Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Sightseers co-writer and star Steve Oram delivers his demented directorial debut AAAAAAAAH! at FrightFest this Friday 28th August. The mad as a plate of badgers, monkey horror/ sci-fi hybrid previews in Discover Screen 1 with Steve, Toyah Willcox and other cast members due to attend.

With stateside screening dates booked, AAAAAAAAH! looks to destined for cult status and is sure to set Steve on a path to greater film-making opportunities. We chatted to Steve about AAAAAAAAH!’s inception and production along with the state of modern indie cinema and the secrets to mining comedy genius.

How do you pronounce the title is it AAAAAAAAH!?
However you want, I will leave that to the viewer. You can say it like AAAAAAAAH! or AAAAAAAAH! or AAAAAAAAH! Many variations. Multi.

How did you come up with such a warped idea? Did it evolve from something else or was it more of a light-bulb moment?
It’s something that has always fascinated me: how ape-like we all are and yet we rarely reference it in our every-day lives. I’ve always been a big fan of Planet of the Apes and did a short film with the same concept a couple of years ago. So I guess it grew from there.

Was it an easy casting process?
I always had a few names in mind: the two Julians (Rhind-Tutt and Barratt), Tom Meeten but Toyah Willcox I wasn’t expecting, I just sent her the script which she loved and was very enthusiastic about. I think if you tell an actor they have to do run around being a monkey, they’ll probably do it. They love that sort of shit.

The soundtrack to AAAAAAAAH! was pretty amazing. As a musician, did you have much involvement?
The main person who provided the soundtrack was Robert Fripp who donated a largely improvised album to us to use however we wanted. So that’s all just the genius of Robert really. I did most of the shit stuff that sounded like an ape made it.

• Continue reading at HeyUGuys.

Toyah Willcox headlines free music festival in Vale Park

Live in the Park, the free music festival being held in Vale Park over the Bank Holiday weekend, is set to be a great day out for all the family.

Starting at noon on Saturday, August 29, 80s’ pop singer Toyah Willcox will perform on stage following eight and a half hours of continuous live music featuring many local bands and musicians, including Platform Soul, the ultimate soul, disco and dance band.

Rob Casey, lead guitarist with Platform Soul, said: “We are very excited that Toyah will be headlining Live in the Park. It’s an honour to share the large outdoor stage with such a popular national star as well as a wide range of talented local artists. Live in the Park is going to be a great free concert in the centre of Aylesbury. It’ll be a gig to remember.”

• Continue reading at Bucks Herald. More info at toyahwillcox.com.

Jason Donovan and the Human League were among the acts performing at the Flashback to the 80s concert at Clumber Park at the weekend.

With their picnics, bottles of wine, cans of lager, umbrellas, fold-up chairs and fancy dress, thousands of people ventured deep into Clumber Park for the Flashback to the 80s concert on Saturday night.

With a line-up boasting Toyah, Jason Donovan, Five Star, Marc Almond and Human League, it promised to transport people back to a different age.

Toyah was superb, belting out a mix of her songs and cover versions, and she compered the night. Toyah clearly still has it.

Five Star don’t. As far as I could tell, it was more like one out of Five Star; she gave it a good go to be fair, but kept on shouting Come on Nottingham. She couldn’t hear me shouting back that we were about 23 miles from Nottingham and people were as likely to have come from Sheffield or Spalding as they were Nottingham.

• Continue reading at the Derbyshire Times.

Toyah Willcox, 5 Star and Jason Donovan at Flashback Festival: Review and pictures

It was the rain that dominated the second day of pop nostalgia at the 80’s Flashback Festival at Clumber Park, but whilst this packed crowd donned waterproofs and brollies, their enthusiasm for good 80’s music was not in any way dampened. The regular compere for the Saturday night slot, Clive Jackson, the Doctor from Doctor & The Medics was unfortunately unable to attend. Toyah Willcox took up the mantle and did a great job keeping the party going.

Soul II Soul hogged the sunshine and had the crowd on their feet with their hits including, Keep On Movin’ and Back To Life before handing the stage over to Toyah for her set. With a huge back catalogue of hits, she did not disappoint with old tracks such as Good Morning Universe and I Want To Be Free. Covers included a sterling performance of Guns ‘n’ Roses Sweet Child Of Mine, before finishing with It’s A Mystery.

• Continue reading/View Photo Gallery at the Nottingham Post. (Photos © Kevin Cooper/Nottingham Post)

Flashback Festival: Toyah Willcox, Boney M and The Human League among acts at Clumber Park

A star from the 1980s with a career spanning more than 30 years has promised she will be singing all of her fan-favourite songs at this weekend’s Flashback Festival.

