The Toy Dolls
I Can’t Sing

02.11.2010

If you want an experience to put you in good spirits for weeks to come, you can’t make a better choice than to attend a Toy Dolls concert. It’s been a long time since their last album, but Michael “Olga” Algar and his two fellows are still one hell of an entertainment team on stage, which they proved once again at their gig in Moscow. But we wanted this experience to be even fuller, so we went backstage, and the promoter was so kind to get is in contact with Olga personally. An interview with Toy Dolls was something we had been trying to arrange for years, but it never seemed to work out, and now it’s finally here – quite short but still both funny and informative…

Back in 1997 Toy Dolls were one of the first foreign punk bands to play in Russia. What are your memories about that gig and the entire visit?

Eh, 1997 was 13 years ago… I remember getting picked up by a tiny little van with a dog in the back and driving past Boris Yeltsin’s mansion. (laughs) That was completely different, Moscow has changed so much, it has become so rich compared to then. It’s got H&M, McDonald’s and Burger King, it’s a completely different world now. We had a lovely time then, but we had a different line-up at that point. I can’t remember much about the gig, to be honest. It was so long ago.

Then what are the countries and cities which are the best to play in for Toy Dolls?

There are not any particular countries that I prefer to play, but lots of countries I love playing - for different reasons. We love coming to Russia, because everyone’s crazy. We love coming to Brazil, because it’s like a big party thing, and in Spain there’s a party as well. We love coming to Japan, because there are lots of girls in the audience.

And what countries do you consider the main markets for Toy Dolls?

I guess Spain. And Germany. If you collected everyone together and put them in one concert hall, I think there are more fans in Spain than anywhere else. And South America as well.

Isn’t it strange for you that your band is loved so much in the countries where they don’t understand English?

Well, yeah, it’s because if you do understand English, you realize how crap the songs are! (everybody laughs) In English we do have many fans as well. It’s a good point, but I think the most important thing is the melodies, so it doesn’t really matter whether you understand the words enough. It’s nice if you do, but I think the melodies is the most important thing.

Would you say that Toy Dolls is a product of the British environment? Would you write the same songs if you lived somewhere else?

I guess no. I think it’s not only because it’s British, it’s where we lived in Britain. In the working-class gloomy area which we lived in I started writing songs which would make us happy and look on the bright side of life. We come from a very industrial working-class area. If we were born in Orange County, California, we would be singing about different things and would be in different bands.

You have been touring quite a lot over the past couple of years, but when can we expect a new studio album from you? The last one (“Our Last Album?”) came out six years ago…

Yeah, that’s a long time. The new album’s gonna be out next year. It’s almost finished, so we’re gonna get it recorded over the next few months.

We’ve read your comments in the Discography section of the Toy Dolls website, and there you are very critical about the albums you have released…

Yeah, you have to be honest. I know lots of bands who say, “This is the best album I’ve done.” Why? That’s pointless. If you say this is the best album, and a fan goes and buys it, and it’s not, the fan would be so disappointed! I think it’s best to be honest. Everyone has different points of view, and that’s just my point of view.

What are the circumstances that always prevent you from recording an ideal album that you’re 100% happy with?

You can’t really tell if it’s an ideal album or not until it’s done and it’s been three or four times you listened to it. You’re so closely involved in writing it every day. The first album (“Dig That Groove Baby”, 1983) wasn’t ideal, but it was very special, so it’s maybe the best one. And the next one is “Absurd-Ditties” (1993), which is the nearest to perfect, even though there is some dull points. I didn’t realize that at the time, but it took six months later when I listened to it and thought, “Oh, this is really really nice”. Even on the songs which are poorer, the production and the sound are really nice. But at the time we were making it I thought it was just one of our albums.

We’ve read in one of your interviews that you have never went to a music school and you can’t read notes. How you are able to play classical pieces on guitar? I am talking about, for instance, Bach’s Toccata on “Absurd-Ditties”…

If you do go to music school and you’re writing solos and things, you automatically follow the way you’re supposed to go. If you don’t go, you make lots of mistakes, and some of these mistakes are actually really nice. What I do is just copying Mozart or Johan Sebastian Bach.

How did you come up with the idea to record classical pieces with a punk band?

