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It sounds like a “discovery” story from the movies: As a young teen growing up in London, Annabella Lwin was working at a dry cleaner when a customer who worked with music producer and manager Malcolm McLaren heard her singing along to the radio and asked her to audition.
Not long after, at just 14 years old, Lwin was fronting a newly formed new wave band called Bow Wow Wow, with drummer David Barbarossa, guitarist Matthew Ashman and bassist Leigh Gorman — a lineup McLaren reportedly poached from Adam and the Ants. The band had its debut in 1980. (For a very short time, the band also had a second vocalist, George O’Dowd, who would go on to front the band Culture Club as Boy George.)
Bow Wow Wow, which paired a percussion-heavy sound with Lwin’s powerful vocals, is best known in the U.S. for its bright, punky 1982 hit “I Want Candy,” a cover of a 1960s song by The Strangeloves. (Bow Wow Wow’s version found a new audience with director Sofia Coppola’s 2006 movie “Marie Antoinette,” the soundtrack for which also featured the band’s songs “Aphrodisiac” and “Fools Rush In.”) Bow Wow Wow’s other hits included “Do You Wanna Hold Me” and “Go Wild in the Country.”
Lwin’s signature look, with a long, modified mohawk and punk-inspired makeup, also became synonymous with the band. Designer Vivienne Westwood, influential in punk style and a partner — professionally and personally — with McLaren, also provided clothes to the band.
Bow Wow Wow made a splash earlier in its career in the United Kingdom. The band’s first single, released in 1980, was “C·30 C·60 C·90 Go,” which celebrated home-taping, a practice that music labels, including Bow Wow Wow’s own label, EMI, considered piracy. Also in 1980, the band released a mini-album called “Your Cassette Pet,” something of a forerunner to an EP.
Although they found success, Bow Wow Wow wasn’t around long, breaking up in the fall of 1983, when Barbarossa, Ashman and Gorman left to form a band called Chiefs of Relief — a move that came as a surprise to Lwin.
Ashman died in 1995 at age 35 of diabetes complications. Despite Bow Wow Wow’s jarring end, Lwin recalls Ashman as “my right hand man and a very important, key person in that band.”
Gorman and Lwin reunited as Bow Wow Wow in the late ’90s and performed together into the early 2010s, but split in 2012. Gorman still performs with a band he also calls Bow Wow Wow.
Lwin and Bow Wow Wow will perform May 17 at The Guild Theatre. We spoke with her ahead of the concert.
She was coy about what audiences can expect to hear at the show, but noted that she may play an original song as part of the set, and praised fellow ’80s band Animotion, also on the bill.
“Animotion is a great live band, with their song “Obsession.” They really do a great set. It’s wonderful to be sharing a stage with them,” Lwin said.
This summer, Lwin and Bow Wow Wow will hit the road with the “I Love the ’80s” tour along with Flock of Seagulls and Animotion and in the fall, they will embark on a U.K. tour to mark the 45th anniversary of the release of “C·30 C·60 C·90 Go,” with supporting act Mille Manders and the Shutup.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Embarcadero Media: You were still going to school and doing some part-time work when you started with Bow Wow Wow. What was that all like?
Lwin: I was working at the dry cleaner only once a week and that was just for pocket money because my mother was a single parent with four kids. He was a nice Irishman, my boss, and he paid really well. I was just working away happily, and ended up being asked if I wanted to go to an audition, which I didn’t actually know if it was serious or not. I thought this guy was trying to pick me up. And you’re not supposed to talk to strangers, we’re all taught. Anyway, and the rest, I guess, is history. I went, and that’s that.
But, yeah, I was only 13 ½ when I actually did the first meeting with the band, and then meeting Malcolm (McLaren), and then we immediately started getting together, because they were still writing songs.
Malcolm would go through everything, because he wrote the lyrics and he came up with the ideas, with all the stuff that we were doing on “Your Cassette Pet.” The guys were all very competent musicians. And we worked away at getting that together and “Your Cassette Pet” was born.
“C·30 C·60 C·90 Go” was our first single with EMI, and it was about home-taping, which is what I was doing. So, yeah, it was the song that hooked me anyway. And I was always happy to be doing all those songs that had really good rhythms, because I love rhythms and bass and guitars and good songs with good melodies. That’s never changed over the years.
Embarcadero Media: Has the meaning of Bow Wow Wow songs changed for you since you started singing them as a teen?
Lwin: No, not really. I got to grips with that by the end of the year. As I say, Malcolm wrote all the lyrics and came up with most of the ideas. So when I was sitting with him, going through everything, he would sort of direct me like a director — a musical director. And of course, I didn’t have any clue what I was supposed to be doing or sounding like. So I kind of found my voice, I guess, as in singing and what I was supposed to be doing in the band in the first six months of working with them. We were working very hard on a lot of things at really strange hours, which is why I ended up having to leave school.
Embarcadero Media: You’ll be on tour for the 45th anniversary of “C 30” in the U.K. later this year.
Lwin: Most people who were aware of our music, really know us on the single over here in the States is “I Want Candy,” which was not written by us. But funnily enough, it’s not the only cover we did. We did a song called “Fools Rush In.” Have you seen the (Sofia Coppola 2006 movie) “Marie Antoinette? “Well, there’s a remix version, and personally, I don’t think it’s very well remixed, because my voice sticks out like a sore thumb. And when I sang that song, I sang it really badly, as far as I’m concerned, and that’s what I think. But I have to be honest, it’s really interesting to see the growth, when you’re growing up in the public eye.
But the difference is we only, we only lasted till I was 17, when the guys decided to kick me out to go off and do something else, which was a shame, because we were a really great band, and we had a very different sound from any of the other bands that were around in those days. We had a great cross-space audience. We had — obviously teenagers – because I was a teenager, and then it went from the younger to the older audiences.
