TOYAH ON
LOVING 80's MUSIC
WITH HELEN BARNES
9.6.2020

HELEN: Hey Toyah! It’s fantastic to see you! How are you?

TOYAH: So good to see you! You I'm really well. Thank you. Stir crazy but really well and I feel lucky so yeah, I'm OK.

HELEN: Well, you look fantastic! Tell me how lockdown’s been for you?

TOYAH: It's been quite remarkable. In the beginning I was absolutely terrified because my husband (Robert, below with Toyah) is 74. I believe I've had Covid but I'm not going to kind of wave a flag about that until I've been tested and funny enough, I believe I had it on the 1st of November of last year.

My husband has not had anything like it, so he’s 74 and when lockdown started I was so frightened I was following him round the house cleaning everything. I was literally scrubbing his food because we're vegetarian and we only eat free fresh produce. We don't eat anything processed so I was scrubbing carrots, grubbing courgettes. Scrubbing butternut squash. I was just so paranoid! Now three months later on I can't wait to get rid of him!

HELEN: I read somewhere that you guys used to have separate houses or something? Is that right?

TOYAH: Yeah, up until the 2001 we did have separate houses and we both lived and worked on separate continents and my husband then came home and we have a beautiful home in Worcestershire. We absolutely love it. We are bang on a High Street with shops either side so we live in a very bustling community and we love being together but thankfully, my husband has just bought the next door house and he's extending into that -

HELEN: So you’re literally next door neighbours, are you?!

TOYAH: Well, it will be his offices, but he will kind of be in there in the daytime and I'm really looking forward it because in this room - this is my office that overlooks a beautiful Georgian square. In this room I write books. I write stories, I sometimes paint. I write my albums, I record, I've got all my instruments here (whispers) I look forward to it getting quieter . . .

HELEN: (laughs) That’s fantastic!

TOYAH: I don’t want to shout because he might be listening . . .

HELEN: That’s the best thing anybody’s told me about lockdown. That’s brilliant. Now, you've obviously been doing loads on social media as well. I absolutely love watching your lockdown things that you've been posting and crazy ideas you get - is that coming from you or is that coming from your husband?

TOYAH: No, it's me. It's all me. I wanted to make him laugh and I also wanted to make people have something to laugh at. It’s very interesting culturally how these films have been received around the world. The dancing films really take off in Asia, it is phenomenal. They obviously love dancing so much. The ones where we're outside and being absurd have actually insulted certain countries.

When we first did "Swan Lake", which is both of us in a tutu outside - it made the front pages of Italian newspapers and they said we were mocking their lockdown. Robert is very eloquent and he explained that we don't live in a huge stately home, we are in a beautiful market town with a strip of land that we adore and we garden a lot and we just said that the UK has a history of observed humour so that's what those are about but they do all come from me.

HELEN: You’ve had incredible views, like 400,000 I think on the one that you did “Heroes” and I just loved it. You holding up the cards all the way through and the one you did the other week with the handbag - just brilliant.

TOYAH: I just love my handbag because obviously I've been to many of my husband's concerts and you're lucky if you see five women in the audience. It's a big joke that if you go to a King Crimson concert, the ladies don't queue for the toilet. They’re empty. So the idea was - I said to Robert ... how do you bring more women into your audience? And I said, well, if they could dance to the music, they’d come. And obviously you can't dance to King Crimson. You just can’t (laughs)

HELEN: The things that’s really impressed me - I imagine as an artist doing this from home. It's really hard to sort of sing into a camera with no audience. It's quite easy for it to look quite amateurish I guess, but you always look so professional (they talk on top of each other)

TOYAH: No, it's just me. The iPhone. We find the iPhone is absolutely superb. We obviously shoot scenarios where we don't edit. We have a lot of natural light in the room that we use and would deliberately not being ostentatious. We keep using our very humble kitchen, which would have been a servant's quarters at one point. What I mean by that - 100 years ago every family had a maid.

So our kitchen is still that layout. Some of the original features are still in that kitchen, so we always use that kitchen because we want to share with people rather than “go look at us! Aren't we special?” We are trying to share and to lift people's spirits. So it's the iPhone, the room has a really great natural ambiance, and I'm used to singing anywhere. You've got to remember if you're used to doing auditions, you have to just sing on the spot. So I think that's why it comes across so well and I've got a really big voice as well.

