JANUARY 2022
HELLO THERE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!
I feel in my bones, 2022 is going to be a great year! The numerology of the year adds up to a six, one of my favourite numbers, here is a small description of the power of 6:
“Many flowers have 6 petals; bell peppers and tomatoes often have 6 seed chambers and the honeycomb made by bees are 6-sided or hexagonal in shape. When water freezes, it often forms six-pointed crystals.”
6 can be about harmony, home and the world . . . I like to think that this year we will give harmony to the world, harmony on stage and also there will be precious days at home.
Christmas was a divine step away from the hustle and bustle. I remain eternally grateful that I am still working at 63yrs of age, but when those quiet days arrive, I rebalance very quickly, and ideas start to flow.
My hubby arrived home from Japan on the 14 December and ironically as his plane came into land at Heathrow at 15.15 I was driving past in the opposite direction on the M4, on my way to Proud Cabaret, watching his plane make its descent. It broke my heart I couldn’t be there to meet him, he and his team have a driver, but I was aching to see and hold him as walked out of immigration.
By 15.40 his phone was on and I was able to tell him I saw his plane arrive, that night after PC I drove straight home and by 2am we were sitting in the lounge having a Margarita cocktail!
When Robert has been away, we become like twins, inseparable, moving around the house together, shopping together, sitting side by side when we eat as if we fear being separated again.
On Christmas Day Frippy opened his pressies and he was like a little boy, overexcited and trying to guess what was in each parcel.
The one present I was excited for him to open was a box I compiled over the months he was away touring of 36 semi-precious gemstone divining pendulums. As Robert unwrapped it, I kept reminding him to hold the box upright as he was tempted to turn it over and examine it, which would have led to the contents crashing to the floor.
He had no idea what was in it, my clues baffled him, to me it was pretty obvious when I told him “These are a collection of items you have all over the house . . . but very different!”
His face as the lid opened. It was a perfect moment. He stared and stared, then started touching each pendulum . . . HE WAS SO CUTE! We have many pendulums all over the house, made of rose wood, cedar wood, olive, oak, willow but not many that are actual cut stones. We use them to clarify answers to hard conundrums. Pendulums cannot lie when asked the right binary question.
He also received many cufflinks, ties, crazy socks, stunning sets of tarot cards and crystallised whole fruits . . . a speciality of Menton in France, which he wasn’t expecting at all.
What did he give me? 5 wonderful dresses, I love him choosing these. I only started wearing dresses about 6 years ago, now it’s all I wear.
There was also a very large present that Robert handed to me last of all and I was thrilled. It was a YAMAHA Sig200 GUITAR WITH A HELIX PEDAL BOARD PROGRAMMED WITH ALL KING CRIMSONS GUITAR EFFECTS . . . BLOODY BRILLIANT!
We immediately set it up and sent a film of me playing to the band to which they replied . . . “Live on stage next!”
I take the guitar down to the river, with headphones and rock out in my own private world with only the swans, the seaulls and the kingfisher for an audience.
December was fantastic, getting to develop my role in PROUD CABARET with a fabulous team of performers who became family to me. I am going to miss them terribly but there are talks of my returning once my touring schedule eases.
There are so many things I love about this show and the other performers love about it too. The main one is everyone at Proud Cabaret LOVE the audience I bring into the venue.
We have played to so many fun party-people who completely let loose and enjoy the night and the majority are my age. Also I’ve loved seeing young women in the audience who obviously come to study the Burlesque. It never occurred to me how empowering it is to young women to watch a confident, strong women perform in a highly glamorous and erotic way.
I had one young friend see the show and she decided that was what she wanted to do in future. Perhaps it’s because I never ever had that kind of confidence it didn’t occur to me how empowering sexuality can be.
Yep, I am 63yrs old and still learning what to most people has been obvious since they were in their early teens. I am a slow learner but as one amazing gender-neutral person in the show said to me “at least you learn!” It was a compliment that thrilled me.
The year is already breaking my back . . . you know the type of days when you get 500 e-mail that could easily be condensed into one comprehensive update? We must all be having the same experience these days. We are all so accessible.
I start the live shows in a matter of days, with the fabulous Posh Pop band.
We must live with the threat of Covid in our lives for quite a while, in the past month about 80% of friends, neighbours had it! But they only suffered mild symptoms. All are OK now.
Unsurprisingly there is no such thing as “Covid insurance”, this is stressful. All I can say is we will do everything possible to stay safe and keep others safe so the tour can continue uninterrupted. This means all of the band will have to maintain a certain level of Covid distancing. We will become a pod on the road.
Robert mentioned in Burning Questions that if one person in King Crimson developed Covid while away in Japan last year, it would have bankrupted his company, well I am in the same position, but if we don’t venture out and perform “live music” and venues will suffer so badly they may never be saved.
There are some amazing things happening this year, lots and lots of live shows.
Simon Darlow and I have two album projects with Fripp. Yes, we are aiming to deliver the Posh Pop follow up by Christmas. Someone asked me yesterday is it written . . . er no . . . but it’s in its vital embryonic beginnings.
I cannot wait to fulfil the shows that were moved due to Covid, Huntington Hall, The Robin and all the other shows. Check the dates on the GIGS page.
It’s going to be a great year, SEE YOU OUT THERE!
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND
BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE HEARD!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXX
FEBRUARY 2022
HELLO THERE!
HAPPY FEBRUARY TO YOU ALL!
The POSH POP ACOUSTIC/ ELECTRO tour is smashing it!
We have 5 star reviews and sold out venues. I adore this line up, the song arrangements and the set list.
The tour was planned specifically to place new music alongside my repertoire and it’s working, making me hugely optimistic for 2022.
The last few months have been stressful for no other reason than trying to get back to a “normal” as a live musician.
As I future plan with Simon Darlow and Fripp for the follow-up album I remind everyone that POSH POP is still in the process of building new fans, an ongoing process to which any new music will step onto the bed rock of this year’s work.
There is confidence growing in the audience as they take those first steps into an auditorium in almost two years, every venue taking the greatest care of them.
Myself and the band still need to practice social distancing and I am relieved to hear other bands are doing the same, because one show cancellation costs my company in the region of 8k per day for cancellation costs added to lost revenue, its cliff edge stuff, so we continue to be extra careful.
That said WE LOVE PERFORMING AND BEING IN A VENUE WITH AN AUDIENCE. It is what we are born to do.
The POSH POP tour runs through Feb and March and I hope you can get to see the show. It’s uplifting. The dates are on the GIGS page. After hearing my podcast appearance with old time friend and work colleague Michael Fenton Stevens TIME CAPSULE I had a serious chat with Rock God Fripp.
It is to do with my ability, or serious inability, to use the right words at the right time.
When I chatted to MFS it was in the middle of a day of about 200 e-mail booking the touring band’s breakfasts for Feb/March, not the most exciting thing to deal with, but a necessity and after the hundredth e-mail about do they eat bacon and eggs I truly wanted to butt my head against my desk.
