TikTik - Interview May 2007.

Musically? Yello, William Orbit, ’70s Bowie, The Fabs, Kraftwerk, Gong, Vangelis, Brian Eno,Todd Rundgren,Van Halen,DAF, Nina Hagen, etc, etc.

Art. Creation. Intuition.Sound. Structure. Sex. Passion. Vision. Adventure.Travel.Wine.Food. Conversation.Technology

None. Self taught with all my own faults. Instinctive.

Mime void. Boring. Classical. Frustrating. Full of unrequited ambition. Suddenly’. Thank you Mr Robert Pereno. History.Excitement. Possibilities.

Met him after mime class one day and enjoyed his coat. Asked him where did he get it from? One thing led to another.Stuff happens. Good stuff leads to better stuff if you’re ready. I was.

All of the Shock info etc is really well documented on our own site and on Wikipedia etc. Every member of Shock has a different tale to tell but basically we just wanted to f*** everybody up the ass visually

We met Gary at the Embassy Club in London one evening and he slyly suggested that he’d like us to be his support act at Wembley. He enjoyed our act and quite possibly entertained notions of a liason with one of our female members. Well, who wouldn’t? We were the perfect act to support him. No bum crack roadies and no 2 hour soundchecks. Just full on visual entertainment. Burlesque in outer space. Who could resist?

BIG TIME!

We had our 15 minutes.

Tik and Tok were born out of a desire to do something outside of Shock that made us self-sufficient. Something portable, something extreme and visually unusual.We were already T&T within Shock in a small way, so when the group split it wasn’t a disaster for us but more of a wake up call. We were already famous through our TV appearances as Tik & Tok so the playing field was wide open for us. All we had to do was get a record deal. And with the help of a couple of friends we did just that and thus ’Summer In The City ’ was born as an initial entry into PopWorld. Looking back we should have gone for ’Vile Bodies’ as a first single, but we naively thought that conventional would be good. It’s OK though, it got us some recognition as a recording entity.

We asked him! We’d done his ’Farewell’ shows at Wembley when we were members of Shock and it was a year or two later and we were ready and hot to trot. So nothing to lose and everything to gain.We met and talked about the logistics of it all, had rehearsals for sound and vision etc and then we were off! 6 week roller coaster. Total Blam Blam!

The best time ever.Finally reaching our true audience. Loud music and bright lights. A darkened stage and smoke machines before we made our entrance. A joyful audience waiting for us.Parties every night. Enormous positive reaction from the fans. Truly professional organization. Meeting fans offstage here, there and everywhere. The power of music and presentation, Gary and his family as wonderful human beings. Feeling that we’d got it ’.right!

All of the above.

When it came to an end.

Do his support acts really get a rough ride? I think most of Gary’s fans are pretty open minded really. Us? We were original, visually stunning, had no amps or leads everywhere and gave the audience something that they’ve never seen before or since. Two Tarts having fun on stage and giving it everything they’ve got! Plus we came out during Gary’s set and added a bit of T&T oddness in a couple of numbers. The warmth from the audience was fantastic and we’ll love them forever for that.

16 Tell us about Intolerance and how you came to record ’A Child With The Ghost’.

I think that all the ’Intolerance’ stuff is pretty much covered on our own website really, so I don’t have anything to add to that. Gary gave us the basic’A Child With The Ghost’ 24 track for us to cover in a moment of supreme generosity. We remixed the backing track and then we put our vocals over that and the wonderful Tessa Niles then added her sublime backing vocals.Probably one of the most beautiful and original songs that I’ve ever heard. I think we did it justice..

17. What are your recollections of Paul's Death?

Don’t have any to be honest.Never spoke to him I don’t think. He seemed to keep himself to himself backstage at Wembley A great shame.

18. You ’supported’ Numan on the Leo Sayer show to the track ’This Is New Love’. What do you remember from this?

Gary’s blue hair and a particularly naff and insulting warm up comedian who thought it funny to take the piss out of Gary.But Ron and Reg sorted him out though!

19. Did you make a guest appearance on the Berserker Tour in 1984?

Yes. I remember we came out and sang along on stage to ’Are Friends Electric’ one night and I think we came out as Ronnie and Reggie Dome at some point during his set.

20. There is a programme on Sky One called Pop Years. Some clips have been shown from the early ’80’s in Steve Strange’s club and believe we have spotted you there. What do you remember of Steve and this period in your life?

I think we were accepted by Steve as being moderately ’cool’ at the time. Back then ’Steve Strange’ was a franchise and a business. He serviced them both well. Bless him.

21. What have you been up to from 1984 to 2005?

A lot of different things! Acting, photography, making my own music, working with Georg Kajanus from Sailor as a duo called Noir, writing my autobiography ’Falling Upwards’, getting married, getting divorced a few years later,appearing in over 90 TV Commercials, doing Star Wars conventions all over the world.Usual things really!

22. Is it true you have been an extra on Eastenders?

I did one show back in ’85 when I was skint. But then I got myself a proper Acting Agent, changed the way I looked, started to do some real acting stuff and commercials etc and never looked back.

23. If yes, what other work have you done like this?

Too many things to mention but certainly NO extra work.

24. Tik ’n’ Tok are back together and have a new album ’Dream Orphans ’. What brought this about and is it easier these days with myspace and the net to get your music heard?

We met up at Star Wars conventions and I showed Tokky the T&T website and told him that The Rephlex label was releasing a vinyl EP of some of our old b sides in 2004 and it caught his interest. So we decided to make a new album that would be just for ourselves this time round, the type of music that we would listen to at home. Well, we did it and we’re very pleased with it! It’s great to have all this new technology to play with these days. Amazing really.

It’s easier to get it heard definitely, but the problem is getting people to buy it!

25. What do you think of Numan's music today?

Like it very much.Although sometimes I think he overdoes that ’quiet whispery verse going into a MASSIVE chorus’ thing. But it works brilliantly live. He’s a very clever and talented arranger of sound and melody.It’s powerful stuff.

26. You were recently spotted at a Numan gig at the Hammersmith Palais in 2006. Do you regularly go to Numan gigs?

Not really. We went to the Telekon show at The Forum this year, before that it was 1997 I think at The Apollo in Hammersmith.

27. Do you regularly keep in contact with Gary?

Hardly at all. We saw him backstage at the Palais, that was the first time since 1984! I sent him a copy of the remastered ’Intolerance’ a few years back, and we sent him ’Dream Orphans’ a couple of months ago. Don’t know if he’s listened to it though!

28. Finally, could you summarise your experience of working with Gary?

A golden opportunity.Much cherished. And wished for again.

For more information on Tik and Tok why not visit their

web site

or their

myspace

page.