The drummer Woody Woodmansey from David Bowie‘s band recently spoke about working with the iconic musician. He stated that playing with Bowie was a culture shock because he wasn’t like anyone else in the music scene.
In the early ’70s, David Bowie hit the stage with his iconic backup band, the Spiders From Mars. From 1970 to 1973 and then from 1975 to 1976, the band became Bowie’s core instrumental team and established a good rhythm with him. However, the band was no more after 1976 as they parted ways.
However, later on, they had stayed in contact with each other. Unfortunately, in 1993, the band’s first member, Mick Ronson, died of liver cancer at age 46. Later in 2013, Trevor Bolder passed away from cancer as well. More saddening news came in 2016 when David Bowie had passed away from liver cancer which he had been suffering from privately for 18 months.
The only surviving member of the band is Woody Woodmansey, and he said that working with David Bowie during those years was different than anything else. He stated that Bowie’s scene was brightly colored, there were a lot of weird personalities around, and he described it as a ‘culture shock.’
Here are the drummer’s words on Bowie:
“In those days, even the Beatles had to move from Liverpool to London to go for it. Part of the whole band thing. We’re in London, and we’re going for it. We’re going to give everything we’ve got. There are no certainties in life. It’s just hard work, and have you got the ability.
David’s scene was far different from being in a progressive rock band in the Hull. Brighter colored, there were more weird personalities around that you had to deal with that we’d never met. It was a lot of culture shock. Let’s put it like that.”
You can listen to the interview below.
