Bow Wow Wow

Event information

Bow Wow Wow

'C30, C60, C90, Go', 'I Want Candy', 'Go Wild in The Country' - to name but a few!

The year is 1980 and the place is London. Adam and the Ants were moving away from their “Dirk Wears White Sox” punk days, adopting the driving rhythms of the central African Burundi tribe, the war paint of Native Americans, pirate costumes and swashbuckling antics. This change came about through the mechanisms of the ex-manager/image consultant of the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren...

...

Bow Wow Wow’s early history may be short but it’s complex. Over their four-album life span, Bow Wow Wow’s music ranges from simple, goofy, nonsensical tunes to complex, crisp pop masterpieces. Bow Wow Wow’s music has been described as a pastiche of Latin and African beats, 50’s rock-n-roll, and spaghetti western soundtracks. The band packaged all of this together with an incredible sense of humor and vigor. Their style and sound have influenced many recent and modern bands around today.

With thundering African/Latin percussion and twangy, Duane Eddy guitars, Bow Wow Wow struggled to maintain a consistent image and sound through a host of record producers in their short life span. But despite the numerous people who shaped their sound from 1980-1983, a strong Bow Wow Wow identity remained intact. That unique style created a wonderful antithesis to the gloom of the London and U.S. music scene in the early 80’s. Unemployment and inflation were at record highs in both countries.

Let’s start at the beginning.

The year is 1980 and the place is London. Adam and the Ants were moving away from their “Dirk Wears White Sox” punk days, adopting the driving rhythms of the central African Burundi tribe, the war paint of Native Americans, pirate costumes and swashbuckling antics. This change came about through the mechanisms of the ex-manager/image consultant of the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren. According to legend, after charging £1,000.00 for his advice and consultation, the Ants (Dave Barbarossa, Matthew Ashman, and Leigh Gorman) fell prey to McLaren’s charm and left Adam to find other Ants. As Matthew put it: “I was an Ant. It was a horrendous experience. I’m really glad I’m out the band. McLaren came along to be our manager in the Ants and he told us to kick Adam out. So we did. Adam was writing all of the songs before McLaren came along…and Adam wasn’t very good really. Didn’t really like him really. He wasn’t very good at dancing and I thought he was a bit old. He was 25…so, we kicked him out.”

McLaren knew the group needed a lead singer. Legend has it that McLaren discovered the 14-year-old Myant Myant Aye (Burmese for“cool, cool, high”) singing in a north London (Kilburn) dry cleaners. Actually, according to Annabella, one of McLaren’s people came in to the dry cleaners where she was working part-time after school and asked her if she wanted to audition for the band. She showed up at the audition and got the part. Annabella was born in Rangoon (the capitol of Burma) and had moved to England at an early age.

With Annabella’s voice, smarts and charm, she fit McLaren’s vision of a musical experience that would be part high camp and high concept, with a huge dose of adolescent sex and innocence. Bow Wow Wow was now ready to record. With Annabella Lwin (vocals), Matthew Ashman (guitar), Leigh Gorman (bass), and Dave Barbarossa (drums), the group christened themselves Bow Wow Wow. According to most accounts the name means nothing. It was rumored that they came up with their bizarre name as a homage to the trademark of the RCA label-the dog listening to the phonograph. However, Bow Wow Wow were not on RCA when they named themselves. Their first contract was with EMI. So that theory doesn’t work. When asked about the group’s name Leigh Gorman said, “a dog came up and said it to me one day.” I’ll leave that for you to interpret.

Bow Wow Wow’s first release came in the form of the world’s first-ever cassette single. In July 1980, EMI released “C30, C60, C90, Go” only on cassette in the U.K. with “Sun, Sea, and Piracy” to accompany it. The single was followed by another cassette-only, U.K.–only release, “Your Cassette Pet,” an extended cassette EP featuring eight snappy tracks. One featured vinyl single came from this EP, “W.O.R.K. (N.O. Nah No No My Daddy Don’t), which was released in March of 1981 with “C30, C60, C90, Anda” to accompany it. Though McLaren’s weak production on the EP and singles make the band sound a little cheap and undeveloped, the band’s energy and potential make up for the lack of quality recording.

Lieutenant Lush arrived on the scene. A camp follower of the group. Lush began co-fronting the group with Lwin and was booed off the stage at the Rainbow Theatre gig in 1981 and was dropped from the line-up. Lieutenant Lush changed his name to Boy George, and created Culture Club.

In 1983, tensions in the group were rising. Suffering from illness and exhaustion after intense US touring, they went there separate ways.

WILD IN THE U.S.A. – BOW WOW WOW’S FIFTH ALBUM
For the first time in over a decade, Annabella and Leigh reunited in December of 1997 for a 4-month tour of America. They recruited new guitar player Dave Calhoun (Vapours), as a replacement for original guitarist Matthew Ashman, who had died of complications from diabetes in 1995. They also brought along drummer Eshan K. who replaced original drummer Dave Barbarossa. Dave had prior touring commitments with the band Republica and could not join the Bow Wow Wow reunion. Dave did, however, have enough time to train Eshan with his unique style of drumming before the band left England for their American tour.

The “Barking Mad” tour played to packed houses thru April of 1998 which eventually led to the band signing a record deal with indie giant Cleopatra Records. The live CD titled Wild in The U.S.A. was captured from performances on the 97-98 “Barking Mad” tour.
INLAND INVASION - 2003
After a 5-year hiatus Bow Wow Wow reformed once more to help KROQ celebrate their 25th Anniversary. The band performed alongside such luminaries as Duran Duran, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Soft Cell's Marc Almond and Interpol, to name but at few, at the third installment of KROQ's prestigious Inland Invasion concert series, held at the Glen Helen Hyundai Pavilion on Sept. 20th 2003. The 45,000+ sell-out event was KROQ's fasted selling concert ever.

Original members Leigh Gorman and Annabella Lwin were joined onstage by special guest Adrian Young from No Doubt, who took Dave Barbe's seat behind the drums (Dave had a prior commitment in the UK with dance band Cicane).

After having a blast on stage in front of so many people, Bow Wow Wow decided to continue doing what they do best‚ playing killer live shows. Over the past years the band have also made numerous radio, film and TV appearances (including Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Orlando Jones Show, and FUSE TV's Daily Download,), also recording segments for the third series of VH1's popular "I Love The 80's", as well the entertainment show "Extra", promoting Sofia Coppolla's film "Marie Antoinette").

"I Want Candy" was also the lead song for the recent US number 1 Russell Brand movie "Hop" and is also the lead song for Verizon's new 2011 advertising campaign. The band are about to play Japan's Sonic Festival in August 2011, this time with drummer Dylan Howard from the band Unwritten Law, and have other dates in the US coming up.