HELEN: Yeah it looks so professional and the "Let’s Rock" as well, did you have a green screen or something behind?

TOYAH: Yeah, I have a green screen studio in the house because I'm always having to connect up with directors and do screen test readings for movies. So I've always had a green screen studio. I have a recording studio. I'm able to record my voice and link up to New York and LA and all of that so the house is very functional as far as lockdown comes.

That said, I'm the voice of Sun Life insurance and two weeks ago I did their new campaign and I said "please, can I go to a professional studio and do this" because you do about 75 versions of one TV ad and I said I don't want be here in this room all day. Just marking these takes because it's very very precise. So I am starting to move back into professional studios. But that said I went to Bristol and I was the only person in the building and I just linked up like I'm with you by Zoom

HELEN: It looks really amazing. Speaking of voices though - I've got two little boys and my little one remembers - he watches "Teletubbies" and you were the voice on there weren’t you?

TOYAH: Yeah, I was the original narrator on Teletubbies. I think now it's Fearne Cotton. So I started doing "Teletubbies" about 1993, the very first time it came out and it was really lovely doing it because the creator Anne Wood just had no idea that is was going to be hugely successful. Before that I'd done all the voices of "Brum" for six series. The little car’s adventures in the big town . . . “brum brum”  . . . So I did all of that and Anne said would I come in as a favour and do the narration on "Teletubbies" and when I met her she was really very vulnerable.

She thought she had a place at the BBC for the programme and they pulled it. They said "no, we are not going to use it, we’re not taking it" and Ann had mortgaged her house for £60 000 to do the first "Teletubbies" pilot and I said "yeah, and this is absolutely superb. It's not going to be children that watch it. This is the new "Magic Roundabout" - you're going to have students around the world watch it" and then literally three months later it is the biggest thing the BBC ever had.

And what happened was the BBC lost the programme. They lost the licence on a programme, so they took "Teletubbies back" - reluctantly and I think it made them a billion pounds in a year. You know ... mistakes and if you're a writer out there, if you're writing music, writing books . . . If someone says no to you, don't take it personally. It's their mistake.

HELEN: Wow! What a good story. Speaking of children my other son shares the same birthday as you -

TOYAH: May the 18th?

HELEN: May the 18th so he had his lockdown birthday this year. We had to do a little party over Zoom with his friends and things like that. Tell me what you did for your birthday?

TOYAH: I had a really lovely birthday so many people were sending messages and the thing is I have never been very active with social media. I'm very dyslexic so I forget sequences of things and I think when you do social media you have to have a kind of a brain that can sequence things. So because of lockdown I've made a huge effort to do more on social media and to connect with the fans.

So my birthday was probably one of the best ever because so many messages were coming in and they were so lovely and they were so giving. It was probably one of the most special birthdays I've ever had.

HELEN: That's really lovely to hear and tell me about some of the other things you've got coming up then, because I know that you're doing the Rewind drive-in shows

TOYAH: Rewind is doing 3 drive-in shows on 28th, 29th, 30th of August and I don't know if I got the order right. There's Newmarket Racecourse. There's a farm in London, which I've forgotten the name of but anyway, if you go on toyahwillcox official -

HELEN: There’s one in Bolton, isn’t there?

TOYAH: Yeah Bolton Arena. Thank you very much. If these go well they're going to add 9 more. Or five more, it's quite a large number anyway, so they're just going to see how it goes. Where they've made this very special and quite unique up to this point is they've managed to get enough land for people to get out of their cars and dance, whereas the past drive-ins you’ve had stay in the cars. So this I think it's going to be much more effective.

HELEN: We've got a great line-up - you got The Doctor presenting. Hosting it all?

TOYAH: We’ve got five presenting. Doctor and The Medics, Clare Grogan of Altered Images and Heaven 17. I’m coming on and I’m doing playback because the turnaround is going to be so complex and we're going to have probably a tenth of the crew that we normally have.

But we’ll have the big screens so visually and as far as the audience goes, they're getting the full Rewind in-your-face show. But there's going to be less crew just because this is a smaller event to a smaller audience. So I'm going to be working to playback. I think Heaven 17 will be the full band.

HELEN: Wow. But if you're parked really far back, will you still be able to see quite a lot?

TOYAH: Yeah because of the big screens. All of those visuals will be exactly the same

HELEN: Your tour that you have planned for this year - that's been postponed for next year?

