Marky L Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 (edited) I accidentally listened to some Bow Wow Wow the other day, and was blown away by Leigh Gorman's bass playing. I had totally forgotten how good he is. I'm very aware of him from the original Adam And The Ants line up but, blimey! Of course add in to this Dave Barbarossa's driving drums and Mathew Ashman's rockabilly sounding guitar and musically they had something going on. Sadly, for me, the songs are a bit meh and the vocals just don't help. Was it a Wal he was playing then? (I should add that it was live performance of the band that was running in the background from YTube.) Edited April 23, 2023 by Marky L 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicbassman Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 I was a big fan of their very fresh sound when they first surfaced, which I think was around 1980, and I saw them live a couple of times. Leigh Gorman was a monster player and a master at pick playing which suited their 'tribal beats' (as I think their sound was described at the time) Malcolm McClaren was a canny promoter and made much of Annabellas jailbait image, and also the band's references to home taping, which was a hot issue at the time. All seems a long time ago now, but Leigh Gorman's bass style really suited the music and still sounds absolutely on point today 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barking Spiders Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 Sure was one helluva player and even stood out at a time when the 80s pop/indie scene was full of stellar bassmen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubbybloke68 Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 7 hours ago, Marky L said: I accidentally listened to some Bow Wow Wow the other day, and was blown away by Leigh Gorman's bass playing. I had totally forgotten how good he is. I'm very aware of him from the original Adam And The Ants line up but, blimey! Of course add in to this Dave Barbarossa's driving drums and Mathew Ashman's rockabilly sounding guitar and musically they had something going on. Sadly, for me, the songs are a bit meh and the vocals just don't help. Was it a Wal he was playing then? (I should add that it was live performance of the band that was running in the background from YTube.) Leigh’s a long time wal user I believe. Always a pleasure to see/hear his playing.great stuff! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 8 hours ago, Marky L said: I accidentally listened to some Bow Wow Wow the other day, and was blown away by Leigh Gorman's bass playing. I had totally forgotten how good he is. I'm very aware of him from the original Adam And The Ants line up but, blimey! Of course add in to this Dave Barbarossa's driving drums and Mathew Ashman's rockabilly sounding guitar and musically they had something going on. Sadly, for me, the songs are a bit meh and the vocals just don't help. Was it a Wal he was playing then? (I should add that it was live performance of the band that was running in the background from YTube.) He did play a Wal. I saw Bow Wow Wow a few times, he's a great player, still has a web presence I believe... Oh no, listed as inactive now. Anyway, great band, great bassist. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nail Soup Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 On 23/04/2023 at 15:15, Marky L said: Of course add in to this Dave Barbarossa's driving drums and Mathew Ashman's rockabilly sounding guitar and musically they had something going on. Sadly, for me, the songs are a bit meh and the vocals just don't help. Agree with you about the talented lads, but I think the songs were pretty good. And Annabel had good vocals and loads of image quality. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 I saw Bow Wow Wow at the Boat Club in Nottingham in 1980 just after Cassette Pet had been released. The band were great but the gig as a whole was an exercise in winding the audience up. Despite the fact that The Boat Club had a music curfew at 10.30pm the band didn't come on until just a couple of minutes before then. Before that there was no support band just two and a half hours of really boring dub reggae played over the PA (I like dub, but none of the tracks they played were any good). The place was so rammed that having spent 30 minutes slowly working my way to the front, getting back to the bar was impossible, and besides as far as I knew the band would be on any minute... When they finally hit the stage all they played were the 8 tracks off Cassette Pet plus the C30 single and it's B-side. It all seemed to be over in no time at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 I'm rather fond of this one 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 (edited) On 23/04/2023 at 15:15, Marky L said: I'm very aware of him from the original Adam And The Ant Leigh Gorman was only in the Band for one month, after Dirk Wears White Sox and before Kings of the Wild Frontier and never recorded with them. Dirk Wears White Sox is a superb album but the original bass player was Andy Warren. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Would-Be-Goods Edited April 28, 2023 by TimR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 7 minutes ago, TimR said: Dirk Wears White Sox is a superb album but the original bass player was Andy Warren. Better known for being the bass player in The Monochrome Set. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, BigRedX said: Better known for being the bass player in The Monochrome Set. I remember seeing them prob '79, at some odd venue in London, they had back projection type stuff going on as I recall (rather like the Human Look league used to) Had the single Alphaville / he's Frank at the time.. Interesting band I do remember Mr Warren used to play one of those single pick up Ricks, as I was a rickenbacker fancier myself. Edited April 28, 2023 by Waddo Soqable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 I was a fan back in the day….. “Do you wanna hold me” “what’s the time hey buddy” “I want Candy” were always on in the house…. I was in love with Annabella Lwin ❤️ I saw Mathew Ashman (guitarist) play with the Chiefs of Relief supporting Big Audio Dynamite at the Haçenda in Manchester. Paul Cook (Sex Pistols) was on the drums. I was lucky enough to meet them all outside the club before the soundcheck, Mathew, Paul, Don Letts and Mick Jones (Clash)….. I don’t get star truck…. but I was that day. Sorry, that’s all gone off topic I loved the bass tone, that style of pick playing was my thing back then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 That’s a pretty awesome bunch @Rayman, many of a certain generation would have been very starstruck there, including me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman Posted April 29, 2023 Share Posted April 29, 2023 It’s the only time I can ever remember actually shaking while meeting someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky L Posted April 29, 2023 Author Share Posted April 29, 2023 (edited) 17 hours ago, TimR said: Leigh Gorman was only in the Band for one month, after Dirk Wears White Sox and before Kings of the Wild Frontier and never recorded with them. Dirk Wears White Sox is a superb album but the original bass player was Andy Warren. