Toyah on The One Show earlier this evening. Recreating the iconic Thunder In The Mountains hair and make-up, with the help of make-up artist Sean Chapman and hairdresser Michael Douglas. Toyah also made a surprise appearance live on the programme, joining guests Simon Le Bon and John Taylor of Duran Duran on the sofa. Watch the programme at BBC iPlayer.
Toyah plays an Acoustic, Up Close & Personal gig at the Vauxhall Tavern, London this Thursday. Click below for further info and/or to book tickets.
Eighties’ legend Toyah to perform at New Mills Festival
Eighties pop princess Toyah adds a touch of stardust to this year’s New Mills Festival.
She will be backed by a full band when she sings at the town’s Art Theatre on Saturday, September 12. Toyah will be performing greatest hits from her 30-year career which include It’s A Mystery, Thunder in the Mountains and I Want To Be Free.
The concert promises to be a highlight of the fortnight-long festival which celebrates the cultural and community spirit of New Mills.
Activities kick off on Friday, September 11, with a Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea Party at The Cakery from 2pm to 4pm and an art trail which turns the town into a gallery.
For the full programme, see www.newmillsfestival.co.uk
• Continue reading at the Derbyshire Times. Visit the New Mills Festival 2015 website for further info and/or to buy tickets. Browse all of our New Mills Festival 2015 news.
It’s a busy Friday night in London’s West End, I escape the hustle and bustle in the new Picturehouse cinema bar; it’s vast and empty… the calm before the storm. The venue anticipates a celeb-studded screening of the new Steve Oram film “Aaaaaaaah!” and I am anticipating meeting Steve to talk about his new (crazy-amazing) film.
I attended the press screening of Aaaaaaaah! a couple of weeks ago & the film completely haunted me. Images and thoughts from the movie were triggered by day-to-day life. In that sense it is extremely powerful and well crafted, well acted. I’m not exactly sure what it was trying to say, but I think like a lot of good art, it says what you want it to say.
… Then who should appear in the cinema bar, but Toyah Willcox (one of the leading ladies in the film) she’s dressed in a beautiful orange dress, her hair coiffed but not overdone. She’s sprightly and bubbly and bounds up to our table chatting about how she still gigs 3 times a week. But who knew Toyah could act? Toyah’s acting is incredible in Aaaaaaaah! & she would like to do more acting, her range is pretty broad, she had just filmed an episode of Doctors (that daytime show on BBC), which couldn’t be further from her character in Aaaaaaaah! I asked Steve about how he came to cast Toyah in his movie, “I’ve always been a long time fan of Toyah’s acting, she’s brilliant in Quadrophenia. People forget Toyah can act, but they shouldn’t forget.”
Robert Fripp is Toyah’s other half, and the music in the film is by King Crimson Projekts, and it’s a perfect otherworldly, primal backdrop.
• Continue reading at The Huffington Post.
• The Guardian: This Week’s New Films: AAAAAAAAH! (18) (Steve Oram, 2015, UK) Steve Oram, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Toyah Willcox. 79 mins – In this highly original comic horror fable from Sightseers co-writer and actor Steve Oram, modern-day London is populated by a tribe of grunting, ape-like humans – Continue reading…
• Derby Telegraph: The Flowerpot celebrate 20 years of live music at the venue with an enticing autumn season: RAW Promotions celebrate 20 years of bringing great live music to The Flowerpot , in King Street, Derby, with a landmark autumn season which launches tonight. It kicks off this evening with late 1970s mod revival band Secret Affair and over the next four months goes on to feature 70s/80 punk starlet Toyah Willcox – Continue reading…
• Brutal As Hell: Festival News: Full Line-Up for Mayhem 2015 Revealed: It sure is horror festival season here in the UK – we’ve got another line-up to reveal today, from the fine folks at Mayhem. We’ve already gawped at the amazing unmade Dracula script-reading that the Nottingham festival has planned, and now they’ve revealed their full schedule and cor, is it good… – in addition to the previously announced opening and closing films, Aaaaaaaah! and The Invitation – Continue reading…
• Metro: 21 things you only know if you grew up in East Kent: It was once known as the Garden of England, and even though it has lost the title now, you have fond memories of a bucolic childhood – taking long walks in Bluebell Wood and summer days at Minnis Bay – There was Howletts Zoo, the Whitstable Oyster Festival and a fading soap actor starring in the panto to turn on the Christmas lights. We had Toyah Willcox once, and Wizadora – Continue reading…
Another screening and Q&A – including Toyah – has been announced for Aaaaaaaah!
This one, following last month’s premiere/Q&A at FrightFest 2015 and last Friday’s screening/Q&A at Picture House Central, will take place at The Electric Cinema in, Toyah’s home city, Birmingham on Thursday 1st October. The Electric is located on Station Street.
