Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow: ‘Anyone can sing in a studio...’

Shooting to fame while still a teenager, Annabella Lwin, vocalist with 80s pop collective Bow Wow Wow, is set to perform in Cambridge with the latest incarnation of the group – Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow.

The 21-date UK tour, the band’s first UK headline run since 2016 (they supported The Beat on a sold-out tour in 2023), celebrates the 45th anniversary of C·30 C·60 C·90 Go, Bow Wow Wow’s debut single and the world’s first ever cassette single.

Annabella was speaking to the Cambridge Independent via a Zoom video call from Los Angeles, where she has lived for “a long time”.

“I’ve got some songs coming out,” says the singer and fashion icon (she famously wore clothes designed by Vivienne Westwood) who, at the tender age of 14, was one of the most photographed, talked about and popular stars of the early 80s.

“I do a lot of stuff really, I don’t just do one thing. There’s different strings to my bow, as they say, over the years it’s been that way…

“But I’m actually going to be doing some other songs and recording in the studio – hopefully after the tour dates.

“So I’ve got some new songs in the set that I’ll be doing, as well as the songs I’ve been doing for many, many years.”

Bow Wow Wow enjoyed great success back in the day with hits such as C·30 C·60 C·90 Go, Go Wild in the Country, Do You Wanna Hold Me, and I Want Candy.

Annabella’s unique vocals defined the sound of a new and energetic pop culture, her memorable performances influencing and inspiring a ‘new wave’ of up-and-coming artists such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (who namechecked Bow Wow Wow in their 1991 song Suck My Kiss), No Doubt, and Green Day.

Bow Wow Wow’s two studio albums are the critically-acclaimed See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy! (1981) and When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going (1983).

Both featured the classic line-up of Annabella, who is now a vegan and practising Buddhist, on vocals, the late Matthew Ashman on guitar, bass player Leigh Gorman, and drummer Dave Barbarossa. This line-up also put out a number of EPs.

“What I’m doing on this tour is the same as most artists around my age; we’re called ‘legacy artists’, which means that we’ve been going a long time,” explains Annabella, who was born in Burma (now Myanmar) in 1966 to a Burmese father and an English mother.

“It’s not about age because we didn’t have that issue back in the 80s. It wasn’t about just the age, it was about the music.

“There were so many different kinds of music, and so many colourful and exciting new bands that were coming out with different sounds…”

Reflecting further on this golden age of music and culture, she continues: “There seemed to be much more originality, musically, there seemed to be a lot of people doing things differently, musically and fashion-wise.

“They were trying to carve their own niche, as it were, but it just seems like there hasn’t been anything like that since, really, as an era, which is why I think it’s still popular, in my own estimation…

“I mean I could be wrong, it could be just curiosity, who knows? But if you take a look at the so-called up-and-coming bands now, let’s see if they’re around in 45 years, shall we?!

“Let’s see if they’re still singing and doing stuff in 45 years!”

Supporting Bow Wow Wow at the Junction will be Millie Manders and the Shutup, a band Annabella very much admires.

“I saw them play live – I only go by live music,” she states. “Live music’s very important, because a lot of people can do things in studios these days, they can ‘cheat’ – with any instrument, or even a vocalist.

“You go into studios now, they can put you in tune if you’re singing out of tune, that kind of thing!

“I never do that because I like people to hear the live voice. But I guess the age of technology has given some of those younger bands that opportunity, or advantage, on a record.

“But of course when you go and see them live, it’s got to sound just like it does on the record, and if it doesn’t sound the same as the record, then people get disappointed.

“And it’s not surprising really; if you can’t sing in tune, then why are you calling yourself a singer? If you can’t play an instrument, why are you calling yourself a musician?

“Anyone can go in a studio and put down a drum rhythm and come up with a bassline, but actually going out and performing it is a whole different thing.”

Bow Wow Wow were formed by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980 after he’d recruited members of Adam and the Ants and new vocalist Annabella Lwin – who reveals that her childhood dream was actually to be an air stewardess.

“That was my aspiration,” she recalls. “I was at school, doing what you do as a kid, and the only lesson I didn’t like was maths.

“Maths was not my forte – I used to get lots of detentions as well, after I started working with the band, because I was always late to school.

“I was in studios till 12-1 o’clock in the morning and I had to get up at 7am to get to school, of course!

“And I had to leave; I had to make a decision, but it was very difficult to keep the two going, and it was only because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do…

“I always thought I would do what everyone is supposed to do: pass your exams and then get a job.

“But I guess it was my vocation because singing is something I’ve done ever since I was a very young girl – it’s not something that just happened.

“I’ve always loved music, I’ve always loved singing – it was something I really enjoyed doing.”

See Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow at the Cambridge Junction (J1) on Wednesday, 22 October. Tickets, priced £29, are available from junction.co.uk. For more on Annabella, go to annabellalwin.com.