JANUARY 2019
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!!
So far 2019 has been beyond expectation.
On New Year’s Day I found myself sitting next to a world-renowned film director having a lunch I didn’t expect.
He asked how I started in the business and I told him at the end of 1976 in Tales From The Vienna Woods at The National Theatre … ”Ah yes.” He said, “directed by Maximilian Schell and starring Kate Nelligan.”
My god I was impressed. We got onto Jarman and he was flying high with more facts about my past work and Derek’s films than I remembered myself.
We ended up talking about film budgets. One of his many great films was made for a fee equal to the entire fee for a director in Hollywood, but I pointed out no one had changed the course of cinema the way he had so in this day and age be proud of the fact you could change the world without making it go bust.
Also with us was a brilliant male satirist and a prolific female historian who mentioned she didn’t have a doctorate (yet) at which I sheepishly put my hand up and claimed my two honoraries. Below the surface both she and I were totally aware how hard it is to be a women in a creative world, you have to have an overrunning cup of resilience.
It was a lovely start to the year.
Looking at my diary 2019 is already an exceptional year. More concerts booked in advance than any other year in my 40 year career, BBC4 asking me for ideas for possible future series, an Album/single release to be announced and a record deal.
This is looking like a perfect year so far.
As a keen numerologist I am slightly sceptical about the last year in a decade…both Robert and I are keen followers of cycles. Historically 1961, 1971, 1981 …91 …01 … 11 etc have been years I ascend into new beginnings, but years which end with the “crisis” number, 9 have always seemed the end of cycles thus hard to let go of familiar things. Let’s look back at those particular years ...
1959 ... I can’t remember, I was one year old but I was in plaster to straighten my bones out which made it possibly for me to be who I am today.
1969 wasn’t a great ... bodged surgery on my right foot which changed my dreams of being an ice skater but better things were to follow.
1979 … in fact this was a wonderful year in my life. I was a struggling artist living with rejection but by god it made me who I am. The band were ascending and life was a glorious tough adventure and I was wild with abandon and overflowing with confidence.
1989 was the lull before the storm in 1990. Management diverted my entire income whilst I was on the road with SUNDAY ALL OVER THE WORLD, BUT it made me the whiz kid I am today ... a wake up call for a lazy so and so I was capable of being..
1999 was hell on earth. Jill Dando was murdered, heartbreaking (thank you West Mercia police for all your detective work over the past month in tracing someone who used Jill’s name in vain.)
2009 was hard, Dad died, I had a cancer scare but again I believe it built my metal and preventative surgery made it possible for me to be here today.
So 2019 ... what will it bring?
There’s great news coming for my fans as I mentioned an album release / a single release.
It’s QUADROPHENIA’s 40TH birthday, many shows in the calendar but all the time I will be waiting for “that blow on the head” because it’s 2019. I think I know what it will be ... that said I always rise out of these years renewed. Once the year has passed I will touch on this again and see if I am right or wrong with this feeling.
At the age of 60 there are inevitabilities but there are also splendours.
I think attitude combats dark clouds and insecurities.
Presently I feel as if Boudica is living in my veins.
My new year’s resolution is a stand alone quote ... The mundane in my life doesn’t define who and what I am therefore it won’t.
What is the mundane? ... Anything to do with domesticity/ utility bills/ iPhones/cars/ dull lifeless acts and habits that turn us into entrapped automatons.
THESE DO NOT DEFINE WHO I AM OR WHAT I WILL BE, yet I am surrounded by people who constantly distract me from my creative work with banality as if it defines who and what they are, big bugbear in my life.
I WON MASTERMIND! It has been hard not being able to shout this from the rooftops.
My emotional experience as I realised I had won really took me by surprise. Historically quite often in social situations I am the brunt of everyone’s jokes, even hostility. Hubby and I put this down to the fact I am physically very small and if people can’t get at him then I will do.
We have been in social situations where I have been … well how do I say this ... abused/ bullied.
By this I mean relentlessly shouted at by drunks who are verging on breakdowns over their own lives, I seem to attract them and people have had to be removed, so when I won Mastermind I found myself not only feeling elated but wanting to shove the trophy so far up these people’s arses that it would shine along with their teeth. It astonished me how the feeling of vengeance overrode my feelings of accomplishment, at this point it dawned on me that all the experiences of social bullying in my life still live deep ... DEEP … inside my psyche ...AND I must use this energy for my work, not for feeling in the wrong or wronged.
Another thing that has grown from this common experience is it makes me want to learn more and more. Succeed more and more.
Finally I have found a piano teacher who might be able to help me overcome an area of my dyspraxia where I cannot send messages of co-ordination to my hands. I feel elated I might be able to combat this, because it heaps frustration on me like no other thing.
I am determined to break the mould and make 2019 a great year.
Japan was an adventure. Having never been there before I was awed by the fantastic people and the amount of bowing that takes place, it made me slightly Self conscious.
It was delightful to experience my Japanese fans who where welcoming and generous … a very special experience.
Robert and I arrived home just before Christmas Eve and I slept for 24 hours. When I woke I thought my head had simply touched the pillow but a whole day had gone.
Christmas was beautiful and full of good friends … I am grateful beyond words.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE AND SEE YOU SOON.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOTS OF LOVE TOYAH
XXXXXX
FEBRUARY 2019
So far 2019 seems to be seamlessly attached to 2018, in that nothing has slowed down for about 24 months.
Tomorrow Simon Darlow and I start shooting the video for our soon to be announced project. The publicity for the soon to be announced project starts in two weeks.
Mixes done, factories booked ... we are ready to GO! Already the autumn/winter of 2019 and even the spring of 2020 has projects in the diary. In between all the writing, concerts, soundchecking, doing press I am managing to sneak into quiet corners and practice my new love ... the Keyboard!
More later on this, as I believe if I was allowed to learn as a child my life would have greatly improved.
An astrologer once told me I would retire at the age of 66. This has always fascinated me because this astrologer also told me, on my 22nd birthday, about the success to follow 12 months later ... he was right.
There’s a predictability about telling a 22 year old in 1980 that she will retire at the age of 66 of course, but it has also served as a pre-warning, going off like a little alarm bell in my head for the odd 38yrs not to let this prediction happen!
I can only hope he meant this “retirement” is purely practical ... 66 being the age I start a pension rather than my being forced by outside factors, because my feelings about retirement contains the words “bollocks” and “pile of” in some sort of readable order.
There is still so much to do. And so far nothing is slowing down ... and 66 is only 5 and half years away for me. Apart from the singing/performing I am totally in love with my lessons presently and I want to go further into certain areas educationally, to study art and computer art. Fripp can’t prize me away from my keyboards, I am in love with the process of all the jumble of experiences in my head falling into place as I realise the chords I am playing in my lessons resemble other people’s work.
Mid-lesson I realise the Am scale I am working on relates to so many songs I love ... this may sound ludicrous to a musician but I have instinctively got through life and now I want to understand how things work.
I have come to the conclusion there is no such thing as a unintelligent human being ... in fact there is no such thing as an unintelligent life form.
Animals, Plants, Humans… we are all potential.
We might do ill informed things from time to time, might be lazy, might be lacking in confidence to build our own dreams ...but none of us are lesser in intelligence than the other and anyone who claims otherwise is simply a bad person in my view. The fact is I have co-written about 28 albums in my life time (also 2 books) and I have somehow managed to survive in this industry because of sheer willpower while all the time being bricked in by dyslexia, my aim this year is to tackle this head on, so I am having lessons and I am practicing in all the areas I feel “locked in.”
