Anton Barbeau found ‘World Calls Love’ while clearing out his father’s house.

There were boxes of old cassettes there, with hundreds of demos he had recorded years ago. Most had been forgotten, but a few caught his attention straight away.

“When I was packing up stuff and getting ready to sell my dad’s house, I found boxes of cassettes containing hundreds of ancient Ant song demos,” Barbeau tells us. “A few jumped out, with ‘World Calls Love’ at the top of the list.”

He took the song back into the house and worked on it in his father’s old room, which was empty by then and, rather unexpectedly, sounded great.

“I fixed up the lyrics, added a chorus and suddenly, a solid song was born.”

The finished recording was put together in several places. Barbeau worked on it at his Dark Mystery Temple studio in Northern California, while Michael Urbano recorded the drums at 2200 Studios in Sausalito, formerly known as The Plant.

Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory recorded their parts in Swindon, and Donald Ross Skinner, well known for his work with Julian Cope, sent over more guitar from London. Rosie Abbott and Allyson Seconds added backing vocals.

So what started as an old cassette in a box eventually ended up involving musicians in California, London and Swindon.

The video was made in much the same homemade spirit. Anton’s wife Julia filmed him at home on the farm, wearing fake fur in the middle of a hot California summer. Stuart Hobbs filmed Gregory and Moulding in Swindon and sent the footage over to Anton.

“I did my clumsy best to glue it together,” he says.

He also knew that XTC fans would probably want a decent look at what Gregory and Moulding were actually playing.

“I know that there will be XTC fans who will appreciate seeing what Dave and Colin are doing, so I tried to keep as much fingerboard action going as I could!”

There is another version of ‘World Calls Love’ as well, with Andy Metcalfe on bass, Anton on drums and a different lead guitar take from Dave Gregory. Anton says more about that one will come later.

For now, we’re very pleased to give ‘World Calls Love’ its European video premiere.