Vampires Rock

Liverpool Echo Arena (27th December 2008)
Starring Toyah Wilcox and Steve Steinman

By Alison Cornmell

This Christmas is set to be a dark one and when Vampires Rock comes to Liverpool it won’t be such a Silent Night. Vampires Rock is culminating its fifty date tour at the Echo Arena on 27th December for a night of musical comedy and rock anthems.

I met up with stars of the show Toyah Wilcox and Steve Steinman to find out a little more. Baron von Rockula (Steve Steinmann) jilts his wife in search of a new one and has his sights set on Pandora Honey Rosebox. While the Baron sets out to woo the young human girl, his vampire wife is dead set on making her life hellish. With the back drop of iconic rock anthems, this show is a visual and audio spectacular.

Toyah tells me that this is a “proper rock show with a collection of rock songs from Kiss, Bon Jovi and Billy Idol” and like any good rock show there is the promise of pyrotechnics and licks of flames. Steve tells me however that the show has a very British feel to it, with moments of “British humour and Carry On” he tells me that this is something that “doesn’t take itself too seriously” and is “meant to be silly”.

As the show is on only two days after Christmas there will also be some Christmas songs to enjoy including references to Christmas hits such as Wham’s Last Christmas. Again Steve talks about the “tongue in cheek” humour of the show and tells me that it’s always changing. In the Liverpool show there will be references to the city and The Beatles and that a lot of his dialogue is ad-libbed, which Toyah tells me ‘keeps [her] on [her] feet’

This year marks Steve’s twentieth year in the industry and Toyah has been in the business even longer. I ask Toyah what her aims are for her career, after having a long career in music, TV, radio and now theatre. She tells me that she likes "doors to be open" and "enjoys variety". After celebrating her fiftieth birthday this year she "is determined to just have fun this year". Working with a band with an average age of twenty is very good for your ego, believing “50 is sexy”, she seems to be enjoying what she is doing now and for the minute is “enjoying rocking and rolling”.

Steve tells me that he just wants "this train to keep going" with the show moving to London in the New Year. Time will tell where it ends up.

Vampires Rock is the perfect antidote to Christmas and is sure to get you on your feet in preparations ready for New Year’s celebrations. This is guaranteed to be a fun and entertaining evening, so dust of your air guitar and book your tickets now by visiting www.accliverpool.com or calling the Echo Arena Box Office on 0844 8000 400.