TOYAH
THE LEAP INTERVIEW
1993

HOST: She’s worked with film director Derek Jarman, acted with Katharine Hepburn, sung with Adam Ant, had a Top 5 hit with "Thunder In The Mountains"

She’s also wrestled, got her jaw broken in a stage fight, become a Buddhist, married Robert Fripp and what else? A new band! What else can we throw in here?!

TOYAH: Oh, everything! Forgot to use the kitchen sink!

HOST: You have done a tremendous amount of stuff in the last while, haven’t you? Is it because you have so many talents you want to keep going this way and that way or is it that you just don’t know what you want?

TOYAH: No, I do know what I want. I want to act and sing and I’d like to involved with anything encompassed under that umbrella. So basically I’m just a performer who likes to work. I think that’s why my biography just looks ridiculous

HOST: It’s amazing, isn’t it!

TOYAH: I know. It’s also very confusing because I just go off on tangents and I think the habit there is that I like to do things that are a challenge. I don’t like to do things that I’ve already done before so I always look for new things

 

HOST: Was Janis Joplin someone ever that you were keen on? As a singer?

TOYAH: I loved her as a person. The singing for me left a lot to be desired because her voice was actually incredible before she was famous. By the time fame had caught up with everybody she was actually kind of ruined by drugs and alcohol and that incredible voice of an angel had gone a bit

I like vulnerability and Janis, even though you think of this incredibly strong female, I think she was incredibly vulnerable and that makes her really lovable and accessible

HOST: I do wonder - a strong character with a vulnerable streak. Can you see yourself in her?

TOYAH: Well, I’m not a druggie! (laughs)

HOST: No, no I didn’t say that. I said a strong character with a vulnerable streak?

TOYAH: Yeah, I use vulnerability. I think vulnerability - if you’re in control of your own vulnerability, it’s the best part of you to exploit. It’s the most attractive part of anybody. So yeah, I have a lot of respect for that and I hope I am. I hope I’m not a tough cow!

HOST: How did you ever become a Buddhist? Change your outlook on life?

TOYAH: Well, I’m not a practicing Buddhist, really. I just think I have Buddhist values. My father was a Buddhist. I don’t chant and I don’t meditate or anything like that. But I do like the humanitarian side of Buddhism

I don’t really like the westernised side of Buddhism. It’s not a commercial religion for me at all, it’s something that comes from deep in the Tibetan hills. And I like the history of Buddhism

HOST: Is it something that Robert (Fripp, her husband, below with Toyah in 1988) enjoys as well?

TOYAH: Robert - oh, he’s a confusing one! I think he’s a Gurdjieffian, part of the Gurdjieff people -

HOST: Gosh, I don’t know -

TOYAH: Which is an Eastern based thing as well - but he is really disciplined. He meditates every morning

HOST: He’s an extraordinary individual to interview as well!

 

TOYAH: Yeah! (both laugh)

HOST: You are totally different people! How the two of you came together is quite extraordinary, isn’t it?

TOYAH: (with a girlie voice) Oh, well … (both laugh) Opposites attract!

HOST: Very much so! And you see so little of each other!

TOYAH: Yeah, that’s a bit of a bummer! (laughs) He’s on a world tour at the moment, he’s in Japan. I was supposed to see him last week, he was at Paisley Park in (Minnesota) Minneapolis

I went to get my ticket and there was a marathon on in Minneapolis so I couldn’t even fly within 50 miles of the city! So I’m afraid I’ve missed the boat on our three week curfew

HOST: How long have you been married now?

TOYAH: Seven years

HOST: Does that keep it alive - each time you see each other it’s romantic all over again because you don’t see each other very often?

TOYAH: I think we’re very romantic. I’d like to think that if we were together more we’d still be romantic. We’ve never tested the water there

There was a tragedy this summer. His mother died and he was home for three months and it was lovely. We knew she was dying so we accepted that but what was really nice was we could be together as three people

Before poor Edie joined the angels as it were - that was just the most amazing time for us. It was very special indeed. I know that if a time comes when we’re retired and we’ll be together every day ... I think it will work really well

HOST: I’m sure it will. Now, you got yourself a new band here?

TOYAH: Well, this is Friday Forever (below) They’re a band in their own right. We start touring on Friday and we’re playing the Borderline on Saturday. This is a rock band for the want of a better word … (asks the band) Would you agree with that?

BAND: No

TOYAH & HOST: No! (both laugh)

TOYAH: They’re a very good band! (all laugh)

HOST: But they’re not a rock band?

TOYAH: We’ve just finished making an album together called "Leap!" which is coming out in the New Year. So we’re just off on the road

HOST: OK

 

TOYAH: Doing real rock venues. Do you want a number?

HOST: I think that would be great. What do we go for ... ”Now I’m Running”?

TOYAH: Yeah!

HOST: OK

They play "Now I’m Running"

HOST: I don’t think you mess with this woman (both laugh) Definitely!

SONG: Ouf The Blue

HOST: New song from Toyah Willcox - "Out Of The Blue" and an album coming out, that’s "Dreamchild"

TOYAH: "Dreamchild" is a dance project. It’s conceptual project, which "Out Of The Blue" is off - just to let you know

They play "Invisible Love"

HOST: (Recites the lyrics) “Someone needs you” Nice. I like that. "Invisible Love." Who’s that for? Come on? It wouldn’t be down the telephone line to Minneapolis or anything like that, would it?

TOYAH: Actually, it’s a bit of a tearjerker. I wrote it the day I was told Laurence Olivier died

HOST: (Intrigued) Aaah?

TOYAH: I only worked with him once but I was really very fond of him