Toyah Willcox, 57, is one of the performers at the festival at Clumber Park, on Saturday.

The two-day event, which starts on Friday, will feature a host of artists from the 1970s and 1980s for the sixth retro music festival.

Rock and pop singer Toyah said: “I have played the festival five or six times before and it is one of the prettiest venues I have performed at. I would like to shoot a music video there.”

Toyah put her band together in 1977 and went on to have 13 top 40 singles, recorded 20 albums, and has toured live across the world. She said over the years her audience has grown and now she plays to bigger crowds than when she did in the 1980s.

• Continue reading at the Newark Advertiser. Further info @ toyahwillcox.com.

• Mearns Leader: Toyah to serve Stonehaven well: Eighties pop icon Toyah Willcox is the latest chart star to play in Stonehaven in a long list that includes Simple Minds and The Human League. The former punk princess – whose biggest hit was It’s A Mystery – is to take the stage at Stonehaven Town Hall on September, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 – Continue reading…

• Through The Magic Door: Festival Fun at Cropredy 2015: For example this year a few of the highlights were The Proclaimers, Toyah Willcox, and some of the new ones we enjoyed were Ahab and Katzenjammer – Continue reading…

• We Are Folk: Toyah setting the stage on fire at Cropredy – Continue reading…

• Newark Advertiser: Are you heading to Clumber Park for the Flashback Festival? – Continue reading…

• Daily Mail: Talkin’ about his generation: Phil Daniels relives his iconic role in Quadrophenia as he’s reunited with the Mod scooter he rode in the film… over 30 years later: The film also starred other emerging British talent, such as, Ray Winstone, Toyah Wilcox, Lesley Ash and Philip Davis – as well as Sting. But while the iconic film is ingrained in a whole generation’s collective mind, its star can barely recall filming it. ‘All I can remember about the film is working really hard. We shot it all in six weeks and we did the end first,’ Phil confessed – Continue reading…

• Paul Nicholson @ Twitter: Toyah and the boys at Eastbourne Bandstand last week – Continue reading…

• Fused: Cropredy Festival > Review: An interesting overview of last week’s festival, with some equally interesting photos, and even a few lines on Toyah: “Toyah Willcox. The latter named must surely keep an aging portrait in her attic and delivered an energetic punk-pop set with spasmodically operatic vocals which she reckoned have “5 years left” – Continue reading…

Punk princess rocks town hall for two nights steady

Eighties pop icon Toyah Willcox is to perform in a North-east town, playing two gigs in two nights. The former punk princess is to take the stage at Stonehaven Town Hall on September 18 and 19.

The event is being organised by music shop owner Chris Stirk. He said: “These revival gigs usually turn out to be great nights out with the acts giving their all and the crowd bopping along. “Toyah is a uniquely gifted performer. She is charismatic, outspoken and one of Britain’s iconic household names. She is an award- winning rock legend, as well as a much-loved actress and music composer and we are delighted she is the latest big act to come to Stonehaven.”

Chris was keen to add any money made from the concerts goes into community projects , and at the end of the year any surplus funds go to a local charity. Toyah had hit singles It’s A Mystery, I Want to Be Free, Brave New World and Be Proud, Be Loud (Be Heard). Tickets are available from Ma Simpson’s music shop in Stonehaven.

• News Source: Aberdeen Evening Express. Buy tickets here.

Worksop: Flashback Festival is set to go this weekend at Clumber Park

Now into its sixth year, the Flashback Festival returns to Clumber Park in Worksop this weekend with a celebration of the best of the 70s and 80s.

The weekend kicks-off tonight (Friday) with the best of the 70s, headlined by disco legends Sister Sledge. The line-up also consists of Boney M, The Real Thing, Hot Chocolate and Odyssey.

The following day sees the return of all things 80, headlined by Sheffield band The Human League. The line-up also includes Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond, Jason Donovan, 5 Star and Toyah.

• Continue reading at the Worksop Guardian.

It’s no mystery: Toyah will take to stage for two Stonehaven Town Hall gigs

Toyah Willcox is the latest chart star to play one of the north-east’s most popular music venues.

The former punk princess is to take the stage at Stonehaven Town Hall on September 18 and 19.

The gigs follow her successful recent appearance at Scone’s Rewind festival alongside other greats from the 1980s – including Bananarama, Jimmy Somerville, Kim Wilde and Nik Kershaw.

The event is being organised by music shop owner Chris Stirk, who has also booked ska band Bad Manners, led by Buster Bloodvessel, for October and Scottish hard rock group Nazareth for next April. She has already brought rockers Big Country to the town hall and was also responsible for a highly-acclaimed version of the musical Hairspray being put on there, with auditions about to start for a stage version of the hit movie Fame.