You can hear my e-mail pinging away during the interview and it was a huge distraction.
It was great to meet up virtually with MFS again, we had been through a lot on our tour of AMADEUS in 1990, both of us had day performances as well as huge evening performances, Michael in schools with Helen Baxendale and myself in prisons playing Janis Joplin.
When I listened back to the show, I realised I was talking non-stop, in the same driving speed I was trying to get the breakfast bookings sorted because I could feel my creative drive fade, with the monotonous repetition of it all, pages and pages of questions about food.
I WAS HORRIFIED.
When I told Rock God Fripp he said, “ you do it all the time.” To which I said “TELL ME WHEN I DO IT OR I WILL NEVER IMPROVE.”
There is one constant in my life and that is I want to live my best life, not my “ to be expected life” and I’ve started to distrust relationships where people don’t prompt me to do better. I know its not another’s job but everyone in my life knows I work 7 day a week to make their lives run smoothly so I expect those around me to say “did you mean to say that?”
This has strengthened one of my New Years Affirmations, be around those who take notice and encourage you to grow.
Mr Fripp came to see the POSH POP show at HUNTINGDON HALL in Worcester. It was reassuring having him there. Fripp is now semi-retired from touring life and is very much involved in critically guiding musicianship in my new show, he is known for being critically tough when it comes to live performance. He loves this show and I could see him walking around the hall checking the sound. When it came to performing SPACE DANCE I told the audience the story of teaching Fripp to dance for the video and how he cannot tell his right hand from his left (ironic for a master guitarist who can play 11 notes a second), at which point I asked the audience if they’d like him to demonstrate as a rhetorical question and the entire hall started chanting “ ROBERT! ROBERT! ROBERT!”
At this point he was by the sound desk, which happened to be by the exit and he had that look on his face “ I am going to run through that exit right now”. If he was any closer I’d have grabbed him and pulled him on stage to make history…FRIPP TWISTS LIVE ON STAGE.
We continue to love bringing you SUNDAY LUNCH.
My thought behind it is we remain rockers, no matter what age we are and rock songs take on different meanings as we evolve. There is definitely a truth in the fact Fripp and I get a kick out of breaking the “age perception” mould and behaving like naughty Grandparents. I am the same person today as I was in 1969, 1972, 1981, 1992, 2000, 2010, 2020 . . . do you feel any different? Yes our perceptions are better informed, but I believe we remain children on one level forever, life is about play.
Hazel O’ Connor continues to make huge improvements and I am optimistic she will be back on the road. Her management give regular updates and her team are supporting her. Hazel has had huge critical success all her life and she has worked incredible hard for her successes. If you go to her facebook there is a crowd funding page to help her get by while recuperating. It may come as a surprise that crowdfunding is needed, I can give one huge example of what this industry is like for women, even women as successful as Hazel and myself . . . we earn one tenth of what men earn in the industry.
I work 350 days of the year and earn one tenth of what Fripp earns, even my charting albums bring me income as little as One per cent of what Fripp’s royalties are. Hazel apparently has virtually no royalties. It’s still tough for women and I love Taylor Swift for standing her ground this week against unfair criticism. We are all out there surviving.
We are just off to have lunch with Robert Plant, I am nervous, both Fripp and I have up till now communicated with our neighbour via phone and e-mail, this is our first face to face and I am scared I will be a fan girl and let the side down.
We have so much respect for him and his music both historically and present day.
SEE YOU OUR THERE IN AN AUDIENCE SOMEWHERE SOON.
BE LOUD, BE HEARD, BE PROUD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MARCH 2022
HELLO EVERYONE!
I hope you are all safe and well.
YEAH! It’s March at last, with the spring solstice only weeks away. I don’t want to miss one second of this fabulous time of year, the whole of nature starts its symphony and its new album will be ready for a summer release. The robins are getting super competitive, the pigeons are courting and blossom is already a month early.
February was a brilliant month . . . bar the odd mishap. The concerts have been phenomenal, the Posh Pop band are magical, they are so on the music, the journey of each song, growing in intensity and daring to be subtle at the same time.
OBSOLETE has become one of the audience favs in the show . . . now that tells you something about the Posh Pop band . . . I never thought in 41 years this song of wild abandon would win such a new following. At Whitehaven on 18 March, we add Dave the Drummer, it won’t be what you’re expecting, he is bringing a blend of percussion and synth drums based on the sound of the 1981 album Anthem.
We are also planning some moves for the festivals, moving the sound and the playing around the stage. The shows have been tremendous, five star reviews with the press voluntarily coming to review the shows. This tour was intended as the development stage for the new band to work the new material and be ready for the festivals in May onwards, thankfully the shows are in great shape already and the reviews prove it.
The POSH POP band are growing and growing, which is my aim for the rest of my working life. What I love about this team is they want me to grow and develop. I get feedback and a lesson in music if I ask for it. Performance should be a fluid experience, evolving as people naturally evolve. Bands are renowned for growing together as one, as you can guess I am really excited. The band are determined that I will play guitar on stage; this still terrifies me! There can be a lot of distraction on a stage, some times a movement in the audience can make me get a lyric wrong so imagine if I get the guitar playing wrong… cripes.
It’s been a very emotional past few weeks.
I am welling up in tears about Hazel O’Connor all the time. It’s so unfair this should happen to such a driving force of a human being. I am also very emotional about war in the Ukraine.
Those of you who know my very early work will know that war has featured strongly in many songs and in my imagery, the cover of Anthem is a comment on war as much as it’s a comment on female power and fantasy. I was born to parents who fought and lived through WW2. In 1982, when making The Changeling, the Falkland’s War started. In 2003 as I entered the jungle in Australia for Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here the invasion of Iraq started and there have been many other wars during and since these times.
In 2022 it feels even more immoral to send the young to fight each other . . . putting it basically “shouldn’t this be embarrassingly, unacceptably old-fashioned by now?”
I am not a leader, nor a Politician, nor a peacemaker of great rhetoric . . . like the majority I feel disempowered to help. I am an ideologist wishing that 7 billion people had the mental power to crush warmongers by sheer unified visualisation and intent.
For one of the shows I had to drop Dance In The Hurricane because for the three prior shows I’d burst into tears just announcing the song and now Take Me Home has taken on yet another present day meaning with people being displaced in the Ukraine I am fighting back the tears singing the words . . .
TAKE ME HOME, TO OUR ROCK AMONGST THE STARS, WE ARE NOT ALONE ON OUR ROCK AMONGST THE STARS.
And the audience are with me on this, the focus in the theatre is passionate and intense, the response unified.
Whenever it gets super busy, as it is now, I seem to attract more work. Someone must have dropped out of a documentary series for Ch5 because I was mid-travel in Cumbria when a call came for me to be part of two documentaries on Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts which had to be shot the next day, requiring detailed knowledge of 36 of their films. I was up all night studying for that.