It wasn’t a conscious thing to pick classical pieces. I just thought it was a little bit different, and it was just to give people a rest from hearing my terrible voice. (everybody laughs) And it’s a good rest for me personally.

How did you end up releasing “Our Last Album?” and subsequent live album “Treasured Tracks” (2006) on SPV Records? They don’t have many punk bands on their roster…

No, they don’t! SPV is now finished anyway, but… That’s all to do with the company we’ve got in England, they deal with all the licenses to different countries, so it hasn’t really got anything to do with me. I know that we’ve been with SPV for decades, and I know the guy from SPV, but they’re finished now, sadly… (Actually SPV are still around, though bankruptcy has definitely made a mark on this once great label – ed.)

We don’t have all of Toy Dolls albums on CD, but judging by what we have and what we have seen, you hardly ever include photos of the band members in your CD booklets. What is the reason?

It’s because we’ve got a terrible record company! A tiny weedy record company which can’t afford paying for photos and things, unfortunately.

If we speak about album artworks and booklet design, your CDs have a very recognizable style, you can easily recognize a Toy Dolls album in a shop even if you have never seen this cover before. How much are the band members involved in the visual side of your releases?

Well, we’ve got complete control over the album. The production, the songs, the artwork – we have complete control over it.

In your previous interview you said you’re a control freak…

Yeah.

Are you comfortable in the situation where you’re responsible for all the things? Or would you prefer playing in a band where you and other band members have equal duties?

I’m already doing it with other bands. With this one it works with me being in complete control of things. But I’ll gladly do that with other bands, it’s nice, it’s a break. I have done it, and it’s so relaxing. I like doing it and I will do it in the future, definitely.

As far as we understand you don’t really like explaining your songs, but there’s still one song we would like to ask you about. What inspired you to write “Yul Brynner Was A Skinhead”? Do you dislike the guy so much?

No, I’m actually a Yul Brinner fan. I just don’t like “The King And I”. (laughs) It’s just a tongue-in-cheek thing about skinheads.

Do you often face the situation when people misinterpret the things you’re saying?

Yeah, occasionally. Not very often. But what can you do?

We’ve heard that your song “Nellie The Elephant” is loved by British kids. Is it just coincidental, or…?

It was a nursery rhyme originally, the main part of the song originated from that.

So did you intentionally target the song at children’s audience?

No! I had the idea for five years, and I looked around for years for a song which would fit in with that. I heard that one on children’s television program, and it fitted that.

When Toy Dolls started, the punk movement was very political, most of the bands were taking sides and promoting some political ideas. You, however, have always said that Toy Dolls have nothing to do with politics. Was it easy or difficult to get recognition among the punk movement of that time?

A little bit of both. Lots of our friends play in the bands which sing about all these things that kinds of provoke political beliefs. We just don’t include them in the music. I think it’s nice to have a little bit of escapism in life for an hour and a half. I’m not saying, “Just be stupid for life”, but for an hour and a half go out and escape and then go back and face life with all its problems, it will be a lot easier. It was a conscious decision, but it was difficult in the beginning, because people thought it was a joke thing.

You said in a recent interview that after the story of Toy Dolls ends, you would like to move over to different forms of music. What kind of music would you like to make when Toy Dolls are over?

I don’t mind any kind of music as long as it’s got guitars in. It has to have a guitar in, because as I’m a guitar player. I don’t mind anything – metal, punk, to be honest.

OK, but what would you prefer to play?

Something a bit slower than this. I’ve been g-g-g-g-g-ing for 34 years, and it’s long enough, I think. Something a little bit slower would be nice, and something where I don’t have to sing. I can’t sing, and I don’t particularly like singing, so it would be nice to just play the guitar.

The last question would be about today’s concert. We’ve noticed that the girl on stage, who seems to be your technician, was very unhappy with the audience. What can you say about your impressions?

I think she’s just trying to make sure that nobody gets hurt and we don’t get hurt. She seemed happy to me, I think she acted that way just to take care that none of the instruments get damaged or the actual audience gets hurt or injured. And I personally loved the gig very much!

Toy Dolls on the Internet: http://www.thetoydolls.com

Special thanks to Andrey Sidelnikov (Main Rock Concert Agency) for arranging this interview

Interview by Roman Patrashov, Natalie “Snakeheart” Patrashova
Photos by Natalie “Snakeheart” Patrashova
September 10, 2010
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