A great teacher can change your life no matter who, what, where you are. Whatever age you are. We all need them.
Last month I started to take piano lessons to simply deal with my worrying frustration of not being able to communicate with musicians on a deeper level. What I didn’t expect from the process was to find the info was already in my head (why shouldn’t it be, I’ve been writing for 42yrs) but the big BIG revelation is I needed the lessons to connect all the rampaging ideas/facts/ knowledge racing around in my head to my external body, mostly with my hands.
I have often mentioned dyspraxia, but I thought that meant all avenues of learning were closed to me. It is completely the opposite. I HAVE LEARNT, I HAVE BEEN LEARNING ALL THE TIME ... IT’S ALL THERE, THE LINKS NEEDED TO BE BUILT ... the piano lessons are unlocking the knowledge, giving me control and expression and I am experiencing great joy knowing this as everything is falling into place like a life-long jigsaw puzzle.
My teacher lives on my street, a hugely respected keyboard performer/composer with an enviable knowledge of music theory, he also has experience with teaching people with dyspraxia and autism AND within three weeks he has me playing with both hands, reading music and is accompanying me as I play top chords and bass lines ...
IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE, I JUST NEEDED SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE PROBLEM TO SHOW ME HOW TO FIND THE WAY, step by step with no negative imprinting.
Negative imprinting is a big no no in my life.
My mother was an artist at it. Example: “eat that cake you will get fat” or “why do want to learn piano when you know you will never play” ... I could go on.
I don’t allow people in my life who negative imprint. We all have them, the type who tell you how to experience your own life/ a meal/ the garden/ your home/ a song ... why?
Explaining this to my hubby the other day ... (who constantly needs reminding how wonderful and privileged his life is) ... I only want to hear my own voice in my head, the true instinctive voice that comes from deep within the subconscious and not the bad news mongers because imprinting is modern day control.
Because of this I feel strongly music theory and instruments must be taught in all schools, it hardwires the brain to deal with life.
It doesn’t necessarily have to mean you want to become a musician but it does mean, like Math, you can use your own knowledge and resources to get through life with confidence ... I am convinced.
I believe music is there for a reason and that is it helps us be introspective in the very best way.
AND perhaps children could have better futures if they where allowed and encouraged to experience music this way… God knows it has helped me get through life but to actually understand it at a deeper level is life changing.
LESSON OVER ... I am off to play.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXX
MARCH 2019
HELLO THERE!
At last the news is out!
Not only is there a limited edition purple colour vinyl of IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON QUEEN to be released for Record Store Day, with a new track DANCE IN THE HURRICANE opening the original album but also a double CD with the 11 tracks on the vinyl and another 4 additional new tracks split into two Acts across 2 CDs plus a 24 page booklet.
You can pre-order the various formats here … except the limited vinyl which you have to get in Record Shop son RECORD STORE DAY on Sat 13 April.
AND a beautiful video for SENSATIONAL. There are three tracks from CRIMSON QUEEN being released as singles … we will surprise you with those!
All of the tracks have had live drums added and been remixed and re-mastered.
WHO LET THE BEAST OUT has been extended and piano added which is joyous.
DANCE IN HURRICANE is a brand new song, only finished in January 2019. It’s my fave all time song. It took a while to develop. Originally only the intro and 4 bars of drums existed but I persisted that those 4 bars were the song and eventually in December I had the backing track I could write the first draft of the lyric to.
When singing it for the first time in the studio to Simon I just couldn’t get through it, it was too emotional for me and the first verse “I held your little soul” is the first and only take of that line, Simon insisting it is kept even though I am crying.
The artwork for all the items is stunning.
The initial photo shoot by Dean Stockings was in October 2018, where we also covered a promotional shoot with KING CRIMSON because THE HUMANS Vs KING CRIMSON with GET IN YOUR CAR is in the schedule for their releases soon. So on the same day as shooting my album cover material I was photographed with the Crimson band and Bill Rieflin … my fellow Human.
Initially my shoot was looking sedate and I wanted a suggestion of rebelliousness so I introduced the concept that falling off the Crimson Queen’s throne is liberating and the only way to gain true personal power. Pedestals are always troubled by expectation. Thus the story on the cover was born.
It’s not about a fallen queen but it’s about a liberated queen. Dean Stockings has taken it so much further with incredible background graphics. This is one of my most favourite image stories to date. Sean Chapman created the brilliant “fallen” silver crown that sits on my shoulders, believe it or not it’s made from porridge oats compressed onto wire.
The brand new video for SENSATIONAL was shot over two days.
The first day was in the Cotswolds with Simon’s son Joe staring.
I cut out paper crowns from local newspapers lying around and Joe’s very muddy football became the shining orb in our hands.
It has always been important to me that the song was addressed to a child about to embark on the future.
There is a “truth” that too many children are denied and that truth is they are all Sensational no matter what influences try to distract them from that.
Joe has never been filmed before and he was fantastic, he totally understood the process and within an hour was singing the lyrics to the camera. (We also wanted a girl but timing and circumstance didn’t make this possible).
The film location had three miniature black sheep roaming around who wanted to play with us so they had a starring role too, spontaneously leaping into the picture and head butting us occasionally whilst trying to eat our clothes.
Both Simon and I are very, very grateful to Demon, who singlehandedly are keeping my legacy alive, not only by releasing CRIMSON QUEEN as a new album but also actively looking to release my archive ... more on this later in the year.
It’s fantastic to be part of a record company again because the team around us supports what we are aiming to do. We have press/ marketing/ radio promotion and it’s taken a huge weight off my shoulders. It’s busy and it helps that I play live so much, covering so much territory because the regions are how I broke in the first place 40 years ago. I deliberately went to the regional towns and cities to build national interest.
This year is one of the busiest live performance years I have ever had and it means I can promote around the UK and Europe.
Currently my days are filled with press interviews.
It has been hugely rewarding talking to Classic Pop who really put their research in. They talked to both Simon and I as respected artists.
Same with www.SuperDeluxeEdition.com, a brilliant morning spent with the team. Talking to The Guardian was a lot of fun too. There are some tongue in cheek answers there.
Yet STILL, in the case of certain hugely successful publications read by millions of women worldwide, I find myself after 42 years of success professionally and personally, fending off the usual gender specific/gender victim questions. I am startled and amazed some of the questions asked perpetuate the concept of women as victims.
I like to think I am now old enough and wise enough not to feed negative stereotypes but it is disheartening when a journalist has a photo in front of them of TOYAH WILLCOX and PAUL MCCARTNEY together, were the female star in the picture is being awarded by the male star in the picture for a lifetime of hard, groundbreaking work that the only question the journalist wants to ask is “ So you don’t see your husband much does that worry you that he might be unfaithful?” REALLY, after coming up to 33 years of marriage? Forget the fact I am 12 years younger, on the road, looking and sounding AMAZING and have an album coming out of self penned music.
The live shows in the past 4 weeks have been soooooooooooo good.
Opening the year at The Arc Stockton-On-Tees with the snow falling fast outside the audience were fabulous and the set caught the excitement/tension of punk moving into the 80s and of course into the new tracks off CRIMSON QUEEN.