TOYAH: Toyah and Hazel starts again in May and June of next year. Fingers crossed the venues will be able to open by them. Then I am doing an electronica and acoustic electronica tour. And then I'm touring “Anthem”. So I've got three tours next year, and that's because I'm having to cram the whole 2020 into 2021 as well as what was planned. It’s going to be a remarkable year

HELEN: You've got a CD / DVD compilation out?

TOYAH: It's been quite a busy year. "Toyah Solo" came out this year, which was a seven CD box set of all the albums I've made from 1985 onwards. That's just been a huge success. And then on the 3rd of July Toyah and The Humans was released. And this is an art rock project I have with the drummer from REM Bill Rieflin and my guitarist is Chris Wong.

It's a four CD box set with my husband guesting on one of the albums called "Sugar Rush". So all of these were made in Seattle and we toured around the world for the last 15 years. Sadly my co-writer Bill Rieflin, who was drumming in REM, passed away in lockdown on from cancer, not from Covid

So the whole box set is in memory of him and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam has named The Humans as his top ten favourite bands . . . so you know, very proud of that and that's given us an amazing kudos. So it's been a good year for releases and there's more coming! All my back catalogue is being released through Cherry Red Records at the end of the year and into January next year. The whole of my catalogue will be available, which is very exciting so that's “Sheep Farming In Barnet”, “Blue Meaning”, “Anthem”, “The Changeling”, Love Is The Law”, “Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!” - all going to be rereleased and we’re packaging them now and it looks amazing!

HELEN: Wow, you have so much going on! I have to ask - the disc that's behind you?

TOYAH: Yeah, that’s my first gold disc for “Anthem” from 1981. “Anthem” went platinum. I'm in lockdown in Worcester. All my gold and platinum discs are in London. I've been doing a lot of celebrity messaging, which is where you just record a message to someone on your phone and send it to them and I realise people want to see your accolade. All my awards are in London, so last week I had to go to London for a screen test and I picked up one of my discs so I just put it behind me so people know that I have gold disc (laughs)

HELEN: It’s fantastic! How do you fit in screen tests and things, I presume that’s for more acting. How are you going to be able to do that as well as everthing you’ve got planned?

TOYAH: It’s really good question because we don't know. Every job that we do we will have to go into quarantine for and create a pod. So if a movie is going to go forward and I know “Mission Impossible” is being shot on the streets of London at the moment - you have to isolate with the whole crew and that will be law. I was auditioning last week for TV series that will be 5.5 months and we will have to live together and quarantine together for that period in time. I don't mind that that doesn't worry me at all, but that's just safety for all.

HELEN: Yeah. Wow. Things are changing aren’t they? One other thing that I was going to ask just before I do ten quick fire questions - I loved watching you on “Splash” (below). I thought it was fantastic. I think you had a real tough job being up against the likes of Perri (Kiely, who won the series in 2014) but just tell me a little bit about that?

TOYAH: Perri was just amazing! Perri . . . tha human being being is one of the greatest human beings I've ever met. He is the most open, gorgeous – well, he’s a man now. He was a boy in 2013, 2014. I mean, wow. He just absolutely blew me away and he'd go up to the 10 metre board and he would just dive. Even Tom Daley gets freaked at the 10 metre. He said it's nerve-racking every time. And I said to Perri "how do you do it so well?" He said “I can’t see”. He really cannot see a thing. And he said “I am nervous  - I just don't know what's coming”. So it was a huge achievement for me because the programme went out in 2014. I'm 62 now. So what was that? 2014 was six years ago  . . . I was . . .

HELEN: 56.

TOYAH: Thank you. To do the five meter dive at the age of 56, having had hip replacement, I think I did really well and it hurt like hell. Every time it hurt like hell.

HELEN: The number of bruises and everything - it's incredible, isn't it?

TOYAH: Yeah, you would get bruises from hitting the water because it equivalent of hitting a brick wall at 30 miles an hour. No matter how good you are and you get used to that, but it's still really scary and there was Anna ... there was a lovely presenter on with me, who does a dating programme now called Anna Williams? (Williamson)

She did a 10 metre in the rehearsal on the day before we went live and she hit the water in the wrong way and it pulled her eyelids back and she came out of the water and her eyes were bleeding and she was rushed to hospital but she still did the dive that evening. I'm not surprised that (programnme) isn't running anymore. It was so dangerous!

