DECEMBER 2018
Monday 10th
Welcome to Wintertime You Lot!
Let's warm straight up with the next instalment in the Album Interviews, and the latest Ask Olga video answers here. Keep sending your questions to .
The Toy Dolls are proud to announce that they are now sponsored by Sennheiser!
Check em’ out on the Sennheiser artists spotlight page here.
Just in case yer interested about the technical stuff, the band are using Sennheiser e945 vocal microphones and Sennheiser EW100 G4-Ci1 wireless guitar and bass systems.
Here’s a pic of Olga in his studio with his new Sennheiser HD650 headphones which he uses for mixing, along with Sennheiser HD25s for tracking.
Olga is putting the final touches to the new album demos, so the lads should be able to start practising and recording the songs early in the new year! A rough, planned released date is October 2019 but we will have more precise news as soon as possible!
Coinciding with the album release will be the lad's 40th Anniversary Shows, with tours to be announced soon!
In the meantime there will be a string of summer festivals in 2019. There are six already confirmed, and two waiting to be announced so keep checking the tour dates! There are plenty more to come!
There are limited tickets left for the Switzerland shows this month, Geneva has already sold out so don’t miss out on Zurich & Lyss if ya wanna catch the band for the last time in 2018!
Right then, have a great festive period, and have a wicked time at the Swiss shows!
Merry Christmas You Lot.
Until next time...
TTFN
OCTOBER 2018
Monday 29th
We are proud to announce the first confirmed show of 2019!
Here we go, Xtreme Fest Albi, France on August 3rd, with The Toy Dolls and Madball being the first bands to be announced.
More live dates are on their way!
OCTOBER 2018
Sunday 28th
Welcome to the start of The Toy Dolls 39th year! Can you believe it!?!
First up, the guys wanna say a HUGE thank you to everyone buying tickets for the Switzerland shows in December! Tickets are selling like hot cakes, so please don't leave it till the last minute and miss out as many of ya did last time around! Just click on the tour dates on the right hand side of this page for tickets.
Also, a big thank you to the lovely people of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands for the En Vivo festival earlier this month.
As you read this Olga should be putting the finishing touches to song demo 10 from the new album, which is roughly planned for release around October 2019 to coincide with the start of the bands 40th ANNIVERSARY CLUB SHOWS!
More news on these shows and the new album very soon, but I can tell you the actually recording for the album should take place early in the new year, finally!
There are a couple of festivals already confirmed for the summer of 2019, with more to come, and these will be announced soon.
OK, here's the latest album interview installment, IDLE GOSSIP, and your latest ASK OLGA questions answered on video. Keep sending your Ask Olga questions to .
Right, 2019 album and gig news are just around the corner, the final touches are being made to the new album demos, and the bands management are well underway arranging the live shows. Lots of news to come soon!
Meantime, don't miss out on yer Switzerland club tour tickets!
Until next time...
TTFN
SEPTEMBER 2018
Monday 24th
A Mini Update.
Oi oi You Lot!
The lads are coming back to Switzerland!
Finally after much demand, The Toy Dolls will be playing 3 exclusive club shows in December.
WARNING! Please don't leave it 'til the last minute to get yer tickets, as last time in Switzerland (almost 4 years ago!) the gigs were either sold out or just about sold out!
Anyway, you can click on the shows on the tour dates for tickets, on sale from 10am CET, this Wednesday, 26th September.
DEC 12 - SWITZERLAND ZURICH, Komplex 457
DEC 13 - SWITZERLAND LYSS, Kufa
DEC 14 - SWITZERLAND GENEVA, PTR Usine, Genève
These are gonna be real rockin’ shows, with the lads at their happiest, in clubs, doing the full Toy Dolls show! YEAH! Enjoy.
Until next time...
TTFN
AUGUST 2018
Saturday 25th
Greetings You Lot!
Let's get straight down to business! Olga has answered your latest Ask Olga questions, by video this time! Check it out here. Keep sending your questions to .
The next video installment of the album interviews is here! Enjoy A FAR OUT DISC!
So, the lads have just returned from their highly successful tour of Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, with packed out and sold out venues throughout!
Well done to the lads and crew. Having to perform every day with late nights, two hours sleep, early flights, ship, and van journeys, I reckon they'll still be in bed as you read this!
Here’s a collection of pics from the tour:
Emiliano Barbagallo
Ignacio Ramoncho
Rafael Melo
And finally the band and crew on the last day in Chile
A huge thank you from Olga, Tommy Goober, The Amazing Mr. Duncan and The Toy Dolls crew for a most memorable trip!