Then we where rammed into a tiny space in Doncaster, heaving to the roof, which just made the evening even better ... felt like being in a uni again.
HALIFAX Square Chapel Arts Centre blew me away. I am thrilled to see how much care and money has gone into the town to preserve it’s architectural heritage and also into the arts. A lot of movies shoot in Halifax so I am familiar with it but it has evolved suddenly and it has power and beauty as you drive down the valley into the town, I loved it.
And as for LEEDS ... I had no idea what was coming as I drove into the car park of the Brudenell Social Club. My first impressions where “why here?”
Then I walked into the venue and discovered it was one of the best venues ever! State of the art system, great cube room, fab lighting and the show sold out and people begging to get tickets outside.
It was pure NECTAR. I recommend every band play there because it was real.
Great people, great community and great sound ... just don’t stay at the Double Tree by Hilton Leeds.
Very sweet staff who very sweetly refused us access to our rooms even though the bill had been paid in advance and was evident on the system but the computer said NO.
Eventually after two hours of persistent protest we had rooms for the night!
Last night I was out at dinner with Simon, Fripp and Mrs. Darlow when Simon told a story I had long forgotten. I was the first artist to record his song Slave To The Rhythm. I’d completely forgotten. It must have been in the mid 80s.
It was originally written for another very high profile artist who passed on it because they wanted to write the lyrics, but the song was complete and found its way to Grace Jones ... sometimes things work out for the better!
But Simon having told this story has started a chain of events that could lead to something very interesting in the future!!!!!??????
Enjoy all that’s about to come.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD
LOVE, TOYAH
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
APRIL 2019
HELLO FROM THE CRIMSON QUEEN!
What an extraordinary month it has been. IT’S GONE CRAZY!
THANK YOU to everyone for pre-ordering IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON QUEEN and placing it at NO.1 in most of the Amazon Pre-order charts, that was a fantastic beginning to this albums journey. It has been non-stop ever since. I have been averaging 15 interviews a day and requests are still coming in, it looks like the promo train will be carrying on for a few months … radio/TV/newspapers … every spare minute is filled.
The band had their production rehearsal a couple of weeks ago and there are positive changes afoot. We are reaching back to the original arrangements and keyboard sounds as much as we possibly can with a five piece line up. It sounds rather fresh!
The new songs DANCE IN THE HURRICANE/TELEPATHIC LOVER/WHO LET THE BEAST OUT sound fabulous.
Beast in particular suits the band line up and its great to sing too. Hurricane is magnificent, even if I say so myself. It feels like a new rebellion. My inner punk is yelling out to the ether “We’re loud n’ proud”.
Can you believe it … 2020 is booking up and looking good … there is some lovely and long awaited news about my pairing up with another artist on a tour ... but more on that in the late autumn.
Even though it has been flat out I have still managed to read two books SEDUCTION/KARINA LONGWORTH and BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE/ STEVEN PINKER these are weighty volumes but my brain needs food after what can be a long repetitive day. Most importantly I have managed to see a film a day … movies are my big love. Lars Von Trier’s THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT is unapologetically shocking, utterly brilliant, especially when put side by side with the rather polite remake of Halloween. Talking of films I am in talks to go into a movie in June, very very good story and fun part.
On top of this I try and sqeeeeeeeezzzeeee my piano practice into every spare second, carrying my practice keyboard into every venue, determined not to sit in a dressing room allowing time to bleed away pointlessly. Even though splitting my hands is still challenging my knowledge of music theory now means I can talk to the band about keys and harmonic relation which makes them sit up and listen.
I have a fantasy that one day I will sit at a keyboard and play faultlessly. It might be a little way off but it will be the sweetest revenge when it happens.
The concerts in March where great. Minehead Alternative Festival was very special. A very close friend passed away two hours before stage time and once I got my composure back I said to the band “The show is for her, we are privileged to be here, lets make sure we celebrate her.” AND boy we did, it was a celebration of everything positive in the world.
It was immensely powerful to go on stage in total shock and grief and feel the music lift everything and everyone to a different level. My friend was by my side and I sang every word for her and the audience, who gave so much back, it was a super special night.
I am dreaming of tidal waves.
It is always the same dream. I’ve had it now for about 10 years. I am looking down the garden to the River Avon, our garden backs onto the river, and as I look up river a tidal wave is coming towards me!
It’s not that surreal an idea. My home is 22 miles away from the Severn and in 1607 that area was hit by a tsunami caused by an earthquake under the Irish sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Channel_floods,_1607.
As a believer in reincarnation I am wondering if my being drawn to where I now live (wherever I am in the world I am drawn back to my hometown, nothing compares) is a past life memory, they say souls return to past geographical homes! There is only one difference between my dream and the actuality of 1607…..in my dream the tidal wave is coming the other way … from Stratford on Avon, now what does that mean?
One day Fripp and I are going to make a video of my various monster impersonations. They are surreal but accurate, instantly recognisable and only need my hands and body movement to bring them to life.
Yes this is what the legendary Fripp and myself get up to in our spare time,
I have got ALIEN/PREDATOR and BLUE the Velociraptor from Jurassic World down to a T.
So much so hubby constantly asks me to do these as they make him laugh so much. He wants me to teach him how to do them … but I know he will nick them and enthral his King Crimson band mates with my creations, so I won’t be teaching him in a hurry. I did these impressions only yesterday on the Promenade in Cheltenham with Fripp and Theo Travis joining in … we stopped the traffic as I pronounced loudly that I am too old to move with such speed allowing my inner Blue to possess me, moving at the speed of light down the street on a grey and rainy day channelling dinosaurs is a joy. It’s the ONLY way to behave in the rain.
IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON QUEEN is out as a double CD on Friday 12 April and the limited edition crimson vinyl follows a day later on the Saturday 13 April on independent Record Store Day. Pre-order now if you haven’t already!
I am frequently asked “why the name IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON QUEEN?” easy … EVERY KING NEEDS A QUEEN.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD.
SEE YOU OUT THERE
LOTS OF LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXX
MAY 2019
HELLO THERE!
I have named last month the MONTH OF THE JINX!
As fabulous and exhilarating as it was ... there where strange things afoot. It started on the 11th April. I was being driven, in the late afternoon, to a radio studio in central London, past the Marylebone Court where the world press where waiting outside for news on the charging of Julian Assange, Assange was inside the building.
It was immensely busy outside and a helicopter was hovering overhead for the whole time I was in central London. I only had an hour at the studio and by 5pm was on way back to West London when my taxi took a back road to avoid the traffic that was building up around the Marylebone Court.
Suddenly behind us was a police van, sirens going but we where in the way with no where to move because of solid traffic, the van very quickly and effortlessly hit the back of the taxi and edged us onto the pavement ... inside was Julian Assange.
The taxi driver was shocked, I was shocked! There was nothing the driver could do. He couldn’t exactly chase after the van and swap insurance details!
Then on the 12th April when I went to the BBC Portland Place to record Loose Ends. Outside there where a LOT of autograph hunters, I was early and alone, my team where on their way.
Traffic was so bad I got out of the car and walked around the corner to the entrance and the crowd pushed past the barriers and pinned me against the glass entrance to the BBC. They actually pinned me against the glass, blocking exit and entry from the beeb for a good three minutes. I looked over to the baffled security, who had no idea who I was and asked if they’d kindly help me!