And I’m really grateful that — in answer to your question, sorry, roundabout way — after 45 years, I’m still remembered. The music still lives on, and it’s wonderful to be doing original music.
Embarcardero: You’re also a songwriter.
Lwin: I started that on (Bow Wow Wow’s last) album, “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going,” which was a tribute to (comedian) John Belushi, who used to come to our shows and was a lovely man. I was so shy in those days, I didn’t used to speak a lot.
I used to, and I was told to shut up anyway most of the time, which is why I’m so sorry if I do chit-chat a lot. I guess I feel that there’s so much to say now and over the years, one gets wiser and realizes that women definitely have a different path in the music industry, and I’m sure the same goes for the film industry. I mean, we need more women directors, producers. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a woman. I’m saying that because it gives different perspectives.
But I really started my songwriting path with the lead guitar player who was the rock star of our band, Matthew Ashman. He got me to write the album with him in his living room, which was wonderful, because we started from scratch, and I actually started learning the art of song writing, which not everyone can do. It’s a craft.
Embarcadero Media: What inspires your songwriting?
Lwin: Well, I’m a Buddhist and a vegan, so everything to do with that inspires me, but also generally over the years, when you write, you write for the time period that you’re writing in.
I don’t know why some people take several years to make one album, which is only 12 or 13 songs, because you just go in the studio and you just get on with it. In this day and age, you’ve got all the technology at your fingertips, with being able to loop a drum and come up with a bassline, guitar part, and all the rest of it, which is often what I do.
I hear things. They just come to me. You know what I mean? It’s not something I plan on. And if I’m not in in the right frame of mind to do songwriting, then I won’t,
You have to wear different hats nowadays as an artist, especially being an independent artist, which is what I am, and working with the musicians that are helping me to maintain the brand name that I helped to create many years ago. So it’s always interesting to see what people bring to the table. Mainly experimenting with sounds is what I like to do now, but I don’t like to spend too much time on things, because at the end of the day, there are so many songs and songwriters and so many singers, it’s really up to the general public when they hear a song for the first time: if it doesn’t grab (them), and after a couple of listens, it may do, but I don’t want to be boring people.
Embarcadero Media: You mentioned that you’re a Buddhist. How has that shaped your music?
Lwin: I would say saved me a lot of the time when I was going through all the stuff I was going through, especially when I was younger, in my teens. Unbeknownst to me, I didn’t realize that it would be so intrinsic in my psyche, in my makeup. I was born a Buddhist. My father was Burmese, and my mother was an Englishwoman, and it was something that was a natural way of life. It wasn’t something called a religion to my knowledge, it was just a way of life.
I finally started practicing with a group of people and it was like coming home, in a way, because of the things that they spoke about. SGI USA is where I found my niche regarding the practice and people from all walks of life.
I think you hopefully can become a little wiser and be moving in the direction that was meant to be, the direction and the path that you were meant to be on.
Embarcadero Media: What do you hope that your influence has been on music so far?
Lwin: I don’t think it’s been a lot. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve done very much at all, except for giving some people great makeup ideas here and there, and clothes ideas and some stage maneuvers. But I am aware that we were the first to do certain things. And unfortunately, because three guys made a decision to do something that I had no warning about, they stopped the progress as something that could have been even better and even bigger. There’s a song called “Love, Peace and Harmony,” for example, that we recorded, which was another kind of direction, sound-wise, and that was the start of something else.
I’m hoping to make a difference one of these days, but being a lead singer and obviously now songwriter, and pretty much doing all the other stuff that I never did when I was younger, in the field that I’m in, and not just through music, but other areas: I’m hoping to make a difference for the animals — my second biggest passion after music.
I mean, we have to be a conscious human species. It’s not about ” live for today and just trash everything.” It’s about trying to keep our planet alive. And our planet is dying, and it’s important to try to do the best we can by it and the good we can do in recycling and helping the monarch butterflies to survive and the birds and the bees who give us the trees and the fruits and vegetables we eat. I just really want to emphasize that young people who are the same age I was when I started in a band can make such a difference by the time they’re my age, if they are in tune with it. And I do believe that they are a lot more in tune with it than I was at that age.
Embarcadero Media: What do you do for fun, when you’re not working?
Lwin: Well, I love to take long hikes and walks because it’s great to be near nature. It gives you time to think and clear your mind. When I have visits to England to see relatives that are there — cousins and what have you — for fun, (we’ll go for) walks by rivers, lakes and places where there’s not tons of people, but with people that you enjoy the company of, and having nice meals.
Most importantly for me, though, is hanging out with my pets. I love my pets. They are my loves. And I was never blessed to meet anyone to marry, although I have had a few opportunities — let’s put it that way — but I I love the company of animals, dogs, cats, you name it.
Embarcadero Media: What do you hope that people take away from seeing you perform?
Lwin: I just want to lift their souls and spirits up and have good vibrations. That’s what I always espouse to do, ever since I saw my first artist, Tina Turner, on stage. She was the very first live artist I saw when I was a teenager. We went to see her show at the Ritz in New York, and she was 45 at the time, and I was told, “is she a killer, or is she a killer?” I went, “Well, she was absolutely fantastic.”
it’s very difficult to put into words, but I hope your readers can feel it when they come to see it. And remember, all of us artists that have been doing it for a long time, you never know when you’re going to see us again. So I always say support where you can, when you can, because you just never know if you will ever see those people again.
It’s wonderful because the fans still remember us, and that’s all that really matters to me. They are the ones that tell me what they think of what I’m doing. And that’s really all that matters, and all that ever has mattered to me.
May 17, 8 p.m., at The Guild Theatre, 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park. $58-$116. guildtheatre.com.
