Tim Dry
Tim Dry (born 9 January 1952) is a mime artist, writer, photographic artist,musician and actor, best known for appearing in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and for being half of a duo, Tik and Tok, that popularized robotic mime in the UK in the 1980s.
Early years
Tim Dry was born in Redhill, Surrey in 1952. After leaving a Graphic Design Dip AD course at Reigate School of Art and Design in 1972, he moved to Brighton, Sussex to explore other areas of creativity, including painting, fine art and producing, along with other Reigate Art School alumni, ‘The Cosmic Colouring Book’ which was published to much acclaim in 1973.
In 1976, he relocated to London to train in Mime and Physical Theatre with Desmond Jones and Lindsay Kemp (who tutored Kate Bush and David Bowie, amongst others).
The eighties
After three years of intensive stage work (both in solo and duo shows, and as a member of Jones’ company ‘Silents’) Tim, alongside fellow mime partner Barbie Wilde, formed SHOCK: a rock/mime/burlesque/music troupe with Robert Pereno, Carole Caplin, LA Richards and Sean Crawford. SHOCK performed extensively in the burgeoning New Romantic club scene in London in the early 1980s. The first SHOCK single on RCA Records, ‘Angel Face’, (co-produced by Rusty Egan from Visage and Richard James Burgess from Landscape) was a modest dance floor hit in clubs all over the UK and in New York. SHOCK continued to play at the Blitz Club, The Venue, the Playboy Club, The Embassy Club, The Lyceum, and ‘The People’s Palace’ performance at the Rainbow Theatre. They supported Gary Numan for three nights at his ‘Farewell’ concerts at Wembley Arena in April 1981. Reduced to a four-piece ensemble after the abrupt departure of Robert and LA in June 1981, SHOCK released a second single, ‘Dynamo Beat’, on RCA, which again was a dance floor hit in UK clubs, but failed to chart nationwide.
Tik and Tok
In early 1982 Tim and Sean left Shock to pursue their own vision of a combination of mime, visual image and music, creating a duo called Tik and Tok. Signed to Indie label Survival Records, they released 5 singles and an album ‘Intolerance’ in the UK, Europe and Japan. Their second single ‘Cool Running’ reached No.69 in the UK Top 70 Singles Chart (The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles).
In 1982, Tik and Tok were cast as featured creatures in two roles each in ‘Star Wars Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi’. The same year also saw them appear in the cult Horror/Sci Fi film, ‘Xtro’. Tim played ‘The Alien’ and Sean played ‘The Action Man’.
Tik and Tok supported Duran Duran on their sell-out UK tour of 1982 and Gary Numan on his comeback UK ‘Warriors’ tour in 1983. They appeared on 23 TV shows, including ‘The Royal Variety Performance’ in front of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and the cult music program, ‘The Tube’, hosted by Jools Holland and Paula Yates.
Tik & Tok reformed briefly in 2005, creating a new album, ‘Dream Orphans’, in which Tim wrote, played and produced all the songs. Tim and Sean appear regularly at ‘Star Wars’ autograph conventions worldwide.
Photographic work
Tim is an award-winning photographic artist, whose subjects have included Mick Jagger, Steven Berkoff, composer Georg Kajanus, The Mediaeval Baebes, writer Rupert Thomson and Joan Collins.
His work has been commissioned as CD covers, illustrative articles and book jackets for clients including James McCarraher's 'Office Haunting', Atlantic Records, Cosmopolitan magazine, Black Lace Publishing, Simon and Schuster, Virgin Records, WEA and Hot Shoe magazine.
His photographic collages have been exhibited at The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Photographic Society, The Association of Photographers Gallery in London and in Bath, Hamburg, and Berlin, as well as at the Christmas 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 shows at the prestigious Gallery 286 in West London. In March 2009 he showed one portrait at an exhibition at The Arts Club in London.
Acting
Tim acted in more than 90 TV Commercials in the UK and Europe. He had featured roles in the US-UK co-production of the TV series ‘The 10th Kingdom’, in films such as ‘Soup’, ‘Death Wish 3’, ‘Revolution’ and ‘Decadence’, and UK TV shows including ‘The Bill’, ‘EastEnders’, ‘Casualty’, ‘Dempsey and Makepeace’, ‘Goodbye Mr Steadman’ and ‘Father Ted’. On stage he played the lead in Steven Berkoff’s ‘Harry’s Christmas’ and Molière’s ‘School For Wives’.
In October 2010 Tim starred in the titular role in the short horror/comedy movie "SON Of Nosferatu". Written and directed by David Rose, it will be ready for release in 2011.