There’s other projects that have been slowly edging forward in the past 5 years and suddenly one has fallen into place and a pilot needs to be shot ASAP – again while I am on the road. This is a comedy series I was cast in just before lockdown.
I am constantly reminding agents I have been double booked, rather than panic we somehow make it work.
My life is good but I am still finding myself in situations when I am not heard or simply just not listened to or seen for what I am and I think to myself “ how did Marianne Faithful and YOKO cope with a world at their door who depicted them as some kind of monster?”. These two remarkable women had the world baying at their backs with accusation after accusation.
My story is small fry in comparison to what Marianne and Yoko had to put up with, I had a conversation arriving at one venue where the promoter had put a sliced loaf in the dressing room. I was told to eat it all because he had had it sliced . . . it was bizarre. I am sure no one would ever talk to Robert like that.
I am so determined knock down this wall of institutionalised condescension and domestication of women Yet on the other hand I am trying constantly to be a little more feminine/softer as a person. Believe me I am grateful for the loaf of bread, I just don’t need to be force fed it.
I survived a pretty bad fall leaving the show in Wales in February. It was in the dark behind the venue and a hidden concrete step took me down at speed and I face planted on a metal fence, leaving what appears to be a permanent two inch scar on my right cheek.
My resilience has been sorely tested.
Shock kept me going for the hour I needed to get home to Robert.
Chris Wong tried to stop me driving off in the car, quite rightly but I was so shaken and bleeding I promised I’d go straight to an A&E, instead I made it home and collapsed, my body shaking in shock.
Looking back this is the 6th time I have fallen in three months! I fell twice on Proud Cabaret, but that was my foot getting trapped under a revolving platform.
Bill Rieflin used to freak when I fell. In America the car parks have raised concrete platforms you pull up to when you park, I’ve gone arse over tit on many over those with Bill shouting OMG are you OK? I even managed to fall walking through Tokyo city with him. I fall a lot!
So I have to schedule in the one thing I have been avoiding for 5 years . . . my eyes, it’s time for the dreaded lens replacement.
I know millions have it, but I am FREAKED at the thought of my eyes being touched. It can only be done in April otherwise it will have to be next year. OH BLOODY HELL! Three years ago Fripp and I were in the business lounge in Nice airport. There was only the two of us and one man in the far end of the lounge. It’s a secluded corner no one knows about. Fripp wanted to set his computer up at one of the work stations and he found a phone plugged in and charging, so Fripp being Fripp he unplugged it and put his computer on charge.
It was the end of the Cannes Film Festival, so the airport was quiet. The young man in the area with us stood and removed his phone, the one that Fripp had unplugged, it was the actor Robert Pattinson, in disguise, I berated Fripp for this and told him to keep to himself, Pattinson was obviously hiding. Slowly the space filled with film execs talking about the deal for The Batman and congratulating Pattinson on being cast. We were actually in the middle of all this!
Pattinson remained gracious and humble and really cute!
TOYAH TOYAH TOYAH is ready for release on 13 May and the ANTHEM re-release is well underway for the autumn. The ANTHEM 40+1 Anniversary Tour is also now on sale for Sept-Nov.
STAY SAFE EVERYONE. Hand washing is part of all our lives now and forever, because it works well.
SEE YOU OUT THERE!
BE PROUD! BE LOUD! BE HEARD!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXX
APRIL 2022
HELLO THERE FROM THE AZORES,
I hope you are all well.
Fripp, Simon Darlow and I have been in the studio putting down the main parts of my June single release SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM. It sounds amazing, totally different to Grace Jones’ iconic and perfect original, my version will surprise all, it has a connection to the words that suddenly revealed itself as soon as I put the main vocal down and Fripp played . . . the three of us really are a great musical team, we are very excited.
It has been a daunting project with all three of us not wanting to trespass on such a perfect track but we have been fuelled by the bravado of our connection to the origin of the song, I was the vocalist on the first demo.
HERE COMES THE BEAT . . .
It is a huge relief that the June ELECTRIC LADIES TOUR has been announced with the new line-up to very positive feedback. We all needed to see how Hazel was going to recover over the past months and she needs time. Her recovery cannot be forced or hurried in any way. She knows how much she is loved and how everyone is willing her to get back to the stage when she is ready.
I am thrilled, ABSOLUTELY THRILLED, that LENE LOVICH and SAFFRON are on board, it is a perfect line-up, we fit so well with each other’s unique styles and with Hazel’s history.
Saffron was so excited when we asked her I received 18 texts from her in one go . . . her enthusiasm jumping from my phone, it was a ray of light from what has been a very worrying few months.
Saffron will be performing some of Hazel’s material. Myself and Sarah Fisher, Hazel’s keyboard player, will perform WILL YOU.
It will be a very special tour. A percentage of the income will go towards Hazel buying a new car and running her everyday costs while she is unable to work.
It is an honour to be working with two artists who have inspired and shown me support over the years.
Lene Lovich is a huge inspiration to me. Her vocal style encouraged me to be distinctive, brave and to break the mould, to use expression over convention. AND “Lucky Number” remains one of the greatest indie songs ever written.
Saffron too inspires me, with her energy, enthusiasm and brilliant music . . . this line-up is made in heaven!
So many of my friends, neigbours and collegues have Covid. Fripp still hasn’t had it and I find myself marching him to the sink every few minutes to wash his hands to keep him safe . . .
I am so scared of him suffering from it.
Currently, it’s Monday and I am writing this from Ponta Delgada in the Azures, sitting in my cabin on The Britannia, waiting to soundcheck my shows on board. Last Tuesday Clare Grogan and I ran the entire length of Lisbon airport with our luggage, only having ten minutes to board our flight to the UK from the check in desk. (I needed to return to the UK to film a programme for CH5, then to return to Lisbon to transit to the Azores yesterday, Sunday)
We had been with Carol Decker on the Valiant Lady Virgin Voyager, performing two wonderful concerts, but the ship diverted for a stroke victim to be picked up by helicopter near Madeira, so we were running a day late. People’s lives always come first no matter what.
As we ran through the airport all the staff where willing us on as if we where marathon runners, it was kind of fun and I now know I can run a full 10minutes with 20 kilo's of luggage in tow.
It did me the world of good to have time with Clare, we have the same instinctive frustrations about the industries we are in, the same observations, we both stand under the same glass ceiling and wonder how to conquer it knowing if we never do at least we will never give up trying, we will have done our best. The Virgin cruise did not end happily. The next morning Carol Decker texted us to say the ship had turned around to head south looking for someone who had jumped off. She was very upset, as were the entire team, I was too, to think of this crowded vessel full of happy concert goers, who all chanted TOYAH! TOYAH! TOYAH! as I disembarked for the airport, that anyone of them could have come to harm.
Sadly the CCTV proved it was a deliberate jump and the person is now missing after every vessel in the area joined the search . . . it’s heartbreaking and the regret of not being able to have talked to that person, just to try to change their mind, to never have been aware that they needed help in the first place, will haunt me. My deepest sympathy goes out to this person’s family and friends.
