Spider from Mars: My Life With Bowie

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Woodmansey published his autobiography Spider From Mars: My Life With David Bowie [18] in 2016. It was co-written with author Joel McIver and includes a foreword by Visconti. [19] Discography [ edit ] With David Bowie [ edit ] Woody did not even like Bowie's music, but he decided to go to London thinking he might regret it after he did not. The book is a real record of the Ziggy era which I remember as being really exciting. Woody mentions the infamous Russell Harty TV interview in which he asks Bowie the most inane questions such as ‘Do you believe in God?’. Bowie is at his most outre and glamorous as he parries Harty and then performs ‘Drive in Saturday’. What would have happened if the Spiders and Bowie had stayed together – where would he have gone next?

The anecdotes that are related in the book are mainly not ones that a person would expect to be told by a man in his early twenties (at the time) regarding the massive impact that this group of musicians had on the world in general who toured the entire planet. But that time period is now 40 or fifty years gone. A poignant memoir by the last surviving member of David Bowie’s The Spiders from Mars, drummer Woody Woodmansey.David Bowie aka Ziggy Stardust was that man and this is the biography of one of his band members. The last Spider from Mars still standing. Woody Woodmansey. Wolk, Douglas (4 November 2016). "How David Bowie Realized Theatrical Dreams on 'The Man Who Sold the World' ". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020 . Retrieved 28 March 2023. A phone call from David Bowie changed Woody Woodmansey’s life. Turning down a well-paid factory job, the twenty-year-old drummer from Driffield took a huge leap of faith and joined Bowie’s band, embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.

As someone who became a teenager in that decade I remember waiting for our culture to happen, for a new idol to worship. Too young for the Beatles and punk was too far away in the future. But a supposed ‘one-hit wonder’ who had had a huge hit around the time of the Moon landings and then nothing. A man had had a lot of false starts in the music business but had kept going until the stars finally aligned and it was his time at last. Woody’s auditions for Dexy’s Midnight Runners amongst others made for fascinating reading as was his experiences of playing for Art Garfunkel, Edgar Winter and other diverse names. It’s a lively, often entertaining read and Woody has some wonderful anecdotes to tell. Woodmansey has also played with Art Garfunkel, [15] was a member of the band Cybernauts, [16] and is currently the featured drummer with 3-D. He also co-led, with Visconti, the supergroup Holy Holy, performing Bowie songs from the 1970s, including the full The Man Who Sold the World album. Woodmansey toured with Holy Holy in September 2014, and followed up with tours of the UK, US and Japan during the following two years. The group has featured Erdal Kızılçay, Glenn Gregory, Steve Norman, Marc Almond and James Stevenson. [ citation needed] It was announced that Woodmansey would not be participating in the 2022 Holy Holy tour, due to his being unvaccinated with regard to COVID-19. Woodsmansey said he had a "medical exemption" from the vaccine while saying he harbouring no "negative feelings" towards the band and a spokesperson for the band issued a statement that "It is incredibly sad that personal beliefs over the vaccine has lead[ sic] to the break-up of the original incarnation of the band". [17] The despair of a future in a small town with no opportunities, the discovery of music as a means to escape it, the serendipitous introduction to people who set the wheels in motion... Spiders details the union with Bowie and early days at the now legendary Haddon Hall. Yet, there's nothing in Woodmansey's voice that comes off as salacious. If you're looking for stories of Bowie banging people of various genders on coffee tables or sidewalks, while rolling in a veneer of coke, this isn't the book. Granted, Bowie isn't drawn as a saint here, but Woodmansey's narrative of whatever conflicts he endured with the singer is diplomatic. So here we are, blood, toil, tears and sweat - and not a lot of cash... but then great things are seldom accomplished without casualties.

