TOYAH ON
RADIO CHORLEY 102.8 FM
AT BLACKPOOL PRIDE
WITH MARK JACKSON-DUXBURY
9.6.2012

 

MARK JACKSON-DUXBURY: OK - we are now in the broom cupboard of the kitchen as they say … with Toyah!

TOYAH: Hello!

MARK: How are you?

TOYAH: I’m really good! I’ve never seen Blackpool this rough! It’s like a scene from the “Perfect Storm”. I mean I think there are about 15 foot waves out there!

MARK: It’s leaking in here as well …

TOYAH: It’s just unbelievable! Here we are, June the 9th and it’s almost below 10 degrees. I mean what is going on?! Where’s our heat wave ... please?

MARK: You’re about to go on stage. What are you going to perform for the crowds?

TOYAH: I’m a bit of a rock chick so I do my favourites. Obviously I do Toyah tracks, the hits. I do “It’s A Mystery”, “I Want To Be Free”, “Thunder In The Mountains”, “Echo Beach” which, funnyly enough, I had a chart hit with in 1984. But also I'm going to do “Rebel Yell” and “River Deep, Mountain High”

MARK: Fantastic. A good variety of songs then?

TOYAH: Yeah. With things like this you want to play stuff that people know and people can sing along with as well. And I think people know about songs like “Thunder In The Mountains” but they don’t necessarily know the words so I always sing stuff that they can join in in the chorus with

MARK: You also bring of breath of fresh air to any event

TOYAH: (intrigued) Why …?

MARK: Because you’re lively and bubbly and –

TOYAH: Oh, OK! Yeah, yeah!

MARK: I actually saw you last year in Manchester –

TOYAH: Oh God, yeah!

MARK: And you were really good there and the audience loved you. I think a day like today, really miserable weather ... you want someone like you to brighten things up –

 

TOYAH: Well, I have brought a hair piece but I just didn’t want to bring it out in this weather! It would just disintegrate. So I’m going on au naturel today which I haven’t done for a year because in Manchester (above) I had a big spray of pink hair

But yeah ... I’m dedicated to what I do and you go out there and you’re there for the audience. You’re not there for you so I always try and give people a good time

MARK: You’ve done lots of things over the years, haven’t you? Films, TV programmes, records?

TOYAH: Yeah, I’m really busy the whole time. I do a fair bit of presenting. I haven’t done as much as in the 90s when all I did was presenting. But I’ve just recently come back into music so the last two years I’ve toured solidly

It’s been critically really well received. I’ve done America, I’ve done Europe, this year I’ve got the Arab Emirate States and Europe and America again so good and busy

MARK: What’s your favourite thing you enjoy doing?

TOYAH: My favourite thing of doing is the thing I do the least and that is acting on camera. I love it! I love the whole environment. You’re part of an extended family, you work most bizarre hours but I absolutely love the focus of it! It’s so different to anything else I do

And you lose yourself. It’s not about you, you become a character. If I was offered more of that I’d be very happy. But I’m 54 ... it might not happen!

MARK: You don’t look it though

TOYAH: (pleased) Ah, thank you!

MARK: You’re on tour at the moment?

TOYAH: I have just finished an incredibly successful tour called “The Changeling Resurrection” and it was so successful we’re taking it out on the road again as of September

MARK: What does it mean – the changeling?

TOYAH: Well, I had an album out in 1982 called “The Changeling”, which was produced by Steve Lillywhite before he went off and did U2. I was a platinum album and it’s the 30th anniversary of it this year so we thought we’ll do five dates earlier this year. I thought they‘d die a death and they went through the ceiling!

They were critically acclaimed, five star reviews, sold out and people just want it back. It’s quite a gloomy album, it’s cited as the beginning of the goth movement because it’s all about a changeling child and the world being destroyed by humans. It’s black, it’s bleak but they love it! They absolutely love it!

 

 

MARK: Any new music coming out?

TOYAH: I did a track with Paul Masterson of Yomanda called “Fallen”, which did really well and that was a dance track. I have my band The Humans which is an art rock band and we’re on our third album now. We’re writing this month and we record the album in Seattle in September and tour that next year

MARK: Well, all the best. Hope the crowd cheer on, I’m sure they will do –

TOYAH: We’re going to have fun!

MARK: Despite the weather!

TOYAH: The thing about Pride is it’s a celebration of everyone and people are here purely to have a really good time and to feel part of a community and to kind of voice their self-identity. I think these Prides are brilliant, they work so well

MARK: Have a great time!

TOYAH: Thank you!