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Would-Be-Goods Yes! Of course! Andy Warren laid down some great bass lines on DWWS. It's still an all time fav album for me. Watching Leigh play live with BWW, he does throw in a bit of manic slap as well as pick playing. Edited April 29, 2023 by Marky L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Riva Posted April 29, 2023 Share Posted April 29, 2023 This is a good watch. Back when this was filmed/aired the chances of anything music-related being shown on prime-time telly were slim, but this popped up on the BBC as an early evening programme as part of a series of gigs at Sefton Park in Liverpool (Big Country were also on as a separate broadcast and cleverly changed the chorus to Angle Park to Sefton Park, the cheeky loveable scamps!). As I recall it was on a Tuesday/Wednesday evening at 7pm, or some such? Anyway… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman Posted April 29, 2023 Share Posted April 29, 2023 I think the Icicle Works did one of those Sefton Park gigs…… they were an ace band…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Riva Posted April 29, 2023 Share Posted April 29, 2023 There were other bands in the series - I can’t recall seeing the Icicle Works, but fairly sure the Bunnymen were on. I quite liked the Icicle Works until I read that Mike Read (the DJ, not the Runaround fella!) was fond of using one of their albums as the soundtrack to his Percy Filth escapades - obviously not their fault, but still! Re. BAD and Chiefs of Relief, was that recorded for TV? Pretty sure that turned up on a late night Channel 4 show at the time… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky L Posted April 30, 2023 Author Share Posted April 30, 2023 16 hours ago, Old Man Riva said: This is a good watch. Back when this was filmed/aired the chances of anything music-related being shown on prime-time telly were slim, but this popped up on the BBC as an early evening programme as part of a series of gigs at Sefton Park in Liverpool (Big Country were also on as a separate broadcast and cleverly changed the chorus to Angle Park to Sefton Park, the cheeky loveable scamps!). As I recall it was on a Tuesday/Wednesday evening at 7pm, or some such? Anyway… Ah! Yes! This was the what I had on playing in the back ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 My favourite BWW song... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 Great to see a thread on here about Leigh and where's @4000 when you need him? We used to talk a lot about what an amazing bass player Leigh is back in the day... Leigh has lived in California for many years now and is still pretty active, touring with one of two versions of BowWowWow that's still going- the other one is fronted by Annabella. He's had two Wals over the last 40 years, both ProI II models. Back in the late 90s, I sold him the leather scratchplate model that he uses a lot these days, though I think he had to change the neck on it at one point. Totally right about Leigh's slap playing @Marky L- he is really good in that department... But his signature sound is definitely his pick playing, and often on BWW tunes, it's the bass lines that really made the songs IMHO. Band I was in at the time supported BWW on (IIRC) their last ever UK tour in 1982, so I had the pleasure of watching Leigh play every night for nearly 3 weeks.. He was absolutely superb - hardly ever missed a note or a beat and was great to watch. There are lots of his bass lines that I love, but amongst all of them, 'Go Wild In The Country', 'Prince of Darkness' and 'Sexy Eiffel Tower' are my personal favourites... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rollin Thunder Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 On 28/04/2023 at 15:50, TimR said: Leigh Gorman was only in the Band for one month, after Dirk Wears White Sox and before Kings of the Wild Frontier and never recorded with them. Dirk Wears White Sox is a superb album but the original bass player was Andy Warren. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Would-Be-Goods Adam was of course a Bass player, if any if you get chance listen to the demos in remastered KOTWF and Prince Charming, Just Adam in Bass and Marco in guitar with drum machine. as Huge as Adam (and the Ants) were at the time I think they are now underrated, maybe because They (Adam and Marco) went too Pop oriented and once the zeitgeist had gone were not taken seriously. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 43 minutes ago, Rollin Thunder said: Adam was of course a Bass player, if any if you get chance listen to the demos in remastered KOTWF and Prince Charming, Just Adam in Bass and Marco in guitar with drum machine. as Huge as Adam (and the Ants) were at the time I think they are now underrated, maybe because They (Adam and Marco) went too Pop oriented and once the zeitgeist had gone were not taken seriously. Very good point... Adam wrote a lot of the bass parts on all the early Antz songs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 I'm fairly sure myself and a mate saw an early incarnation or A&tAs in their original more "arty" pre teen pop star format. Me and this bloke ( our drummer of the period) were always going to gigs when not playing ourselves, the Music Machine in Mornington Cres. had bands on literally 7 nights a week and virtually everyone who was around at the time played there. ( and dead cheap to get in) Those "small blue tablets" were widely available in there too, 3 for a quid 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 Great venue, The Music Machine! Has a rising stage that was set at different heights for different gigs. I saw The Antz and The Banshees there on a double bill in '78 - it was a fantastic night! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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