Toyz are a formidable writing duo which consists of Cal Lynn (referred to as ‘C’) and David Kenter (referred to as ‘D’), they are joined by multi- instrumentalists, Malte Henning, Rob Whale and Guitarist, Olly Parkes. They formed in 2019 and refuse to be pigeon-holed, instead they describe themselves as a blend of Alt, Psych and Experimental Rock and Baroque Pop.

After hearing their latest single ‘St Helena’ a number of times, we wanted to learn more about the band, how they formed, their influences and future musical plans, for all of this and a few surprises along the way, read on!

You’re called Toyz, you’re a writing duo who use some super talented musicians to make up the band. Please tell me something about the band or a band member that not many people will know….

C: We have gravitated from far and wide. From Zurich and Cologne to the North and South of England.

Toyz formed in 2019, please take a moment to tell me how this happened?

C: We began making demos at David’s flat, we'd lay down ideas on a 4track cassette recorder. I really liked the double tracked tape sound — I suppose we both shared a love for that sort of thing. David would also program drums onto logic and we'd track instruments and ideas that way. After recording most days, we would head into town for the night and that’s when we recruited the rest of the band. It made it a lot easier having the demos ready to send to the band and take to rehearsals.  

Toyz consists of the writing duo Cal Lynn and David Kenter, was it a common love of music that brought you together?

D: That was definitely a big part of it but we also understood each other outside of that. We are vastly different people in a sense, but we have a sort of unspoken understanding between each other which translates well into our collaborative process. C: We were both in different projects at the time and we would cross paths on nights out or whatever. David used to mention that he had recording equipment and 'you should come over my place'. I remember the first night was actually at my place, David came to mine and I'd been pretty down at the time and I was writing lots of slow half-arsed love songs on my acoustic — luckily David could see the bigger picture. I think the day after I went over to his and then we started writing songs and demos most days going forward.

 

Do you find that having different tastes makes it easier when creating your own music?

D: It definitely doesn’t make it any easier but we do enjoy the juxtaposition of influences, it makes for a more interesting end-result. But I think we are yet to further explore this side of ourselves as well.

Do you often argue over how you think a track should sound?

D: Sometimes but generally whoever screams the loudest wins!

I’m guessing that Brighton has quite a vibrant music scene, if not, please tell me how you feel about it?

D: I suppose it is, if by ‘vibrant’ you mean there being a large demographic of musicians. As far as creative output is concerned though it all depends on your own outlook. There’s definitely some cool bands emerging from around here, but Brighton is also a bubble. If we’re to push ourselves further, I think we’ll have to move onto a bigger scene eventually — even just for the sake of variety. I think we’re just sort of trying to move away from the 60s/70s fetish which Brighton propagates and since we’re already fringing upon that kind off thing, a little whiff of modernity couldn’t hurt you know. 

Any local venues that are doing their bit in keeping live music alive?

D: The Hope and Ruin and Green Door Store have been kind enough to have us in the past and provide some really good acts alongside us.

You describe yourselves as Alternative rock / Psychedelic rock / Baroque pop / Experimental rock, I get three of these but please tell me more about ‘Baroque Pop’, this isn’t something I’ve come across before? Are there any major bands that fall under this category that people may have heard of?

D: Did we really say that? Well I guess it’s just an elaborate way of saying we like the Beatles. But you can just call us ‘Rock’ if you like, if that makes it easier for Spotify to slap us on some playlist. These genres can be so broad and irrelevant sometimes, who knows what kind of music we’ll be making in a year’s time.

If you were asked to nominate three acts for Glastonbury 2023, who would you have as the headliners and why (you can choose from dead/alive acts and you can’t nominate yourselves)

C: I think for me one of the 3 would definitely have to be Girls (they’re a San Francisco band). They're criminally underrated and not as well known in the UK. They have a catalogue of beautiful songs. Maybe the general public wouldn’t appreciate it as much these days.

D: For me It would have to be the Cramps, or maybe The Killer (Jerry Lee Lewis), someone I can look at with a mixture of disgust and ecstasy, I think that’s something you don’t get to see as much these days.

Toyz are joined by multi-instrumentalists, Malte Henning, Rob Whale and Guitarist, Olly Parkes, do you always use these guys or are you branching out and using other musicians?

C: We always use these guys; each member has a big impact on the songs. At the moment we write the bones and the lyrics but each member has a huge part to play and we’re very grateful to have them on board.  

How did you come to start working with these guys in the first place?

C: I already knew Olly and Rob. Olly introduced us to Malte. Brighton is a pretty small community with lots of musicians so for us it was finding the right ones.

If you had to describe your band as a cheese, which would it be and why?

C: Red Leicester David, Gruyere The rest of the band we have no idea. 

St Helena has a certain ‘swagger’ about it and I think echoes greats such as T-Rex/Marc Bolan and the Glam-Rock sound, which bands or artists have helped you to create your sound?

