L'Oreal...Metal Man Take Over:

So we've seen Metal Man grace the pages of Flavour Magazine so whats came next for this intrepid explorer?
Well, meet the Kennady's...so to speak! A top rate hairdressing salon in picturesque Ingatestone! An hair-stylist friend of mine - Timmi Norman (the guy responsible for my hair in my featured photograph...which helped create the 'Ashleigh Ashley' look)- is a head stylist at Kennady's and he called in the cavalry after they were selected to showcase their talents at the prestigious L'Oreal Fellowship hairshow! Now these guys are the 'parliament' of the hair industry so Timmi called me in to style these girls in Metal Man...adding edge to their innovative hairstyles!

It was definitely an eventful evening! Having settled down to prepare for the show...our team (along with several others) were unexpectedly kicked out of the Fellowship building :o and ushered speedily to the local hotel lobby. We later found out that there were just too many people attending the show...in short...we were a fire hazard lol! Anyway...true professionals that we are lol...the preparations continued...:
Katie & Lizzy (Kennady stylists) get crimping:

Timmi doing his thing...

Once the girls were dressed and ready we were then ushered back to the Fellowship building in a bit of a hurry ready for the Kennadys slot on the runway! Tension was high as there was a lot of stiff competition from 6ft models with 3ft hair lol...but I caught this snap of the girls backstage (JUST before they went on) and I was confident they would stand the test of the fickle L'Oreal crowd!

And this is a snap of the girls doing thier thing on stage! Sticking to the BB camera for this it seems - I never did get the proper shots from the Kennady's camera man...(you know who you are lol)! I tell you the stage lit up like a Christmas tree the second the girls stepped out!


Team Kennadys after the show:

It was a fab February night guys! Metal Man meets the Kennady's meets L'Oreal...what a sexy combination! The Fellowship picked up on the hype too...a sneaky picture made it to print on page.11 of their monthly magazine! :D Click link below for a digital version!!

L'Oreal Fellowship Digi-Mag

Special thanx to Katie and Timmi for thinking of me ;D
@sh.x

Metal Man HAS Landed!

Metal Man has well and truly landed people...and it seems he's here for the long haul! I blogged about the origin of the MM concept a while back (click here to re-install), and I've spent the last couple of months intermittently developing the Metal Man artillery for one project or another! As some of you know, I am mental enough to actually wear these pieces out lol...but even I didnt' think the look would actually catch on!?! In this post (and the next) I'm proud to reveal that Mr Electro has made it from the junk corner in my living room - to print and to the catwalk :D

I happened to meet Denise Brown at Miss Flavour whilst wearing a mini-disc or two as you do! I soon found out that she was a stylist and she expressed interest in perhaps using one of my pieces in a shoot for Flavour Magazine!! A month or two later I got the call! Denise was styling Britain's Next Top Model runner up - Alisha White. Check out the results:

I couldn't make it down to the shoot because I was off working on some ad or other...but my mum had my back and escorted all the pieces (Thanx Mum lol). And I'm soo chuffed with the out-come which was published in the movie-themed Feb '11 issue of Flavour Magazine. You can see the rest of the issue, including interviews with Jessie J, P Diddy and our very own Jay Auburn HERE:

Noice!!
@sh.x

Ah...it Must be the Music I guess!

I saw my face on TV for the first time last Sunday :o and I couldn't belive my eyes...or ears!! Do I really look/speak like that LOL???
It might sound strange but no matter how many times you've looked at your reflection in the mirror nothing prepares you for seeing yourself through TV eyes. It was SO surreal...like that unruly feeling you get when you hear a recording of your own voice played back to you...you're not quite sure if it's actually you or a well-trained imposter! Not being able to control what went out to thousands of people on a Sunday night was also an uncomfortable pill to swallow!



Despite the 3 big, fat, red NO's, and that awful facial expression the camera's caught when I saw them, I really enjoyed the audition experience! The outcome of the broadcast remains true but there were several moments left out of the edit that I'll always treasure....



