So where were The Spiders?
Ex-Spider From Mars, Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey has launched a new site on the web (pun intended) which, strangely enough, can be found at
Go take a look and while you’re there check out what Woody is doing these days, such as the album he’s recently finished recording with new band Sueshe.
Thanks to BowieNetter Steve Smith for the pointer, and to Woody and June for the correspondence.
Meanwhile a couple of other Spidery things that I almost let slip under the radar, but are worth mentioning here, have appeared in recent publications…
————————————————————————————————————-
First up,
The other picture, sadly much smaller and less familiar, purports to be from the final show at Hammersmith Odeon…a strange choice of picture considering the feature’s subject, as Trevor is the only Spider not in shot! Anyway, here’s an excerpt of what the outrageously sideburned bass man had to say about his entry and exit from the band.
Hello November 1971 – I was in Hull, playing in a band called Ronno with Mick [Ronson] and Woody [Mick Woodmansy]. After about six months Bowie called asking them to play on a John Peel session.
We all got in a van and drove to London, We arrived at Bowie’s place, and it’s the ground floor of this big Victorian mansion. You couldn’t have met a nicer bloke. It was a bit odd for me, because it was the first time I’d been to London, and Bowie was trendy as anything… he had a loose shirt on and very baggy pants. We were sat around, having a cup of tea when all of a sudden he tells me I’m playing bass on the Peel session!
Bowie decided we were going to be a band. He was really into A Clockwork Orange, and we were meant to look like that, with our boots and everything. After we did a rehearsal for `Top Of The Pops, we were hanging round the BBC canteen and people kept asking us if we were off the Dr Who set. He sat down with us to discuss the make-up. He said it was “theatre”, and we didn’t have to wear much… took us a while to agree… three Northern lads… “Bloody make-up? You must be joking!”
Goodbye July 1973 – It was great in the beginning, because we were a band. Bowie would ride with us in the van to gigs, and we all lived together, ate together, went to the pub together, and we were mates. When he got really big, he ended up staying in hotels with these hangers on, and we wouldn’t see him ’till he arrived on stage.
We were in Japan, and Woody quit after an argument with Tony DeFries, (Bowie’s manager). Mick managed to convince him to come back so we could do a UK tour, which ended up being fantastic… we did two shows a night for seven weeks. The last gig of the tour was at Hammersmith. That’s where he “retired” Ziggy. We certainly didn’t know the band was going to be broken up on-stage just before the last number, Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.
As soon as it was over, the first thing I did was shave off those bloody sideburns.”
————————————————————————————————————-
Finally, the late
Here are just a few of the words with which Stephen Dalton paid tribute to the blond guitar god:
“Ronson called in his former Hull rhythm buddies Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder to flesh out Bowie’s flamboyant new sci-fi sound. The Spiders From Mars were born.
The suite of landmark glam albums which followed, especially the epochal The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, propelled Bowie to global superstardom atop Ronson’s supercharged, overdriven riffs. The press devoured carefully staged images of rock’s new alien emperor performing simulated fellatio on his androgynous sideman’s fretboard. But behind such gimmicks Ronson proved to be a gifted arranger, master of melodic hooks, and one of the premiere rock stylists of his generation.”
Here’s the Top Ten Greatest Guitar Heroes countdown which includes at least four guitarists who have worked with DB to some degree or another:
10 Pete Townshend
09 Jeff Beck
08 Angus Young
07 Johnny Marr
06 Eric Clapton
05 George Harrison
04 Neil Young
03 Keith Richards
02 Jimmy Page
01 Jimi Hendrix
Here’s a few more from the Top 100 countdown who have also had some musical Bowie involvement…
94 Lou Reed
91 Robert Smith
78 Frank Black
74 Phil Manzanera*
56 Marc Bolan
55 Stevie Ray Vaughan
53 Robert Fripp
47 Ron Asheton
34 Brian May
30 Nile Rodgers
29 James Williamson
27 Steve Jones
24 Slash**
(* OK Phil Manzanera was just wishful thinking… ** Slash doesn’t strictly belong on the list either, but there is strong evidence to suggest that DB may have tucked hin in as a nipper once or twice. It’s a long story!
Anyway, I’ll leave you with a less familiar Mick Rock shot of the much-missed Ronno taken from the legendary lenseman’s Moonage Daydream, of which, much more at the weekend…
Speaking of ex-Bowie band members…