Is there life in the old Mohawk yet? That’s the question many old punk, New Wave and goth bands are asking these days, as they worm their way back into the club circuit they ruled 15 years ago. So is this music still relevant as the “Pretty in Pink” generation grows up and starts buying houses instead of hair spray?
In the case of Bow Wow Wow, the answer is a qualified yes. The band was always based on a couple of gimmicks, but also on crackling musicianship, which puts them way ahead of the Total Coelhos of the pop world. But the gimmicks have to be acknowledged: In 1980, Sex Pistols impresario Malcolm McLaren thought the best way to shake up postpunk England was to put a 14-year-old Asian girl named Annabella Lwin in front a trio of musicians beating out tribal, jagged pop confections.
It worked then, and when the pieces fall into place, it still works now. Annabella never was much of a singer, she’s more comfortable half-chanting, half-yowling the wink-wink saucy lyrics to the band’s songs. But on songs like “Louis Quatorze” and “W.O.R.K.,” when Annabella was bounding around the Empty Bottle stage like a red-satin-clad cheerleader, her atonal, peppy chants melded perfectly with the percolating rhythms pounded out by original bassist Leigh Gorman and new drummer Eshan K.
Though the band’s precision playing had its appeal, sex is still part of the Bow Wow Wow package, and Annabella obliged in that regard with a few salacious moves and by stripping off her dress to reveal a midriff-baring ensemble; she even left the stage midway through the set for a costume change as the band engaged in a bit of rock-star noodling.
Despite the fact that it was formulaic at times, it was hard to resist Bow Wow Wow’s bristling mixture of scratchy riffs and African beats charged with the sassy energy of punk. Whether or not it’s relevant, it was still fun.
