EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Tomas Ford

Tell us a bit about Craptacular & Crap Music Rave Party?

Tomás Ford's Craptacular is a big dumb hour of covers of the worst pop songs of all time. We're talking Village People, Rick Astley, Enrique Iglesias.... I've smashed the songs apart in my super-high tech synthesiser-packed studio, and put them back together in stupid ways. My mum has made me some seriously dumb/retro/ugly/ill-advised costumes. I've got video projections that are so epic that you'd suspect I'm compensating for a lack of confidence but I'm totally not, no way, that's definitely not what's happening. No anxiety at all. Not even some. (OK, a bit. Quite a bit.) Anyway, I sing the songs! I tell you some things! And we do a pile of ridiculous things that are both funny and fun!

Crap Music Rave Party is my late night comedy DJ experience. I'll play any song you wanna request, so long as it sucks. Then I jump around with my DIY disco lighting, get everyone in the room all amped up, project Lawnmower Man-ish 3d animations, MC like the guy from Scooter, pop party poppers and share my various snacks around. It's a stupid, awesome time; this is its' fourth year at the fringe and the Edinburgh parties are always the most kickass. Grab a bunch of your mates and have your big fringe late night blowout night with them. And me.

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

This is my sixth consecutive Edinburgh Fringe - this is the year I make it, I can feel it. This time next year I'll have my own TV show, broadway offers and I'll be announced as the new Doctor Who. Mmmm. Maybe not. "Making it" is a pretty abstract concept for a cult weirdo like me, I have a great life running around putting on shows.

I love putting my work on in this festival - you're really going up against the best in the business and it sharpens up your show for the rest of the year. Not to mention that my parties are always so kickass and full of happy punters. Not to mention that I make a habit of seeing a thousand shows, which fills up my brain with the inspiration it needs to go back to living in the most isolated capital city in the world (Perth, Australia).

And, well, y'know... it gives me an excuse to live in Scotland for a month each year, which is a very acceptable situation indeed.

What sets it apart from other shows at the Fringe?

Craptacular is the funnest hour of cabaret weirdness around. I have honed a pretty solid wee niche for myself, crooning songs over electronic music and playing stupid games with my audiences. I spent a decade pushing my performance styles into a really leftfield place, which means I bring a pretty unique style to these cheesy pop songs. And I don't take these covers seriously at all, I'm always pushing for the most ridiculous way to do 'em, which makes for a really fun hour.

As far as the late night DJ thing goes... I party a lot, and I'm glad to report that I'm yet to find any other party quite like Crap Music Rave Party. I'm a DJ but the most important thing I do is to be the biggest dickhead at the party. It takes the risk out of letting loose when you know someone else is there to capture all the negative attention - I find it frees people up to really bug out to Steps or Peter Andre or Bieber. If you find you're not having the funnest, dumbest night of your Fringe, you probably need another couple of tequilaz. Over the last few years, it's become a really big hit at a pile of festivals in Australia and New Zealand as well as here. I love it, I get to have the maximum amount of fun possible for three hours when I do it.

Who would you recommend comes to see you?

Pretty much anyone who likes to have a dance and a drink and a laugh should come to Crap Music Rave Party, it's superdumb fun that you'd have to try really really hard to hate. As for Craptacular, it's a really accessible, stupid hour that most people will be able to get a kick out of. I reckon if you either really like or really hate pop music as I really butcher some of those songs. Or if you like weird comedy shows. Or if you like cabaret shows. There's a few ways to take the show, just depends what mood you're in.

Are there any other shows you're hoping to catch in Edinburgh?

I always try to see as much weird stuff as possible. I tend to avoid the big names I can see any other time of the year and plunge headlong into the strange stuff. I've already marked Josh Glanc's Manful, Lucy Hopkins' Powerful Women Are About and Neal Portenza in my pocket diary as they're quality idiots. And I do love me some Sam Simmons. There's an accordion-playing American cabaret pirate called Strangely doing a show called Joy Compactor that will be a hoot after about fifty whiskeys. Oh! And Die Roten Punkte are coming to the festival, they're an amazing German two piece comedy rock band! Plus a thousand mates - yogi comic Abigoliah Schamaun, piano legend Amy Abler, Scotch cabaret genius lads The Creative Martyrs, gently twisted storyteller Will Greenway... I probably wouldn't be a performer if it wasn't for Doug Anthony Allstars, I've borrowed so much from them and they were a huge inspiration for me hitting this festival in the first place. And Roddy Bottom from Faith No More is doing a new musical called Sasquatch that looks like it will hit all of my pleasure centres at once.

...but I'm sure the best experiences will be the unexpected ones when I take a punt on the unknown - I'm looking forward to seeing a pile of terrific and terrible shows that I've never heard of before. That's where the gold is.

So, to properly answer your question, I'm hoping to catch lots and lots and lots and lots. I try to see as many shows as I can while I'm in town, otherwise what's the point of being a the most amazing festival in the world?

Timings and ticket information for Craptacular and Crap Music Rave Party are available on the edfringe website.

Photo Credit: Alex Dubus

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