Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Pray to the Mighty Boosh above! Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding are back. The comedy duo will be taking to the screen in a new feature film, Aaaaaaaah!, written and directed by Steve Oram. The first trailer for the film has been released, and it’s a strobing dash through the mad tumble of the film.

What is Aaaaaaaah!?

There’s no hint yet what the plot might be, but it’s listed as a “thriller” on IMDB.

There also seems to be a Spaced feeling in the setting and tone. This may be due in part to the Blood & Ice Cream pedigree in the cast and crew. The director, Steve Oram, appeared in the most recent Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Edgar Wright collaboration, The World’s End. Alice Lowe, playing an unnamed role in Aaaaaaaah!, appeared in The World’s End and Hot Fuzz.

The cast is a ripper, with Barratt and Fielding joined by Julian Rhind-Tutt (The Hour, Green Wing), Tony Way (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and more. Tom Meeten, of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, will be in the film, though fellow luxe comic Mike Fielding won’t.

Pop-culture cred is right up there, with Toyah Willcox having once been a punk-rock superstar / the narrator of children’s show Brum.

• Continue reading at Rip It Up.

Household name, pop icon, TV presenter, and stage and screen actress Toyah is coming to Ironbridge for a special ‘Audience with’ evening.

This fantastic evening will see Toyah entertain the audience with a mixture of songs, conversation and video footage from her varied career.

An Audience with Toyah will take place in the Engine Shop, Enginuity from 7pm with an interval. Refreshments and a bar will be availiable.

Admission to Enginuity is included in the ticket price from 5pm. Tickets are £20 per person and are availaible in advance only – click here to buy now or from any of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Shops.

• Continue reading at Ironbridge.

A new interview with make-up artist Alyn Waterman at Make Art Not War, in their regular “Meet The Artists” series, in which he mentions Toyah and her former make-up artist Richard Sharah.

MANW: All artists have ‘the wish list’; a face they would love to work on or a show or film they would have loved to have worked on. I’ve been obsessed with The Rocky Horror Show makeup since I was 3 and my current obsession is Nashville and getting hold of Connie Britton’s hair. Who or what are yours?

AW: Toyah Willcox, and Richard Sharah’s makeup designs on her, were a huge inspiration at the start of my career, I would still love to do her makeup. I love Kevyn Aucoin’s work, to work on the Supermodels would have been amazing. Audrey Hepburn’s hair in My Fair Lady was beautiful and inspiring and I also love all the Bond Girl styles, especially from the 1960s.

• Continue reading at Make Art Not War.

PUNK ROCK GRRRLZ: 5 Great Films That’ll Put The “Riot” In Your Grrrl

3. Jubilee (1978)

Okay, you might want to brace yourselves for this one.

Queen Elizabeth I time travels to 1970s England where nihilism and anarchy rule and witnesses the collapse of civilization. She also joins a punk band.

Weird? Absolutely. But where else will you see a bunch of iconic punk people like Jordan, Toyah Willcox, Nell Campbell, Adam Ant, Demoriane, Wayne County, The Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees?

Nowhere.

• Continue reading at Forces of Geek.

Eighties star Toyah Willcox to headline at Glastonbudget 2015

Eighties singer Toyah Willcox has been announced as the special guest at a Leicestershire music festival to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

Tribute festival Glastonbudget started in 2005 and is held annually in Wymeswold, Leicestershire.

Toyah Willcox will perform a variety of her biggest hits at the festival including It’s a Mystery, Thunder in the Mountains and I Want to be Free, along with songs from her most recent album, Has God Ceased to Dream You. (Dreamscape: Has God… is a Digital EP, Toyah’s most recent album was In The Court Of The Crimson Queen)

• Continue reading at the Leicester Mercury.

Things To Do In London This Weekend: 18-19 April 2015

TOYAH WILLCOX: Toyah — yes TOYAH — performs an intimate gig alongside The Humans tonight at the 100 Club on Oxford Street. 18+. £12, 7pm.