When I return to the UK after this set of concerts it’s straight into the studio to continue re-working IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON QUEEN and to mix SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM.
I’m also working on a documentary about Katherine Hepburn and shooting an hour special with Pam Ayres for ITV . . . she has a wicked sense of humour.
THEN . . . we start rehearsing ELECTRIC LADIES . . . it’s going to be a WOW! A dream come true, I promise.
A couple of weeks ago I worked on a format run for a new ITV show headed by Emily Atack, she was brilliant and totally on it. Russell Kane was on the project too, I last saw Russell when Clare Grogan, Chesney, Limahl and myself performed for Dance Off Comic Relief.
Russell looks bloody amazing and was totally up to date with all the new facts about diet and longevity . . . I hope he writes the book one day because I couldn’t keep up with all the info he was telling us about. He is living proof food keeps you well.
Yet again TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH pre-empts music news. RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS: CANT STOP from last Sunday is a huge hit, we had no idea they were about to tour and that Flea was playing the Super Bowl . .. we just play what we love! AND WE LOVE THE CHILLI PEPPERS!
Stay safe everyone.
See you out there and . . . BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXX
MAY 2022
Hello There!
It has been an incredible past four weeks.
I’ve just won the RICHARD HARRIS FILM FESTIVAL “JUDGES SPECIAL MENTION AWARD” FOR MY PERFORMANCE IN ‘GIVE THEM WINGS‘.
The film is getting exceptional reviews at the film festivals, I completed it a month before the first lockdown, its great that finally its doing the festival circuit.
One of the loveliest experiences in April was The Guardian newsaper recreated our wedding for a feature over the summer.
My wedding dress was copied. I was even able to wear all the original make up I wore that brilliant day May 16th 1986, because I have the items in my archive store.
The emotion that gripped both Fripp and myself as we recreated our own wedding, outside our local Abbey was surprising. It was a humbling treat to be able to do this, to remember the wedding jitters but this time it was a lot more relaxed than all those years ago.
In 1986 we were both gripped in a fear caused by the gravity of our actions. I remember signing the wedding register thinking “am I mature enough for this marriage contract?”, unbeknownst to me at the time, my husband was gripped by an even larger fear!
Neither of us knew what we were letting ourselves in for because outside the church, on our secret wedding day, the press had got wind of the event and we were about to spend a week on the run from paparazzi.
In hindsight it was all strangely enjoyable if somewhat bizarre. Threats and bribes being shouted through the letter box of our home, car chases down country lanes all because my husband refused to be photographed . . . how things change!
SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM has a new release date, 1 JULY 2022. DEMON MUSIC needed the run up to get al the digital platforms in place. This works out well for the ELECTRIC LADIES June tour because we will in fact be promoting the release throughout and featuring the song in the new show.
The POSH POP BAND have just done our first show with Sarah Fisher standing in for Chloe Du Pree’s pregnancy leave. Sarah has worked with Hazel O’ Connor for decades and as Hazel is still in recovery Sarah will be with us on the June tour. Both Sarah and myself and Saffron will be performing tribute songs to Hazel. I am getting wildly excited about this tour and the following festivals, it’s been a long time coming. After two years of constant re-scheduling FINALLY the world feels back to normal.
The Posh Poppers sound so fantastic that the experience for me is very similar to when I started out and everything was so new, back in 1978, my skin is tingling when we perform NEON WOMB and DANCED, it all feels reborn and right.
For the past 12 months I have been working flat out with only a break for the three days of Christmas. I’ve started to realise I need to re address my focus on DELIBERATE INTENT. This is a simple but vital positivity exercise about focussing on “what I want the future to hold”.
Once caught in the daily rounds of press promotion I start to forget about forging forward with future ideas and projects. Now the tours are in motion I can start to plan next year and there are some fun and fantastic things about to take place.
I remember the burning success of 1981 and how I was swallowed up by the publicity machine to the point I couldn’t visualise what was to come, its easy to be absorbed too much in the present moment when there needs to be some valuable future daydreaming to be done.
I am ready for some serious summer sunshine especially as I, like most women over 50 am having to wean myself off HRT because of a national shortage.
This won’t be the first time, when ever a women has major surgery she has to come off HRT for at least 6 to 8 weeks, as I did in 2010 for hip replacement which requires daily anti-coagulant injections for a month afterwards.
So for myself, turning 64 this month, this might be the time to have a break anyway as long as it doesn’t hinder my flexibility . . . because for a 64year old I am pretty mobile! The menopause coverage in the past weeks has been vital for women around the world. Not only to be seen and heard but for young women to prep their future with a positive outlook on this remarkable journey that hormones and time will take them on.
For me? I am happier now than I ever was as a super charged hormonally governed twenty something also I think I am better to be around!
STAY SAFE EVERYONE.
I WILL SEE YOU OUT THERE VERY SOON.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD.
LOVE TOYAH XXXXX
JUNE 2022
HELLO THERE!
AT LAST!
TWO YEARS ON AND WE ARE FINALLY ON THE ROAD!
We are up and running and what a fantastic show we have for you. There’s Art Pop, there’s Punk Pop and a healthy sprinkling of Grunge Pop.
Three fantastic Ladies rocking out!
If I knew in April 2020 how long this would have taken I think I would have lived in fear of normality never returning.
There are some beautiful full circle threads attaching with this tour.
Lene Lovich has always been an inspiration to me and to be working with her is a dream fulfilled.
Saffron has been a long-time friend and bright light to not only myself but to Gemma Numan too, always there giving energy.
Last week I had my hair done by my lifelong friend Derek Goddard, who I first met at the age of 14 when I became a hair model for him at Rackhams department store in Birmingham, travelling the length of Great Britian modelling hair for Wella. We have been friends ever since. Derek notoriously dyed my hair cornflower blue when I was 15 and that was the beginning of a tumultuous show down with my mother that never quite resolved.
Derek and I decided for the tour my hair should be a metallic silver, so it changes colour under the lights. It also means I won’t be sending pink-haired readings to film directors requesting to see me read, it’s an absolute no no to do this in the casting world.
There’s six tour costumes planned for the tour. All a bit weather dependant i.e.: the hotter the month gets the skimpier the costumes get! I’ve also planned them to go with the venues because we are in some incredibly beautiful visual venues. Frippy and I will be able to continue SUNDAY LUNCH, OBJECTS OF DESIRE and TOYAH AT HOME. On Sunday 19 June, the day of the ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL we have a SUNDAY LUNCH special planned. Fripp came up with this concept and was adamant it is performed.
On the road I will have an assistant for the first time in 38years! My life is just too busy now, the days are 20hours long and having Lee J on the road with me will keep me on track with the social media timetable and everything else going on . . . two potential albums in the making, appearing in an iconic BBC radio show and everything else to do with the FRIPP/COX world, is essentia
Lee J and I are both vegan, I’ve never toured being vegan so this will be interesting. I find on film sets the meal put aside for me being vegetarian always gets eaten by a meat eater, so it might be that Lee J and I have to hide our food. There’s an exclusive TOYAH T-SHIRT for the tour too, plus I have done a limited number of TOYAH LOVE YOUR LIFE/ TOYAH LIVE YOUR DREAMS gilt pages for framing.