Once in the building talking to the absolutely gorgeous Emma Bunton I realised she had come in through a secret entrance and I had in fact been told to go through the front as a decoy ... this is purely my assumption, but it was the most ridiculous experience, to be pinned against glass doors looking at crash barriers the other side of the fans and security just watching ... bloody bonkers.
Then 4 days later a scaffold pole went through the back window of my car in a car park on Park Lane (outside eco warriors had brought the centre to a stand still).
I was appearing at the Grosvenor Hotel with Justin Hawkins, Simon Webb and the SAS BAND. Spent the whole day trying to secure my tour costumes in a car covered in glass, a very weird day.
Things calmed down for a week, as we all got ready for the Scottish tour. We had a blindingly good warm up gig at Gunton Hall in Lowestoft, it was joyous. Then I headed to Edinburgh feeling excited but nervous.
This was my first proper tour in Scotland for quite a while and we all wanted it to be brilliant.
Then the gremlins came back! In Edinburgh at the wonderful Liquid Rooms, perfect venue for us, all the computer files corrupted. All the saved programmes reverted back to old programmes and even though the reviews for the show where stunning, the sound out front was stunning, the audience , the venue perfect ... it was a very different experience on stage.
Then we get to the hotel and there were not enough rooms so at midnight I drove off looking for a hotel.
Luckily the next day I was seeing June Field for lunch and she calmed me down.
Dundee was another wonderful venue. At soundcheck we sorted the tech gremlins out and looked forward to the show.
As I walked on stage for the opening song HURRICANE I felt the zip on my dress pull down and I thought this was Wong getting me back for years of pranking but the zip had broken, literally as I walked up to the mic!
Frank, our promoter, very kindly spent the first song crouched behind me pinning me into the dress as I sang. BRILLIANT SHOW! LOVED IT.
I drove to Inverness early to meet Bill Rieflin’s sister. We had a lot to talk about, it was great to see her. We had lunch at the Rocpool Reserve, it was stunning.
Then on to soundcheck in the Iron Works, another great venue.
That afternoon, after soundcheck, I managed to catch my right leg under a protruding table lag, in the dressing room and hit the floor so hard Paramedics where called, because I landed on my hip implant and couldn’t walk.
No breaks, just a slightly torn ligament. The Paramedics where brilliant, they made sure I was able to stand and eventually walk. We invited them to the show but they said they were too busy with it being a Saturday ... I will make sure I donate a TV fee to them in future.
On to the Glasgow Grand which ran smoothly, no jinx’x there. The audience where rapturous, we really felt the love, the applause was deafening and joyous.
The Scottish shows were stunning, our support artists where great . The set list was the best ever with the new songs going down really well, the audience knowing all the words to the Crimson Queen songs.
AND as for Scotland itself ... we were so impressed, brilliant place.
Lastly, having seen the interview Simon Darlow and myself did for SUPER DELUXE EDITION, which is a good interview and a much appreciated opportunity to talk in depth about our work process ... I was so wired on coffee I am surprised I wasn’t glued to the ceiling! I have since given coffee up because it ramps me up too much ... I am surprised I managed to sit still for that amount of time. Believe me I am not like that at all!
All in all it’s been a weird but outstanding month!
The summer beckons, there are more great shows to come.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXX
JUNE 2019
HELLO THERE!
Thank you for all the Birthday wishes!
We spent the week in rain soaked France. It was glorious. Walking along the stormy coastline watching the fishing boats battling the surprisingly large waves, the largest waves I’ve seen in Menton bay.
Robert and I adore sitting in cafes watching the world go by while reading books we love to discuss and having ideas for the future.
Our Birthdays coincide with the Cannes Film Festival, which makes flying and arriving very interesting. Lots of incognito stars on the plane with the customary baseball caps pulled over their eyes. On landing the press running around the arrivals hall trying to find whom they are expecting.
Then in Menton itself, the French locals nonchalantly ignoring it all. As always you could spot the A-listers who were hiding from the furore of Cannes. Beautifully manicured, slim, shy and failing to look ordinary. Add to this that the Grand Prix was only a week away and every café was filled with petrol heads commuting to Monaco, the place was excellent for people watching.
Returning to the UK, in the business lounge at Nice, hubby ran to his favourite desk and unloaded his computers then popped to the gents. A tall man in a baseball cap started to go through hubby’s things and I started to interject when i released it was Robert Pattinson, my hubby had ensconced himself in Mr. Pattinson’s place and he needed to retrieve his phone from under hubby’s pile of computers ... so embarrassing.
It’s two hours before I leave for Bali.
I am a master at packing. Only being there for three nights I have allowed for two stage costumes, three dresses, one swimming costume, three pairs of shoes and one stage necklace, all in one carry on bag!
In my handbag is my office computer because I will be dealing with the next 18 months of work as soon as I am on land, a book about the history of Angels and 2 snack bars ... I am scared of being hungry in Dubai for all of the one and half hours I am there connecting to the Bali flight.
I am feeling nervous about being so pale and pasty in Bali. Especially with fellow performers around me, who only ever see me covered from head to toe in stage costumes. There are many things that most people do that I don’t bother with and spray tanning is top of the list. I have touring pallor and with only two days on the Island I will be coming back with equal pallor.
But what I am really looking forward to is that e-mail and the phone can’t reach me on the plane AND a change of scenery.
The past 4 weeks have been crazy as usual. WORK, WORK, WORK keeps coming in for this year and next year and my head is divided between now and the next 18 months.
Next year is looking very interesting. I am trying to focus all the performance work between April and September as I need to write a few projects and this requires me to make space in the diary. Bill Rieflin and I are planning a duets album ... something we have talked about for years and fingers crossed he might be able to do it in one concentrated time span later in the summer, if not, then in the New Year. We do the first track in three weeks, He and Don Gunn have already sent the song over for me to add vocals and build loops and I am very excited. I am sworn to secrecy about what the track actually is.
Frippy is now away on his tour for most of 5 months.
I have the house to myself. My own routine is uninterrupted. Our routines differ a lot. Fripp likes his mornings reading and drinking coffee, then lunch, which I thank the heavens for because he cooks it, then a cup of tea across the road and on to 4 hours guitar practice.
Robert is starting to simply ignore his average 100 e-mails a day, a lesson I need to learn ... my routine? Up at 4am, e-mails for 6 hours, then 2 hours of press, then a much needed lunch with Fripp, then back to e-mails till 6pm and then travel to my next show.
While hubby is away I can eat when, where and how I want ... people still get freaked at the sight of a women alone in a restaurant, they immediately think something is wrong, but I love it. Eating has an individual pace and mine is quite fast, faster than my hubbies.
I will see Mr. Fripp at the Albert hall, which is going to be a fantastic event. Yet people around me say “are you sad you are not going with him on tour?”
Where do I start?
“Nope.” I say. “Apart from being on tour myself, working every single day this year till the 15th December, I am off to Bali, Belgium, Dublin and a lot of the UK doing TOYAH concerts, which is a wonderful challenging adventure in itself, which takes a lot of talent and skill to keep the engine rolling, I don’t have time to sit around and persuade myself something is wrong with my life just to satisfy you.”
“Awe.” They say, completely not hearing and seeing me, “but he will be home for Christmas.”