Quadrophenia (ITV4, Thu 23 April: 10.30pm)

What’s It About? Fishtail parkas, shiny scooters and The Who, among other things. More specifically, it’s about the Mod movement of the late 1960s. Quadrophenia focuses on the experiences of Jimmy, played by the always-excellent Phil Daniels, as he prepares for a weekend jaunt to Brighton.

Love interest is provided by a very young Lesley Ash, and the climax comes in the shape of an almighty stand-off between Jimmy’s Mods and their arch-enemies the Rockers at the seaside resort.

Is It Any Good? Yes. Even after 36 years, this cult drama has lost a little of its edge, but these days, it’s not so much as showcase for The Who’s music as it is a Who’s Who of the British entertainment scene.

Watch out for an appearance by a fresh-faced Sting as main man Ace Face. Other surprise performances are provided by Mark Wingett of The Bill, Toyah Willcox, Phil Davis and Ray Winstone

Anything Else? John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten, was originally slated for the lead role, but the distributors refused to insure him, forcing him to be replaced.

Starring: Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Sting, Ray Winstone, Toyah Willcox, Michael Elphick | Star Rating: **** (1979)

• Article Source: Herts & Essex Observer.

Toyah, Bad Manners plus Aly and Phil to play Stonehaven gigs

Stonehaven is in store for a fantastic line up of gigs in the coming months as an 80’s legend, ska kings and folk heroes are all due to appear.

Heading back to the 80’s Toyah Willcox will play for two nights at Stonehaven Town Hall on September 18 and September 19.

The event page on facebook says: “Toyah that vivacious singer from the 80s is out on tour and every bit as good as before and looking fantastic. Exclusive to Stonehaven Town Hall for two nights only, only dates north of Edinburgh in 2015.”

• Continue reading at the Mearns Leader.

Toyah Willcox to play Uplands venue with band The Humans

Homo Sapians began to evolve 200,000 years ago, but The Humans first appeared in Estonia in 2007.

The band is fronted by Toyah Willcox, who first announced herself to British cultural consciousness in the late seventies, first in Jubilee, the seminal piece of punk celluloid, and then forging her own solo musical career with a string of top 40 UK hits during the eighties, an explosion of colour and energy.

• Continue reading at the South Wales Evening Post.

Drummer Chris Wong playing with Toyah and the Humans plus Scarlett and the Cherry Reds in Medway and Thanet

If you plan to spend this weekend taking it easy, spare a thought for busy musician Chris Wong.

Not only will Chris be performing with Toyah and the Humans at Chatham on Sunday, but before that he will be multi-tasking on drums and percussion with blues and rockabilly trio Scarlett Rae and the Cherry Reds in Broadstairs on Friday, April 17.

Chris is mainly known as Toyah’s guitarist/bassist but, in this latter line up, he and frontwoman Andeecorr Price, otherwise known as Scarlett, form the driving rhythm section.

• Continue reading at Kent Online.

Aaaaaaaah! seems like the type of crazy movie that you might have to watch when a little drunk or in a mood to be slightly disturbed. Written and directed by Steve Oram (known for Sightseers), Aaaaaaaah! stars Julian Barratt, Toyah Willcox, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Steve Oram, and Noel Fielding.

The film is said to be basically Romeo and Juliet meets Planet of the Apes. With no discernible dialogue, meaning all of the actors will be grunting and otherwise behaving like monkeys, this movie looks to be rather bananas and insane in nature. The trailer is a little NSFW due to some brief nudity and sexual themes.

• Continue reading at Gotcha Movies.

Toyah Willcox has enjoyed a successful career as a singer and an actress for nearly 40 years. Now she is going back to her roots to embark on a UK tour with rock band The Humans.

Toyah joins Lorraine on the sofa to talk about her forthcoming tour, why 80s music is still in demand and why she is still relevant after almost four decades in the business!

