Toby Jepson took time out to chat to Roarrock about the Little Angels reformation and a few other bits as well.

RR: So Toby great news for little angels fans reunion. Can we expect any surprises or new songs in the set.

TJ: The surprise is that we are doing it at all!!! Ha Ha! it has taken a long time, nearly 18 years to convince each other that we COULD do it…a variety of reasons to long and personal to go into, all that matters is that we are very pleased and excited to be doing it for the fans again and you can expect to hear a full set of the classic Angels tunes at DL…no new stuff.

RR: How does it feel to be working with little angels guys after all this time, it must being back some great memories.

TJ:It has been a very healing process getting back together. These are lads that i went to school, formed a band, got a record deal, toured the world, made hit records with!!! and we spent a lot of time apart…too much time, and so to get to play with each other again is just fantastic. The memories have come flooding back obviously, and i cherish them all and above all, look forward to forming some new ones!

TJ: Do you think the reunion could lead to some new material and dare we hope a new album.

RR: Far too early to say, we need time to figure out IF this can work again first.

RR: Toby how did it feel to be asked by Wendy Dio to become part of dios disciples and to play such a big part in fund raising and paying respects to Ronnie.

TJ: Honoured, in a word. Ronnie was the best no question. I grew up with his music, painted pictures of him asa kid, went to see Dio play at Donnington years ago, so it was incredible to be considered and i have enjoyed every moment of the show and met some wonderful people along the way. I hope it will continue, as the music is some of the best ever written in my opinion.

RR: Toby you clearly value the medium of mp3 as you once had an mp3 club, was this popular and would consider the mp3 medium.for little angels.

TJ: It was great doing the club, but it was also problematic in as much as once you have started it, it should really continue as the format has that appealability due to the simple way of delivery and i ran out of songs!!! The Angels wouldn’t work just because it works best when the material is unavailable anywhere else…

RR: Do you think we will see you in any more acting roles or will music take your sole focus

TJ: It wasn’t really ‘acting’ i tried that and was terrible…it was more like glorified standing about! Great fun though and a world that i would like to re-enter at some point but probably as a composer and /or a producer…Film is my big passion after music.

RR: Finally Toby if don’t mind would you share with is couple of your career highlights to date and also can you tell is which little angels track you are most looking dueqded to playing and the one your least going to enjoy.

TJ: Always tough answering this question…the biggest highlight, now that i am older is that we managed to achieve any success at all! The music biz is fraught with difficulty and in unexpected ways…we had a great time all the time really, and it isn’t just the BIG stuff that matters..although playing Milton Keynes with Bon Jovi, Wembley with Bryan Adams and selling out the Albert Hall were all huge moments for us. If pushed I think getting our first hit, ‘Radical your lover’ in the carts was incredible because it meant we were on the radar and meant something in a time when it was very difficult to do so…we went from selling 50 tickets a night to 600 almost overnight…

RR: Thank you Toby do you have a message for the fans

TJ: I do! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! It maybe a cliche, but the fans were everything to us, because we were fans ourselves! we all knew what it felt like to queue up for gig tickets or that new album from a favourite band in the rain…we bonded with our fans big time and i think the reaction to our return has underlined that…
SEE YOU ALL WHERE-EVER WE GO!!!