Toy Love
Toy Love | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Genres | Alternative rock, punk rock, new wave |
| Years active | 1978–1980 |
| Past members | Chris Knox Alec Bathgate Paul Kean Mike Dooley Jane Walker |
Toy Love were a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Paul Kean. They achieved significant chart success in their home country, with three top 30 singles and an album that peaked at number four.
History
Chris Knox was the band's front man and other members were guitarist Alec Bathgate, bass player Paul Kean, drummer Mike Dooley, and keyboard player Jane Walker. The band developed out of the earlier punk band The Enemy from Dunedin, and are often regarded as the progenitors of the Dunedin sound movement.[1] Toy Love were together for less than two years (1978–1980) and spent a large part of that time in Australia.
Based in Sydney, ostensibly as a staging post to reaching the UK and a wider audience, Knox summed up his bitterness about the experience in a frank interview shown on Radio with Pictures.[2] The band were unhappy with their management, touring schedule and recording arrangements. By the time they took a "break" (which was actually the end of the band), they had played 337 gigs in 18 months, but had barely found the time to write new material.[3]
They released just one, self-titled album, a significant number of its tracks written as The Enemy. The band members were apparently appalled by the mixing of the album, which took the edge off the band's deliberately raw sound.
Nonetheless, the Toy Love album was a hit in New Zealand, reaching number four in the album charts, and the band returned from Australia to a tour of their home country, packing out venues and garnering positive write-ups. According to their profile in AudioCulture, music journalist and record store owner Roy Colbert called them "The Stooges with Beatles melodies", and described the album as "a collection of post-punk power, pure pop, macabre melodrama, whoop n' holler bizarre bop, sublime ice-cold beauty, three-chord thunder [and] chaotic psychedelia, [...] "pegging the slower, more dramatic songs as better realised, while noting a good take on three-chord punk perennial 'Pull Down the Shades', and exciting new material, including 'Bedroom'." [4]
In April 2005, the album was remastered and released along with a number of demos and unreleased tracks as a double CD entitled Cuts. In 2012, a further compilation, simply titled Toy Love, was released on double LP, containing all singles, b-sides, compilation tracks, demos and some live recordings (this has the same front cover artwork as Cuts).
After Toy Love broke up, Bathgate and Knox remained together as the Tall Dwarfs. Kean was later a member of The Bats.
In 2012, Toy Love was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame and given the Legacy Award at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.[5]
Jane Walker died in October 2018; her death was announced by Flying Nun Records on Twitter.[6]
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| NZ [7] | ||
| Toy Love |
|
4 |
Live albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| NZ [7] | ||
| Live At The Gluepot |
|
11 |
Compilation albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| NZ [7] | ||
| Cuts |
|
23 |
| Toy Love |
|
Extended Plays
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Toy Love |
|
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| NZ [7] | |||
| 1979 | "Rebel" / "Squeeze" | 29 | Toy Love (EP) |
| 1980 | "Don't Ask Me" | 10 | Toy Love |
| "Bride of Frankenstein" | 22 |
Awards
Aotearoa Music Awards
The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously known as New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Toy Love | New Zealand Music Hall of Fame | inductee | [8] |
References
- ^ Stranded In Paradise, New Zealand Rock and Roll 1955 to the Modern Era, J. Dix, Penguin, 2005, ISBN 0-14-301953-8, Chapter 25
- ^ Grigg, Simon (16 January 2011). "youtube.com". YouTube. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
- ^ Robertson, Craig (9 October 2025). Chris Knox: Not Given Lightly. Auckland University Press. pp. 172–174. ISBN 9781869409838.
- ^ Schmidt, Andrew (16 April 2013). "Profile: Toy Love". audioculture.co.nz. Retrieved 5 March 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Musicians get ready for NZ Music Awards". 3 News NZ. 1 November 2012.
- ^ "Flying Nun Records on Twitter". www.twitter.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Toy Love Discography". charts.nz. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
- ^ "Home Inductees". www.musichall.co.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
External links
- Official Toy Love Flying Nun artist page
- https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/toy-love
- Chris Knox: Not Given Lightly by Craig Robertson (Auckland University Press, 2025), chapters 4 and 5