Toyah and The Humans telling strange tales tour

14/04/2015: GLOUCESTER 
GUILDHALL; 16/04/2015: SOUTHAMPTON 
THE TALKING HEADS; 17/04/2015: SWANSEA 
THE GARAGE [WHITEZ]; 18/04/2015: LONDON 
100 CLUB; 19/04/2015: CHATHAM, KENT 
THE BRITANNIA

• Continue reading/Watch the interview at ITV/Lorraine.

First Teaser for Steve Oram’s Wonderfully Surreal AAAAAAAAH!

The first teaser has dropped for Steve Oram’s (Sightseers) directorial debut, Aaaaaaaah!, which is billed as “Romeo & Juliet meets Planet of the Apes”. Wowzers.

The high-concept film sees the film’s actors favouring grunts for traditional dialogue, a la Quest for Fire. That’s really all we know at this point.

Besides Oram, the film stars Alice Lowe, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and Toyah Willcox.

• Continue reading at Quiet Earth.

She has been a household name since the eighties, and Toyah Willcox is heading to Gloucester Guildhall tonight (Dreamscape: It’s tomorrow night!) for an intimate gig with her band The Humans.

Toyah isn’t straying far from home when she plays at the Guildhall tonight. The Brummie-born singer lives just over the county border in Worcestershire.

“Looking back on my career I think I’m someone with a good voice who can express themselves,” says Toyah who lives in Pershore with her musician husband Robert Fripp.

“I don’t think you can define it by one subject. I’m a singer and an actress but I’ve also done very well as a businesswoman. But I like to create, I like to sing, I’m very good at that, I’m a good actress but I’m stylised. I can’t lose myself in a role so there’s limitations.”

Outspoken, free-spirited and strong-willed, on the surface Toyah appears to be your typical punk rock star. But she is now known for her smoky, jazz hall vocals.

• Continue reading at the Gloucestershire Echo. Browse Toyah & The Humans’ tour dates.

There’s not much to be said for this one (the trailer is only 34 seconds long after all) but a fan of surreal British comedy might get a few kicks out of the Aaaaaaaah! trailer. Aaaaaaaah! (yes, with eight A’s and the exclamation point) is the (probably mentally disturbed) brainchild of Steve Oram, who’s worked with some of the UK’s best (and weirdest) talents: he co-starred in, and co-wrote Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers; appeared in Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s The World’s End; acted in Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding’s The Mighty Boosh – Barratt and Fielding both have roles in Aaaaaaaah!; and acted with Nick Frost and Chris O’Dowd in Cuban Fury.

Aside from Oram, Barratt, and Fiedling, the cast includes Tony Way (Game of Thrones), Alice Lowe (Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace), and Toyah Willcox (Jubilee, Quadrophenia, and Teletubbies, of course).

• Continue reading at mxdwn.com (All That Matters in Movies).

Superstars set to rock Roxwell in charity family festival organised by mum-of-three

Eighties pop star Toyah Willcox and X Factor’s Next Of Kin are set to rock a charity family festival organised by a local mum-of-three.

Sharon Alford, 44, is using the contacts she’s amassed in an eight-year career working for local radio stations like Saint FM and Chelmsford Community Radio, to put on the event in aid of three charities close to her heart – Essex Air Ambulance, Chelmsford Community Radio and Stanley’s Heroes.

The 44-year-old of Princes Avenue, Mayland, said: “I know what a good job the Air Ambulance does and when I heard about Stanley’s Heroes on Twitter I thought that I had to do something to help the family.”

• Continue reading at the Essex Chronicle. Browse our Soundstock Festival 2015 news here.

First trailer and poster for Steve Oram’s Aaaaaaaah!

The cult of personality would be enough to make Steve Oram‘s Aaaaaaaah! into an incredibly appealing prospect, and very possibly a cult hit; this thing is just jam-packed with favourite figures from British comedy and music.

Just to scratch the surface, there’s Oram himself; his former stage comedy partner Tom Meeten and Sightseers co-star Alice Lowe; both halves of The Mighty Boosh; Tony Way; Toyah Willcox; and the music is by Willcox’s husband, Robert Fripp and his current band, The Crimson Projeckt.