Noir
In 1996, alongside singer-songwriter Georg Kajanus from the band Sailor, he co-created the poetic/techno music duo called NOIR. Their song ‘Walking’ was used as a motif in four episodes of the Channel 4 food and drink series ‘FEAST’ in 1997, which was directed by David Pritchard (of Rick Stein and Keith Floyd fame) and also starred TV chef Jean-Christophe Novelli. Noir also presented ‘Feast’ and wrote the theme tune. The video for the ‘Walking’ single, released on Koch Records in the UK, was shown on ‘Top of the Pops 2’ and ‘Live and Kicking’. Their self-produced album, ‘Strange Desire’, was re-released by Angel Air Records in 2007.
Writer and songwriter
In 2005, Tim published his autobiography, ‘FALLING UPWARDS – Scenes From A Life’, through Exposure Publishing. Tim has recently completed his second book, ‘CONTINUUM – The Star Wars Phenomenon As Experienced From The Inside’ – a recounting of the filming of his roles in ‘Jedi’, and of his subsequent appearances worldwide at ’Star Wars’ autograph conventions. As of May 2012 'Continuum' is available to purchase as an ebook from Amazon Kindle, iBookstore, Sony Reader and Barnes & Noble Nook. Tim is currently finishing the first in a series of novellas entitled 'Ricochet'. Due for ebook publication in 2012.
Tim is currently collaborating with guitarist Mo Blackford (LIGOTAGE and NASA) under the name TIMANDMO, creating music that can best be described as ‘Organic Electronica’.
Discography
SHOCK Singles:
- ‘Angel Face’. b/w ‘R.E.R.B’. RCA Records 1980.
- ‘Dynamo Beat’. b/w ‘Dream Games’. RCA Records 1981.
TIK AND TOK Singles:
- ‘Summer In The City’. b/w ‘Crisis’. Survival Records 1982.
- ‘Cool Running’. b/w ‘Vile Bodies’. Survival Records 1983.
- ‘Screen Me, I’m Yours’. b/w ‘Dangerous and Unafraid’. Survival Records 1984.
- ‘Everything Will Change’. b/w ‘Cracking Up’. Survival Records 1984.
- ‘Higher Ground’. b/w ‘Down From The Sky’. Survival Records 1984.
Albums:
- ‘Intolerance’. Survival Records 1984.
- ‘Dream Orphans’. Self-Released 2007.
EPs:
- Tik & Tok EP (2004) Rephlex label.
- ‘Slightly Deranged’ EP (2006) Independent.
- ‘Intolerance Xtras’ EP (2006) Independent.
- ‘Vintage Lo-Fi ‘EP (2006) Independent.
COMPILATIONS:
- Survival Dance Report SUR LP 007. ‘Summer In The City’ and ‘Cool Running’. 1983
- The Art Of Survival LP SUR LP OO9 ‘Screen Me, I’m Yours’ and ‘Higher Ground’. 1984.
- Jet Set – Sounds Of Lust & Luxury CD 0927 454422. ‘Crisis’. 2002
- DJ-Kicks: Chicken Lips CD K7155CD. ‘Crisis’. 2003
- Intergalactic Sunrise (XL Version) PR-009. ‘Cool Running’. 2006
THE WANG BROTHERS Single:
- ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ (George Harrison) b/w ‘Wango!’ (co-writer). Communiqué Records 1985.
BEKI BONDAGE (co-writer) Singles:
- ‘Don’t Turn Away’ b/w ‘Hard To Get’. Communiqué Records 1985.
- ‘Out Of The Darkness’. b/w ‘You Got It Made’. Communiqué Records 1985.
NASA (co-writer) Album: ‘Insha – Allah’. Sire Records 1990.
- ‘Burning Gold’.
NOIR Single:
- ‘Walking’. Koch Records 1997.
Album:
- ‘Strange Desire’. Angel Air Records 2007.
TIMANDMO: Digital album: 'Happy Accidents' 2011. Download from:http://timandmo.bandcamp.com/album/happy-accidents-debut-album
References
- "Falling Upwards – Scenes From A Life" by Tim Dry. Exposure Publishing. 2005. ISBN 1-84685-013-4
- "Duran Duran – Notorious" by Steve Malins.Andre Deutsch 2005.ISBN 0-233-00137-9.
- "Praying To The Aliens" by Gary Numan and Steve Malins. Andre Deutsch 1997.ISBN 0-233-99205-7
- “The Cosmic Colouring Book”. Mushroom Cloud Publishing Co Ltd. 1973. ISBN 0-904205-00-2