Woody Woodmansey of Holy Holy – Interview Part 1!
Woody Woodmansey is one of Rocks’ survivors. He made four studio albums with David Bowie, from 1970 to 1973, as well as two official live albums and a motion picture. Of the four core members of the band that made Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane (called the Spiders From Mars), he is the only surviving member. Ten years ago, he joined up with Tony Visconti, who produced fourteen Bowie albums as well as playing bass on The Man Who Sold the World, to create the band Holy Holy. They initially came together to play The Man Who Sold the World album in full live, but then added to the set including the Ziggy album in full, to later included songs that either Woody or Tony had been involved in.
Holy Holy are touring again in the UK during May 2025, and Alan Neilson was invited to interview Woody about the Spiders From Mars and the Holy Holy tour. He and Woody had an online video call on 9 May 2025. The interview is comprehensive to say the least! So we have split in two parts in order to do it justice. Part one is about the here and now, concentrating on Holy Holy and the upcoming appearance at the o2 Academy in Birmingham on 17th May.
AN- Can I now talk about Holy Holy? Because you start in the the tour this week, don’t you? Can I just ask, the band, is it the same core members as it has been?
WW- Yeah, it is. So Tony’s still there. So is Glenn (Gregory). Paul Cuddeford, James Stevenson, Tony’s daughter Jessica Lee Morgan on sax and guitar. Also, there’s a new keyboard player, Janette Mason. Who is really, really good on the keyboards.
AN- I’ve reviewed the 2015 and the 2019 tours of Holy Holy for brumlive.com. It was Birmingham Academy, and then you played the Town Hall.
WW- Oh, yeah, yeah.
AN- The first time was magical because it came out of nowhere and I’m hearing The Man Who Sold the World from beginning to end and you’re there and Tony’s there. It was incredible. Then the second tour you did The Man Who Sold the World then Ziggy in full and then other things at the end. My only criticism, a minor criticism was that, what I wanted to hear is the songs that were left out, the ones that were like the rare ones, like Velvet Goldmine and Holy Holy itself and Bombers. Is the setlist you doing this time the full albums or is it mixed up?
WW- This time we’ve kind of gone, or, I’ve kind of gone, and put some of the classic tracks in there, but also do ones from that period that we never did. So I have put them in this time, ones that I’ve never played live and we didn’t do it with David, and I don’t even know if David did some of them. So we put some of those in and we have a policy where, you know, if I played on it, we can do it. If Tony produced it or played on it, we can do it. But outside of that, we don’t feel like we have the right . It’s just, that’s how we feel about it. So we’ve actually taken some from Blackstar and we’re doing Ashes to Ashes, which I’ve never played before. It’s amazing. It’s amazing to play. You know, I mean, I love the song, but just playing it has really taught me something else. I’m still.. still learning.
AN- I know you did Where Are We Now on the 2019 tour, which came out of nowhere because I thought, wow, they’re doing a recent track, but obviously Visconti produced that and that was a stunning thing to hear. It felt out of place to begin with because it’s a newer track, but by the end of the song, I’m like, wow. Glenn Gregory did such a great job of singing it. Is that going to be a part of it this time?
Yeah.
AN- I’m hoping I’m going to be able to come and watch the Academy gig again this time, on the 17th of May, to review that one as well. It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you today, Woody. At the start of the interview, my heart was going, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam because you are a hero of mine!
That’s just the effect of a drummer. Your heart following the drummer!
Watch this space for a much longer interview post where Alan and Woody discuss his involvement in some of the seminal albums of the 1970s.
Holy Holy will be on tour in the UK over the next few weeks.
Thu May 15 2025 – LONDON O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
Fri May 16 2025 – LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Sat May 17 2025 – BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy Birmingham
Sun May 18 2025 – MANCHESTER O2 Ritz
Wed May 21 2025 – NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 Academy Newcastle
Thu May 29 2025 – OXFORD O2 Academy Oxford
Fri May 30 2025 – BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Sat May 31 2025 – LIVERPOOL O2 Academy Liverpool Fri June 06 2025 – BOURNEMOUTH O2 Academy
Interviewer – Alan Neilson
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