Chris, who also organises the popular open-air charity music festival Party in the Park, said: “These revival gigs usually turn out to be great nights out, with the acts giving their all and the crowd bopping along.”

• Continue reading at The Dundee Courier.

The lovely Toyah Willcox has blogged briefly about her role in “The Afternoon of the Living Dead” for Doctors. This makes me very happy. Go and take a peek at Toyah’s Blog.

• Continue reading at Scriptuality.

As the bells from St Mary the Virgin rang out at 4pm on Thursday so too, on a sloping swathe of Oxfordshire farmland half-a-mile away, did a fiddle, an acoustic guitar and a mandolin. The sky was filled with threatening white-cum-greyish clouds and a mild drizzle descended but Fairport Convention were already in full flow.

The bass heavy, Eighties, jazz-funk of Level 42 was not up my particular alley. And neither, did I think feel, would be a revival of Toyah’s hits from the same era. But the sassy blonde pixie-warrior-princess delivered a breathless show which even included some pogoing. “Here I am, 57 years-old and I’m still singing the punk stuff,” she gasped between numbers. And singing it pretty well, too.

• Continue reading at the Swindon Advertiser.

Punk princess of the 1980s, Toyah Willcox, is one of the star names appearing in this year’s Trowbridge Arts Festival taking place in October.

Actress, pop icon and TV presenter Toyah will bring the festival to a starry close in an Up Close and Personal performance at Trowbridge Civic Centre on Sunday November 1.

Festival director Andrew Bryant said: “We are absolutely delighted Toyah has agreed to close this year’s festival.

“She is a legendary and much-loved performer and has followed a fascinating career path. She is a name we have been keen to add to the festival for a long time. After last year’s sell-out performance by Hazel O’Connor we would advise people to purchase tickets as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

“This will be a very special night for Trowbridge.”

• Continue reading at the Gazette & Herald.

• Worksop Guardian: Stellar line-up of 70s and 80s stars for the Flashback Festival: Fans of music from the 70s and 80s will be in for a treat with some of the greatest artists and bands from that era at Clumber Park’s Flashback Festival next weekend.

The weekend will kick-off Friday, August 21 with the best of the 70s. The line-up consists of Boney M, The Real Thing, Hot Chocolate, Odyssey and disco legends Sister Sledge. The following day sees the return of all things 80, headlined by Sheffield band The Human League. The line-up also includes Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond, Jason Donovan, 5 Star, and Toyah and Flashbacks – Continue reading…

• Matlock Mercury: Top acts flock to Flashback: Clumber Park will see a 70s v 80s weekend of concerts later this month to mark the sixth anniversary of the popular retro music concert The Flashback Festival. Fans of music from those two decades will be in for a treat with some of the greatest artists and bands from that era in action.

Saturday sees the return of all things 80s. Enthusiasts of this era will be flocking to Clumber Park from all over the UK. The Human League are set to headline the festival. Joining The Human League will be Marc Almond, Jason Donovan, 5 Star, Toyah and Flashback’s favourite compere, The Doctor of Doctor & The Medics… – Continue reading…

• Fairport’s Cropredy Convention opens today. Toyah plays the final day on Saturday.

• Northamptonshire Telegraph: Fairport begin Cropredy festival: Thousands of folk, fans are expected to head to Cropredy today as Fairport Convention’s annual festival returns. The hosts will kick off proceedings with an acoustic set as well as bringing the festival to a close on the Saturday night. The Friday will opened by the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award winners who will be followed by ahab, Judith Owen, Skinny Lister, Skerryvore, Fish and The Proclaimers. The second day will be headlined by Level 42. The final day of Cropredy will be opened by Richard Digance who will be followed by Kevin Dempsey and Rosie Carson, The New Grasscutters, Band of Friends, Toyah Willcox, Paul Carrack and Iain Matthews and Egbert Derix – Continue reading…

• Banbury Guardian: What’s on where around Banbury: listings, August 13 edition: Music – Today (Thursday August 13) to Saturday August 15: Fairport’s Cropredy Convention – Three days of some of the best folk music at the popular annual shindig. Performers include Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Level 42, The Proclaimers, Fish, Paul Carrack, Toyah Willcox and Fairport Convention themselves. Tickets will be available at the gate. See www.fairportconvention.com – Continue reading…

Hippodrome / Thursday 13th

It’s Toyah! Actual Toyah Willcox! Household name! Singer! Model! Actress! She was on I’m A Celeb y’know. And she’s that voice in the Teletubbies that goes “Teletubbies, say goodbye!” Not many people know that. Anyway she’s at the Hippodrome for your aural pleasure, doing songs, and she’s going to be sublime.

The Hippodrome Casino, Leicester Square
Cranbourn Street, WC2H 7JH
Show time 8pm. Tickets from £40.

