HELLO THERE!
HELLO THERE!FREEDOM BECKONS! I CAN’T WAIT TO GET OUT AGAIN!
Just to sit in a coffee bar and be among people will feel like the best thing ever.
For 14 months I haven’t worn a watch, in fact they have all stopped due to my neglect and I’ve not written anything in my work diaries in ink, only using pencil, because life continues to change hourly.
All concerts from 2020 and 2021 will be honoured, but there is still weekly debate with venues as to when they feel they can open.
As I look outside my window I see many people confidently walking/ shopping/ cycling/ talking in groups……..I need to build up to this, it’s definitely going to be quite a leap for me to go out again, but I need human interaction face to face now.
If it wasn’t for the enforced confinement I don’t think I could have delivered the best pop album of my entire career POSH POP. PP celebrates humanity and the planet we call home.
The confinement allowed me to think, create, strategize…….this has been a big lesson learnt about “mental space”.
I am extremely aware and grateful that the last 14 months have altered me, made me a better person. Also I have huge respect for everyone who has educated their children, worked, cooked, cleaned, nursed and kept the world running.
Last night Frippy and I sat down for a “listening” party in front of our sound bar and we checked the running order for POSH POP for the first time and it was really, really, REALLY JOYOUS!
Fripp, not being a human being who spontaneously dances, if ever at all, witnessed me losing complete control as I danced my bed socks off shouting “OMG! THIS ALBUM WORKS AS AN ENTIRE LISTENING EXPERIENCE!”
It is certainly worthy of its title POSH POP, even though the word “posh” is totally tongue in cheek, it simply refers to the fact if you put Frippy on anything its perceived as better than anything else.
Life is now super busy, lots of planning is needed as SUNDAY LUNCH has gone global and there’s so many albums coming out.
THE BLUE MEANING on CHERRY RED is scheduled for Friday 28 May.
POSH POP on DEMON RECORDS starts its single/video releases as of Friday 25 June in the build up to the full release.
AND yesterday I found out SUNDAY ALL OVER THE WORLD is finally being re-mixed and re-mastered and we are aiming for 2 October as its release date……..
and I’ve not yet mentioned yet MESMERISED rarities & remixes collection 12” LP Vinyl ND mini EP FOUR FROM TOYAH 40TH ANNIVERSARY both for RECORD STORE DAY on Saturday 12 June…. YEAH!
In our home videos are still being shot. Last week I ran the entire width of our two gardens with a huge flag, playing a revolutionary and when we looked back at the footage there was a racing pigeon following the flag for the whole shot…talk about the wonder of nature.
The videos are intended to enhance the music. In the 1980s video’s very much dominated the song. My aim with POSH POP is that vids add another experience, we are framing very beautiful photographic shots, using the intense colour of the sky/ blossoms and rooms to hopefully lift the listener’s mood along with energetic pop songs.
This week we start the promo on the re-release of THE BLUE MEANING.
The intense imagery on The Blue Meaning was intentional. The second TOYAH album was proof that the first album Sheep Farming In Barnet had a serious following. For the writing and recording we all set up camp at PARK GATES STUDIOS in Battle near Hastings.
Our devoted fanbase meant that Safari Records trusted us to get on with it. It was as if we were suddenly adults. Steve James, our trusted and much loved producer, was in complete control and the band had the perfect line up with Bogen, Bush, Francis a
nd Bray, the introduction of Francis and Bray was so perfect it made myself, Bogen and Bush feel complete.
Steve Bray had a manic side and Charlie Francis was a highly intelligent anarchist……without a shadow of a doubt, we original members, lost our middle class virginity to both.
We had toured non stop since Sheep Farming and felt we were hardened musicians. Yet for me the studio environment was still challenging, Steve James and myself would work late into the night on vocals. Joel was able to develop his style; Pete was able to developing his electronic ideas.
IEYA had already gained notoriety having been honed on stage in front of live audiences. We as a band had the glorious habit of shaping and arranging new songs in front of screaming fans during encores that sometimes lasted as long as the actual shows. The very first time we took IEYA from the rehearsal room and played it live I believe was in Bath, the audience were in such a frenzy that 25 mins later we were still trying out different arrangements and sequences, always returning to the crowd pleasing chorus.
The actual making of the album was intense. Expectation was weighing heavy on us all, being keen to avoid vanilla commercialism we headed to the dark side and created songs like SHE, MUMMIES and the astonishingly bleak BLUE MEANINGS.
