Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave/punk rock band.
Front man was Chris Knox and other members were guitarist Alec Bathgate, bass player Paul Kean, drummer Mike Dooley, and keyboard player Jane Walker. The band developed out of the earlier punk band The Enemy from Dunedin, New Zealand, and are often regarded as the progenitors of the Dunedin Sound movement.
Toy Love were together for less than two years (1978–80) and spent a large part of that time in Australia. They released just one (self-titled) album, however the band members were apparently appalled by the mixing of the tracks which took the edge off the band's deliberately raw sound. Allmusic gave the album a 3/5 rating. In April 2005, this album was remastered and released along with a bunch of demos and unreleased tracks as a double CD entitled Cuts.
After Toy Love broke up, Bathgate and Knox remained together as the Tall Dwarfs.
In 2012, the band was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame and given the Legacy Award at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.
Toy Love is a New Zealand made film released in 2002. The film was directed and written by Harry Sinclair and features Dean O'Gorman, Kate Elliott, Marissa Stott, Michael Lawrence, Genevieve McClean, Chris Dykzeul, Peter Feeney, Quinton Hita, Miriama Smith, Kim Michalis, Rose McIver and Lynette Forday.
Love is a game for Ben who lies and cheats on his girlfriend Emily, with the greatest of ease. But when he meets the sexy and unpredictable Chlo, the tables are turned. Ben falls head over heels in love, and is astonished to find someone even more immoral than he is.
Tagline: Infidelity for Beginners
Festival Internacional de Cinema do Porto 2003
Gijón International Film Festival 2002
New Zealand Film and TV Awards 2003