HELEN: Oh my God! Even just to come out in your swimming costume . . .  Amazing! You’re so brave to do that, you’ve got fabulous figure, but you still so brave to do that.

TOYAH: They made a beautiful costume. It had the bra sewn in, it had the knickers sewn in because when you hit that water everything comes off your body. Everything! So you had to literally be sewn into the tightest corseted costume that would not free your boobs as you hit the water. So it was very flattering.

HELEN: Well done for doing that. Now I've got 10 quick fire questions, if that's OK, just whatever comes into your head as quick as possible.

TOYAH: OK

HELEN: Favourite hair colour that you had in the 80’s?

TOYAH: It would be a mixture of orange and pink, which was an accident. I went to have my hair done for the video “Brave Mew World” and I was going to go pink but they needed to peroxide my roots and they accidentally put orange on my roots afterwards and it looks phenomenal (Helen laughs)

HELEN: Favourite picture that you've got on your phone?

TOYAH: Oh! That would be of my co-writer Bill Rieflin who I loved so much. He was my best friend and he was my greatest influence as an artist. He taught me how to write music, how to perform. He did so much for me in the short time I knew him, so it will be any picture of Bill Riefling on my phone.

HELEN: Last time I interviewed you, I asked you the best thing about turning 60 and you gave me this brilliant answer about how you've got rid of all the rubbish in your life and whatnot. So I will ask you again, see if that's still the same. Best thing about turning 60?

TOYAH: Well, I'd like to tag on to that question the lockdown. So I think the best thing about being 60 and lockdown is you are ready to eliminate things that cause you stress. For me stress comes when I can't be alone when I'm working. I'm so married to my work. It's my church and if anything interferes with the quality of what I do, I get tremendously stressed.

So I would say the best thing about being 60 is acknowledging that and facing it and doing something about it. The best thing about lockdown is realising other things that eat away at you and just (makes a wiping gesture) clearing them off the table.

HELEN: Fantastic. Best thing you've watched during lockdown?

TOYAH: Where do I start?! “Hollywood” Beautiful drama. “I May Destroy You.” Phenomenal drama about sexual assault and also “Bubble Gum”, both by the same writer. I just want to say her name and I'm so scared of getting it wrong because I'm so rubbish with names. I'm not even going go there because I would just get it wrong and be offensive. There has been so much good drama out there and written by the most brilliant people and performed by the best actors. It's just  . . . you watch it and you go yes! This is why I want to act!

HELEN: Favourite chocolate bar?

TOYAH: It will always be Cadbury’s Dairy Milk but I don't allow myself to eat it

HELEN: Really?! That’s strict

TOYAH: And in lockdown … never! Nothing in the house. Except vegetables and fruit. I had one girlfriend who I absolutely adore and I talked to her a couple of weeks ago and she's gone up four dress sizes. I said “what are you eating?” And she said “Oh well, I'm eating two meals for every meal.” Why are you eating two meals every meal?” “Because I'm bored and then I have cake at four” and I just said “OK, get a dustbin liner, throw the lot away, stock your cupboards with things you hate eating and you will lose weight” and no one listens to this from me. This house is stocked with stuff I can't abide eating. Therefore you don't eat it.

HELEN: You need to do one of these shows where you tell people about this sort of healthy stuff. It would be brilliant!

TOYAH: It's a hard one because if some people are locked in a house with people that stay skinny and eat whatever they want . . . those people are in trouble, so it's really hard to give advice on this because it is always completely subjective. Luckily my husband is vegetarian and really won't eat anything processed, so that helps me, but I know if I've got a cake in the house I am going to stay awake for 24 hours until I’ve eaten it. So I just can't have it.

HELEN: I know exactly how you feel. Unfortunately, I do eat it though. And favourite gig from last year?

TOYAH: Of mine? I think it's always the O2 Islington (above) but I think I did that this year. It would be one of the big festivals. I went over to Belgium and I did an electronic festival in August and I absolutely adored it. When you do festivals in the UK it's so frenzied. When we arrived in Belgium - we took the Eurostar - me and the band and we drove an hour and a half from where you get off it in Belgium to the venue, which was a huge Expo unit.

It was so calm and it was almost quiet and there was hot food backstage. Everyone was just calm. Every job was done and my band and I  - we looked at each other and said we've never known this calm and the gig was just phenomenal. So probably Belgium last year.

