|
|
The Toy Dolls first ever gig was: Millview Social Club, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, 20 October 1979.
After a handful of local (empty) gigs, Pete Zulu left to form his own
band (Zulu & The Heartaches).Pete Zulu's last gig was:
Horden Comrades Club, 2 November 1979.
So the lads quickly recruted 'Hud', Local Billy Idol lookalike, who had never sang before!
Hud left after one single show at Thornaby Club, 25 November 1979.
Rather then cancel a forthcoming show at Sunderlands 'Wine Loft', the
lads decided to chance it as a three piece with Olga
bravely taking on the role as lead singer / guitar player. This was
the start of the trio 'Toy Dolls'
OLGA (Michael Algar) Singer / Guitar Player.
FLIP (Philip Dugdale) Bass Player.
Mr SCOTT (Colin Scott) Drummer.
First show: Wine Loft, Sunderland, 4 December 1979.
After a few rave gig reviews by the 'Sunderland Echo' the lads found
themselves playing hundreds of shows locally around
North Eastof England.
Fortunately, a local businessman financed the first Toy Dolls single
wich was 'Tommy Kowey's Car' with 'She Goes To Finos'
on the flip side.
'Tommy Kowey's Car' sold out its initial 500 pressing but the band never found the dosh to press any more
After a few months of either breaking even or losing money at gigs,
Mr Scotts girlfriend 'Val' demanded that her boyfriend was
paid a tenner a gig, this, of course, was totally impossible. Val threatened
Flip and Olga that MrScott would leave if his tenner
did not materialize.
On 11 April 1980, Mr Scott played his last gig at Sunderland 'Boilermakers Club'.
No time was wasted and Drummer no.2 was drafted in, from a local punk
band 'The Cult' came 'Dean James' real name 'Dean
Robson'.
Dean, who always desired to be a guitarist, left the Toy Dolls to learn
to master the fret board, Dean's first gig was: Durham,
West Cornforth Working Mens Club, 4 May 1980, Last gig: Newcastle Old
Hall Pub, 6 September 1980.
At that time a friend of a friend told the band about a great drummer
who was knocking about, 'Trevor Brewis' though a few
years older than Flip and Olga, he still seemed to have the enthusiasm
of the other two members (both 19 years old
incidentally).
Fortunately, Trevor was bandless at the time, so the lads quickly christened
him with a Toy Doll name (Trevor the Frog) and he
was in!
Trevor's Toy Doll time was short lived, his reason for leaving was "I resent being called a frog".
Just for the record, Trevor the Frog's first show was: Peterlee Norseman
Pub, 25 September 1980 Final show: Durham Coach
& Eight Pub, 5 November 1980
Trevor went on to form local band 'Danceclass'.
With no shortage of skin batterers in the North East, Flip and Olga
met up with 'Teddy' real name 'Graham Edmundson'. One
of the best drummers the Dolls ever had, unfortunately Teddy was only
prepared to stand in for a while as he wanted to persue
his own business as a cherished registration plate dealer.
Teddy got the name 'Teddy Toy Doll'. First show: West Cornforth Working
Mens Club, Durham, 30 November 1980. Last
show : Darlington Arts Center, 25 March 1981.
Teddy also appeared on some recordings: 'She's a worky ticket' (from
NEI compilation album)'Deirdre's a slag' and 'She goes
to Finos' (From 'Sent Thru Oi!' compilation album)
By this time the Toy Dolls had built up a strong local following, the
national music press were favourable with reviews of the gigs
and records.
Garry Bushell, who wrote for 'Sounds',gave some outstanding features/reviews.
Also there was a lot of backing from the local media.
But, alas, the lads were caughtin that trap of just doing the roundsof being stuck in the North East with no recording deal.
So something had to be done or a final split would have to come.
The next step, of course, was to find another bloody drummer!
So, the lads auditioned a handful of beaters before deciding on 'Bob'.
From Olga's previous band 'Showbiz Kids' came the drummer Bob full name 'Robert Kent' and Toy Dolls name 'Happy Bob'.
