TOBY JEPSON Says 'There's An 80% Chance' There Will Be A New LITTLE ANGELS Album: 'I've Written Three Songs Already For It'

In a new interview with Australia's The Rockpit, vocalist Toby Jepson of legendary U.K. hard rockers LITTLE ANGELS spoke about the band's upcoming "Big, Bad & Back" reunion tour, set to take place in November 2026, featuring the full original lineup of Jepson, guitarist Bruce Dickinson, Jim Dickinson on keyboards, Mark Plunkett on bass guitar and drummer Mark Richardson. The last time LITTLE ANGELS toured was in 2012, following their triumphant return at Download festival. Those shows came 18 years after their sold-out farewell gig at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1994.

Regarding how the reunion came about, Toby said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Since 2012, we did say to each other — a couple of years went by, and we were all back on the phone to each other saying, 'Oh, maybe we should do something else. Can we do anything?' But you have to find a time when the planets all align. It's a bit of a cliché, but it's totally true. You have to find a moment where everyone is in the right place in their head, in the right place emotionally, in the right place from a professional point of view. And it's not easy. Honestly, the amount of Zoom calls like this that we've had, where we've sat here discussing the possibilities of doing it, have been — I mean, I've lost count. And that's been going on for the last probably five years. And every time that we've done something, we've got on the phone or we've got on Zoom to talk about getting back together to do something, an obstacle's got in the way, whether it's a kind of private thing, whether it's a medical thing, whether it's just circumstances. And it hasn't been for the wont of trying, it's just been not possible — until last year, when all of a sudden the clouds cleared, the sun came out and we had a couple of Zooms, and it was, like. 'We actually could do this. What does everybody reckon?' And, of course, the conversation was very excitable. And Mark Richardson was really keen, which was crucial to us. We were all really, really keen. Everyone seemed to think that there was holes in the calendar appearing that we can make this work. But my stipulation really was, one of the things I brought to the table was I don't want this to be one tour [and then] goodbye. I think there's a lot more here that we could have. I think we could look at this as a slightly more long-term thing. I mean, I've been doing WAYWARD SUNS for the last five years — longer; 10 years, actually, on paper. And I didn't want that to get interrupted, but at the same time, I saw the value in getting LITTLE ANGELS back together properly. But that's the thing — I wanted to do it properly. I didn't want it to be, 'We'll do one tour and that's all we're gonna do.' I said, 'Look, there's a big hole in the market in lots of ways.' Where's the kind of song-centric, melodic rock bands anymore? AEROSMITH are not doing anything anymore. And WHITESNAKE have gone. Et cetera, et cetera. So it made a lot more sense. And we started talking to people, including managers and agents and our friends in the promotion business, and everyone was really, really positive. And so we just made that decision. It was, like, 'Well, okay. Well, all right. Well, let's not say it's one tour. Let's talk about a longer-term goal. Do we really think we can do that?' And I went, 'Why not?' And look, I'm only in my late fifties. I haven't got a walker. I don't have to go on stage with a walking stick. I feel just as fervently attached to the idea of being a musician and in a band as I've ever done. But it took the rest of them to feel like that as well. I mean, they've all gotta feel like that."

Toby continued: "I can remember Bruce saying to me two, three years ago, 'I don't know why you haven't put a version of LITTLE ANGELS together on your own.' I said, 'Because I wouldn't do it without you. And I wouldn't. Why would I?' And that, to me, is about respect. It's about loyalty. It's about actually having the right complexion. 'Cause, yeah, I could have gone out and done TOBY JEPSON'S LITTLE ANGELS. Believe me, I've been offered a lot of money to do that, but I turned every single one of those down because I just think it's completely ridiculous. I started that band with those guys in Scarborough, and if we're gonna do it together, we're doing it together. And that's it. And so that's where we're at. And so the whole idea really sort of took on a life of its own. And we sort of engaged the services of Andy Copping, who's a promoter, fantastic promoter, in the U.K. You probably not ever heard of Andy's name, but he used to book the Download festival and he was one of the most important promoters in Europe, really, and one of the most important people in the music industry, full stop. And Andy manages SLEEP TOKEN now. And he's a real big mate of ours. He's a Lincoln lad, like I am, and so I've known Andy all my life. And so Andy just went, 'Yep, let's do it. I wanna be involved.' And so you get someone heavyweight like Andy involved and Ian Richards at the Academy [Music] Group and various sort of people from the promoters that we are working with in Europe, and they're all, like, 'This is gonna work. You're gonna do this.' And, of course, we announced the dates, 12 dates, and London sold out in less than 24 hours. We just saw an absolute outpouring of emotion about the idea of the tour. And it looks like we're gonna sell out six or seven of the shows by next week. We've still got eight months to go before the tour happens. So, it's amazing. And we're now talking to various festivals around the world about doing European festivals."