I had to turn down an offer to be in the Queen’s Jubilee Parade, it falls on the 5th June when I need to travel to Edinburgh.
It broke my heart because as the organisers pointed out, this will never happen again, its history in the making but I felt strongly that 7 hours on top if a bus would wreck my voice and my audience in Edinburgh want me to be in full swing and I agree.
There will be plenty of pics from the road on TOYAH FACEBOOK and we will keep you updated all the way.
Thank you everyone for the lovely Birthday messages, we had three gorgeous days of celebrating each other.
SEE YOU OUT THERE.
I AM NOW SETTING OFF TO ROCK!
BE LOUD, BE HEARD, BE PROUD!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXX
JULY 2022
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all having a brilliant summer.
Thank you to everyone who came to ELECTRIC LADIES, it was a fantastic tour, we all had an amazing time, the evening was sheer joy.
Our WhatsApp group was pinging and pinging and pinging for weeks with pics of the audience, pics of traffic jams, pics of impossible roundabouts, pic of guitars, pics of food, pics of sun rises and pics of non sensible road routings.
It was impossible to get lost in a city when 14 people all have each others back covered . . . but we all got lost finding the back of Birminghams Town Hall. There are so many more announcements to come. TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH: THE TOUR 2023 has already been announced, the venues will be confirmed within two weeks.
There is another really wonderful announcement happening this Thursday, which I am over the moon about and so is the band, when I broke the news to them they were ecstatic.
It will all be apparent by Thursday but when I read the e-mail to Fripp about the event his reaction was golden “BLOODY HELL! THAT’S AMAZING!”.
It’s been a good week and July is in it’s infancy. Later in the year there will also be an announcement referring to an iconic gig I performed at a historic venue in London just before the massive success of It’s A Mystery . . . it’s all happening for Toyah fans this year!!
We are planning that there will be announcements right through the year because 2023 is looking astonishing!
Fripp and I have had touring offers for the USA, which we are seriously looking into.
The Isle Of Wight festival came about because of the encouragement of one man, a long time fan who did all the radio promotion for Posh Pop, Tony Cooke, who championed me to the festival. As my set finished, and it was a blistering show with myself and the Posh Pop band, I shouted to the crowd “Thank you for making an old women very happy!” Tony admitted it brought tears to his eyes.
There was such kindness and goodwill at this event.
Returning to my dressing room there where two large boxes with my name on and inside where noise reducing ear plugs…..anyone who reads my blogs regularly will know I have over hearing sensitivity, noise can cause me physical pain, distress, nausea and confusion, that’s why we work to a silent stage now, our sound only comes out of the out front speakers.
The ear plugs I’d been given where designed to cut certain frequencies, lessen sound pollution and give clarity to softer frequencies . . . they have been a blessing.
For the first time in about 10 years I have listened to music with these highly developed ear buds in, I am now learning the song for the ANTHEM TOUR and really enjoying the sound being in my head.
I’d like to say a huge thank you Naomi and all the FLARE team for showing me how to enjoy sound and music again.
At the Isle Of Wight we played the new single SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM, this is being released on Friday 5 August. It will be connected to a new version of Crimson Queen but more on that in August.
It must have gone down well because Simon, Fripp and myself are in the studio this week recording a track with Trevor Horn for his new album project.
Trevor made contact with me to say he liked our version, he liked the TOYAH AND ROBERT SUNDAY LUNCH videos and would I record another of his iconic songs . . . I screamed YES! And Fripp shouted he wanted to do it too…… cutting a not so long story short . . . Simon is on board too!
It was glorious to play Wimborne in Dorset on the tour. This is where Robert and I courted. The memories of our new love flooded back, I can’t wait to go back there and have time to relax with Fripp.
This week Fripp and I did a joint interview for the SUNDAY TIMES, RELATIVE VALUES. We were both taken aback by the rather backward looking questions.
To me:
Why didn’t you have children.
Do you think Robert has been unfaithful to you.
To Robert:
Tell me about your illustrious carrier
How many hours to you practice guitar
I haven’t experienced my entire life being categorised as a victim/ the little women/ the cursed baron women/ standing in the shadows . . . for about 20 yrs, back then I said to my agent “ no more enabling media to create women as victims hanging off the coattails of men” and here I was in my own home being taken back historically to a place so many women get locked up in. Astonishing!
I am 64 years old, life is great, I love my husband, I am successful . . . if and when you read women being represented in a negative way please repeat these words:
I AM UNIQUE, I AM A MIRACLE, EVERY STEP I TAKE IS A STEP FORWARD INTO BEING THE GREATEST PERSON I CAN BE and THAT THIS IS YOU and don’t let any one reflect otherwise.
BE PROUD BE LOUD BE HEARD.
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AUGUST 2022
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all managing to enjoy the summer. I see another heatwave is on its way in 7 days.
For me the past four weeks have been about press/TV and dealing with the HEAT. I never thought I’d say this but I am starting to find anything over 25 degrees hard to work in.
On the hottest day of June I was recording a new voice over campaign for SunLife at home and the whole session dropped . . . lost, as the internet malfunctioned in the heat. Not a good day! With the release of SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM, The ANTHEM TOUR and Billy Idol’s Road Side Tour there is a lot of promotion to do. I have already started preparation for the Billy Idol tour.
My costume is ready, the set list will be an easy one, we are on at 7.30pm and play for thirty minutes, our band repertoire is pretty extensive so I look forward to changing the set for every show.
One thing is certain . . . we are going to give the audience thirty minutes of high octane music.
One of the most exciting things last month and it was a month of surprises, was a phone call from the legendary Trevor Horn, who produced ABC/ FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD/ ART OF NOISE / GRACE JONES plus so many classics asking me to re-make RELAX with him.
Trevor had heard the POSH POP THREE’s version of Slave To The Rhythm and liked it a lot. When I told Frippy he wanted to be part of Relax too.
On the day I was to do the vocal both Simon Darlow and I where so nervous we snuck into the studio 3 hours early and put a vocal down, I am so glad we did this, no way I could have sang cold in front of Trevor Horn for the first time in my entire career.
Then the following week Trevor asked me to come to London to do the harmonies. When we arrived at his studio near Camden he played us the mix as it was so far and it was brilliant, so brilliant I had no nerves what so ever putting all the harmonies in . . . what a great session. The track is romantic and beautiful.
His production on my voice is one of the best sounds I’ve heard, firstly his microphones are the worlds best for a singer but he has enhanced the richness of my lower register. A lot of the world’s great producers say it isn’t their job to improve on a singers voice, the singer has to improve their own voice by being fully vocally trained and studio ready. I pride myself in that.
Trevor’s original intention was for the vocal on this track to sound like AI but the label rejected the idea, that’s when he called me in, it now sounds like the best ever ME.