C: I think many of the greats have inspired us. I’ve had a love for Marc Bolan/T-Rex, Lennon, The Kinks from a young age and that would echo in early songs but as I've gotten older, the likes of Bryan Ferry and Bowie and more complex arrangements and styles have had a big influence. Many bands like Foxygen, Girls, Lemon Twigs, many US bands, and 80s stuff as well like Pet Shop Boys. I like the theatrical side of things. David likes a wide range of music, from Townes Van Zandt, Lee Hazelwood to Psychic TV, Suicide as well as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He also focuses on arrangements and pushing us out of our comfort zone. He has an infatuation with poetry and in the early days we would often look at Cohen, amongst other poets, for ideas. For ‘St Helena’ we were thinking Bryan Ferry vibes with the sax in the verses. The vocal delivery is quite different to our first single ‘Silicon Heart’. We’re open to experimenting but we try to write what feels natural. There will always be influences, but we just do us and we don’t try to be anyone else.

Do you think that you have found your sound yet or are you still searching?

D: God no. I guess we’re still searching although that doesn’t sound quite right either. It’s all a process I suppose, it’s never over really — at least I don’t think it should be. Luckily we have enough people around us to challenge our ideas of art and that’s what’s important, to never grow too comfortable in your own domain, allow intrusion and take the ‘self’ out of it occasionally. At the end of the day there are certain elements of our personalities that will always shine through, I’d say that’s the closest we can ever get to having ‘a sound’. 

What is the meaning behind the track St Helena?

C: I think it’s about escaping life and the system we live in. It’s also up for interpretation... David you will have to elaborate on this one dude... D: Yeah I agree with Cal, it’s really up to any individual to interpret it however they want. I think it’s easy to spoil a song by explaining it to the audience in too much detail. It robs them of something, a way of making the song their own, so I’ll try to keep it somewhat vague. To me it’s very much a defeatist song, a sort of prophecy of self-destruction as well as the pleasure therein. In a world where everything is fixated on the immediacy of content, succumbing to ornamental ecstasies seems increasingly tempting you know. I think that temptation is very much reflected in the upbeat nature of the verses and the music tries to emulate the back and forth between alternating mindsets, especially where they contradict one another.

We’re coming round to yours for a 3 course dinner, what are we eating?

D: Spam, last night’s take-away curry and some Alka-Seltzer (you’ll need it). Bon appetite...

I watched the video for St Helena which was directed and edited by Jack Harper and filmed by Samson Arnett-Roughley, who came up with the idea for the video and where was it recorded?

D: Yeah they’re great guys, they made us feel comfortable in an otherwise awkward setting. There was a lot of input from all sides really. One of the main locations was scouted out by Cal and I sent them a summary of the lyrics and references of ‘St Helena’. But the whole thing was arranged and lead by Jack and Samson who both have a great eye for these kinds of things and sort of showed us the ropes a bit. We did a large fraction in Richmond Park, as well as Hyde Park, and eventually Soho.

Was making the video an enjoyable process?

D: It’s a strange experience doing it for the first time. To be honest most our original ideas didn’t come to fruition but we made the most of it I think. It was definitely a valuable learning experience and we’ll probably ask more of ourselves for the next one. Essentially we’ve gained a better understanding of the amount of planning and structure these things require as well as to account for ideas not working out. All in all it felt really good to break through onto a new medium though, and to offer a better insight into our band, even if it’s still early days.

St Helena is your second release, did the way you approached the recording process change greatly from your debut?

D: This was our second time working with producer/engineer Max Fletcher from Big Toe. Being already familiar with one another I think really boosted the confidence levels on both sides, meaning the process was a lot more fluent, suggestion were being made more freely, etc. It all benefited our work together immensely as we understood each other’s idiosyncrasies better and allowed each person the space needed to do their ‘thing’.

We’re off to the pub, what are you having?

D: Why, are you buying?

C: IPA and a pack of peanuts please.

You have more music in the pipeline for 2022, can you tell us more about that? EP, Album etc?

D: Yeah we’ve got a couple more set to come out which will be released as singles. The next one called ‘Versions’ should be out by the end of March. They were all recorded during the same session as ‘St Helena’ at EZ, so we’ve had them for a while now. I think they’ll mark the end of a period for us though, we wrote these next two songs a long time ago and with their release we’ll hopefully be moving onto newer things.

I see that you’ll be playing at Electric Studios in Brighton for your live session on the 17th Feb, what about other live shows, anything planned? Festivals?

C: We recently recorded our Live Session with the guys at Totally Wired Btn. That will be released late March. We did a stripped back version of our two singles, ‘Silicon Heart’ and ‘St Helena’. Then we’re playing at Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney on the 10th March. After that a headline show on 25th March at The Brunswick Cellar. In April we’re hoping to release our next single and Cal is having some dental treatment. On May 6th we’re playing the Finsbury, London, we’re still on the lookout for festival slots. We really want to play them but it’s just finding the right contacts, hopefully someone can see this interview and put us on.

Where are the best social media sites to keep up to date with your musical happenings?

Instagram is our main page (@toyzruz_) Spotify and Bandcamp, any streaming services really. There’s also the Facebook, and we recently started a twitter account — just to branch out a little. 

We’d like to thank both Cal and David for sparing the time to chat to us, we wish them every success for the future, especially the live shows they mentioned above, here they are again in case you missed them;

Paper Dress Vintage - Hackney on the 10th March

The Brunswick Cellar on 25th March

The Finsbury, London on May 6th

They mentioned a couple of their socials above, here they are in full, please take a few moments exploring them and give them a like, share, poke, whatever the hell you do on ‘the socials’ these days!

Socials

Facebook

Twitter

Spotify

Soundcloud

Bandcamp

YouTube

Instagram