The Humans (British band)

History

The Humans came together in 2007 after Robert Fripp, Toyah Willcox’s husband, was asked to perform at the Estonian President’s birthday party. He turned it down because of his schedule. Willcox then reached out to the Estonian Embassy and proposed putting on a show herself. Once the embassy agreed, she got in touch with her friend Bill Rieflin and pitched the idea of “something that is completely off the wall” using only one bass and a voice. Rieflin later admitted he was puzzled about why a drummer would be asked to play bass, but he noted that the core concept—voice backed by two bassists—was entirely Willcox’s. The two of them brought in Chris Wong, who had played on Willcox’s solo tours, to round out the trio. Rieflin said Wong was the more skilled bassist and took on the trickier parts. The band made their debut at Estonia’s Jazzkaar festival in October 2007.

Their first album, We Are the Humans, came out on 1 May 2009. To celebrate, they played a show at a festival in Tartu, where Fripp joined them on guitar. The album was pushed by a single and music video—a cover of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” In February 2010, they did a short tour of the UK. Their second record, Sugar Rush, dropped on 27 September 2011, with Fripp playing guitar on every track. Igor Abuladze joined the band for their US and UK tour that year in support of the album. In 2013, they put out a live album, Live at Scala London, which had been recorded three years earlier at the Scala venue.

The third album, Strange Tales, came out worldwide on 1 March 2014, first only as a digital release. The lead single was “Get in Your Car.” A UK tour called Telling Strange Tales happened in April 2015, and the album later came out on CD. Bill Rieflin died of cancer on 24 March 2020 at age 59. That July, the band released a box set titled Noise in Your Head, which collected all three studio albums, a live album, and a DVD of a concert. It was credited to Toyah & The Humans and dedicated to Rieflin.