F— me, the evidence of my success surrounds me and still I am perceived as the victim wife. If they could read my mind ... GROW UP, WAKE UP AND SEE YOURSELVES, NOW EXCUSE ME WHILE I GET ON WITH MY INDEPENDENCE.
Rant over.
I have had a lot of response to the BALL pictures. Strangers have come up to me and ask how BALL is. This has tickled us both.
Image for me is stronger than language and I love setting up these gentle concepts. There are some fab ones planned for when Fripp and I are together in August.
We keep laughing about what we are planning. For me these work because Robert and I are both complete opposites, chalk and cheese and I love putting him in situations that his fans would never associate him with.
The next theme is very off the wall and using an iconic image with the most mundane everyday item ... get guessing!
Last week I worked with Stephen Mangan.
We where competing against each other for our charities. When being interviewed i said how surprised i was at how well Stephen was doing, genuinely meaning he had a talent for the task, but he thought i meant because he was stupid. i was mortified, still am. There are preconceptions i have to fight all the time and i don’t want to make anyone feel they are seen in a preconceived light.
He is a brilliant man.
This week I met up with my sister and 15 childhood friends I haven’t seen in 50 years! The amazing thing about the day is none of us had changed. Our group dynamic and spirit was exactly the same. It was very moving.
My car is here! Off to play Bali!
Back in 5 days to play Bognor ...!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXX
JULY 2019
HELLO THERE!
It’s been an exceptional year so far and we are only 7 months in.
I think I mentioned in January I had 3 movies waiting to be Green Lit and if they all happen at once I am in trouble. Last Tuesday they were all green-lit within the same hour!
Luckily they follow back to back rather than all shoot at the same time. It means for me there is no time off between now and Christmas, but this is what I have lived for all my life, to be exceptionally busy in an industry I love.
And the name of the movies? I dare not mention them in case I jinx everything, I will let social media reveal what is going on, but I will say the last project of the year is a Netflix project ... soooooooo exciting.
I now own most of my back catalogue, the albums since 1987 and they are being scheduled to be re-released by Demon Music in CD and Vinyl within 12 months.
Taylor Swift’s legal battle with her back catalogue has caught my eye as I would like to buy my early catalogue and my interest is being blocked. DANCE IN THE HURRICANE was released as a single on Friday. This is a new mix making it suitable for radio as the album version is twice as long.
For 20 years I’ve nibbled my way through bags n bags of liquorice only to discover if you’re over the age of 40 you shouldn’t eat it because it causes high blood pressure. YIKES!
Bali was stunning. Landing at Bali airport women where running up to me shouting “welcome Toyah, we are so happy you are here!” I had no idea I was known this far east. There were 2000 applications for tickets from the Philippines alone for a show with only 500 places available. Anyone who has been to Bali knows how deeply spiritual the culture is, it’s steeped in ritual, our driver even made offerings to stop the volcano in Sumatra from erupting.
Dear Midge Ure went down with food poisoning immediately but managed to perform. Marc Almond was a scream, so funny, so wicked in all the best ways.
Carol Decker was the life and soul as usual, the glue holding us jet lagged souls together, telling the most outrageous stories of rock star behaviour on planes.
The show was hot, even a light rainfall didn’t cool the evening down. The audience were totally up for it and so many from Manchester who had flown in especially….(I saw a few of them the following week at the O2 Newcastle.)
Next year we are planning Dubai and Singapore.
Wherever I am in the world no one believes the amount of water I drink. They also don’t know WHY I want to drink so much water. It’s not because I am thirsty, its toxin flushing. I drink 5 litres a day, and when I requested this at the hotel reception they thought I’d got my calculations wrong ... They would allow me four bottles a day only, but by hook and by crook I got my 5 litres and I needed it in the 40% heat, it kept my top notes happy.
The past month has had an air of normality with an undercurrent of madness/ sadness and unacceptable behaviour.
I made it back to play Bognor on the Sunday, in a surprisingly relaxed state, but there was an atmosphere I couldn’t understand at the venue. Butlins like all of the venues is brilliantly run and super safe but two evenings before our show a fight had broken out, apparently a mass brawl among 200 people, which resulted in a guest dying, it was heartbreaking.
As a performer one of the most moving and compassionate experiences I ever have is looking out over a sea of faces and wishing them safety and happiness, for this to happen at a music event is tragic, my heart goes out to the man’s family.
I said something that night, whilst on stage that changed the room. The staff mentioned it to me as I came off, that the atmosphere lifted when I said what I said. The words that came out are “The audience are God.”
This altered the whole room.
The next day discussing this with Robert I explained something we are both fully aware of and that is there is always a moment in a concert when the individuals become one and we all go beyond just being in a room, we extend, grow, connect, expand. It is an extraordinary feeling and it couldn’t happen without an audience, therefore the Audience Are God.
King Crimson at the Albert Hall was stunning. They where stupendous.
It was lovely to bump into Nick Beggs, his first daughter is getting married this year, time flies.
King Crimson being in the UK can be problematic for me. I was only in Bali for 48 hours and I spent the whole time sorting the guest list for the band.
It adds to my incoming e-mail by about a 100 new mails a day all asking for tickets and expecting me to sort them out. I never hear from certain individuals, at all, then suddenly they need me desperately.
With this in mind it was breathtaking to hear someone in the next box to me take the mickey out of me, singing It’s A Mystery with a lisp when I knew they had got in on a freebie and I knew who they were. Robert and I have decided to clear out our address books.
Robert needed cheering up this week. He’s been on the road 7 weeks now and is home sick, missing the birds and the bees in the garden, so I sent him a little video to cheer him up ... it worked, he now wants his own bee costume. He is home for a month next week.
I couldn’t do what he does, flying every other day. Next year they are having a “sleeping on” tour bus, I don’t think I could do that either, I love driving so much.
Two weeks ago Wongy, Mr. Doble, myself and John Humphries did a live early morning session on BBC RADIO 2 ... GOOD MORNING SUNDAY. Listen here to the session.
The response was huge, people have been coming up to me in the street all over the UK and telling me their stories and all identifying with DANCE IN THE HURRICANE. People need to talk.
I have written this on the festival site at Brentwood Festival in a dressing room that slightly rocks in the wind. Twice I have accidently wiped the page.
So third time lucky ...
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXX
AUGUST 2019
HELLO THERE!
I hope your summer is the best ever.
The live shows have been magnificent.
Southampton, Dublin, Brentwood, Rock n’ Bike, Stockport , Rewind Scotland and beautiful, beautiful Holt! And it’s not over yet Rewind North, Rewind South, Belgium, Morecombe are all to come before the autumn tour starts.
When I got to Dublin, there where problems with getting transport to Palmerstown House so Paul Masterson and his partner picked me up from the airport in the wee early hours of the morning. Paul and I wrote Fallen together and they stayed with me for the day, it was so lovely to have his company and we ended up sunbathing in a field with some of the Big Country guys. It turned into a glorious day out.
I managed to stay and see Marc Almond’s amazing set then back to a very late Ryanair flight to Birmingham. One blessing on landing the stewards didn’t play that horrible “we are on time” music. It’s been a month of Quad40 . Sky Arts have filmed a script read at Shepard’s Bush Empire. It was very interesting to have us round a table talking about how the scenes where shot, how we approached our characters, because we are all so radically different as people to the characters we played.