As for the possibility of new LITTLE ANGELS music, Toby said: "We're talking to record companies about — and this is a bit of an exclusive for you, but we are thinking about making a new LITTLE ANGELS record. I mean, I don't know when or how that's gonna happen yet [laughs], but we are talking to labels, and we've got a lot of interest about that. I really wanna do it. I think Bruce really wants to do it. I think everybody really wants to do it, but that's a different kettle of fish, because we've got to be able to sort of somehow take what LITTLE ANGELS were before and bring it into what we are now, but without ruining what it was before. Do you know what I mean? It's not actually as easy as you think. I mean, I could take any song off of the WAYWARD SONS album and probably turn them into a LITTLE ANGELS song, without a doubt, 'cause I just write songs. I don't write specifically for WAYWARD SONS or specifically for LITTLE ANGELS. I just write my songs. But there is a lot of things to consider here. We've got to consider the sound, what it meant, how people recognize that sound, how is it faithful to the past, how do we bring it on to something that's inventive and new and going forward. So there's a lot to sort of chew through. And one of the things we're thinking of doing at the moment — we found a way of sort of bridging the gap. We're thinking of doing some re-records of some songs we felt didn't have enough of an outing before that came from all of the albums. And so there's a little bit of an idea about that at the moment where we might do some recording this year, maybe like a digital-only release to start with, just to test the water to see how well it comes together. But all the time I'm thinking about making an album. In fact, I've written three songs already for it. So, I'm sort of thinking very much as a kind of a forward-motion thing. Like I say, as a caveat, I don't know when, I don't know how. It might never happen, but if I was to put money on it, and I'm not a betting man, but if I was to put money on it, I'd say there's an 80% chance it's gonna happen."

Formed nearly 40 years ago in their hometown of Scarborough, LITTLE ANGELS emerged from the ashes of the NWOBHM movement, becoming one of the defining U.K. hard rock bands of the late '80s and early '90s. It was an era shaped by Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, RAW magazine and "The Friday Rock Show" — and lived in the queues at Shades Records, the sweat-soaked nights at Marquee Club, and the packed rock clubs that ignited every U.K. town and city in the pre-grunge years.

Across their career, LITTLE ANGELS built a fiercely loyal fanbase, scoring 11 U.K. Top 40 singles and four hit albums, including Jam, which reached No. 1 in 1993. Alongside their own sold-out headline tours, they shared stages with giants of the era including VAN HALEN, GUNS N' ROSES, FAITH NO MORE, ZZ TOP, AEROSMITH, Bryan Adams and BON JOVI.

In the early 1990s, LITTLE ANGELS were definitely Great Britain's most popular hair metal-band in their native country. Their music was well-played as well as cocky, and each of their three studio albums — "Don't Prey For Me" (1989),"Young Gods" (1991) and "Jam" (1993) — are classics of the genre. Nevertheless the band decided to split up in 1994. In later tears, Jepson gained attention as a member of GUN and FASTWAY, and by producing SAXON. In 2008, the members of LITTLE ANGELS met for the first time in years at their ex-drummer's funeral. Even under such tragic circumstances they rekindled their former friendship, and the band reunited to perform at Download festival 2012, followed by over a dozen shows before they took their final bow at Isle Of Wight festival in 2013.

Photo credit: Ray Burmiston (courtesy of Claire Lloyd / Central Press)