ANT TRAP: Adam Ant, the British new-wave...

ANT TRAP: Adam Ant, the British new-wave phenom, has had a low commercial profile in recent years. Ant, without the old pirate garb, is lying low in Los Angeles these days, but he’s not inactive.

He’s readying a new album for release later this year, directing videos and proceeding with his acting career--he recently did a staged reading of Steven Berkoff’s “West” with Alan Mandell and Georgia Brown at Taper, Too. But he’s also moved behind the scenes, co-producing (with ex-Doors drummer John Densmore) the musical play “Be Bop A Lula,” opening Thursday at Theatre/Theater in Hollywood.

Last year at the Coconut Teaszer, Ant caught up with a concert version of Rex Weiner’s dramatization of the last night ‘50s rockers Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent spent together before Cochran’s fatal 1960 car crash. “It really connected with me,” says Ant. “Rex’s writing comes very close to the bone about what happens to your head when you’re a musician constantly on the road, what you do for the other 23 hours of the day.

“If people think they’re going to see a musical, they’re wrong,” Ant says. “There aren’t set numbers: Paul Hipp (as Vincent) and Donal Logue (as Cochran) play their instruments, live . It’s that sound I’m going for on my new album. People want a live sound, with all the mistakes, the feedback, the growling.”