Quickly approaching September! But still August has a bunch of surprises. Let’s discover some together.
Maria Surfinbird: who is Maria Surfinbird? She has recorded two songs so far, “He Likes to Drink Fanta” and “Get U in My Arms”. The first one I mentioned in her bedroom in a Chicago suburb 2019, the second one in her bedroom in Krasnodar, Russia, 2017. This is a true mystery of lo-fi indiepop!
Semihelix: now we head to Austin, Texas, for some fine guitar pop by this three piece formed by Geannie Friedman on guitar and vocals, Joe Pannebacker on bass and Valdemar Barrera on drums. Their latest track is called “Only to Go On” and it is an upbeat bouncy popsong!
What the Tusan: following the thread of a post my friend David from Barcelona posted on Facebook I ended up on this Malmö, Sweden, band. Actually a one man band formed by Sondre Mortensen. It looks like he has been recording for a while, there are more than a handful releases with lots of songs to check out. The latest dates from April, 2018, an 8-song album called “Nyckelpigan & Humlan” Pretty interesting! I will spend a few hours exploring this fine guitar-driven lo-fi songs!
Blue Tomorrows: Moon Glyph Records from Portland will be releasing on tape the debut album of Sarah Nienaber’s band “Blue Tomorow”. The album titled “Without Color” will be out on September 13th and will include 9 tracks. We can preview the opening track, “Sound of Moving”, a pretty, gorgeous and fragile track. Are the rest of the songs as nice? We’ll have to wait just a bit more to find out!
Astragal: the Texas band has been a favourite of the blog for a while. So I have to share a new video they have made for their song “Wilt” that was included in their “EP II” that was released on tape back in March. This is really good!
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Why not for a change check out a band whose record I do have. Though it is true that there is a 7″ and 12″ version of their “A Good Day” single. I only own the 7″ version as I like this smaller format better. But aside for how the songs on it sound like I know barely anything about The Blue Toys.
The record was released by the London based Sedition label. I have to say I am not familiar at all with any of the bands this label put out. The year was 1986 and the record had the catalog number EDIT 3317. It is important to mention too that the song “A Good Day” was produced by Pat Collier. Pat who had been in The Vibrators and who produced The Motorcycle Boy, The Darling Buds or The Soup Dragons among others. The B side, “Survivalists” was produced by Dale Griffin. This song was actually taken from a Radio One Session from August 1986 for the Dixie Peach Show. The 12″ added one more song to the B side, “This is Not Heaven” appears as B2.
Discogs doesn’t list any compilation appearances. And then it starts to seem that only 3 songs were released by them. Now, who were behind the band? The back of the sleeve gives us more information.
The band was formed then by:
Baz Ketley – vocals, bass
Anne Marie – keyboards, saxophone
Richard Wellings – guitar
Peter Barton – drums
Okay, Baz Ketley. That is a familiar name. He was in The Charlatans, right? I find a mention on the book “The Charlatans We Are Rock” where it says that The Blue Toys were formed in 1983. That Peter Barton had just left Makin’ Time and so they joined forces. Now I see the connection with Pat Collier too. He produced lots of Makin’ Time tracks. The book also mentions that the band toured, between 1983 and 1986, all over England, from Nottingham to London. Then in 1986 the band started to fall apart because their manager was pushing the band in a direction that wasn’t what the band was supposed to be. Then another blow, the label changed name to Activate and then went bust.
That sucks. But I do wonder about that Radio One session. They must have recorded more songs, right? It can’t just be one.
Of course, about The Charlatans, there’s lots on the web. And you would imagine that for a band that had connections with them you’d find information, details, anecdotes, something. But the reality is that for The Blue Toys there is very little on the web.
So maybe some of you remember them as they played all over England. Maybe you saw them live. Any information will be greatly appreciated!
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Listen
The Blue Toys – A Good Day
6 Responses to “:: The Blue Toys”
I would just like to point out that Richard Wellings and Pete Barton were not the original band members of the Blue Toys.The original members of the Blue Toys were
Baz Ketley Vocals guitar
Fred Twigg Lead guitar and Vocals
Vernon Charles Bass and Vocals
Anne Marie Sax
Dennis Coke Drums.
Please put this right in your comments.
The original line up was between 1983 till 1985.Baz wanted me and Dennis out the band to make way for two other musicians.Myself Fred Twigg and Dennis Coke got sacked.He did not want to work with us anymore.And Vernon Charles left the band later,he said that he had a difficult time with Baz.
Kind Regards Fred Twigg.
Forgot to Mention that when I played with Ketley in 1983 to 85 we only played around the West Midlands and thats it.
We did not play all over the U.k as everybody claims thay did.
Kind Regards ex Blue Toys Guitarist.
Baz Ketley Guitar Vocals
Fred Twigg Lead Guitar and Vocals
Vernon Charles Bas and Vocals
Dennis Coke Drums
Aan Marie Sax
This is the original line up of the Blue Toys Between 1983 and 85
They were a great band live, great song writers but I have to say they looked an odd bunch for the sound they gave, I have some pics I took at a hells angel gig somewhere. I also have a Central TV appearance they did for a battle of the bands, shot at the Derby assembly rooms around 1986/87 a track called ‘Heard it through the wire’ about the death of Marc Bolan, again a brilliant track and well produced.
I think they had great potential but were let down by there image which back then was everything, less so now.
My name is Fred Twigg ex guitarist of the Blue Toys.As I said before 1983 when the Blue Toys formed we only ever played in the Wesr Midlands,and never all England as the book we are rock falsely points out and gives out the wrong information,and I have to say yet again that the original line up from when the Blue Toys were formed in 1983 were
Baz Ketley Vocals guitar
Fred Twigg lead guitar vocals
Vernon Charles bass guitar vocals
Dennis Coke Drums
Ann Marie Sax.
Yes! that is cleared in the interview here: http://www.cloudberryrecords.com/blog/?p=7962