Shock & Gore presents Aaaaaaaah! + Steve Oram & Toyah Willcox Q&A
Thursday 1st October, 8pm: Screen 2
Director: Steve Oram. Starring: Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt, Toyah Willcox
UK 2015, 79mins
• Further details at The Electric Cinema and The Official Toyah website. Browse all of Dreamscape’s Aaaaaaaah! news…
Quadrophenia: ITV4: Sunday 13th September: 11pm
Quadrophenia: ITV4: Tuesday 15th September: 11.35pm
The Who wrote and produced this energetic story of a young man disillusioned with his life in 1960s London. Phil Daniels excels as the alienated anti-hero Jimmy Cooper. Director: Franc Roddam. Starring: Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Toyah Willcox, Philip Davis, Mark Wingett, Sting, and Ray Winstone. Also airing on ITV4 HD and Plus 1.
Toyah guested on Dermot O’Leary’s BBC Radio Two show yesterday.
Toyah can be heard from approximately 47m 30s into the show, chatting about Aaaaaaaah!, being on tour, and recalling 1983 and featuring in Smash Hits etc – comparing/remembering her responses to a retro interview then and now. The interview lasts for around nine minutes, which includes a play of I Want To Be Free.
• Listen at BBC iPlayer for the next month.
Toyah’s, pre-filmed, appearance on The One Show has been confirmed as airing this Tuesday evening. Tune in from 7pm on BBC1 for “My Hair Story”. The programme will be available to watch online at BBC iPlayer post broadcast. See a great photo from the recording at toyahwillcox.com. (Photos below © Toyah Willcox/Sean Chapman)
The One Show: BBC1: Tuesday 8th September: 7pm
If it’s got Britain talking then it will get talked about on The One Show. Presented by Matt Baker and Alex Jones.
Another chance to watch Toyah’s 1982 episode of Tales Of The Unexpected. Click here to read an interview and see Toyah’s TV Times cover for the programme, from April 1982.
Tales Of The Unexpected: Sky Arts: Thursday 17th September: 1.30pm
Blue Marigold. Series 5, Episode 1. Dropped by her agency for her diva-like behaviour, supermodel Marigold’s mental health deteriorates. Years later, she plots a comeback. Director: Giles Foster. Starring: Toyah Willcox, Ralph Bates, Sharon Duce, Helen Fraser, Billy Hamon, Edward Jewesbury.
There’s a busy weekend ahead – Tonight there is the Aaaaaaaah! screening + Cast Q&A at Picture House Central in Piccadilly, London. Tomorrow afternoon Toyah guests on Dermot O’Leary’s BBC Radio Two show, and on Sunday plays an Acoustic, Up Close & Personal gig at Cottingham Folk Festival (scheduled to be onstage at 3pm at The Civic Hall)
Toyah’s September blog is now available at The Official Toyah Willcox website. Lots of interesting news on Aaaaaaaah!, films, concerts… Including mention that there is going to be a Live… With Toyah for Vintage TV (“Vintage are filming a mini-version of the acoustic show“).
Toyah also mentions Extremis, a new film in which she has a cameo. She has also written (and I assume is performing) the closing credits song for it. A full press pack on Extremis is available online.
Toyah and, Aaaaaaaah!’s, Steve Oram at last night’s Gala Screening of Ricki and the Flash, which stars Meryl Streep. The screening took place at Ham Yard Hotel, London. (Photos © Getty Images)
A final couple of Aaaaaaaah! reviews. See a selection of the recent opinion pieces on the film here.
• Little White Lies: Aaaaaaaah! Review: Actor Steve Oram has decided to make a movie, and the results are spectacularly disturbing… Let’s not mince words: Steve Oram is a master filmmaker. He’ll be known to British audiences for his co-starring role in Ben Wheatley’s 2012 comedy-horror hybrid, Sightseers, in which he played one half of an oddball twosome traversing the English countryside and who take a hatchet to the skull of anything or anyone that doesn’t chime with their quaint Midlands sensibilities. Aaaaaaaah! is his debut feature film as writer and director, a transgressive situationist comedy which is also one of the great British films of the new millennium. Explaining why is not going to be easy – Continue reading…
• Methods Unsound: Best of Film4 FrightFest 2015: Most Balls Out Insane Film: So let’s get to the heart of the matter, horror is often about extremes both visually and thematically, what was the most fucked up thing on offer? Aaaaaaaah! directed by Sightseer’s Steve Oram… The bluntness of the bestial activities throughout would be depraved and shocking in any other film but here they push up against human norms creating situations that are just hilariously surreal, such as Toyah Wilcox having a heart to heart with her daughter in grunts as she takes a shit on the kitchen floor – Continue reading…
On 2nd September 1985, World in Action, Toyah’s third single from Minx was released. This would be the last single from the album and Toyah’s final release on Portrait/CBS Records.
World in Action was the first single of Toyah’s career that she didn’t co-write. It was also the first release since pre-Four From Toyah not to make an appearance in the UK Singles Chart. As with the previous two singles from the album, the 7” and 12” had different sleeves. The 12” sleeve is probably the best of all six of the Portrait single sleeves, featuring a stunning, Terence Donovan, photo of Toyah. This was also the only single from the Portrait trio not to have a promo video made to accompany it. B-Side song Soldier Of Fortune, Terrorist Of Love was written by Willcox/Lee. Both were produced by Christopher Neil. The 12″ included the extra “Action Mix” of WIA.