Phil Daniels was magnificent, he doesn’t like being asked questions at the best of times, which results in great throw away “I don’t care comments”, he is so punk. In make-up a very helpful runner asked if he would like a sandwich, if so what filling and his reply is one I am going to steal from now on when people are too helpful on film sets “what are you a detective?”
Phil Davis has no idea that he is one of the worlds best actors ever, it isn’t that he is modest, he seriously seems to have no idea how bloody talented he is. Trevor Laird is the best human being ever, Gary Shail has the best recall of all of us. Mark Wingett and Garry Cooper are soooooo Mod and Leslie Ash is deceptively strong ... as in tough.
Sky Arts turned the theatre into a TV studio for the day.
The majority of the audience where Mods who influenced the re-emergence of the movement on 1980. It was rammed and noisy and you could feel the love. I remember when WOGAN was recorded in this theatre in the 1980’s with the huge rolling cameras on stage, this time state of the art cameras on cranes floated above our heads, screens behind us relayed messages from those who couldn’t be there.
There must be a Drama series made about the characters now, in present day, the characters would have had such varied and troubled lives, this film has fans around the world, especially in LA where the films following is surprisingly large. A TV series about the social group today would be the cherry on the cake.
Lauren Laverne presented the script read, I never realised she was a huge Quad fan ... she new every moment in the film with a passion.
In the afternoon, before the recording, back stage none of us stayed in our dressing rooms, instead we piled into the green room, crammed on two sofas …Phil Daniels listening to sports results and the other boys, Trevor Laird, Phil Davis, Gary Shail, Mark Wingett, Garry Cooper all glued to the cricket ... or was it football? Or was it tennis? Or was it golf? Leslie and myself giggling at the fierce concentration when someone was about to score.
At the end of the day the head of Sky Arts said “you guys really love each other don’t you?” Yep, that is correct, we are still as solid as a rock.
This month has been LAWYERS! LAWYERS! LAWYERS!
2019 is definitely living up to being a crisis year. ( I have a life pattern of years ending in 9 being crisis years).
Not terrible, just very distracting. And as I get older I certainly deal with things a lot better and with a greater intelligence. Lawyers to stop people trading with my name ... this is proving challenging!
Lawyers to make approaches about buying my early album catalogue ... it’s the bloody work of the writers and performers , we have already paid for it four times over, I should own it, love it , cherish it, nurture it, put it out into the world ... because this hasn’t been the case in many years.
Lawyers to stop my French neighbour being a Brexit nationalist. Oh yes Brexit is making it hard to be British in France. I am learning so much about so many areas of law.
My hubby is home for three weeks and I am tempted to keep him here and not let him go off touring again even though I have to admit I always find it hard to adjust to him being around after a long spell of being on my own.
I almost have to learn to be part of a couple again.
At the same time we are both keenly aware of our mortality and those dreams of driving Route 66 and of seeing the Norwegian Fjords better bloody happen and come to fruition! For these to happen we need to open up our diaries, as we are both working more than ever. We are actually making plans to go on a cruise! I have a passion for the arctic. Not sure how far this will take us but it’s now or never! I want to go on a cruise where there are tea dances, because there is nothing cuter than Frippy doing the Fox Trot.
Right off to learn lines. I am on two films in the next month.
For one of the films I learnt the lines on the very first read, for the other film I am having to go over and over again. Its amazing how some writing is just so “there” that you can recite it right back, but other writing requires you to go right into the depth of the character to be able to grasp it.
HAVE A GREAT AUGUST
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXX
SEPTEMBER 2019
HELLO THERE!
Today I am in Menton, France learning my lines for TO BE SOMEONE, which starts principle photography on the 16th Sept.
It is over 30 degrees outside and uncomfortably hot.
France gives me a chance to catch up on reading. I live in wonderful isolation. Apart from the 100 e-mails a day. I am heavily into Stephen King at the moment. King’s ON WRITING: A Memoir Of The Craft, first published in 2000, was recommended by a director friend who said how it influenced his writing, now I have Frippy and Bill Rieflin reading it and fast and funny quips are passing via e-mail quoting our favourite parts ... mine is the Babysitter sitting on his head and farting when he was 6 years old, so politically incorrect and horribly easy to visualise.
I adore the genre of horror. Last month I worked on the horror film DOLL HOUSE, only a few scenes but the script gave me the opportunity to do a “possession” scene and I went hell for leather. We shot the possession with only myself and the director in the room, the director not knowing what I was going to do, I think he was somewhat surprised at the detail I managed to squeeze in, the scene being a sudden possession in front of an audience.
When he went for the wide shots with the audience in he didn’t tell them what was going to happen and it was really satisfying to see how shocked they were ... a lovely moment ... it can’t be normal to love horror so much.
The remainder of 2019 is exciting.
TO BE SOMEONE has a month to shoot; working around my September/October shows then I am onto the autumn tour before an arena tour with LET’S ROCK CHRISTMAS. (AND of course 2020 brings HAZEL AND TOYAH: ELECTRIC LADIES ... YEAH!)
Frippy and I are going out to Seattle in November to see Bill and hug him endlessly for 4 days.
Bill hates being touched, he has to build a “no hug” scaffold around himself to keep us away, but he is our soul brother and we are going to air hug him if nothing more while we have precious time with him. He has just seen Bohemian Rhapsody and admitted he liked it and I recommend he see ROCKETMAN, which I think, is bloody brilliant.
For all you HUMANS fans there is a lovely announcement coming for 2020. A question I read in a newspaper article, The Financial Times “How To Spend It Magazine”, I love this supplement, I read it and tut a lot, has profoundly moved me. It was a rhetorical question a world-renowned designer asked himself during an Epiphany.
The question was:
“How would I live if I wasn’t afraid?” My God this resounded. It was an alarm clock going off. To some extent I live in constant fear of not living to my full creative ability, almost to the point of being frozen.
It is Ironic. I live in the privilege of relative peace yet I am in a state of fear every day.
Let me define my fear, because it has nothing to do with Horror films, it has to do with living:
Fear of the mundane ... useless shit draining into our lives from the Internet.
Fear of wasting time.
Fear of missing opportunities.
Fear of ostentation.
Fear of poverty.
Fear of widowhood.
Fear and distrust of others motivations.
Fear of not being a good person.
Fear of what I eat, how I look, of being me.
Fear of ... oh what the F—, Fear has become a habit.
Or another way to put it is “How would I live if I didn’t give a fuck?”
I have been pulled in two directions for a while and never once have I stood directly in the middle and thought “why the hell do I do this to myself ie: constantly pushing my career along on what seems like a totally independent and isolated path, the other option being to “walk away, no one would notice.”
The conclusion I have come to with a passion is everything I believe in is worth fighting for ... without fear.
This has manifested in some pretty forthright behaviour. I am currently suing a promoter/ about to sue a property company / embarking on finding new creatives in my life who don’t look at mobile phones all day.
Everything I have ever done is worth fighting for, and if I get stuck with deluded dullards who think they are actively engaging with the creative world whilst uttering single syllables I will walk away and find brilliant new human beings to create with. Everything is worth fighting for and I have to accept I really don’t like the modern world that much ... I like Stephen King, Michel Faber, all the writers who push out the boundaries of storytelling. I like The Financial Times and everything that holds onto Human Ingenuity.
So whom would I be if I lived without fear, the most controlling emotion in the history of the human race?
I think I would live without an actual address and without personal possessions, trusting all that I need is to hand when needed. That thought terrifies me because I don’t believe it for one minute!
