Tik and Tok are the robotic

mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

and music duo of

Tim Dry Tim Dry (born 9 January 1952) is an English mime artist, writer, photographic artist, musician and actor, best known for appearing in ''Return of the Jedi'' and the Cult movie, cult sci-fi/horror film ''Xtro''. He was a member of the duo Tik an ...

and Sean Crawford. They began performing together with

Shock Shock may refer to: Common uses Healthcare * Acute stress reaction, also known as psychological or mental shock ** Shell shock, soldiers' reaction to battle trauma * Circulatory shock, a medical emergency ** Cardiogenic shock, resulting from ...

, a rock/mime/burlesque/music troupe in the early 1980s with

Barbie Wilde ''Hellbound: Hellraiser II'' is a 1988 supernatural horror film directed by Tony Randel and starring Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham and Doug Bradley. It is the second film in the ''Hellraiser'' franchise, and draws heavily upo ...

, Robert Pereno, L.A. Richards and

Carole Caplin Carole Caplin (born 8 January 1962) is a British former health consultant, who was the style adviser to Cherie Blair and a fitness adviser to Tony Blair, when he was the British prime minister. She sparked media interest because of her relatio ...

. Shock's first record "Angel Face", with production by

Rusty Egan Rusty Egan (born 19 September 1957 in London) is a British-Irish musician and DJ. Along with former Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock (bass and vocals), Steve New (guitar and vocals), and Midge Ure (guitar, vocals, and keyboards), Egan was the ...

and

Richard James Burgess Richard James Burgess (born 29 June 1949) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, author, manager, marketer and inventor. Burgess's music career spans more than 50 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s a ...

, was a modest dance floor hit. In 1981, Shock co-starred with

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which wa ...

at the 'People's Palace Valentine's Ball' at the

Rainbow Theatre The Rainbow Theatre, originally known as the Finsbury Park Astoria, then the Finsbury Park Paramount Astoria, and then the Finsbury Park Odeon, is a Grade II*-listed building in Finsbury Park, London. The theatre was built in 1930 as an "atmos ...

. Shock went on to support

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

at his

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

shows in April, 1981. They eventually broke up and reformed as a foursome with Wilde, Dry, Crawford and Caplin and released the single, "Dynamo Beat", on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. However, soon after Dry and Crawford left to form Tik and Tok. Tik and Tok, having developed a form of mime movement called 'robotics', appeared on television programmes including '' The Royal Variety Show'' in 1983 and ''

The Tube The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

''. They supported

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

at the

Birmingham Odeon The Birmingham Odeon is a cinema and former concert venue located in Birmingham, England. History It originally opened in 1937 as the Paramount Theatre, featuring a seating capacity of 2,439. It was built on land made vacant by the removal of ...

in 1982, worked with

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

at his home studio, and were themselves supported by a fledgling

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

. They released five

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

and an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

on the Survival

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

in the UK,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Three of these singles were

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

on the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the ...

, "Screen Me I'm Yours" being the most successful, reaching No. 17. Their second single, "Cool Running", peaked at No. 69 in the UK Singles Chart. They went to Tokyo and Germany for live performances and in 1982, were featured as costumed actors in the film '' Xtro'', followed by ''

Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas. The sequel to '' The Empire ...

'' in 1983. They were also the support act on Gary Numan's 'Warriors' tour in late 1983. In 2003, Dry and Crawford were invited to be guests at the first of an ongoing series of Star Wars autograph conventions worldwide, as a result of their roles in ''Return Of The Jedi''. This led to them coming back together as Tik and Tok after 20 years, and releasing an album titled ''Dream Orphans''. Tik and Tok then appeared at the 2006 Elektrofest, at Koko in London.

Discography

Albums

*''Intolerance'' (1984) Survival Records - UK No. 89 *''Dream Orphans'' (2007) Self-released CD *''Intolerance'' (2018) OTB Records vinyl reissue

Singles and EPs

*"Summer in the City" / "Crisis" (1982) Survival Records *"Cool Running" / "Vile Bodies" (1983) Survival Records - UK No. 69 *"Screen Me, I'm Yours" / "Dangerous and Unafraid" (1984) Survival Records *"Everything Will Change" / "Cracking Up" (1984) Survival Records *"Higher Ground" / "Down From The Sky" (1984) Survival Records *"Tik & Tok EP" (2004) Rephlex label (12" vinyl only) *"Slightly Deranged EP" (2006) Self-released CD-R *"Intolerance Xtras EP" (2006) Self-released CD-R *"Vintage Lo-Fi EP" (2006) Self-released CD-R

Compilations

*''Intolerance: The Very Best of 1982-1984'' (2006) Self-released

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can only be Write once read many, written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) ...

*''Intolerance 2 Mega'' (2015) download only. *''Definitive'' (2019) Self-released limited edition 2xCD compilation of all recorded work from 1982-1984

References

Bibliography

*''Praying To The Aliens'' by Gary Numan and Steve Malins. Andre Deutsch 1997. *''Duran Duran - Notorious'' by Steve Malins. Andre Deutsch 2005. *''Falling Upwards - Scenes From A Life'' by Tim Dry. Exposure Publishing. 2005.

External links

Tik and Tok

Tim Dry

Tik & Tok on Discogs

Numanme Tik and Tok page
{{Authority control British mimes English electronic music duos