Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave/punk rock band that originated in Duned… Read Full Bio ↴Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave/punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate, and Paul Kean. 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.
The prototype was Dunedin punk rock band The Enemy. Then there was Toy Love, formed late '78, first gig early '79, they played 500 plus gigs in 19 months, then they were gone. They made an indelible impression on the New Zealand music scene though, upping the theatrics and giving the punters something to dance about. High hopes of making the big time, via Australia, gave way to tougher times ... Toy Love's dissolution soon followed.
Chris Knox, Toy Love's vocalist, was a key player in the foundation of iconic New Zealand record label Flying Nun, mastering some of the first recordings for the likes of The Clean. Knox has been a persistent figure in the NZ music scene and worked alone and on various projects such as Tall Dwarfs and Chris Knox & The Nothing, or simply The Nothing. He also ran his own label, cunningly called Major Label.
The members of Toy Love are said to have hated the sound of the Toy Love LP ("all tops, no bass"). The passage of twenty five years saw the release of Cuts (Flying Nun, 2005) - two discs of reconditioned tracks drawn mostly from previously unknown master tapes along with mixes from 45 singles, the AK79 compilation (Ripper Records, 1980), and demo versions.
Toy Love was:
Mike Dooley - Drums and Cymbals
Paul Christopher Kean - Stereo original with Di Marzio through Holden Graphic (and JBL K145) and Fender Jazz pickup through Jansen Combo.
Chris Knox - A throat, a body and a mind beyond repair.
Jane Walker - Hohner Clavinet, DG-EKO organ, bits of foam plastic, bits of 4x2, Holden graphic amp, speakers, phaser, electricity.
Alec Bathgate - Ibanez 59'er and Rockit 130
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.
The prototype was Dunedin punk rock band The Enemy. Then there was Toy Love, formed late '78, first gig early '79, they played 500 plus gigs in 19 months, then they were gone. They made an indelible impression on the New Zealand music scene though, upping the theatrics and giving the punters something to dance about. High hopes of making the big time, via Australia, gave way to tougher times ... Toy Love's dissolution soon followed.
Chris Knox, Toy Love's vocalist, was a key player in the foundation of iconic New Zealand record label Flying Nun, mastering some of the first recordings for the likes of The Clean. Knox has been a persistent figure in the NZ music scene and worked alone and on various projects such as Tall Dwarfs and Chris Knox & The Nothing, or simply The Nothing. He also ran his own label, cunningly called Major Label.
The members of Toy Love are said to have hated the sound of the Toy Love LP ("all tops, no bass"). The passage of twenty five years saw the release of Cuts (Flying Nun, 2005) - two discs of reconditioned tracks drawn mostly from previously unknown master tapes along with mixes from 45 singles, the AK79 compilation (Ripper Records, 1980), and demo versions.
Toy Love was:
Mike Dooley - Drums and Cymbals
Paul Christopher Kean - Stereo original with Di Marzio through Holden Graphic (and JBL K145) and Fender Jazz pickup through Jansen Combo.
Chris Knox - A throat, a body and a mind beyond repair.
Jane Walker - Hohner Clavinet, DG-EKO organ, bits of foam plastic, bits of 4x2, Holden graphic amp, speakers, phaser, electricity.
Alec Bathgate - Ibanez 59'er and Rockit 130
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.
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Toy Love
Toy Love Lyrics
Bride of Frankenstein I'm lying in a hospital room The air is dripping with…
Death Rehearsal A friend of mine in a skeleton suit He got a…
Don't Catch Fire Turn my eyes round Just to see you Don't think I could…
I Don't Mind You say you've had enough of me I don't mind I…
Photographs of Naked Ladies Photographs of naked ladies Strewn across the unmade bed Doe…
Pull Down the Shades The boys and me took a car And we went downtown It′s…
Swimming Pool Rock is dead or so it's said And now it's all…
Toy Love Song I know, you took me by surprise I know, you looked…