Its prime release is in Germany but its so radio friendly I hope it gets play worldwide.
Frippy came with me to the LIPA GRADUATION ceremony in Liverpool last week.
My hubby is always reluctant to “go out”, but he was so excited to see Sir Paul Macartney and Noddy Holder.
Noddy always holds the room with a million brilliant stories to tell.
When it came to entering the hall at the ACC LIVERPOOL Fripp didn’t realise we would be going in a line following Sir Paul and that there would be a camera on us all. The room erupted with screams and cheering, I could tell Robert was profoundly moved and he said he would come again BUT he wouldn’t except a fellowship . . . I WILL BLOODY MAKE HIM. Robert turns every award down and he will regret it in later years.
Liverpool was a gloriously bright, modern and energetic place. We only had one night at the Hope Street Hotel but we felt as though we’d had a week’s holiday. Over last weekend we shot the video for Slave To The Rhythm, using our next door office construction as a set.
It works really well, as a reference to the rhythm of industry and the hard cold metal and stone verses the vulnerability of flesh.
I’d put together a great support team.
Neil, our touring lighting person did a fab job of rigging the lights and doing the light design.
Lee Jackson my touring driver/ security and social media observer was on sound and our new neighbour Richard Hudson was on camera and co directing with me as well as over seeing the creative design. We had five hours to complete in and everyone was heroic and brilliant, the night before I was on stage in Bacup and after the shoot it was straight back into the studio for the reworking of CRIMSON QUEEN.We managed to get it all done and edited within two days. The premier will be on Toyah At Home on the 13th August . . . YEAH!
Today I play R-FEST on Blackpool Promenade, tomorrow Belfast Lets Rock (there’s a few issues with flight but I think we will get there, I am travelling with Chesney and Carol Decker), then up to Durham for Stone Valley Festival North…..It’s busy!
SEE YOU OUT THERE!
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD!
BIG LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXX
SEPTEMBER 2022
HELLO THERE!
The next two months are going to be amazing!
This month there are three TOYAH AT HOME ANTHEM SPECIALS. There is so much to talk about, so much unearthed new footage and unheard recordings that we made the decision that the whole month should be about this wonderful album. AND about your questions, thank you for sending them in, they have been a lot of fun to explore.
The ANTHEM release is huge. I know so many people who are so excited to have this amazing edition in their hands.
The journey to this very moment has taken 11 years. Craig Astley started compiling this perfect re-package for the 30th anniversary but we had no takers.
I am so proud.
For the live shows over the next two months we are including 9 songs from this re-master.
For those of you who have not seen my new band my guitar players where either not born or one year old when this album hit the charts.
So when they heard the album for the first time their reaction was golden. Manolo said he couldn’t wait to play it, saying MARIONETTE was mega and dear Nat, such a gentle soul, said he was incredibly excited to get to work on it. The tour kicks off in Norwich on Friday 16 September
Not only do we have the ANTHEM tour but we also have the sheer thrill of the Billy Idol – Roadside Arena Tour. Add to that the invite for me to be in a short movie called WEIGHTLESS written by Louise Monaghan and to be directed by Lois Norman.
It’s already been awarded Short Screenplay Winner at the London Independent Story Prize 2021. The film requires me to be able to cope with low body temperatures for the shoot, its going to be an exhilarating time. I will be in the sea off the Isle Of Wight for a short while and have had to train to cope with the potential of my body going into shock.
So I have been training every other day in wild water areas, getting my body temperature right down for about 45mins to one hour before I start to give up . . . wild swimming in lakes and off the South Wales coast . . . I am addicted!
I am actually craving to get back in the water every morning.
The very first time I visited the lake with my trainer Dave Granger, as I entered the water something nibbled my legs and fingers and startled me.
When I looked down I was surrounded by hundreds of Trout! All about 4inches in size and they where nibbling my fingers!
Dave said he had never seen anything like it in all his time at this lake then I realised that before I came out I had fed my Koi Carp and hadn’t washed my hands because I was in a hurry . . . the lake trout followed me in large numbers as I swam my first laps.
Getting into the cold water is quite frankly HELL.
It’s never easy. But I discovered an endurance and strength I never knew I had. Dave has swam the English Channel seven times, sometime the entire channel, sometimes in relay teams . . . there is no way I would even entertain the thought of that. I’d give up as soon as I saw a container ship coming towards me.
So far though I have surpassed my own expectations.
On my first day I swam about 40 metres with my confidence slowly building, It’s the cold that frieghtens me, on the second day I swam 400 metres and on the third day I swam 600 metres.
Now I am sea swimming . . . but I will NEVER ATTEMPT THE CHANNEL!
The other day an elderly couple walked into our local with a dog that came up to their shoulders. The dog was calm but knew it was King of all it surveyed. It had silver eyes, wolfs eyes. I burst out laughing and said to Fripp “That’s a wolf!”
As we got up to leave I managed to sneak a closer look at the beast that was now lying at its owners feet with an entire room of awed humans looking at it and I can confirm it was a wolf. The owners denied it.
About ten years ago I opened an “Alternate Therapy Festival” and I was put in an enclosure with two wolves so I have a fair idea of how they behave and react and this HUGE animal was surveying us in exactly the same way. Since when have wolves been able to walk amongst us?
As the summer fades and autumn arrives it is quite strange to be booking shows for 2023 and 2024. TOYAH AND ROBERT are bringing our start date three months earlier to include next year’s festivals and we already have a lot booked.
Soon we will announce full details of the TOYAH AND ROBERT SUNDAY LUNCH CONCERT TOUR for October 2023.
In the meantime the Cherry Red release schedule for the Safari catalogue is going strong. There’s more news to come in 2022.
Something that has not been in my life for a couple of years has returned and that’s motivational speaking.
The last three years have moved at epic speed and re-invention is on everyone’s mind. The next six or so years are going to be very interesting indeed.
OH and PS . . . enjoy Chesney Hawkes in the kitchen with Robert and I for Sunday from the 18th Sept till the 9th Oct.
It’s hilarious, he is such a star.
I HOPE TO SEE YOU IN AN AUDIENCE SOON FOR THE ANTHEM AND BILLY IDOL TOUR.
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
OCTOBER 2022
HELLO THERE!
I hope you are all well. CHRSTMAS IN COMING!
The past month has been extreme and challenging. Saying that, it has also been an exceptionally wonderful month.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE for your support and love of the re-release of ANTHEM. AND for putting this brilliant album back in the album charts again.
Touring this music is a huge joy. The songs are working so well with the Posh Pop band. Who are a younger generation of musicians, too young to remember the 80s.
But they love it. In the dressing rooms they are talking about Nigel Glockler’s challenging drum fills and the synthesiser sounds created by Adrian Lee. They love the story telling lyrics and the audience reactions to POP STAR, MARIONETTE and DEMOLITION MEN which are all epic.
For me, as I perform the songs for the first time in a LONG time, they have a new power, a new relevance and I am super proud of the compositions.
