WOODY Woodmansey was part of one of the most creative periods in music history.

For three years he was a constant presence at David Bowie’s side with the band that became known as The Spiders From Mars.

In 1973, Bowie played a concert in Blackburn, an event that will be marked by with day-long series of events on Saturday.

Drummer Woody, whose autobiography Spider From Mars, has just been released in paperback, will be the guest of honour taking part in a special question and answer session in the afternoon and a discussion on the music industry in the evening.

He laughs when I say his story would be too far fetched for any publisher, apart from the fact that it was true.

“You’re right, I don’t think anyone would believe you,” he said.

But the story of a lad from Driffield in East Yorkshire who turned down a promotion at the local factory to head to London and share a house with someone who would become the biggest rock stars on the planet is absolutely true.

“I’d been asked about six times by different publishers to write a book,” said Woody. “But I told them ‘I’m a rock and roll drummer, I don’t write books’. I also wrongly assumed that David would one day cover that whole period.

“But then about three years ago there were so many books about Bowie out and I’d read little bits of things that I found myself continually going ‘that didn’t happen’ or ‘we didn’t do that’ or just ‘that’s rubbish’ that I just felt the need to do it.”

Woody admits he found the whole experience bitter sweet.

“There were a lot of good times but also the bad times too,” he said.

It was while sharing a house with Bowie and guitarist Mick Ronson that Woody recorded first the Man Who Sold the World and then the definitive Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars albums. Woody also played on Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album.

“You don’t think when doing those recording - as good as those songs were - that in 40 years they will still be on the radio. That would be the furthest thing from your head,” said Woody.

“I suppose it’s a testament that we did a good job.”

Woody describes the whole recording process as ‘playing on a knife edge’.

“David would just play us a song once or twice and then we’d record it. Very often we were unsure how it would end or even how many verses there were,” he said. “We’d do a couple of takes and go and listen to them and David would say that was all that was needed. We though he was an idiot at first to be honest. But then he’d put a vocal on it and the whole thing just came together.”

As Bowie’s fame grew and the Spider of Mars costumes got more and more outlandish. Woody went on two tours of the States.

But it all came to an end when, in another bizarre twist, Woody left the Spiders of Mars - on his wedding day.

“I got a call and thought it was David sending his congratulations,” he said. “Turns out it was his manager saying I wouldn’t be involved in his next album Pin Ups.

“It had got so weird I felt that I didn’t want to be part of it any more. It had got too bizarre for me.”

Woody didn’t speak to David about his departure until 1976 when they met while David was recording in France. The pair did not see each other again until David’s last concert tour and a show in Dublin.

“Trevor Bolder (Spiders’ bassist) and I were given tickets in the royal box,” he said. “We were like the two old guys in the Muppets. David just looked up and nodded.”

Woody’s final contact with David was when with his band Holy Holy, they rang David on his birthday from the stage in mid show.

“The whole crowd sang happy birthday,” said Woody. “He wished us luck with the tour and said he’d be in touch. We then heard he’d died when we were in Canada for our next show. We couldn’t believe it, it was like a member of the family had died.”

1973 The Year Bowie Came to Blackburn, King George’s Hall, Blackburn, Saturday, July 8. For a full programme of events visit www.kinggeorgeshall.com. Highlights include a Q&A with Woody at 2.15pm and the premiere of the film 1973 KGH: Our Memories and a live set by Sky Valley Mistress.

Spider From Mars: My Life with Bowie by Woody Woodmansey is out in paperback published by Sidgwick & Jackson