Being told that I 'look sexy' by Dizzie Rascal was strangely satisfying *blush* lol!! (MassivE thanks to Mum for working her magic on those trousers and to FLY 53 for my beautiful jacket)! And thankfully all 3 judges made a point of complimenting my vocal abilities! But the most rewarding memory I have from my 5mins of 'fame' is having a near packed Hackney Empire applaud my humble efforts...and actively disagree with the judges decision! Apparently even The Sun had something to say about 'a young female soul singer...in crazy blue trousers'.
So what went wrong??



As an artist there are always things in any performance that you would change in hindsight! I probably would have sung a different song - the original Stereo Addict track is on a Primo beat...so when I couldn't get clearance I had another beat made up off the cuff and ran with it! Could my 2nd choice 'Take It' have got me through?! Or maybe it's just a case of me BEING better??!





The 'what ifs' are endless but it's pointless making excuses, or ranting about which song I should or shouldn't have sung! I'm encouraged by the love I received on stage, and SO grateful for all the supporters that have emerged since the show went out! But if Ashleigh Ashley really does have the potential to break through those Lean, Mean Music industry walls it's my responsibility to make sure she always puts her best foot forward and learns from each experience! For the love of music, but also for the love of all the people that have believed in me so far (and my Mum lol!)
;)

Must Be the Music, on Sky 1

We enter 2010...

Loads of cool stuff happened after the Puma shoot! But this catch up will take forever if I go into all the parties, smoozing and late night recording sessions in the studio!! I could tell you about meeting the Vivd Imagery crew and working on a music video shoot with up-coming rapper Kasha, or about my adventures as a new-comer on the open mic circuit OR about my continued experiments with designing / drawing etc...actually I will show you the lips clutch I made lol...just cause it's sexi:



This blog is predominantly about my musical journey, but it's taken me to some pretty cool places along the way!! As part of my need to 'free my mind' and get inspiration for some new beats that I had to write to I went on a little trip across Europe to welcome in 2010! I coached it to Amsterdam for my birthday, trained it to Berlin, before stopping off in Czech Republic for New Years!!
I finally finished my 2nd tattoo and what better place to get it done than in ol' Dam! - musical of course:



I'd part written x2 tracks produced by RED SKULL (who also produced this track for Low Key - which was banned from TV lol!!) before arriving in Czech Republic! Was introduced to photographer Ywetta Sarah Nickel by a friend of mine!! We ended up doing an impromptu shoot in the basement of her MASSIVE house lol - did I say basement...I meant to say photographic studio / costume heaven !! Took an age to get the shots back after I got home, but here are a couple of my faves:




My mate Martin took this one lol!!

Oh and the weirdest thing! Guess who ended up on the front page of a Czech newspaper after 4days in the country?! There's a long story behind it-involving a secluded millionaire and a private zoo, but I'll leave that for another time lol!!

Catching Up_Part 2...

So we jump to a little later in 2009. Random Magazine are doing a shoot for Puma collaborations with Alexandra McQueen, Evisu and the like... TOMO art directed and photographed the shoot and even though all us 'models' had never met each other we were one big family by the end of the day!! Miss Rivkie was the stylist and she did a great job making sure none of us 'borrowed' any clothes...though we all desperately wanted to lol!!

The pics were published in Random Magazine and the an exhibition to display the shots took place at the London Arches later in the year! All in all I think it was a job well done!! I edited the behind the scenes video for it (below):





And here are some of the final shots!! If you want to see more of them check out TOMO's website!

Catching Up_Part 1...

Ok, so since I'm a bit late to this 'blogging game' I've got a hell of a lot of catching up to do!! It's been a MENTAL year so far, and I want get all of you lovely people up to speed...hmmmm where to start??......

How about mid 2009 when an up-coming fashion photographer - Gina Amma http://www.ginaamama.com/ - stripped me down to my knickers and painted me all shades of shiny black!! HAHA!! Thats as good a place as any!

Gina is an old friend of mine from Camberwell College of Arts so of course I was happy to help out with her latest project! Having established "I don't do nude" she compromised by turning up at my house with black body paint and a giant tub of vasaline! Mystique EAT YOUR HEART OUT lol...check out the results:




Terry Richardson-esque don't you think! The pics came out AMAZING!! Gina returned to Poland shortly after that...and unbeknown to me entered one of the shots into VIVA AWARDS 2009. I only found out about it when she called me and gushed down the phone that she'd only gone and won the bloody thing lol!! Well done G!!