HELEN: Favourite 80’s song? Not one of yours?

TOYAH: This is a really hard one. I would either be Marc Almond’s “Tainted Love” or it would be OMD “Enola Gay”. If that was 80’s and not late 70’s.

HELEN: You toured with Marc, didn’t you?

TOYAH: Yeah, I work with Marc a lot. I absolutely adore him. What I love about Marc - he lives and acts in a way I would love to experience. He has management with him, he has people who look after him. He’s so laid back and when we were in Bali exactly a year ago, he stayed for a two week holiday whereas I flew back six hours after the gig to go and play Butlin's in Bognor. As did most of the band. He just has his work / lifestyle ratio utterly balanced. Whereas mine’s work work work. My my lifestyle ratio is down there (points to the floor)

HELEN: I can definitely see your work up there -

TOYAH: Yeah so I really, really admire Marc because he’s a great artist, his music is phenomenal. And when his songs start when he's on stage and he starts “Tainted Love” and all his other hits, the audience go bonkers! Because it's all about movement and dance and I just think he's got it so right.

HELEN: Favourite thing that a fan ever given you?

TOYAH: I am very lucky - my fans give me a most amazing things. They give me lots of artwork, books. I absolutely adore books I. I'm a constant reader and I love horror and science fiction. But I think one of the most extreme things I was ever given came from one of the royal palaces in Saudi Arabia. One of the princesses, who must have holidayed in the UK in 1981 over the summer, sent a book and it would have been stamped with the official stamp of the Saudi royal family.

I opened the book up and it was hollowed out and there was a gold ring. Really beautiful gold ring and a gold necklace and she said, “I'm a huge fan of yours. I love your music but I'm not allowed to talk about you or mention how I discovered your music” and that was literally what it said. I've still got the necklace and the ring.

HELEN: Wow, incredible. Favourite place you've ever visited?

TOYAH: Whoo! I have a permanent place in my heart for Thailand. And I haven't been there for decades. When I was a travel correspondent for BBC Holiday, I worked there a lot and I love it because it's a Buddhist community. It's a Buddhist culture, which makes the people very laid back and very, very generous and open. It is an extraordinary place to visit and I hope it's like that still today, as it was 20 years ago. And the food is fantastic.

HELEN: I was going to ask finally - your favourite thing about lockdown but you kind of told me a little bit about it . . . using it to clear out any rubbish but anything else to add?

TOYAH: My favourite thing about lockdown – that’s a very different question. I think my favourite thing would be that three weeks in lockdown, the first three weeks. As scary as it was, the silence was beautiful. My phone wasn't ringing. I was completely disconnected from the world in a way and I got my best ideas in those three weeks. So that for me was very special and I now know if I went off grid my creativity is still there to be tapped on

HELEN: Yeah. You did tell me you wanted me to ask you about your Carol Decker (above, with Kim Wilde and Toyah in 2018) story … I love Carol Decker and I interviewed her and it’s like every other word  . . . (is a swearword) (laughs) Tell me your Carol Decker story? (they both laugh)

TOYAH: Bents Park, which is near Sunderland. My band - we were doing an afternoon concert in Bents Park, which we were approaching as if it was a festival and Carol Decker was guesting in the middle of the Toyah concert, doing a half an hour set with my band and then I came back on. Carol didn't watch the first half of my set.

So when she walked on stage, she saw 800 deck chairs. And I don't know what she was expecting . . . whether she was expecting a stand-up audience. But the first thing she said was “come on you fuckers! Get on your feet and dance!” Well, the average age was 80. (they’re both dying laughing) It was breathtaking. And she was insisting that people got up and danced and we were like “Carol! They can’t dance!” Don’t ask them! There's not enough ambulances here.” “Go on! You’re so fucking boring! Get on your feet!”

HELEN: Brilliant story!

TOYAH: She is so fantastic! “Get up you fuckers!”

HELEN: Toyah, it is such a pleasure to speak to you. I think you're fantastic. I hope that the rest of the year goes fantastically. That these drive-inns go brilliantly. I hope I'll be able to come and see you at one of those and look forward to seeing you

TOYAH: Thank you so much! Thank you. Good luck with all your other interviews!

HELEN: Aww, thank you very much.

TOYAH: Good see you!