Then as a person striving to be productive on a creative level I would constantly move on trusting that creative social interaction is in all we need and is in all of us.
Stephen King says if you don’t fly in a state of ecstasy when doing what you love then you are not in the right job. Also that writers are born great, you can’t make someone great. You can improve what you have but greatness is a gift from the heavens.
I say the act of being creative makes us greater people. It’s the “in motion”, the “act of intention” that makes life, desire, self discovery and shared growth better individuals of us all.
If this is oppressed by fear, bye bye culture.
So if I lived without fear I don’t think I’d be practising Aristippus hedonism, but I’d definitely be freed.
SEE YOU OUT THERE FOR A ROLLER COASTER AUTUMN.
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD!
LOTS OF LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
OCTOBER 2019
HELLO THERE!
The last four weeks have been one of my happiest in 40 years. It’s been a month that has seen me back with old friends in quite exceptional surroundings. Let’s say it hasn’t been glamorous at times and others it’s been hysterical.
At one point huddled in a garage, rain pouring down, no heating, all of us in skimpy costumes I facetimed my husband who was in San Paulo with an armed guard outside his hotel room door and let him witness the glamor of my life.
There has been lots of laughter, lots of catching up and lots of hard work in front of the camera.
I am not allowed to say any more about this experience for another two months, which is understandable, this is an event that mustn’t be taken out of context.
Social media, cameras and phones were banned on set. Slowly news is slipping out, images leaked into the press last week when parts of Stevenage were brought to a standstill but miraculously most of the time we managed to be completely under the radar.
All I can say is “more later”. Friends reunited and became closer than ever.
It’s made me feel like my old self again.
In September I did two shows with the SAS BAND, which brought me back together with Justin Hawkins who is an adorable madman. Roger Taylor and his son Rufus where also playing and a new addition to our SAS family was TOMOYASU HOTEI who blew us all away with his incredible playing and calming presence.
When I arrived at Plymouth Guildhall Hotei requested a photo with me ... it turns out he is a huge Toyah fan! This is always a pleasant surprise to me and I was over the moon. It was a joy to witness Hotei experiencing Justin’s manic stage presence, also to see Hotei experience the SAS BAND. The SAS FAMILY all have a habit of crowding into the same room, we eat in the same room, squeezing onto the same dinner table, fire jokes at each other…there are no airs and graces, no deferential treatment ... we are all to some extent eccentric and there was Hotei quietly observing us bohemians doing what we do.
Once Mr. Fripp is home from Rio I am going to make sure these two immensely talented people get together in the same room. I feel in my bones there is chemistry there waiting to happen.
I can’t wait for the AUTUMN TOUR. We have some surprises for fans from way back in the late 70s! After all 2019 is the 40th anniversary of SHEEP FARMING IN BARNET.
This album continues to surprise me every time I revisit it. The synth sounds are a joy, the songs are highly original and fresh today.
LAST GOODBYE is going into the set plus a few songs that haven’t been performed since 1980.
Pete Bush, one of the co-writers on Sheep Farming came to St. Alban Arena last week and we dedicated Neon Womb and Danced to him.
This was a brilliant show, the sound was stunning, the lighting perfect, the set list really rocked, the audience went bonkers from beginning to end but the venue wasn’t right for the band…this band is high energy and needs to be in rock clubs where people can rock out ... no problem there for the rest of the tour ... we will be in intimate settings and lifting the roof.
We will be performing songs from Sheep Farming to Crimson Queen, with a new set just to see this momentous year out.
The Quadrophenia team did CovCom last week and there was a fantastic turn out. It was a glorious day meeting Mods old and new.
I seemed to enticed some bizarre memories from the autograph collectors…here’s a few:
“I saw you before you were famous singing in a bar with a piano player and you were wearing “nipple tassles” ... ER NO!
I would, have been 16 and that bar was in Birmingham in 1975 and it was called THE JUG, its where drama students hung out and I was probably wearing about 4 layers of homemade clothes, as I did back then. I sang Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven, I was terrified, my stage nerves where far from under control back then.
“do you remember me? I was on the back row at the Birmingham Odeon and you looked across at me in the audience?” ... ER UM! There were 4000 people that night, I remember you all fondly but cant quite recal the faces of every single person.
It was a fun day, a Brilliant Day with my oldest friends. We are such a happy bunch of people, if we ended up with our own drama series on Netflix I think there would be stories of events leaking out into the world not dissimilar to how stars of the 1960s era used to notoriously party around London.
There is chemistry between us that makes us a tightly knit bunch of extroverts who become fearless together.
I don’t think this will be the last time we are all together somehow. My relationship with DEMON MUSIC is really good and we are trying to get going with putting the early TOYAH albums back in the marketplace ... this won’t happen overnight, it’s a complicated process. In the meantime there are some very nice releases planned for early next year which there will be more news on soon!
As I said I can’t wait for the Oct/Nov/Dec gigs. Check the GIGS PAGE for the one nearest you or ones you can get to.
This may be a mad and strange time for Great Britain but you know what you will get under the same roof as me and the TOYAH band ... there will be A ROCKING GREAT TIME.
SEE YOU OUT THERE!
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD!
LOVE, TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOVEMBER 2019
HELLO THERE!
I had one priority last month and that was for Frippy to arrive home to Christmas after five months of touring.
He came through the door (after a pretty terrible journey from Chile, where he missed his flight and was delayed for 8 hours) into the house, I was hiding around the corner to jump out at him, and he said “Oh! Lovie! It’s Christmas!”
It is so nice to have him back.
It takes time to adjust to being a couple after he’s been away for so long. The mess ... the noise ... the underwear everywhere.
Even though he is greatly missed I’ve had 5 months of total silence, complete geographical and domestic freedom, it’s been great. The house sparkles when he is away. I go wherever I choose, never having to come home to bed or be around for a meal . . . it’s really great.
I rebel against routine and he badly needs routine. Not surprising considering most days he is in an airplane.
But he is back and I am now used to being two. I didn’t jump out at him for two weeks, he was so exhausted but once his energy returned ... I started to hide in cupboards and behind curtains waiting to pounce. One of these slightly backfired when a workman came into the house who I mistook for Robert ... oh if you could have heard the poor boy scream.
The movie INVASION PLANET EARTH is getting distribution through VUE CINEMAS, and has its first national showing on the 5th December in select major cities then it will show again at smaller venues. The feeling is it’s going to become a cult hit with audiences going especially to be part of the screening, like an event night. This is remarkable. Everyone who has seen this film has supported it. It’s a crowdfunded film that has taken close to 20 years to make. I wish it all the luck in the world.
The closing track STEP INTO THE NEW WORLD is released on Friday 8 November and is a perfect taster for the film. I loved singing it and I love that it’s a nod to Vangelis and the 80s synth sound.
On Saturday the band played CHALK in Brighton. There was a storm outside, the waves on the beach looked at least 15 feet or more high.
I was so relieved to be there.
Just the Thursday before, I passed out in my car with a stomach virus. I was driving to Leeds to film 5 one hour TV shows the next day. This has never happened to me. I slept in the car at Wakefield services wondering how I was going to get help. Come 8am I woke feeling stable and made it to the studio and shot the TV shows, the crew where fabulous to me, so kind but I have been unable to eat since Thursday so by Saturday I was 50% but still not able to eat.
