Ann Robie Bandes (born c. 1961), better known as Little Annie, Annie AnxietyorAnnie Anxiety Bandez, is an American singer, painter, poet, writer, performing and recording artist, pastor, and stage actor.
Little Annie began singing at the age of 16 with her band 'Annie and the Asexuals', formed in 1977.[1][2] Upon moving to the UK in 1981 at the invitation of Steve Ignorant, she began working with Penny Rimbaud and Crass.[1][3] As Annie Anxiety, she performed poems onstage using a soundtrack of backing tapes at gigs across the UK with Crass and their extended family. She was also involved at the beginning of the band Rubella Ballet. With the assistance of Penny RimbaudofCrass, she recorded and released her first 7" EP 'Barbed Wire Halo' on Crass Records in 1981.
Return to America: Acting, painting, writing and performance[edit]
With the exception of recording and appearing with close friend Kid Congo Powers and New York duo Sister Boy, Annie started a hiatus from music in 1990. Being in her words 'driven insane by the hues' during a period of living in Mexico, the New Yorker returned home determined to teach herself painting, something which she had dabbled in previously, by devoting a full year of average 16-hour days. Employing every medium with the exception of oils, her work has been described as having a "naive style", which is "figurative, metaphorical and surrealistic, with a strong emphasis on color; often combining tortuous, expressionistic cityscapes with Biblical imagery". God and Science, was inspired by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.[6] She first exhibited as part of a group show curated by artist the late Louis Laurita, who provided her much encouragement and guidance. Annie had her first solo gallery show four years later in 2002.
She returned to recording in 1992 with the On-U Sound single "I Think of You", with the album Short and Sweet following in 1993, now recording under the name Little Annie.[1][7]
Annie met the actor Bill Rice, and the two became close friends, appearing together many times in numerous plays and theater pieces, with Jim Neu's play Alone Together their last work together as Rice died a few months after the end of their run in January 2007.
Little Annie returned full-time to music with an EP, Lullaby, cowritten with Larry Tee, and "Diamonds" was produced by Joe Budenholzer and Christoph Heemann released in 2002 by Drag City. A new project, 'The Legally Jammin', a band formed with Christian Jendrieko, Khan Oral, and Kid Congo Powers.[8] The 2003 album The Legally Jamming (Italic Records) was voted in Mojo as no. 1 Dance Album of the Year. Her next album to follow would be the first of her more piano /string section-based works; Songs from the Coalmine Canary, released on the Durtro/Jnana label, was co-produced by Antony Hegarty and Joe Budenholzer (of Backworld).[9][10] Hegarty also played piano, sang backup vocals and co-wrote several songs on the album.[9][11] The song "Strangelove", co-written by Little Annie and Hegarty, was used as the soundtrack for Levi's 'Dangerous Liaisons' advertising campaign in 2007, garnering several awards, including the Cannes Lions – International Advertising Festival, 2007 (Bronze Lion ) for "Best Use of Music".[12]
Little Annie has performed on stage with Marc Almond, supporting him in 2007 in several appearances at Wilton's Music Hall, where she performed with pianist Paul Wallfisch of the band Botanica, and on Almond's '30 Years Of Hits' tour two years later.
In 2010, Annie and Wallfisch released their second album, Genderful.[14]
In 2011, Little Annie became the singer of the Italian band Larsen appearing on the albums La Fever Lit 2010 and Cool Cruel Mouth (Tin Angel).
In 2013, Little Annie and Baby Dee released State of Grace on Tin Angel Records,[15] and toured together in North America and Europe.
In 2015, Annie had her first gallery show since 2007 at Gavin Brown Enterprises, curated by Boo-Hooray Gallery, the show called 'NYC/Miami' showcased her artwork done between 2013 and 2015, consisting of monochromatic tumbling cityscapes juxtaposed with vibrant mandalas reflecting her recent relocation to Miami. She and Wallfisch reunited to tour with Swans. Annie recorded Trace, her eighth solo album, in Toronto with Ryan Driver, Opal/Onyx, and Wallfisch, produced by Jean Martin and released in 2016.
In 2017, she guested on Hifi Sean's album FT on the track "Just Another Song", which she also wrote, and her first book of artwork, Meditations in Chaos, was published by Timeless Ed (Toulouse, France).
In 2020, she provided guest vocals on the song "Washed Our Name Tags Away" on Michael Cashmore's album "The Doctrine of Transformation Through Love".
Little Annie has consolidated and published her memoirs, poetry and lyrics. First her memoirs under the title: You Cant Sing The Blues While Drinking Milk, which were published in 2012 by Tin Angel Publishing and including forewords by Lydia Lunch, David J, Baby Dee, David Tibet, and Antony Hegarty. Also released in 2013 were her most recent book of prose Sing Don't Cry /I Remember Mexico on Existencil Press in the UK. Preceding these was Stride Publications published: Hell is a place where we call each other darling: the poems and prose of Little Annie, a collection of her poems and song lyrics including "Bless Those" (Little Annie's Prayer) which Living Color recorded.
Hell Is a Place Where We Call Each Other Darling: the Poems and Prose of Little Annie (1999), Stride Publications
Sing Don't Cry: A Mexican Journal (August 1, 2012)
You Can't Sing the Blues While Drinking Milk: The Autobiography of Little Annie AKA Annie "Anxiety" Bandez (November 26, 2012), Tin Angel Records, ISBN9780957422704
Just Like I Pictured It (2014), Exitstencil Press, UK
