The entrance is to the drums and bass of Dave Barbe and Andy Warren, and into the brilliant Neitzche Baby, how this was never
recorded and released still amazes me. It has a real "Glitter" feel about
it, with the tom tom drum being the main intro part. Adam appears and the
crowd don't know what to make of him, wearing an ex army trench coat with a
tartan sash. The music has a real jerky and somehow jazzy feel to it, quite
unlike the 3 chord riffing on offer from most bands at the time. Adam is
something else, and, to myself obviously something different, a star in the
making.
Day I met god follows with the "Ant crew " hitting the stage front with their weird chicken dance style which was to be copied and adopted by many bands through the early 80's. Animals and men follows with the crowd becoming more enthusiastic. The strobe light is heavily used throughout the set and adds to the mystic of this very strange "Punk band". Cleopatra, and Kick follow with Adam really warming to the enthusiastic Welsh crowd who are hungry for anything new.
Matthew Ashman looks 12 years old, but his playing is superb, the Ants are a band with a totally unique sound." Egg " takes the frenzy down as the crowd have an oppurtunity for a breather, then into Catholic day, Boil in the bag man, then Family of Noise going straight into Press Darlings, with the return of the tom tom feel drums, a short break and then into the classic ( as far as i am concerned ) Zerox, the crowd then go ape to the first tune they recognise, Lady, which leads straight into Puertorican, another classic that the crowd thrash about to. The Ants go down well enough for the crowd to cry for more, they oblige with Fall in, a 100 mile an hour version to complete the set for the evening.
The Ants played the same venue to a full house around 6 months later, after doing Zerox and Family of Noise on " Twndish" ( Translates as "the trap" ) a Welsh language TV show, as far as I know the only TV appearence by the early Ants.....
THE REST IS HISTORY................