‎– The Toy Dolls EP Label:  ‎– GRC 104 Format: , 7", 45 RPM, EP 
Country: Released: Genre: Style: ,  Tracklist A1Tommy Kowey's Car Written-By –  A2She's A Worky Ticket Written-By –  B1Everybody Jitterbug Written-By –  B2Teenager In Love/I've Got Asthma Written-By – *,  Credits Bass, Vocals –  Drums, Vocals –  Guitar, Vocals –  Producer – ,  (DISCOGS.COM) Toy Dolls From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   (Redirected from ) This article needs additional citations for . Please help  by . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)Toy Dolls Toy Dolls playing at Augustibuller 2007 Background informationOrigin, , , ,Years active1979–presentWebsiteMembers
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Tom BlythPast members List

Toy Dolls are an    formed in 1979. Departing from the angry lyrics and music often associated with punk rock, The Toy Dolls worked within the aesthetics of punk to express a sense of fun, with songs such as "Was a ", "My Girlfriend's Dad's a " and " Lives Down Our Street". There is often  in their song titles (e.g. "Peter Practice's Practice Place", "Fisticuffs in Frederick Street", "Neville Is a Nerd"). They are probably best known however for their sole UK hit, a punk-rock cover of "".

Their albums usually include a  of a well-known hit song, usually sped up to the usual punk rock tempo. Covers have included: "", "", "", "", "", "", ",  and "". They have also recorded  of popular songs, such as "" and "". Their albums often start with a short intro with a catchy guitar, and end with an outro, which is usually a slightly longer variation of the intro riff.  are also prominent in many of their songs.

Most of the band members have nicknames, and are rarely seen without their cartoonish rectangular sunglasses (although they appeared bare-eyed on the One More Megabyte ).

Contents   [] 

Career[] Michael "Olga" Algar of The Toy Dolls on stage in 2005

The Toy Dolls formed as a quartet featuring  Pete "Zulu" Robson;  , also known as Olga (born 21 September 1962, , );  Colin "Mr. Scott" Scott; and  Phillip "Flip" Dugdale. After just a few gigs, Zulu left to form his own band and was replaced by Paul "Hud" Hudson on vocals for one concert. After Hud's departure, the Toy Dolls became a , with guitarist Olga assuming permanent vocal duties.

Scott left the band in 1980 and was replaced by Dean James for four months over the summer of 1980. James later returned to the band from 1985 to 1988 as bassist. Flip left in 1983, marking the beginning of a revolving door of drummers and bassists that would characterise the Toy Dolls line-up over the years (with Olga as the mainstay and only original member). In 1984, Zulu returned to the line-up as bassist/backing vocalist, but departed again less than a year later.

They were initially grouped with the  scene, and have also been classified as . One reason they are associated with Oi! is that they were championed by , who was very involved with Oi! bands such as  (whom The Toy Dolls later supported on their first national tour). In 1980, a Sunderland businessman financed the Toy Dolls' debut , "Tommy Kowey's Car" with "She Goes To Fino's" on the . The single quickly sold out its initial pressing of 500 copies, but the band could not afford to press any more, making the single a collectors' item. Around the time the band signed to Volume, Olga moved to , in north , which led to the song "Livin' on Newton Hall".

For Christmas 1982, they released their punk rendition of "", a classic children's song, which  No. 1 in the . In 1983, they released their debut album Dig That Groove Baby. In 1984, their re-issue of "Nellie the Elephant" reached No. 4 in the  and stayed in the  for 14 weeks.Their 1985 album, , reached No. 71 in the .

Since then, the band has continued to release albums and to tour widely, mainly across continental Europe, South America and Japan. After a gap of 14 years since their last gig in Britain, 2007 saw a string of UK dates taking in cities from Glasgow to London, including a triumphant "homecoming" for a sold-out show at Durham University.

The band released a best of album, . 1993 saw the popular live song "I'm a Telly Addict" on the album . In 1997 the band released, which featured references to computers, mainly in the lyrics of its title track, and in tracks like the outro track. A popular cover of Ricky Martin's made its way onto  in 2000. The band's 2004 album  fooled fans in the anticipation up to its release that it was the band's last album. The outro track on the album stated that it wasn't.

To celebrate the band's 25th anniversary in 2004, the official biography, The Toy Dolls: From Fulwell to Fukuoka, was published by Ardra Press. In 2011, the band is scheduled to release its twelfth studio album.

In 2006, The Toy Dolls contributed their cover version of "Toccata in Dm" to the album project Artists for Charity - , produced by Slang Productions to assist World Vision Canada in helping underprivileged kids in need.

For their 30th anniversary in October 2009 the band received congratulatory messages from a selection of musicians including  from ,  from  Jake Burns  &  manager Kent Jamieson.

The Toy Dolls live shows consist of synchronized choreography, timed moves, dances and jumps and spinning guitars.

The band's song "Nellie the elephant" was used by Tesco in their most recent toy advert (October 2014).

The album after the last one saw the light of day in 2012, the band has been on a World Tour "The Tour After The Last One" and even started a range of Toy Dolls-themed real ales under the label 'The Beer After The Last One'. 

Members[]

As of 2007, the band has had 14 different drummers and 12 different bassists. Olga is the only remaining original member of the band. After Olga, drummer Martin Yule had the longest tenure in the band (1987–2000). Yule currently owns a shop in  called "Hotrats." Former drummer Dave "the Nut" Nuttall owns Jalapeño Drums (a custom drum company based in ). The current lead singer/guitarist with   also had a stint with the band. Olga has played bass on tours with the  punk band , and also with . Gary Dunn, former bassist of The Toy Dolls (1997–1999), teaches music at City of Sunderland College, and former drummer Trevor 'The Frog' Brewis, teaches music at Middlesbrough College, though Olga moved away from the north east of England a number of years ago, and now lives in London. It has become a tradition to give a special nickname to every Toy Dolls member.

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