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Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Totally 80s Summer Tour @ Tally Ho Theatre, Leesburg, Va — 6/29/13

Chloe Demetria and Leigh Gorman of Bow Wow Wow (photo courtesy the band)

Chloe Demetria and Leigh Gorman of Bow Wow Wow (photo courtesy the band)

I have a storage unit outside of Baltimore where I store some stuff at a much more affordable rate than I could in DC metro. I drove out there Sunday night, and to my surprise, I saw a roadside dive advertising the 80s band Bow Wow Wow.

I had seen them the night before at the Tally Ho Theatre in Leesburg, Va., billed as part of the Totally 80s Summer Tour, where they joined Gene Loves Jezebel and The Motels as a package of 80s bands. In the case of all three bands, each has a lone original band member who has chosen to carry on the legacy of the band and perform on tour — and each were pretty entertaining. I reflected on this when I caught Bow Wow Wow a second time at that bar, the House of Rock in White Marsh, Md., so I’m going to start with them.

Bassist Leigh Gorman has carried on the band without Annabella Lwin, who decided not to carry on with it. Gorman is a classic act, who deserves consideration for his talent among peers like Boz Boorer, John Lydon and Adam Ant. (Gorman was indeed one of the original Ants.) The man sounds great on bass as he revisits all of the catchy Bow Wow Wow classics like “I Want Candy,” “C30-C60-C90 Go” and “Do You Wanna Hold Me?”

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Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Hot Ticket: Totally 80s Summer Tour @ Tally Ho Theatre, Leesburg, Va., 6/29/13

Martha Davis (Photo courtesy of The Motels)

Martha Davis (Photo courtesy of The Motels)

The Motels, Bow Wow Wow and Gene Loves Jezebel have put together a tour and they are coming to the DC metro area! It’s been a long time since these bands were on the charts in 1983 — but this show 30 years later at the Tally Ho Theatre in Leesburg, Va., should prove to be a rare treat for new wave afficionados like myself.

The incomporable Martha Davis heads up the Motels, best known for their songs “Only the Lonely” and “Suddenly Last Summer.” Davis has been active touring the west coast from her native California in recent years, and it’s good to see her finally get out our way. The Motels are billed as Martha Davis and the Motels these days, and she’s reported to be touring with a new group of musicians to include  Nick Johns (bass/keyboard), Eric Gardner (drums), Clint Walsh (guitar) and Brady Wills (bass). I’ve always been an admirer of Davis’ voice on her band’s new wave, often wistful, slightly melancholy reflections on love, loss and the passage of time.

Bow Wow Wow originally consisted of rowdy Brits helmed by vocalist Annabella Lwin. It seems Lwin is no longer in this incarnation of the band, after making a minor splash reincarnating the band during Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Now bassist Leigh Gorman soldiers on with new lead singer Chloe Pappas. It should be interesting to catch the new lineup tackle classics like “I Want Candy” and “C·30 C·60 C·90 Go,” famously known for being the song on the world’s first cassingle.

Gothy Gene Loves Jezebel originally consisted of twin brothers Michael Aston and Jay Aston. The thematically darker Michael know tours in the current version of Gene Loves Jezebel, playing classic songs like “Desire” while also playing newer material such as 2003’s “Exploding Girls.”

This will be my first trip out to Tally Ho, so it’s a great opportunity to take a look at a different venue. Join me there for a voyage back to 1983!

Totally 80s Summer Tour
w/ Martha Davis and the Motels, Bow Wow Wow, Gene Loves Jezebel
Tally Ho Theatre
19 West Market Street
Leesburg, Va. 20176
Saturday, June 29
Doors 7pm
$30
All ages