Premiere Scene’s Alice Alexander and Anthony Bueno interview Toyah Willcox, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and Lucy Honigman for Aaaaaaaah! Screening at Film 4 FrightFest 2015.
Due to demand 100 extra tickets have been released for Friday’s screening of Aaaaaaaah! at Picture House Central in London’s West End, and the film has also been moved to a larger screen.
Steve Oram’s insane debut film begins a residency at Picturehouse Central with this exclusive screening + Q&A with special guests.
Director: Steve Oram. Starring: Julian Rhind-Tutt, Noel Fielding, Toyah Willcox. UK 2015. 79 mins.
The scabrous bleak humour of Sightseers, which Steve Oram starred in and co-wrote, permeates his directorial debut. The film’s pointed social commentary reflects how modern manners are becoming little more than grunts and gestures – mostly selfish, often aggressive.
• Continue reading/Book tickets (if there are any remaining) at Picture House Central.
• The List: List Film: Aaaaaaaah!: FrightFest 2015: Steve Oram and co literally go ape in a hilarious black comedy – Following the magnificently deranged, award-winning Sightseers was always going to be a challenge for its co-screenwriter and star Steve Oram. Undaunted, his directorial debut takes the transgression up a notch by replacing traditional dialogue with primitive grunts and shrieks, as it reduces humans to their base impulses – food, fighting, sex – while retaining the familiar trappings of modern society (lascivious cookery programmes, wild parties and ludicrous computer games) – Continue reading…
• Empty Screens: Review: Aaaaaaaah! (2015): The committed and skilled cast – including Toyah Willcox and Alice Lowe – embrace the material with panache, making Aaaaaaaah! a tasty but acquired treat that never outstays its welcome – Continue reading…
• Vodzilla: FrightFest film review: Aaaaaaaah!: The superb cast fully commit to the conceit, delivering brilliantly physical performances. Oram is particularly good as the aggressive alpha, swaggering and sneering up a storm, while Meeten is very funny as his craven companion. Honigman is equally good as Denise and has surprisingly strong chemistry with Oram, while Wilcox is a treat as the capricious Barabara – a flashback showing Ryan wooing her over a broken washing machine is one of several comic highlights – Continue reading…
Vale Park was alive with the sound of music at the weekend, and it was all free. Punk princess Toyah Willcox headlined on Saturday night with an energetic and enthusiastic show that had the crowd shouting for more.
Thirty seven years in showbusinesses hasn’t dimmed her enthusiasm for her craft, and her voice was strong as she sang These Boots Are Made For Walking, In The Midnight Hour, It’s A Mystery, Sweet Child of Mine and I Wanna Be Free. The charismatic performer interacted naturally with the audience and was generous with her time after the show, meeting fans, signing autographs and posing for pictures.
• Continue reading at The Bucks Herald. (Photos © The Bucks Herald)
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Home: Sunday 13th September: 7pm/11pm
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Home: Monday 14th September: 3am
Celebrities hunt for a new home. Gaby Roslin helps punk-pop princess Toyah Willcox search for a second home, in Richmond upon Thames, with a budget of £650,000.
• The Ooh Tray: Monkey Business: Note: An ape translation of this review is available – Were it not for an ingenious comic conceit, Steve Oram’s highly original comic melodrama would be a familiar story. A man splits from his wife, meets a woman at a party, trapped in an unhappy relationship, and the two decided to make a run for it and get married, returning to the home and kicking out the ineffectual boyfriend. But in Aaaaaaaah!‘s universe, human language and instinct haven’t evolved beyond that of primates, and consequently you have an eccentric and often brutally honest comedy that lays bare the base instincts and absurd animal behaviour that fundamentally characterises human relationships – Continue reading…
• Screen Relish: #F4FF15 FrightFest: Aaaaaaaah! Review: Aah, the precarious position of the alpha male. Oh should I say AAAAAAAAH!? Because that is the delightfully appropriate title of Steve Oram’s feature directorial debut. An absurd horror comedy, the film offers no dialog at all – just grunts, as humans, devolved into ape mentality, go about their poop-throwing, territory marking, television smashing daily existence. It’s the kind of overly clever premise you expect to wear thin, but honestly, it doesn’t. Much credit goes to a game cast (including Oram) that sells every minute of the ridiculousness, and to Oram again as director. He keeps the pace quick, his images a flurry of insanity you need to see more than once to fully appreciate – Continue reading…
• I’m With Geek: Aaaaaaaah! – Review: Written and directed by Steve Oram (the genius writer behind Sightseers), Aaaaaaaah! is a movie not to be missed. If you like a little strange in your life then this film is absolutely for you. Premiering at Film4 Frightfest last night, some are steal wrapping their heads around the weird and wondering movie. The struggle here, is giving Aaaaaaaah! the review it deserves… – Continue reading…