Every night on stage I turn and look at the stage back drop of the album artwork and remember why the original idea came to be, simply that 41 years ago we where living on the cusp of the computer age as we know it today, the space programme had all but been halted and I was yearning for “another world”, at a time when technology couldn’t take us there.
Now I look at the artwork and see deep physiological messages reaching out to me from my childhood. The need to escape my school experience, escape the stifling control and opinion of those around me who I just didn’t agree with.
The press coverage and reviews have been positive, 4-star and reinstating ANTHEM as a major influence not only within the decade of the 1980s but also having been a major influence on other musicians and artists of that time and ever since.
This is a challenging time to tour yet our venues are full to capacity, which makes me exceptionally proud and touched by the audience’s connection to the music. Our aim is to connect, lift spirits and keep everything in my world affordable for the audiences. The Anthem Tour is a great show running through to mid November and we have the BILLY IDOL TOUR to look forward to as well, starting this month.
I want to send a big THANK YOU to Chesney Hawkes who jumped at the chance to join us in the kitchen for TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH in the past month. Chesney brought his generation of rock with him and Fripp and I loved being in his company. It was a joy to see Fripp being fatherly to Chesney. They both got on so well and where chitter chattering like boys with new toys.
Presently my schedule is extremely heavy as you might well guess.
Being able to fit in the filming of the short film WEIGHTLESS was a blessing.
Working with a female writer, female director and female producer was vital and an opportunity I couldn’t have bared to miss. We were on the Isle of Wight for only three days and worked in all the daylight hours available.
The film itself will only be 8 minutes long but is already scheduled for every major film festival next year around the world. The subject being battling/ overcoming self hate/harm and addressing life long anorexia.
It was a demanding process. Requiring complete mental and physical breakdown. The pure physicality of playing the role took a toll on me . . . running bare foot over shingles, falling down shingled slopes . . . taking in a lot of salt water while filming in the sea. I returned home a little beaten up but praying that I have conveyed the story the writer wants to tell.
My relationship with food, I believe is healthy. But I am a ridged and controlled eater. When I was in my teens and 20s I would go as much as three days without eating. These days I have one meal a day and that’s lunch time. I protest when asked to eat past 6pm. I definitely have 2000 calories a day and I enjoy food but my discipline over my diet challenges people around me.
If I eat cake or pudding in the day that cancels out the next meal. So my personal connection to Anorexia is through friends/fans and media.
While filming I was amazed how I could connect to my teens through the film’s story line, remembering my father ordering me to eat with fear in his eyes BUT I have never felt that I was actually in the grasp of the disease, ever. For me I simply hate feeling full. The connection to the characters self hate in the film was an overwhelming experience.
Frippy has been away most of the month and Mercury has been in retrograde, now its thankfully moving in a forward direction. Taking all of this into account things have been running pretty well. No major technical breakdowns, which Mercury in retrograde encourages.
Life without Fripp at home is always tough but the house is super clean. It’s harder for both Fripp and I to be apart. Time is precious. Our time together is priceless.
Having been with Robert for 36 and a half years he still says exactly the same things about his time away from home:
* He will only be away for a week . . . historically a week usually turns into a month, sometimes three months
* He is broken hearted everyday and wants to come home and will never tour again
* He is missing our home too much
* The dressing rooms/ tour bus/ hotels are all wrong for one reason or another
* He misses our town/local coffee shops/ cocktail bar/ friends
* He is missing me too much
Next year we are touring together. Robert is looking forward to rocking out with the Posh Pop Band, playing in “E” tuning and enjoying great rock music. We are spending Nov/Dec this year formulating the new show . . . this will make him happy.
I do regularly point out to him that when ver he feels settled in life he always kicks the wasp nest and makes his life uncomfortable . . . perhaps its time he stopped doing this to himself?
TOYAH AND ROBERT’S SUNDAY LUNCH TOUR is announcing the October 2023 dates very soon, a couple of week’s time.
THEN we announce the TOYAH AND ROBERT FESTIVALS and there are some HEFTY announcements, we are wildly excited.
The USA is asking us to tour too.
It goes without saying that the passing of the Queen was totally unexpected even though she was a wonderful age, it appears absolutely no one was ready for it.
There is something very powerful about this.
I believe she chose to go. She was ready.
Leonard Cohen said not long before he flew away that he was ready.
My concerts continued through the official mourning period, work only halting for the Royal funeral.
This meant I was experiencing audiences who both needed to let off stream but also needed their own personal life grief to be recognised.
We deliberately added DANCE IN THE HURRICANE into the set again. And the audiences appreciated it.
A long life is something to celebrate but in the Queen’s case it brought home how ALL of us have had no time in recent years to greave our own losses and to remember loved ones.
For myself I realised that since my Father passed in 2009 and my mother passed in 2011 that I have been working/living/concerning myself with work at an intense pace so as to not address my personal grief.
This past month I have been made to address it.
This month while on stage I have shared my past with my audience, my grief with my audience and celebrated the brilliance of life with my audience . . . there’s no better way to have done any of this . . . THANK YOU
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOVEMBER 2022
HELLO THERE!
Are you ready for Christmas?
I sincerely hope this time of year brings you love and joy. I knew October would move quickly but not that quickly!
Frippy was only home for two weeks in the past month and having already endured time dragging slowly, accentuating his absence daily, while he was away touring in September, I found those two weeks at home flew with the speed of light.
But it’s only a few days until he returns from New York State, where he has been filming with Daryl Hall and we will now be together, I believe for the whole next twelve months . . . OMG I am so excited.
Even with the weight of missing Fripp heavily in my heart I managed to have a bloody fantastic time in October!
In this marvellous month I have experienced unexpected joys, massive highlights and faced up to my own breaking point with pure exhaustion!
It’s been one hell of a year . . . AND IT AINT OVER YET!
I didn’t allow myself expectations about the Billy Idol Tour. We all knew what was required of us, be on time, set up, run on stage, play and get off. We had incredible audience reactions, standing ovations at every show.
After six glorious Arena shows we have all made new friends, experienced amazing audience reactions and feel somewhat bereft that it’s over so quickly. The good news is the audience support and passion has crossed over into the Anthem Tour, every night has been epic, leading to great festival offers for 2023. The Billy Idol Roadside Tour had unexpected and magical moments.
Robert and I were watching Killing Joke from the side of stage at Birmingham Resort Arena when Liam Howlett of The Prodigy clasped my hand and said “We LOVE your Sunday Lunch performance of Firestarter!”
Another overwhelmingly proud moment was watching Billy Idol on stage when he started talking about me being a Birmingham girl and he mentioned his aunt in Coventry who made the strongest tea imaginable….yes it’s true, we Midlander’s always left the tea bag in the cup for a good 30mins when I was a child! Frippy and I are finding great affection for SUNDAY LUNCH were ever we go.