Martian Drummer unravels web of intrigue

I’d been listening to bands such as Led Zeppelin and Cream over the previous couple of years; Bowie’s influences were obviously completely different. My friends wouldn’t even know who Bowie was if I asked them about him. A vivid and unique evocation of a transformative musical era and the enigmatic, visionary musician at the center of it, with a foreword by legendary music producer Tony Visconti and an afterword from Def Leppard's Joe Elliot, Spider from Mars is for everyone who values David Bowie, by one of the people who knew him best. Those who claim that the 1970’s were the decade that style forgot weren’t actually there. It was a time of experimentation and a contrast to the hippie dream of the late ‘60’s. How can you shop at Primark after having shopped at Biba?

After the final disbandment of the Spiders, he formed his own band, Woody Woodmansey's U-Boat, with Phil Murray, Frankie Marshall, Phil Plant and eventually Martin Smith, releasing a debut album U Boat in 1977. [13] The album was subsequently re-released in 2006 as Woody Woodmansey's U-Boat ( Castle Music ESMCD895). [14] First wave U.S. David Bowie fans will immediately recognize the name Woody Woodmansey as the drummer for The Spiders From Mars. For others that didn’t catch on until The Thin White Duke phase or later, this book is an insider account of Bowie’s earliest success and transformation from an English folk singer into Ziggy Stardust – from conception to fame to final bows. The title of the book "Spider from Mars: My Life with Bowie" by Woody Woodmansey for me was a bit misleading. Yes Mr. Woodmansey was a "Spider from Mars" (the bands amazing drummer) and according to this book he did live in the same house as Me. Bowie there are little and few mentions of interactions with the MAN.As someone who was close to David Bowie at that time, Woodmansey decided to tell the story from his own perspective; and this is exactly what you get from reading this book – Woodmansey’s unique perspective. Don’t expect big revelations or sensational descriptions about David Bowie’s lifestyle in the ‘70s. This book is merely Woody Woodmansey’s point of view and his sporadic life memoir. I couldn’t resist requesting this book when it was available on NetGalley. I’m a huge David Bowie fan and love every era of his including Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Woody Woodmansey is from a place near where I’m originally from so I feel like I was aware of the Spiders from Mars from a really young age. Drummer Woody Woodmansey is the last surviving member of Bowie’s band The Spiders from Mars which helped launch his Ziggy Stardust persona and made David Bowie a sensation.

Pegg, Nicholas (2016). The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updateded.). London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-1-78565-365-0. And then comes the choice – travel to London to be in Bowie’s band or stay in Driffield and have a normal life. We all know the answer to that one. Woody Woodmansey is the last living member of the legendary Spiders from Mars who accompanied Ziggy Stardust in his adventures on the planet Earth.

This book is recommended to all Ziggy Stardust fans and it is a good reminder that behind every great man (and David Bowie was one of the greatest), there are many others who have contributed to his success. It is nice to get to know them as well. If anything, in this day and age, Woodmansey’s life story is a good reminder that it’s worth pursuing our dreams for no other reason that we won’t regret later that we haven't tried. The Spiders’ contribution to The Man Who Sold the World, with producer Tony Visconti, documents in fascinating detail, that although still Bowie’s vision and voice, this was very much an album by a band finding each other’s musical strengths and exploiting a wealth of talent from all involved. (And like 95% of the material on the RCA albums, it passes the test of time with honours.) Well, the biggest problem I had was trying to get through a book that was written by a man from North-Eastern England. Although my own family is of Australian (Irish, Scottish, and British) heritage, I admittedly was not used to the "feel" of someone from where the author, Woody Woodmansey, was from. He left school when he was in the middle grades, so couple a lesser education with a form of speaking I was not used to, I would find myself having to think harder when reading his stories. He would sometimes get caught up in his own exuberance and make things feel a bit repetitive. I wanted things fleshed out more. I think he was so rapt in his own memories, with them so strong in him, that he would forget that we the readers, were not always "in" on what he was retelling. I also found myself rereading because of punctuation and style differences. However, I never gave up. I had to let go of his and my respective shortcomings and muddle on. But Spider from Mars is a record of a man who’s still in love with music and drumming having worked with the greats and one of the most influential artists of all time. A sad codicil is that, as Woody is writing Chapter 9, he gets the news that Bowie has died from cancer.