TOYAH ON
BBC RADIO MANCHESTER
WITH MIKE SWEENEY
1.9.2021

MIKE: The first time I interviewed you was in 1981. You're still performing, still writing, still recording. And it always fascinates me when people have got that longevity. Where does that energy come from and that commitment?

TOYAH: I've got the best job in the world. It's as simple as that. To be in front of an audience. To affect people in a really positive way, with music or acting. It's absolutely wonderful. And I suppose part of me I'm still ambitious because I'm hoping to be discovered.

MIKE: Yes, where I've watched you - you and Robert Fripp. For those who don't know - Robert was in King Crimson. He and Toyah have been doing these lockdown concerts from their kitchen -

TOYAH: Sunday lunches. Yeah.

MIKE: Tell me how that came about? Because that's like watching a kid perform and that’s what you look like

TOYAH: Yeah, well, it's all from our kitchen. In May of last year, I wanted him to move more. So I started to teach him to dance and we posted a 29 second clip of him jiving really badly, but beautifully at the same time. He was just so cute. And within five minutes we had 100,000 replies from around the world as far as New Zealand, as far as Hong Kong, Bali. And we kept posting, and these messages were coming back, just saying thank you, we've cheered them up. By January of this year we had 40 million viewers, and it escalated in a really wonderful way.

And it taught us so much about what a world audience is. And it's not about us showing off as rock stars or saying "look at our cars, look at our swimming pool". It was us saying that we behave badly in our kitchens as well. And it was cheering people up and then I got the record deal in lockdown. Started writing “Posh Pop” with my co-writer Simon Darlow. Robert agreed to come on it.

And we found that we were hugely influenced by knowing this world audience and what they needed. And it wasn't that they were needy people, they just needed to be seen and to be recognised and for us to say "we're in it with you".

MIKE: I've got to be careful how I phrase this. I am old school and I’d like to think I’ve got good manners. But you look amazing in the videos. You look very young, very lively. And to a certain extent and I’m sure this is a by-product - you became a role model or a yardstick for women of a certain age to still look really really youthfull and energetic. Are you aware of that?

TOYAH: Well, I'm 63 and I do look after myself and image is important. It’s not all vanity, it's just I want to look how I feel inside. Talking to you, I can tell you're exactly the same, the energy will never change. You are who you are. You were a punk rocker, you're still a punk rocker. I was a punk rocker, and I still have that energy. I adore performing and I'm not ready to stop.

And I found in lockdown the silence of the industry, as painful as it was, because I knew that there were people out there who were struggling, but that silence allowed me to write music and I wasn't going to let that go. I had to do it. I was driven to do it.

MIKE: What was the musical moment in time for young Toyah, where you thought "I want to be in the rock’n’roll industry"?

TOYAH: It was three albums. Roxy Music “For Your Pleasure.” Marc Bolan “Electric Warrior” and David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”. When I heard those three albums I knew that in my head the rebel I was but wasn't allowed to express externally, I knew I could do it. If they could do it, I knew that I could be the person I was in my head.

MIKE: How important was that punk era for opening the door for people like you? People like Chrissie Hynde? So many … Poly Styrene -

TOYAH: Definitely Poly because Polly and I weren't your typical physical types. So up until that point you have beautiful performers. You had Lulu, you had Cher, you had Olivia Newton-John, who was just physical perfection and punk opened the doors for people like me. I'm barely five foot tall. I was three stone heavier back then. You had the gorgeous and beautiful Poly Styrene, who was just a poet. He was a female poet who wrote beautiful music as well. It opened the doors for us, and I'm so grateful.

MIKE: Where do your songwriting inspirations come from? Because you get older . . . yes, you can write about - well, I could write about girls and cars . . . I'm 73 - it was a long time ago. So you’ve got to write about the now but you've got to write about the now without it being "I’m so weary" . . . Where do you get the inspiration from?

TOYAH: I’m 63, and my inspiration just comes from - both of us have lived a lot of life. And we have a lot of wisdom. And I've seen in people as they grow older, I saw in my parents, that they needed to be relevant. So I'm writing songs about how relevant everyone is. That we are never not needed. We are needed somewhere and people need to know that.

I think that was one of the incredible messages about lockdown, that we all were part of a community and I'm now calling that a world community, that everyone of us was still relevant, even though we were locked in a room in the middle of nowhere, and told we couldn't touch anyone.

So that brought out in me incredible messages like how privileged we were before lockdown. To be able to hold those that we love, whether they were young or old, about to pass from this world, or about to come into this world. Touch was so unique and it was a privilege. So I kind of wrote about all of that.

MIKE: I’ve asked every performer - whether it's musicians like you, whether it's actors, backstage staff, roadies, everybody. How do you manage when your life is around interacting with people in a live environment and in a studio environment, in an art environment and that stopped overnight. Psychologically - what was like for you? And Robert?

TOYAH: The first three weeks was tough because I was about to go on the road with Hazel O'Connor in big venues,a  completely sold out tour. And we kept moving it and moving it and moving it hoping that we'd be able to do it by the following September. It's now happening in June of next year. We are honouring every ticket sold. I had three movies coming out, two of which I've won Best Supporting Actress awards globally in film festivals, so it was going to be a halcyon year. But these films are still coming out.

Then the reality of the stage riggers, the lighting men, the sound crew, the tour bus drivers, the caterers, who were losing everything and had no government support . . . made me stop thinking about myself and just go right, we need to project something here that says that we're all in the same boat. I just started making the Toyah YouTube channel, and it had a very positive effect on people. Probably because of my chest (they both snigger) but also because they were very wacky wild things . . .

MIKE: Did you notice that I didn't make any reference to that whatsoever. Trying to keep my job . . .

TOYAH: I love it that at 63 what I've done that with my body! I have to say I love it. And part of it is, why should age matter? It shouldn't matter. It's the spark within us that counts.

MIKE: So when’s the tour going to start again?

TOYAH: I've been on tour for the last five weeks because we've been able -

MIKE: What’s it like?

TOYAH: The first time I walked on stage was Liverpool. I could have cried. I could have just knelt down to kiss that stage, and the audience is just so there with you. More than ever before because they want this, more than ever before.

MIKE: And the future? So where are we going to go from here? The record’s coming out, obviously . . .

TOYAH: Yeah, well, its midweek chart place is number five and that's midweek. So we're very very excited. I'm touring it for another year and a half, then hopefully I get into the studio and write the next album. It's very very busy because we're all buffering so many gigs from last year into this space of time while we can . . .

MIKE: I’m more into you now than when I first met you 40 years ago. It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you. Toyah, you take care of yourself.

TOYAH: It’s good to see you! Don’t leave it 40 years again, alright?

You can listen to the interview here HERE

Mike and Toyah at the BBC Radio Manchester studios