Steve Stevens not only watches SL but also Toyah and Robert’s Objects Of Desire. The stage crews in every arena watch SL. When Robert came along with me to the shows he was thrilled how EVERYONE, from the entrance security though to the crew thanked us for SL.
Even coming through passport control at Heathrow a few weeks ago, the border guard said “how’s your wife?” to which Fripp replied “she’s hot!”
This has given Robert such joy and conviction in all we have done in the past few years.
A powerful moment for me this month was discovering why Killing Joke’s stage tech came to all my soundchecks and filmed IT’S A MYSTERY every time while singing along.
He told me of a past girlfriend he had in the 80s, who whenever he asked where something was, or where some item had gone she would sing “It’s a Mystery, Oh it’s a Mystery, I’m still searching for a clue!” right back at him. She passed away very young and it’s clear the pain in his heart still resonates.
We have the last three Anthem shows of 2022 coming up but that doesn’t mean we are putting our feet up, not at all.
The creating of the TOYAH AND ROBERT show kicks in immediately. In fact it has already started.
The 2023 set list is currently being devised and arranged, then the show rehearsed.
We may feel we have the luxury of time on our side, but the creative process EATS time like no other life experience and we are hitting the ground running. We are planning secret “try out” shows right up till our first official TOYAH AND ROBERT show in June.
I’ve been trying to explain to the band, the very marvellous and brilliant POSH POP BAND what it will be like to work with Robert.
My explanation “a mix between the movie WHIPLASH and METALLICA’s Some Kind Of Monster meets SPINAL TAP but gives birth to STUDIO 666 and SINGING IN THE RAIN. It will be an ascent up Everest, totally dependent on the weather that the day.
BUT heaven help you if you get lax or ask for an autograph or talk about Prog. One guarantee . . . it will be the best experience of your lives.
One thing I must address once off the road this month is my sleep pattern. During lockdown I slept naturally, at night, for the first time in decades. This year I have not fallen asleep at night more than once. This is the worst my insomnia has ever been.
I am wondering if its sensitivity to technology and all it entails. My hearing is razor sharp; I can hear phones on silent receive messages in another room….that slight vibration it sends out. I have to address it. Insomnia is hindering the workings of my mind!
The answer for me is not meditation nor relaxation. It’s more about blocking out the level of modern noise.
Everyone BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD . . . now there’s a song that’s due a comeback into the TOYAH SET. Manolo discovered it last week and LOVES it!
So . . . BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD!
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DECEMBER 2022
HELLO THERE AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!
I hope you are all ready to PARTY!
Robert and I are slowly winding down for what we hope will be a quiet season catching up with friends we have not managed to see since the beginning of lockdown. We live in a very close knit town, our friends are only a few doors or one street away from us, but because we have had a flat out year away from home we have only seen our friends to wave to with promises of catching up soon.
Our Christmas day will be just the two of us, with a large margarita cocktail each and lots of pressie opening. We have our first carol service in 3 years to look forward to this week . . . 3 YEARS, that’s crazy.
Christmas lunch will be interesting. Since my last covid jab food tastes completely different, nothing like what the taste should be.
Beetroot tastes like its been in a sewer and chocolate tastes like lard.
When faced with a plate of food I don’t want to eat I pile it onto Fripp’s plate when he is not looking, it’s as if he is eating an eternal meal. Without a shadow of a doubt it has been an absolutely astonishing year.
It’s has been positive, surprising, rewarding, stressful and sometimes heart breaking.
There’s been four amazing tours which have allowed me to form a new band and a new sound that will lead into the shows for TOYAH AND ROBERT in 2023.
The Electric Ladies Tour in June was epic.
Hazel O’ Connor was greatly missed but two equally remarkable artists stepped in, Saffron and Lene Lovich.
Being part of a multi artist bill is more of a party for me, the weight of the tour doesn’t rest solely on my shoulders.
This year I had a PA with me, again this has allowed me to put 100% into performing instead of dealing with being lost in cities.
I left all that to Lee, I think we drove around Birmingham Town Hall at least ten times before we found the entrance slip road and I was born in Birmingham!
I sincerely hope we will do another Electric Ladies in 2024.
Then finishing off with ANTHEM. I’ve fallen in love with this amazing album all over again.
My favourite songs of the whole year to perform have been POP STAR, MARIONETTE and DEMOLITION MEN. They sent shivers down my spine.
When the whole band sing their harmonies it’s thrilling.
The drama of these songs works so well and even though they are over fourty years old they sound as fresh and new as ever.
Frippy and I are taking a break in Newquay for four days. Seeing my sister and brother for the first time in 12 months.
Frippy has been suffering from long covid and I need to get him away from the work front . . . we have failed so far but we are in a calmer environment as we tackle our daily e-mail.
The idea is we actually rest, perhaps swim in the hotel pool, eat out, walk, even sleep.
It has been the craziest three months, any chance of a restorative rest isn’t going to happen just yet but the mountain summit is only feet away and then I can look out over the glory of 2022.
Have you noticed how the last twelve months been ramped, full on, stressful to the max?
Parts of the year have been like completing a 1000 piece jigsaw only to find six pieces are missing.
I was greatly relieved to hear from my sister Nicola that she feels the same, it gives a reassurance that I am not over reacting.
My sister is determined 2023 will not be as stressful, allowing herself time away from the frontline of her work to see the world.
I have a fantastic team around me, Craig Astley, Darren Shortt, Fripp himself, my agent Craig Latto, a wonderful accounting team and brilliant lawyer and we have all been flat out, ironing wrinkles that shouldn’t be there.
Daily my inbox of “to do’s” has been non payments of invoices that only I have picked up on, because only I have access to all the accounts. Miscalculations from other companies, pages and pages of contracts and insurances that don’t seem to make any sense. This year has taught me to tackle problems head on without any sense of guilt of being “pushy”, without embarrassment or fear of people thinking I am difficult. In fact I am proud of how I have stood my ground in many instances especially when life has felt like a constant appearance on Dragons Den.
Yes, I have taken on new ventures such as purchasing a chemist shop in town that has been trading as a chemist since 1815, renovating the Georgian building and the outgoing family welcoming in a female chemist who is starting her first independent business. The town are going to love her, she is caring and determined.
Fripp says I have the sharpest instincts he as ever come across in his life.
This is a boast . . . I can look at a letter, a business statement, a contract and see an error immediately. Rather than stew over it, which I would have done in the past, I now hit it head on.
My dyslexia deliberately mixes up words in my head and makes me stumble in speech but somewhere in my brain my ability for complex math even surprises me and it’s getting stronger and stronger.
In the 1980s so much slipped by because no artist was interested in the paperwork and we paid for it with missing millions.
As I become more successful I realise I am stepping out of my comfort zone big time, those fantasies of a quiet retirement are just fading away on the horizon but I trust my life is gearing up for something, I have no idea what, but I will sum up the last 12months as going way beyond my comfort zone and in 2023 this zone will be more familiar as Robert and I start our new venture . . . touring together.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY AND PEACE AND LOVE TO ALL
BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD
LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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