I knew from Boxing Day 2019 onwards that 2020 was going to be one hell of a great year. 2020 was pulling me like a magnet towards its positive “glow” as soon as Christmas Day Lunch was consumed.
It is a rare experience but one I am enjoying immensely. The only way I can explain this feeling is that the stars are aligned.
There is so much happening this year and it is all going to be announced in stages.
The response to Ophelia’s Shadow coming out has been huge. There are many people out there who love this album. It is different and it’s a goodie.
ELECTRIC LADIES: HAZEL AND TOYAH…..or TOYAH AND HAZEL….perhaps I should simply say the HAZAH n’ TOYZEL TOUR, is hotting up. It looks like being a sell out which is very exciting.
I can’t wait, April is too far away and I want to start the show now!
Because I am on the road with the Toyah Band all Feb its allowing us to run ideas and shape up what we will be doing in April and May.
Ideas such as adding new instruments and textures, which will work beautifully in the larger spaces we are playing.
As a band we like to change what we do nightly so we are gearing up to be very fluid on stage and cross over to other instruments effortlessly.
For once I will have a driver on this tour. I am so over the stress and effort it takes just to get on the M6 and move forward…..I AM OVER IT. For this tour someone else will take that responsibility………I am sooooooo grateful.
This is a lesson I learnt last autumn when I was shooting a movie in Darlington and rushing like hell to get to concerts down south…..No …..those days are over. This year I am an artist and only an artist.
Frippy and I were due to fly to Seattle and see Bill in a few weeks but I am concerned about the Corona Virus. Neither Frippy nor Bill would survive anything like that, so I have said to Bill once we know how this virus is behaving we can plan to see him. It’s a tough one, we want to be with our soul buddy but now more than ever we have to be responsible.
It’s been a conscious few months of lifestyle changes here at Fripp/Cox mansions.
I am fully vegetarian again….I say again because last year when I was on the road up to 8 hours most days I was eating anything I could grab quickly at a petrol station and that included meat.
All through the 80s /90s/00s I was veggie but recently I have slipped badly. Having watched Channel 4’s programme Meat The Family I realised if I cannot raise and kill an animal myself, I must never eat it. It is shocking and also unsurprising how life can misguide you from your belief system by sheer pressure of work and lack of time.
When I was making TO BE SOMEONE in Sept/Oct 2019 we all pre-ordered our food with the caterer on set and if filming ran late we found that the meat eaters had eaten all the vegetarian dishes and left the meat dishes for the vegetarians which kind of tells me that an awful lot of the team would have prefer to be veggie but didn’t know how to make the change.
Luckily there was an M&S food a mile away up the A1, all the girls jumped into my car and we stocked up on Veg Sushi.
Because the world needs our help more than ever to leave less of a footprint I have also decided to sell my home in Menton, France and be UK based for everything. No hardship here, I am ready to be in one place, I just think regular flying isn’t helpful to a struggling ecosystem.
I feel 2020 is a new era for me. In the last four weeks my archive has been re-arranged and stored, all labelled and in some semblance of order.
2020 feels like no other year. Perhaps a little like 1981…which felt like a rollercoaster ride of joy.
In March I start intense physio training to build body mass, by this I mean I am going to build muscle!
The reason and cause for this decision is I really want my 60s to be the 30s I never had. Fun/ creativity/ ground breaking attitude to ageing and tip top health. I want to keep dancing for as long as I can, on stage and off.
Simon Darlow and I are currently playing phone hopscotch trying to book in studio time to write a new album for 2021, the good news is there’s plenty of inspiration out there and so much to say.
Cherry Red are gearing up plans re-release the Safari Toyah albums and are being super helpful re-addressing a draconian contract written up in 1978, which did the artists no favours.
Thank you to everyone who has been at the gigs so far this year. The o2 Islington was an all time fave………what a special brilliant night!
2020 BRING IT ON! BE PROUD, BE LOUD, BE HEARD…………….. LOVE TOYAH XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
HELLO THERE!
Luckily there was an M&S food a mile away up the A1, all the girls jumped into my car and we stocked up on Veg Sushi.