Toby Amies is a filmmaker and broadcaster who specialises in making programmes about art, music, and travel with an emphasis on fringe culture and alternative perspectives. He is best known for his feature-length documentary '' The Man Whose Mind Exploded'' and his broadcast work on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, MTV Europes's ''Alternative Nation'', FilmFour, '' Lonely Planet Six Degrees'' and ''The Rough Guides''. In addition, Amies is a widely published portrait photographer and writer.

Early life and education

Amies was brought up in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

and went to the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

in Devon and subsequently the University of Kansas, where he was awarded a scholarship in

Art History Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

. He declined the scholarship in favour of work in music TV in the UK at the Powerstation.

Career

Amies began his career on air with Chris Evans, Boy George, Steven Wells and Suggs. He started DJing in art college in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

(he was in the same class as British artist Tim Noble) and after leaving the UK he worked behind the decks in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

at top 40 radio station KRQ alongside Jimmy Kimmel. He later worked at

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

in Los Angeles and then moved to work in the news department at MTV Europe partly thanks to work/appearances with

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

and

Traci Lords Traci Elizabeth Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma; May 7, 1968) is an American actress and singer. As a 15-year-old high-school dropout, she used Identity document forgery, fake identity documents to enter the sex industry, where she began appearin ...

at MCA before moving to MTV. Whilst at MTV Europe he worked on the programmes ''Alternative Nation'', ''US Top 20'', ''Weekend Edition'', ''The Big Picture'' and was the co-creator of the programme ''MTV Hot'' which later featured Paul Tonkinson, Sara Cox and the German actor Christian Ulmen as hosts. He also worked alongside

Davina McCall Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She has presented various television shows for Channel 4, including ''Streetmate'' (1998–2001, 2016), ''Big Brother (British TV series), Big Brother'' (2 ...

. Amies later moved to MTV USA to host '' MTV Live'' with

Carson Daly Carson Jones Daly (born June 22, 1973) is an American television host, radio personality, producer, and television personality. From 1998 to 2003, Daly was a VJ (media personality), VJ on MTV's ''Total Request Live'' (TRL), and a DJ for the Sou ...

. This show later became '' TRL.'' He also hosted his own show, ''Countdown to the Ten Spot''. In 1999, he moved on to form the band Genius Steals with New York City photographer Brooke Williams, working with

Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...

, Romanthony, Darry Logan, Jim Sclavunos and Matt Verta-Ray amongst others. At this time he also hosted the anarchic US Top 20, most famous for the show that attempted to measure the length of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. Since moving back to the UK he has covered film festivals for FilmFour, worked for Radio 4 and became the host of three series of '' Lonely Planet Six Degrees'' and two series of ''The Rough Guides''. In the Lonely Planet series, he teamed up with fellow British presenter Asha Gill to visit many countries. Amies presented programmes on Radio 4,

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

and BBC World Service. He occasionally podcasts on podomatic. He concentrates on filmmaking, regularly making films for Nowness, the Tate, Christie's and music videos. In 2022 Amies released the documentary '' In The Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50'' (formerly titled ''Cosmic FuKc'') about

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

, to coincide with the group's 50th anniversary.

References

Rough Guide
Phil Star
Radio and TV
''The Guardian'' 23 May 2008
King Crimson Celebrating 20 years

King Crimson unveil trailer for new documentary

External links

Toby Amies Home site

The Man Whose Mind Exploded Film Site
http://thequietus.com/articles/14031-the-man-whose-mind-exploded-film-review]
Toby Amies Showreel

Toby Amies's podcasts

Toby Amies profile at the Lonely Planet website

Beat Mining With The Vinyl Hoover
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amies, Toby 1967 births Photographers from Worcestershire English television presenters Living people British video jockeys Alumni of the University of Exeter