilliant Little Tears Of Love from 2002.

The songs; the excitement of new Toyah music after so many years; the artwork (as well as the great promo ad, by toyahwillcox.com’s Alan, slightly edited by me, below)… all conspiring to make this surely one of the finest Toyah moments of the Noughties?

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.

Toyah wants a part in it, it’s one of her favourite tv shows, and was through her childhood, it’s one of mine too – Doctor Who is back!! Series Five (also being referred to as Series 31 and Series One!!) returns tonight with a new Doctor, new companion, new TARDIS (exterior and interior), new sonic screwdriver, and 13 new episodes of adventures through time and space!! We demand Toyah is in Series Six (32, two). Mr Moffat you know it makes sense

Please keep your eyes peeled for news of the long awaited release of ‘Sofa So Naked’ – Due May 2010

‘Sofa So Naked’ is a snap shot of the society we live in. Peeping into the living rooms and lives of a cross section of our community, from students to celebrities, from the young to the old. The viewer soon becomes more interested in the models surroundings than in the naked body on display.

‘Sofa So Naked’ was photographed between 2004 and 2005 and will be available to purchase in book format for the first time. Keep an eye here for further information and publication date.

Dean is responsible for some of the amazing photos of Toyah dotted around this site, and www.toyahwillcox.com has a dedicated gallery of his Toyah photos.

Visit www.deanstockings.co.uk here.

• Toyah Extras: New section – New home for all the miscellaneous content that was previously scattered here, there and everywhere on the site.

• Interviews & Articles: Section added – all content from previous version transferred – plus 25 articles from 2009 added. This is now one of the most comprehensive “fan site” article archives online.

• News Archive: Final six months of 2009 news added – Eventually the complete March 2000 >> onwards Toyah news will be here.

• Links: Section added. If anyone would like a link added here let me know.

• Gallery/Downloads: Pages added – no content as yet.

I’ve also made some small changes to this main page, including a Toyah image box (displaying random iconic imagery/photos from Toyah’s career). Any feedback or opinions about the site changes/future are, as always, appreciated. Stats fans (like me) might be interested to know that this entry page had just under 1000 visits yesterday, from just short of 500 unique visitors – I’m glad the changes haven’t discouraged people from coming here!