A tall good looking bastard and competent drummer, Happy Bob was around for some time.
This was probably the most important time of the Toy Dolls career.
The release of the collectable Toy Dolls EP (self financed) .
The regrettable signing to EMI Records with the single release of 'Everybody Jitterbug'.
The signing to Volume Records and the release of 'Nellie The Elephant' (1982 version) 'Dig That Groove Baby' album .
The first chance to do a national tour (thanks to The Angelic Upstarts).
This support slot enabled the Toy Dolls to do a further
national gigs/tour in their own right.
Anyway, the workload was intense and with a second national forthcoming
tour (supporting the Upstarts) arranged, Happy Bob
and Flip had just about enough.
With the prospect of another month on the road, sleeping in the van
with no money at all, they pulled out only two days before
the start.
What could Olga do? The chances of playing to ready made audiences in
town and cities where the Toy Dolls were unheard of
was too much to tuen down.
Fortunately, the local rehearsal rooms, run by Peter Practice (Peter
Dodds) had lots of bands practicing that evening, so Olga
managed to entice two young and eager musicians to practice for two
day solid and embark on the aforementioned tour.
So the first show of Happy Bob was: Great Lumley Community Centre, Durham,
23 May 1981. Last show: Newbottle
Working Mens Club, Durham, 19 February 1983.
(This was also Flip's final gig) the end of an era also of course. Happy
Bob continues to work full time as a Radiographer at
Dryburn Hospital in Durham and also plays in various local bands.
Flip also continued his daytime job as a factory worker at Market Force
in Sunderland. He played in a couple of local bands
before giving up music completely.
Ans so, The Angelic Upstarts tour plus one or two extra shows was completed
by: Drummer 'Nick Buck' (real name Nick
Buck!). Great name so the lads didn't change it! And 'Freddie Hotrock'(Frederick
Robertson - Bass Player).
They both went on to play in numerous local bands: the line-up featuring
Nick and Freddie was from: First show: Glasgow
Roxy, Scotland, 24 February 1983. Last show: Newcastle Dingwalls, 28
March 1983.
AUDITIONS YET AGAIN!
Next in line for recruitment were: Bass Player 'Bonny Baz' (Barry Warne) and Drummer 'Dicka'(Alan Dixon).
With this line-up the Toy Dolls released a single for Volume Records
'Cheerio & Toodlepip' and also performed a number of
gigs nationwide.
'Dicka' left to play with local bands Red Alert & HDQ, before opening his own music shop (Sound World) in Sunderland.
Dicka began (also Bonny Baz): First show: London Feltham Football Club,
27 May 1983. Last show : Carlisle Market Hall, 10
September 1983.
THE DOLLS GO MARCHING ON!
Olga and Bonny Baz teamed up with drummer 'Dicky' (Malcom Dick) a local
musician who had never really settled down to
playing with on particular band for any length of time, he had played
in many combos including Prefab Sprout.
During Dicky's reign the band embarked on quite a few tours and International
ones including Holland, Germany and North
America.
Also the workaholics released two more singles for Volume: 'Alfie From The Bronx' and 'We're Mad'.
At this point, Dicky and Baz both left to do their own thing. Dicky
went on to work on cruise liners as a drummer and Bonny
Baz started his own band 'Small Town Heroes'.
Dicky's first show was: London 100 Club, 23 September 1983. Dicky's
(and Baz's) last show was: Carlisle Stars & Stripes, 7
September 1984
At this point the lads re-recorded and released a new version of 'Nellie
The Elephant'. This single sold a staggering 535,000
copies in the UK and took the band to no.4 in the charts.
Ex-member Pete Zulu came in at desperate measures to play Bass and local
session player 'Little Paul' (Paul Smith) joined the
scene.
After numerous TV appearances etc. Pete and the lads decided that Pete
himself was just not good enough as a bass player (an
understatement) but rather than sack him, they put him on rhythm guitar.