The Civic Centre is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a performance by Toyah Willcox, entitled ‘Toyah: Acoustic, Up Close and Personal’ on Sunday November 1st, closing this year’s Trowbridge Arts Festival.

A colourful character, and part of the ’80s post-punk New Wave scene, Toyah had considerable chart success with hits such as It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Free and Brave New World.

Tickets for the performance cost £15 each, and are available to buy from Trowbridge Information Centre.

• Continue reading at Trowbridge TC wesbite.

MAYHEM FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCE FIRST GUEST AND CLOSING FILM

Mayhem Film Festival are thrilled to announce Steve Oram’s Aaaaaaaah! and Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation as the first two films from this year’s line-up.

Taking place on 15-18 October, Mayhem Film Festival will close its 11th edition with Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation. Hailed as Kusama’s strongest work by Variety, The Invitation is a deeply disturbing, slow burn horror thriller from the director of Jennifer’s Body.

This year, the festival will also welcome back Steve Oram (Sightseers) with his directorial debut Aaaaaaaah! produced by Andrew Starke and executive produced by Ben Wheatley (Rook Films). The film, which contains no traditional dialogue, is an insane and hilarious collision of Romeo and Juliet and The Planet of the Apes in suburbia. Steve Oram will make the trip to present the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A.

• Continue reading at Broadway. Further info on Mayhem Film Festival 2015 is available by clicking below.

NEW IMAGES FROM STEVE ORAM’S ‘AAAAAAAAH!’ RELEASED

The peculiar British thriller will premiere at Frightfest this summer.

A range of images have been released for Aaaaaaaah! (2015), the filmmaking debut from British writer-director Steve Oram, best known for his role in Ben Wheatley’s sadistic comedy Sightseers (2012).

Starring Julian Barratt, Toyah Willcox, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Lucy Honigman, Tom Meeton, Sean Reynard and Oram himself, with supporting from Noel Fielding, Tony Way and Sightseers co-star Alice Lowe, the film tells the story of alpha male Smith and his Beta, Keith, who make a move to take over a local community. They hook up with a restless Female, Denise, which ignites a deadly feud in which emotions run high and deep-seated grudges resurface amongst the tribe.

• Continue reading at Film 3 Sixty.

The excitement is mounting…. As we’ve mentioned previously, Aaaaaaaah!, the new film by Steve Oram, which features a bevy of TVO faces, will be getting its world premiere next month at Film 4 FrightFest at Leicester Square! But for those of you who can’t make it there, don’t despair – because the film may be coming to a screen near you!

Additional screenings of Aaaaaaaah! include:

Picture House Central in London’s West End on 4th September (+ cast Q&A); End of the Road Festival (Dorset), 4th-6th September; Mayhem in Nottingham, 15-18 October. Plus more dates to be announced soon.

• Continue reading at The Velvet Onion. Details of further screenings of Aaaaaaaah! will be available here.

A new interview with Toyah, published today, by UK Music Reviews.

Toyah Willcox, singer–songwriter chats with Kevin Cooper about her first appearance on Top Of The Pops, touring with The Humans, the release of her new film AHHHHH!, and performing at The Flashback Festival in Clumber Park.

Toyah Willcox is an English singer-songwriter and actress. In a career spanning more than thirty years, she has had fifteen Top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays and ten feature films, and voiced and presented numerous television shows.

More recently she has formed a band called The Humans, which she fronts. She also tours with her own acoustic set and is heavily involved with The Flashback and Rewind Festivals. An incredibly busy lady, it was a privilege for Kevin Cooper to have the opportunity to catch up with her for a chat and this is what she had to say.

Hi Toyah how are you?
Hello Kevin I’m good thanks for asking.

So tell me, just how is life treating Toyah at this moment in time?
It’s very good Kevin, I am so busy that I am either spending twenty hours per day in my office or I am travelling to a show. Honestly, I have never been busier but don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, I am incredibly grateful. It is fabulous and everything is so interesting. I don’t like doing just one thing, I like to have a lot of variety and at the moment I have got that. I am currently filming a drama for the BBC; I am promoting a new movie, and I have another movie being released over in Berlin in November, and so it is just very, very busy. And thankfully the shows are going wonderfully well too.

• Continue reading at UK Music Reviews.

As tweeted by Toyah this week – the programme she filmed is the BBC’s daytime drama Doctors.

We have had the pleasure of being joined on set by the incredible Toyah Willcox. Toyah has returned to her midlands roots to film scenes for a fanatastic episode that will be aired in November. Keep your eyes on the website for an interview with the lady herself.

NB: Toyah has previously had a role in Doctors. She played “Marcy Preston” in an episode in April 2000.