It amazes me how being on stage changes everything, physically and mentally. The show was great. On stage I felt well.
Nigel Glockler was there and so was Steve Oram, both giving support, the audience where terrific and very funny. In a club like Chalk it was more like a living room than a concert hall so lots of banter was going back and forth.
INDECISION went down a storm and to see so many young people singing the words was fabulous. The audience danced all night. It was a perfect last show for the band in 2019, because 2020 is going to be bonkers, our feet won’t touch the ground.
In 5 days I start shooting GIVE THEM WINGS. I will be based in Darlington for the whole of November with a quick trip to Seattle in the middle to see Bill Rieflin. GIVE THEM WINGS is a remarkable true story about a disabled boy and his love for Darlington Football Ground. I won’t give too much away, the ending is quite something. Script wise I am in 70 pages of a 100 page script so it’s going to be full on, especially as there are 3 concerts this month, the last at the Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.
On the 23rd Nov I play Pizza Express Birmingham.
This is based on the acoustic show but will be in the style of The Humans. Mike Nichols will be leading on double bass, electric bass and vocals and Andy Doble will be building soundscapes. We are really excited because it’s going to be very cinematic sound wise.
It was great to be able to see STRICTLY COME DANCING from the front row last month. WOW it’s a slick show. I was awed at how much work goes into it and it isn’t easy on the dancers at all. They have to remain so focused for so long.
I was there from 4pm till 11pm, in that time they made the live show and the Sunday show.
It was really really impressive.
Barbara Windsor’s husband Scott was sitting close by and he says Barbara is doing as well as can be expected. He is raising huge amounts of money for her charity ... WELL DONE SCOTT. Today I am rehearsing with Hazel O’ Connor for next April’s tour. We are working out the keys to surprise songs in the encore ... so much to look forward too.
May your build up to Christmas be brilliant ... more soon.
Thank you for supporting this autumn’s tour and ...
... BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXX
DECEMBER 2019
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!
We all made it through 2019!
Probably one of the best years of my life rounded off with the hardest 4 weeks of my life. In The Court Of The Crimson Queen continues to do incredibly well. Bev Bevan of ELO has nominated the album as his November Pick, which means the world.
I’ve just seen INVASION PLANET EARTH on the big screen, as Jonathan Ross tweeted “support this movie” to his hundreds of thousand followers and even though my role is a cameo, the film is stunning when you think it is made by one man who crowdfunded it almost in its entirety. The outro song STEP INTO THE NEW WORLD is perfect.
2020 is bringing some very well timed surprises, especially as I am gearing up to tour with Hazel O’ Connor, in fact quite a few surprises are coming over the following year for my fans and record collectors.
Hazel, myself and the band rehearsed last month to make sure we are all on the same page and BLOODY HELL . . . IT WAS SO RIGHT, IT WAS BLOODY MARVELOUS!
I have only sung standing next to Hazel once before. It was 1980 (I believe) and we were at the Rainbow working with The Stranglers when Hugh Cornwall was a guest of Her Majesty’s Service. It was a loud, riotous event and I couldn’t really hear anything other than the guitar amps.
So last month in our rehearsal it was a treat to actually hear Hazel. Her timing, phrasing and notation are spectacular and in addition to enjoying our spring tour I know I am going to learn a lot from her, I can’t wait. Another learning curve has been the introduction of the slightly electro acoustic line up to the UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL shows. This consists of Mike Nichols on Double bass/electric bass and Andy Doble on keys ... grand piano too if the venues have one on site. We introduced this line up at Pizza Express Birmingham and I loved it ... it might be the future of The Humans.
Mike built these wonderful electro backing soundscapes that were really exciting to work to and reinvented the early songs, almost placing them back in their original sequencer orientated setting way back from 1978 ... we are definitely taking this further, the next time we can do this looks like Norwich Arts Centre on the 26th Feb.
As for 2019 the shows have been the best ever and the Toyah Band have been exceptional.
I AM GRATEFUL AND HAVE GRATITUDE TO YOU ALL. Robert and I managed to get to Seattle to see Bill Rieflin, my fellow Human and Robert’s fellow King Crimson buddy. It was a precious four days with the most influential people in my entire life.
We celebrated an early Christmas with him and Susan Silver who has been a rock to us all in the past year. Susan has been an angel, whilst managing Alice In Chains she has contributed so much kindness to others. Bill lost his wonderful wife last March and we were desperate to be with him.
We made a huge fuss of him and he made a huge fuss of us.
For the last four weeks I have been on a film called GIVE THEM WINGS. This is a true story about Paul Hodgson, who as a young boy contracted Meningitis and became paraplegic. Paul was cared for by his mother until she had a stroke and he became her carer. I play Alice, his mother.
Paul is a remarkable man, he has co-written the script, produced and given us his loyal support.
The film is intense and at times funny. Other times it is plane brutal.
But the reality of making it has been BLOODY HARD! The good and the great of this film is the entire team have given blood, literally. The camera crew, from Norway, are groundbreaking, the cast fabulous, the director and the production team all giving a 150 per cent.
Even though the clock has worked against us all the way and the weather has been wet and sub-zero in Darlington, what has been captured on camera is excellent, but I will always remember the cold, the discomfort ... there is no money in the pot for dressing rooms or artist lounges and if six scenes need to be shot a day then the overtime was gruelling.
Add to the equation I was booked for gigs too then situations such as driving overnight from Darlington (leaving at 11pm to drive 260 miles) to Great Yarmouth for a show at 10am made life backbreaking. On this shoot I have slept in the car four nights, add having the novo-virus on the 1st Nov in all I have slept in the car 5 times in the last 6 weeks! As a result my back is in spasm, I am out of my box on muscle relaxants and desperate not to see my car for at least a month.
I have always said I will never retire ... I certainly will not have two jobs at once ever again!
Last month I was a judge on the YolanDa Drake Song Writing Awards. The event comprised a team of 5 runners up writing and recording a new song in one evening. The talent in the room was breath taking. Upcoming producers working alongside they’re creative teams with a live audience observing the process. It restored my faith in the future of the industry to see such talent all in one space.
The producer Fez won the award with his magnificent co-writer Megan Lara Mae ... God bless this team of future stars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek_oS_D1NHg
And on top of this I’ve made a wonderful new friend in Yoland Brown and her husband T ... the most adorable couple in musicdom.
I am almost ready for Christmas. My husband will have loads and loads of pressies. He loves anything to do with self-adornment. So there’s lots of fashion items in his stockings. When we were in Birmingham last night to see Invasion Planet Earth I tried to lead him into, lets say, a rather specific male orientated sex shop to buy him some revealing manhood support leather straps ... Hubby is surprisingly gullible and very trusting of me and when he realised I was going to take him in there and run off he was having none of it ... he is so cute I know the shop would have loved to have served him.
As for Christmas feasting we find we are eating less and less so the fridge is almost empty. This has got to be age, I have no appetite. I am finding I am happy with a sprig of broccoli and a sweet potato for the day, with a few marshmallows at tea time.
What I am most looking forward to is stepping away from the office and all the tech stuff and re-evaluating the last spectacular 12 months and thinking how to up the bar in 2020.
THANK YOU EVERYONE, YOU ARE ALL SO VALUED AND ALL SO SPECIAL
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXX
SEE ALSO
The Toyah Blog Archive
