TOYAH ON
BBC RADIO SOLENT
WALL OF SOUND
WITH ALEX DYKE
3.3.2020

ALEX: (It's A Mystery plays) BBC Radio Solent and that's the mighty Toyah! Hello Toyah! Are you feeling mighty this afternoon?

TOYAH: (on the phone) I'd like to think I always feel mighty, even though I'm barely 5 ft tall! (Alex snorts) I always have a bit of confidence about me, bit of attitude

ALEX: Absolutely. Watching a clip of you on Saturday – we did a programme on Saturday called Pop On TV and we were playing music that had become big through television. We were playing clips of Going Live and Swap Shop and the Saturday Superstore and you were on with Noel Edmonds. 

We found this clip of you (below) with Noel Edmonds in 1981 and you were giving him … not grief, not a hard time but you were very upfront and quite cheeky - 

 

 
TOYAH: On Super Store? That's amazing

ALEX: No it wasn't Super Store … it was on Multi-Coloured Swap Shop 1981 -

TOYAH: Wow!

ALEX: And you and Noel Edmunds were talking about a film you had made together -

TOYAH: Yes, we both made our acting debut together in a BBC2 play called Glitter in 1976. Can you believe that?

ALEX: Wow! That's what you were talking about, yeah -

TOYAH: Yeah, for quite a while he denied he was ever in it (they both laugh)

ALEX: Do you ever trawl Youtube and find -

TOYAH: No, I don't have to. I have an house, an archive full of everything I have ever done so I don't have to trawl anywhere. I've got stuff that even Youtube hasn't found -

ALEX: Really?

TOYAH: I never look for myself on Youtube – I'm always looking for other people and I'm always trying to find out the meaning of words. That's what I'm kind of using Youtube for. It's like well, what does this phrase mean? What does LOL mean? I'm always leaning via Youtube but never looking for myself

ALEX: So why did you keep everything? Did you think this is great, this is me being famous, it's not going to last longer than six months so I'm going to keep every newspaper clipping, every VHS video from when I'm on TV. Why -

TOYAH: No. None of that. It's lasted for 42 years and I've been very influential as a programme maker, as a producer, a director of films as well as a singer and and actress and a writer. So you have to keep an archive. 

Last Friday, Toyah Solo, a box set of 7 CD's came out, which went to number one in all the pre-order charts, so if I didn't have an archive none of that could've happened. I'm about to have 5 vinyl albums be announced for Record Store Day in April (below) so because I have the archive I'm able to still kind of produce things that people can buy 

ALEX: Wow! But you must've – I mean it's an incredible career and goes from strength to strength ... You're going to be playing the Tivoli in Wimborne on April the 18th with your old friend Hazel O'Connor.

But at the time ... we always thought pop was a throwaway business – we wouldn't keep playing the records when they dropped out of the charts – in most cases. You must be pleasantly surprised that you've kept it going, being at the top of your game for over 40 years? 

TOYAH: In the 90's eighties artists could not give themselves away but in 2000 the phenomena of 80's artists coming together in multi-bill format meant we could play arenas. So I played Wembley Arena fro the first time ever in my career in 2002. And I've not looked back since. 

So I think time, political change, cultural change has allowed us to come and remain constant. I've not stopped touring solidly since 2002. The irony is Hazel and I have never toured together in 40 years yet our kind of ... our peak of our careers was at the same time and the music that we are well remembered for was at the same period in time

We've both re-released material and my last album In The Court Of The Crimson Queen went into the Top 30 across the board in April last year and is still selling so … I think what it … my reason for this is that we didn't go into this thinking that this was temporary. 

We went into this thinking this is our lives and we honour the music and we love the music and we honour the audience. And that's what we do. You don't do it thinking “oh, this is only going to last six weeks”. You do it because this is for ever

ALEX: Yeah, I get that. I just want to rewind a little bit, Toyah, because I'm interested in … So you get your first hit round about February 1981 and that's massive. You're never off Top Of The Pops, you're never off the TV in the 1980's. 

Was there a point in the mid 90's where you were playing to tiny tiny audiences and you were thinking "we can't sell more than 40 or 50 tickets, is this actually not worth it now?" Did you ever get down to playing pubs?

TOYAH: No, in the 90's I was presenting (The) Heaven & Earth (Show), Watchdog Healthcheck, BBC Holiday. I was presenting Songs Of Praise, I was travelling the world for BBC Holiday. I was doing some major major presenting, I wasn't performing. 

I did a few kind of tours in theatres so the big turn around for me was in 2002 going straight into arenas. In the last five years - I also do Toyah Up Close And Personal and we deliberately take that to small communities and we play town halls or even village halls but those could sell out for a week. So I've not really had problems selling tickets ever

ALEX: No, I was just interested. Look, Toyah, we've got to move on. We want to wish you all the best. It's the Tivoli in Wimborne on the 18th of April. I've seen you live so many times, you're absolutely magnificent, you look wonderful and you're going to be up there with Hazel O'Connor. Thank you so much for returning to the afternoon Wall Of Sound

TOYAH: It's a pleasure, thank you so much Alex