So what's next?!
As soon as Olga has recovered from South America, he will be back to work on the new album demos. We should have more concrete news on actual recording and release dates over the next month or so.
As for live dates, the band's booking agency are hard at work planning stuff. Next up is LANZAROTE ARRECIFE EN VIVO FESTIVAL, which will be the band's first time on this island and they are really looking forward to it!
Right then, let's let Olga get on with those long awaited songs for the new Album!
Until next time...
TTFN
JULY 2018
Sunday 15th
Hey You Lot! Nice hot summer eh?!
OK, straight down to business! Your Ask Olga answers are here. Keep sending your questions to .
And here we have the start of a brand new video series which I know you're going to enjoy. Olga is interviewed by The Toy Dolls biographer Ronan Fitzsimons about all of the band's studio albums to date. These are well worth watchin’ I can tell ya!
Here is album interview number one DIG THAT GROOVE BABY.
THE TOY DOLLS BADGE WINNER
Oh wow! This has been a really popular competition!
We literally had 100’s of entries, and quite a few correct ones too, so we put the list of correct entries into a hat and drew out a winner!
First off though, the questions & answers...
1. Who’s hands were accused of all burglaries?
Answer: Harry's
2. Which TV Soap opera is Glenda & The Test Tube baby based on?
Answer: Crossroads
3. Name three other bands whose albums Olga has made a guitar playing appearance on:
Answer: Too many to mention here, but here's a few: Yo Yo’s. Ginger Wildheart, Crashed Out.
AND THE WINNER IS...... (FANFARE!)
PATRICE VALAT from France.
Congratulations, your prize is on its way. Send us a picture of yourself wearing it!
So, next up live is the Kanalrock festival in Norway with the mighty Gang of Four, followed by the long awaited tour of South America.
Oh yes, regarding South America, Olga will be making a special appearance as guest DJ in Sao Paulo! Join the party at the D-Edge Club in Sao Paulo on 13th August.
Check out the club here.
And finally, here’s our Olga with Wattie from The Exploited (the new, improved, slim version!) at the Montebello Rock Festival in Canada last month, a great time was had indeed!
OK, we will have some more new album news next time around!
Until next time...
TTFN
JUNE 2018
Wednesday 20th
SAO PAULO SHOW VENUE CHANGE
Due to the overwhelming demand for tickets, for the show on August 12th, the venue has now been changed to the CARIOCA CLUB.
Tickets can now be bought from the same ticket link.
Tickets already purchased for the old venue (FABRIQUE) will still be valid for the new venue so don't worry!
If you don't yet have a ticket, please be quick!
Saturday 2nd
Hey You Lot, welcome to the summer!
So what's been happening over the past month?
Well, as we told you last time around Olga passed his sound engineering exam, but this month he has sent us a pic of him with his certificate!
Before we move on, your Ask Olga answers are here. Keep sending your questions to .
And sadly, here is the last ever guitar lesson. Next time we'll begin to see new interviews with Olga, featuring questions & answers on each of the 12 studio albums.
OK, moving swiftly on... thanks to everyone attending the shows in France, Sweden & Czech Republic. These shows have made for a highly enjoyable start to the year!
Olga tells me he has just finished new album song demo 7! Yes!!
“Richard Clayderman's a Creep!” where do these titles come from!?
THE TALLYWAGS
In case you haven’t heard, Olga has joined forces with Paul Cook (Sex Pistols/The Professionals), Tom Spencer (The Professionals), Chris McCormack (The Professionals/3 Colours Red), and Danny McCormack (The Wildhearts), and collectively they are known as "The Tallywags”.
Take a look at the great video for their brilliant World Cup song!
There's more details here, and you get the song now on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.
BADGE COMPETITION
Due to the overwhelming response to the recent competition over on The Toy Dolls Facebook page, we have decided to give you lot another chance to win one of the amazing shaped enamel Toy Dolls face logo badges!
These are not available in the Webshop which makes 'em rather special!
Send your answers to the following questions (with your name and postal address - we will post worldwide!). Here we go...
1. Who’s hands were accused of all burglaries?
2. Which TV soap opera is Glenda & The Test Tube Baby based on?
3. Name three other bands whose albums Olga has made a guitar playing guest appearance on.
Good luck!
OK, enjoy the show on 16th June at the Montebello Rock Fest - it's the first time ever for the lads in Canada and it's gonna be wild!
Until next time...
TTFN
APRIL 2018
Monday 9th
Welcome to the monthly updates You Lot!