(He could play E, G and Am) and employed Bass player 'Ernie' (ernest
Algar - Olga's older brother). So off the lads went as a
four piece! A European and UK tour took place and a single 'She Goes
To Finos' and an album 'A Far Out Disc' were
released during this period.
The four piece only lasted three months, Little Paul got offered loads
of work for sessions and TV and eventually joined 'The
Daintees'.
The four piece Toy Dolls first gig was: Hannover Korn, Germany, 11 January 1985. last gig: Newcastle Mayfair, 1 March 1985
Aftera break of a few months, Olga decided to get back on the road again,
took a deep breath and started another string of
auditions.
No one was suitable! So Olga approached two former members, who he thought
were the easiest to get on with, Teddy Toy
Doll and Dean James.
And a new line-up was born: Dean James, now on Bass Guitar and 1981's Drummer Teddy.
Throughout this time the band released a singles album, two singles
'James Bond Lives Down Our Street', 'Geordie's Gone To
Jail' and an album 'Idle Gossip'.
And even more gigs gigs gigs.
I must point out at this point that 'Canny Kev' (Kevin Scott) stood
in for two Austrian shows on 4 and 6 July 1986 (Teddy left
and rejoined).
Anyway this line-up's first show was: The Alabamahalle, Munich, Germany, 2 September 1985.
Teddy left yet again, last show: Coventry Polytechnic, 7 December 1986.
Teddy packed in music altogether, though he still has his drum kit set
up in his bedroom wich he trashes about on when his
number plate business isn't going so well.
AAGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! ANOTHER DRUMMER TO FIND ...
No time was wasted and in steps drummer extraordinair 'Marty' (Martin Yule).
During the time Marty, Dean and Olga performed together, only one album was released 'Barefaced Cheeck' on NIT Records.
Yes, the Toy Dolls finally parted company with the five year recording
company Volume due to various disagreements, for a
fresh start with NIT.
After more and more tours Dean had enough and left to join 'Evil Mothers' and more locally based bands.
So Marty's first show was: Paris Rex, France, 24 March 1987. Dean's
final performance was: Toulouse festival, France, 9 July
1988.
One more album, a best of, 'Ten Years Of Toys' was released by NIT,
The band split from NIT and went searching for a new
deal.
In September 1989 the band signed to Receiver Records, drafted in Bass
Player K'Cee (John Casey) and released an album
'Wakey Wakey'.
Another tour begins! and another and yet another ...
(Just for the record, Bass Player 'Dicky Hammond' (Richard Hammond)
stood in for a Scandinavian tour while K'Cee took a
break).
A single 'Turtle Crazy' and a string of albums: 20 Tunes Live From Tokyo,
Fat Bob's Feet, Absurd Ditties and Orcastrated
were all released by Receiver
Well, here ended the OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY in the time of ORCASTRATED...
But now K'Cee has left the TOY DOLLS
and now there's another fellow taking his place. His name is Gary Fun,
and although he has played with Martin Stephenson &
the Daintes and with Zulu & the Heartaches, the thing is I really
don't know this mate, but I'm sure he's terribly good.
The most recent Toy Dolls album is called 'One More Megabyte' wich was released by Receiver Records in 1996.
Lyrics
22
Tunes From Tokyo
Absurd-Ditties
A
Far Out Disc
Alfie
From The Bronx
Bare
Faced Cheek
Cheerio
& Toodle'pip
Dig
That Groove Baby
Everybody
Jitterbug
Fat
Bob's Feet
Geordie's
Gone To Jail
High
Spirits
Idle
Gossip
James
Bond Lives Down Our Street
Kids
Are United
Lazy
Sunday Afternoon
Nellie
The Elephant (1982)
Nellie
The Elephant (1984)
One
More Megabyte
Orcastrated
She
Goes To Finos
Singles
83/84
Ten
Years Of Toys
The
Collection
The
History 1979-1996
The
Toy Dolls E.P.
Tommy
Kowey's Car
Turtle
Crazy
Wakey
Wakey
We're
Mad
Download a radio interview with Olga!
Comments here!