But the real draw is the concept of the film, previously pitched by Oram as “Romeo and Juliet meets Planet of the Apes.”

None of the cast of characters get traditional dialogue, all of them left to communicate through grunts and groans, and their often-animalistic actions. This poster pretty much hits the nail on the head.

• Continue reading at Film Divider.

Ooooh! It’s The First NSFW Trailer For Steve Oram’s AAAAAAAAH!

We have been chomping at the bit here at TwitchFilm to get a look at Steve Oram’s directorial feature debut, Aaaaaaaah! (that’s eight “As”) and now the first teaser trailer for the film has arrived.

Pitched as “Romeo & Juliet meets Planet of the Apes”, Oram’s debut is an insanely surreal concept, with all performers eschewing traditional dialogue in favour of simian-like grunts, roars and howls. Featuring a who’s who of British comedy talent, including Oram himself, Alice Lowe, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and 80s punk princess Toyah Willcox to name just a few, Aaaaaaaah! is quickly becoming one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year. It doesn’t have a release date yet, but it better be soon!

• Continue reading at TwitchFilm.

Eighties star Toyah talks Fifty Shades of Grey, Seattle fairtytales and her upcoming concert in Carlisle.

Toyah Willcox in Fifty Shades of Grey shocker! When the singer saw the trailer for this blockbusting film at the cinema, something seemed familiar. “It was partly shot in an apartment I have been trying to buy in Seattle for the past two years!” she says.

“I just laughed when I saw it. My husband and I commute between Seattle and England. It’s always fun when you see Seattle on films and programmes.”

Seeing the apartment in a film about a sado-masochistic relationship has not put her off buying it. “I’m even keener on it,” she says. “It’s got good provenance!”

Toyah is coming to Cumbria this summer as part of Ultimate Ladies Night at Carlisle Racecourse.

• Continue reading at Cumbria Live.

Toyah – pushing the boundaries as she visits next week

Toyah Willcox’s 38-year career in the spotlight represents something of a split personality. Either one of those personalities – the actress or the singer – is a success in their own right.

While some singers have tried their hand at acting and some actors have flirted with the idea of releasing songs, Toyah has been doing both in tandem, and somehow separately, for her entire career.

“I couldn’t break my career into parts,” she explained. “This year I’m singing three times a week and I’m writing a lot. I have to deliver at least 20 songs a year. That’s what I do. At the same time I’m starring in a British film called Extremis which finishes shooting in three weeks. I just like to always be doing something.”

Toyah’s latest music project, The Humans, combines her vocals with two bass guitars – and that’s it. There are no drums and no lead guitars, meaning Toyah’s voice has to effectively become another instrument.

“We’re pushing the boundaries,” she said. “I like the bass as an instrument. I like its whole timbre and what we’re doing is incredibly exciting. When you think about any classic rock song, it’s the bass as well as the drum that really makes the song. The Humans are really a homage to what a wonderful instrument the bass is.”

• Continue reading at the East Grinstead Courier.

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

Toyah Willcox, singer, songwriter and lead vocalist with The Humans chats with Kevin Cooper about how The Humans got together, acting in Quadrophenia, her solo acoustic tour and the tour of the UK with The Humans.

Toyah Willcox, singer, songwriter from the 1980’s and actor, formed The Humans in 2007 after her husband, Robert Fripp was too busy to perform at the birthday party of the President of Estonia. Having written a forty minute set, and toured Estonia with it in 2007, The Humans have since released three albums.

We Are The Humans was released in 2009, with the follow-up Sugar Rush being released in 2009. The latest album, Strange Tales was released in March 2014. As they prepare for a six date tour of the UK to promote The Humans, Toyah is also busy with her own acoustic tour, she is heavily involved with The Flashback and Rewind Festivals, as well as working on a new Toyah Willcox album together with her successful acting career.

Taking time out from her busy life, she had a chat with Kevin Cooper, and this is what she had to say.

• Continue reading at UK Music Reviews.