Lets get straight down to business, as usual your yer Ask Olga answers are here. Keep sending your questions to .
The latest guitar lesson can be found here. It's almost the end of the guitar lessons (boo we here you cry!) but they'll soon be replaced with Olga’s studio album interviews, which are as equally enjoyable I can tell ya!
So, the Sao Paulo show in Brazil on 12th August has sold out already. Cheers from Olga, Tommy & Duncan for your unbelievable loyalty, we thought you may have forgotten us!
Anyway, you need to be quick if you wanna get tickets for the other South American gigs, tickets are selling well fast! (Ticket links are on the tour dates, on the right hand side of this page).
The first show of 2018 is just around the corner, Stockholm, Sweden on 28th. Rehearsals are booked and the lads are itching to get going again!
NEW BOX SET!
Captain Oi! Have just released a lovely new box set, well worth adding to your collection. Check it out here.
Olga tells me he is still working on new album song number 6, oh come on Olga work faster!!!
There has been a number of requests recently asking about Olga’s guitar amp settings, so I've managed to prise the info outta the man himself! As you know, Olga’s guitar amplifier of choice is a Marshall 100w JCM 800 2203 model. He has pointed out that he prefers the re-issue models to the 1980s version, which is not usually the case with re issues!
Anyway, here are his settings, the top amp being the re issue and the bottom the mid 80s model, notice the difference in settings.
Olga also asked me to let you know that he prefers the Marshall AV (angled/vintage) speaker cabinet, as opposed to the standard angled cab as he reckons this adds warmth to the high end treble of his Telecaster.
So there ya go, Olga finally spills the beans on his amp settings!
OK, that's about it for this month. The band's live agent is still hard at work on more shows for 2018, and Olga is working on the new album every day!
Oh yeah, one last thing... big congratulations to Olga for becoming an Apple Certified Pro for the DAW (digital audio workstation) Logic Pro X. He passed his exams last week and is now on the official Apple Registry. In case you didn't know, Olga’s name is MICHAEL ALGAR if you wanna look him up! Maybe now his studies have finished he can get this bleedin’ new album done!
Until next time...
TTFN
MARCH 2018
MONDAY 5th
We are proud to announce that The Toy Dolls will play at the Montebello Rock Fest in Canada on June 16th.
THURSDAY 1st
Hey You Lot! Welcome to the updates.
Straight down to business with all yer Ask Olga answers here. Keep sending your questions to .
Talking of questions... Olga was here last week, with Ronan The Toy Dolls biographer, to film a load of interviews about each of the 12 Toy Dolls studio albums.
Filming these interviews was a highly enjoyable and enlightening experience! I loved every minute, and learned a lot of stuff too! These will be a 'must watch' for you lot, I promise!
The monthly updates will start to feature these new interviews when we get through all the current guitar lessons. Expect to start seeing them in a few months time.
Speaking of guitar lessons... the latest one is here.
Olga is flat out making new album demos as we speak. He tells me some of the songs are crap and some very nice, but that's Olga for ya! We will be the judge eh?!
This time of the year sees the lads starting to rehearse, getting the equipment serviced and preparing for the new shows which start in April.
Here’s the guy behind Olga’s Telecaster servicing. Kevin has just replaced the strap nuts and input on Olgas main Telecaster. Now it's ready to rock!
Just a mini update this time, but more shows will be added to the tour dates as we go, so please keep checking em’.
We are certainly pushing Olga to get that album written, but I guess all good things are worth waitin’ for eh?!
Until next time...
TTFN
JANUARY 2018
THURSDAY 18th
SPECIAL TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT!
Finally, the lads are returning to SOUTH AMERICA!
The band have been searching for a good promoter to bring them back to SA for almost a decade now, and we are all beyond ecstatic about this news I can tell you!
Lets get straight down to business and tell you the show dates!
AUG 10: BRAZIL CURITIBA, HERMES BAR
AUG 11: BRAZIL GOIÂNIA, MARTIM CERERE
AUG 12: BRAZIL SAO PAULO, FABRIQUE
AUG 15: URUGUAY MONTEVIDEO, BLUZZ LIVE
AUG 16: ARGENTINA BUENOS AIRES, EL TEATRO FLORES
AUG 17: ARGENTINA ROSARIO, VORTERIX
AUG 18: CHILE SANTIAGO, ESPACIO SAN DIEGO
This tour promises to be a totally wild one! So to avoid disappointment, don’t leave it till the last minute to get yer tickets!
I have no idea when, or if, the band will ever be back again!
Enjoy!
Until next time...
TTFN
