Matthew Ashman

One of the more underrated guitarists of the new wave era was Adam & the Ants/Bow Wow Wow member Matthew Ashman. With his Mohawk hairstyle and rollicking rockabilly riffs (played on a large Gretsch hollow body guitar), Ashman easily stood out from the rest of the pack. Born during 1960 and raised in Mill Hill, North London, Ashman picked up the guitar as a teenager ? and joined his first band soonafter perfecting Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic jamfest, "Freebird." By the late ?70s, Ashman had joined Adam and the Ants, a highly visual glam/new wave outfit, who issued a debut recording in 1979, Dirk Wears White Sox. The album caused a buzz in their native land, and when the group brought former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren onboard, it appeared as though the group would break through to the rest of the world. But instead, McLaren convinced Ashman and the rest of Adam Ant's backing band (bassist Leigh Gorman and drummer David Barbarossa) to leave and form their own group ? which they did in 1980 (Ant would go on to obtain worldwide success with another backing band). Ashman's new outfit went by the name of Bow Wow Wow, and found their singer in the form of a then-14 year old schoolgirl, Annabella Lwin.

Read More