Dreamscape – Toyah Willcox Fansite

Is this Black Sabbath cover by King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp and his wife Toyah the oddest tribute of 2020?

The duo perform Paranoid… in a prison

Robert Fripp… visionary, eccentric, King Crimson mastermind and now performer of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid on his Fernandes Custom Gold guitar in a prison while wearing fake tattoos.

And his wife of 34 years, musician / actress / author Toyah Willcox, is singing it while behind bars. It’s the latest instalment of the couple’s wonderfully imaginative lockdown videos that have also included Fripp playing Deep Purple’s ubiquitous Smoke On The Water next to a lake while Wilcox dances dressed as a cheerleader (see below).

We say bring it on, it’s not like 2020 isn’t bizarre enough already.

• Continue reading at Music Radar. See also Guitar World.

King Crimson’s Robert Fripp Performs Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” as Wife Toyah Sings and Dances Behind Bars:

The King Crimson founder and his wife cover Sabbath’s classic song in bizarre fashion

This year has seen its fair share of unexpected and bizarre phenomena, and King Crimson founder Robert Fripp and his singer wife Toyah Willcox have come to embrace it. The musical duo have spent quarantine making performance art videos, but their latest idea for Halloween might be their most absurd yet.

Donned in henna-like tattoos that cover his face and arms, Fripp starts playing Black Sabbath’s iconic song “Paranoid” on his Les Paul. Behind him, Willcox is locked behind bars — in what’s either an old prison cell or an underground bank vault — and starts dancing when the songs begins. When it comes time for the verses, she starts singing the metal classic.

The effect of the video is pretty uncomfortable but morbidly entertaining. Perhaps the use of “Paranoid” and dancing in a cage is a metaphor for quarantine? Or maybe it’s just Fripp and Willcox’s idea of a Halloween joke.

• Continue reading at Consequence Of Sound.

Watch a tattooed Robert Fripp play Black Sabbath in a prison cell while Toyah dances

You heard us right: Watch a tattooed Robert Fripp play Black Sabbath’s Paranoid in a prison cell while Toyah dances

Imagine: you wake up from a coma in November 2020. You’ve been asleep since Christmas, so you’re entirely unaware of the year’s contents. You don’t know about the virus, or the lockdowns, or that Liverpool are champions and that everything’s been cancelled.

You grab your smartphone, and you log into Facebook to check out what’s been happening in your absence. And the first thing you see is a video of a heavily tattooed Robert Fripp. The King Crimson mastermind is alone sitting in a prison cell, playing Black Sabbath’s Paranoid on a Les Paul. In the background stands his wife of 34 years, the adventurous pop star Toyah Willcox. She dances, and at the point where Ozzy Osbourne would normally start singing, she sings.

• Continue reading at Louder.

The Halloween vibes have seeped over into Toyah & Robert’s somewhat ‘Paranoid’ Sunday Lunch. Enjoy…..

Toyah and Robert invite you to their Halloween Party… (Caps from a video that is © Toyah Willcox)

Happy Halloween. More of your social, emotional and music tuning predicaments are addressed with care and attention by the deeply unqualified Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp.

It’s Halloween! The perfect day for a spooky Toyah playlist (albeit a short one!). I’m not much of a horror fan, can’t even watch a scary movie without the light on, but being brave to compile this tuneful frightfest… Six from Toyah, from the spine tingling to the truly electrifying! Listen to the playlist at Spotify. (Thanks Craig!)

The Packt: From the 1982 album The Changeling. “The doors blow open. You’ve arrived!” Scary and Epic! #Majestic

She: From the 1980 album The Blue Meaning. The opening of this track is as “gothic” as Toyah ever sounded. An incredible song that builds and builds… “Alleluia!” #Cataclysmic

Voodoo Doll: A b-side from 1983 which, on the surface, sounds like a fairly straightforward pop song. “Eyes alight, I am the night…“. Maybe not so straightforward! #Supernatural

Creepy Room: Another from The Changeling. “They’re sending me to the creepy room, for some chemically induced fear“. Enough said! #Ominous

Victims Of The Riddle (Vivisection): The b-side of Toyah’s 1979 debut single. The subject matter of this track is bizarre in itself (experimenting on sentient animals is highly controversial), but the high-pitch squeals make it all the more uncomfortable to listen to. Producer, Steve James recently revealed they were achieved by Toyah sucking on helium (which would also be utilised during 1980 recording sessions). #Spinechilling

Angels and Demons: From the 1981 EP, Four From Toyah. “Angels and demons, omens and requiems, peers and sightseers, merchants with souvenirs“. Toyah said of the song, “This one’s about growing up, and everything you’re told not to believe in“. #Mysterious

Fangs for the memory! Are you in Ipswich Regent Vampires Rock photos in Days Gone By?

Do you love putting on a ghostly or ghoulish costume to watch Vampires Rock at the Ipswich Regent?

The cult show has visited Ipswich many times over the years – and today we’re looking back at some of the amazing costumes worn by members of the audience.

The concert series is masterminded by Steve Steinman, alias Baron von Rockula. Laced with pyrotechnics, it pays a spectacular tribute to Meat Loaf, AC/DC, Guns ‘n Roses, and more.

It’s all very light hearted, and the perfect way to celebrate Halloween. There have been various different twists to the show over the years, and Toyah Willcox took part in 2009.

Steve Steinman is due to bring his Meat Loaf tribute show, Anything For Love, to the Regent in November next year.

• Continue reading at the Ipswich Star. (NB. Toyah also starred in Vampires Rock, as the Devil Queen, through most of 2008 – Browse lots of news on those tours at our news archive)