New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Hot on the heels of a debut DJ set at Liverpool M&S Bank
Arena for Liverpool
Digital Music Festival, Liverpool/London 'virtual hardcore' collective TOKKY HORROR have today released their latest single 'Simulate Me' via Alcopop! Records.
The trio also recently confirmed and announced their first ever full band live appearance for 20th March 2021 at Birkenhead's brand new
Future Yard venue, as covered by NME. Tickets are on sale now: https://futureyard.seetickets.com/
Another slice of forward-thinking, aggressive, punk-attitude-injected electronica, the track marks Tokky's further ascent into their own imagined futuristic landscape of 'virtual hardcore'—taking influence from Atari Teenage Riot's concept of 'digital hardcore' and pushing it forward 30 years.
"ATR were showing punk must always be at the forefront of innovation," explains producer Zee Davine. "It might look backwards to do that, but culturally, politically, and musically it must move forward. 'Simulate Me' was about creating an aggressive sound in a modern, virtual way. If punk is about back to basics, it doesn't get any more basic than just me and a synthesizer."
"I saw a piece recently that said there have been two great ages in technology, the mechanical and the digital, and we are now entering the third: the virtual," continues Davine. "The lockdowns that have been a result of the Coronavirus pandemic have pushed all our lives, including relationships, into a more virtual space. That's what Tokky Horror is; a virtual band. With 'Simulate Me' we wanted to ask what the virtual age will look like for love and sex."
Lyrically, the track imagines a futuristic app used to create your 'perfect' partner, taking all the choice and categories that we're presented with on current dating apps one step further—to create a living doll.
"We all know this isn't how an organic process like love works," says Devine, "and that this sort of power would be abused, creating little fulfilment or happiness. Most of us don't truly know what we want, most of us definitely don't know what we need. Your 'perfect partner' may be someone you never expected, and I feel that the virtual world of love is moving more and more away from organic romance towards a checklist of idealistic criteria."
'Simulate Me' is out now on all good digital service providers and follows on from 'Girlracer: The Remixes', a four track EP featuring all-new versions of their debut single 'Girlracer', also out now.
Written and recorded by TOKKY HORROR, 'Simulate Me' was once again produced and mixed by Zee Davine, and mastered by
Bobby Starchild. Released earlier this summer, debut single 'Girlracer' picked up spins from Tom Robinson at BBC 6music, John Kennedy at
Radio X, BBC introducing, Hoxton
Radio and a host of digital specialist shows.
'Girlracer' also received national press support from CLASH, Discovered Magazine, Bristol In Stereo, and UPSET magazine, and coverage from Get In Her Ears, When The Horn Blows, Listen With Monger, Soundsphere, Popoptica, Bring The Noise, Bido Lito, Planet Slop and many more blogs, zines and regional music mags.
TOKKY HOROR will be revealing further details and announcing more new music over the coming months.
'Simulate Me' is out now on Alcopop! Records
TOKKY HORROR live:
20.03.21 - Birkenhead -
Future Yard
TOKKY HORROR online:
https://www.facebook.com/tokkyhorror/
https://twitter.com/tokkyhorror
https://www.instagram.com/tokkyhorror/
TOKKY HORROR are:
AVA AKIRA - vocals
MOLLIE RUSH - vocals
ZEE DAVINE - production and instrumentation
Tokky Horror are completed by joint-vocalist Ava Akira, and the trio form the hotly-anticipated new project from ex-Queen Zee vocalist Zee Davine, marking a stark change in musical direction from Davine's former outfit.
Inspired by artists like
Dennis Lyxzen (Refused, International Noise Conspiracy)—who has spoken and written in depth about wanting to create punk music for the present generation, instead of simply mimicking bands from the '60s and '70s—and Liam Howlett of The Prodigy— who would refuse to pinpoint their specific sound—culturally-speaking, the new material carries on where
Queen Zee left off, by crashing headlong into traditionally less diverse spaces and firmly planting the flag for the LGBTQ+ community.
"I wanted to find my own sound, and my own way of expressing myself, that takes from all of our influences across dance culture, psychedelia and punk," explains Davine of the process. "Lyrically the song addresses hyper-masculine spaces (which is very often dance culture itself) and inserts Tokky Horror with confidence. Girlracer's unashamed appreciation of fast cars and loud music is a tongue-in-cheek to every boy who thinks they're better than us."
Hailed as LGBTQ+ icons in the making, and touted as "the next Iggy Pop" by
Iggy Pop and
Debbie Harry on the 2019 GQ Awards red carpet, with multiple BBC Maida Vale sessions and a raft of press and radio support under their belts
Queen Zee announced their unexpected shock split following the release of their debut album in October 2019.
Over the space of their short career they appeared at Glastonbury Festival, Reading & Leeds, Download, Latitude, Rebellion, Kendal Calling, Beautiful Days and more, and toured alongside Marmozets,
Dream Wife, Skunk Anansie, and The Zutons.
