MR. PAUL 'WOODY' WOODWARD (MIDLANDS ROCKS)



 

Name: Paul ‘Woody’ Woodward

Country: UK

Age: 35

Name (and link if present) of your website/magazine/radio:
Midlands Rocks: http://www.themidlandsrocks.com/
Woody’s Rock Reviews: http://www.woodysrockreviews.co.uk/

Position in your website/magazine/radio: Review / Interview / Article contributor / Gig Guide Manager / Midland Rocks Radio Podcast presenter (Woody’s Round Up)

Online since (year when your website went online): Midlands Rocks started in May 2009

Introduce you as editor and your website/radio with a little bio (year and how you started to write reviews, possible previous versions and/or name of the website, more you want do add): Peter Keevil is the man behind Midlands Rocks and is the Editor in Chief of the site. Early in 2009 PK wanted to start a website focusing on live reviews of shows in the Midlands area of the UK with an aim of promoting and supporting Midlands based artists along the way.

PK contacted me via Myspace to see if I would be interested in working with him after reading some of my blog entries about gig’s I’d been too. I was initially reluctant to get involved as I’m not a journalist and was worried about my capabilities as a writer. I’ve never hidden the fact that my English isn’t the best and the Editorial team have a document entitled ‘Woody-isms’ which they have to refer to when making my reviews and articles ledge able. PK explained to me he wasn’t looking for journalists and wanted the site to feature reviews from a fans point of view. So seeing it as a great way to push and promote my favourite local venues, bands and of course the Melodic Rock/AOR genre outside of the small bubble in which it lives I gave it a shot.
I’m very proud to have been one of the original Midlands Rocks team when we launched in May 2009, especially as the site has grown well beyond PK’s original vision. Midlands Rocks now covers so much more and has a very large team of contributors. It’s great to be associated with a site that has gained great respect and admiration from bands and people within the music industry, especially as we are a regional website.
The current version of the Midlands Rocks website is actually our second, but when we initially launched for a few months we operated out of a Myspace page. It’s amazing how far we have come in such a short time!

Favorite rock sytles (AOR, Melodic Rock, Hard-Rock, Westcoast, Glam, Sleaze or so on): I’m pretty much interested in everything that comes under the ‘Melodic Rock’ banner in the broadest sense of the term. I love Melodic Rock and AOR primarily, but other sub genre’s do appeal to me the most important thing for me is it has to be highly melodic. This is why my tastes tend to veer more towards pop than metal.

Other music styles you like: To be honest I’m not very eclectic and it’s very rare I listen to music outside of ‘Melodic Rock’ banner; I do have a few guilty pleasures but not specific genre’s I listen too. I like The Corrs and Belinda Carlisle for example. One genre I tend to avoid with extreme prejudice though is Prog….

"THE" band / artist that fully embraces your tastes in music: Vega. Although they are a relatively new band the do sum up everything I love about music and are more relevant to me personally than naming one of the big boys from the 80’s an era I missed out on anyway as I didn’t get into music until I was 16 in 94/95.

Your personal TOP 5 of all times: This changes daily but off the top of my head….

Vega – What The Hell
Gun – Swagger
Khymera – The Greatest Wonder
Bad Habit – Adult Orientation
Stan Bush – In This Life

Your personal FLOP 5 of all times:

Pretty Maids – Wake Up To The Real World
Winger – IV
TNT – The New Territory
Strangeways – Perfect World
Bon Jovi – Have A Nice Day

Your biggest delusion in music (a crap album, a missed interview, a bad concert you've attended, etc): Thankfully I have more good musical memories and experiences than bad.

Obviously I’ve heard some right crap albums over the years too many to mention and I’ve been to a few dodgy shows as well. Most recently I saw Marillion at Wolverhampton Civic Hall and was bored to death, one of the most atmosphere less and unexciting gigs I’ve ever attended. Me and a mate also have a running joke about how awful Molly Hatchet was at The Robin a few years back. Oh and Jefferson Starship last year was painful, why oh why did I go to that gig!
One of my biggest disappointments was seeing Dokken at JB’s in Dudley around 2001 and they didn’t come onstage until 10 PM and played barely 45 minutes, I felt ripped off!

Your highest point reached in music (a long awaited interview, a meeting with one of your idols, results reached with your website, etc): Obviously the continuing success and rise of stature of Midlands Rocks in the music industry is a real high point, it makes all the long hours and work so worth it!

Obviously through Midlands Rocks I’ve had some close encounters with ‘stars’ meeting local legend Tony Mills at my local pub for an interview was obviously a great moment. He was so down to earth though it never felt like I was in the presence of such a big AOR star!
I’m not one for introducing myself to musicians as these encounters can be REALLY awkward, so unless you’re having a photo taken with them you have to have the gift of the gab for it not to feel weird! I once introduced myself to the bass player of HEAT at JB’s and said ‘great show mate’ and got a ‘thanks’ reply and then after a brief silence I said ‘I’m off now, bye!’ hahaha!
I’ve bumped into Michael Bormann who was really cool and various British artists like Tim Manford and Sue Willets of Dante Fox, Steve Newman, Vince O’Regan, Serpentine and Daylight Robbery.
I also bumped in to Nick Workman quite a few times before VEGA, he is a really nice guy and he always goes out of his way to say hello and speak about music when he sees me at a gig and I’ve chatted a few times on the phone with him about VEGA!
I suppose my biggest ‘Holy Shit’ moment was meeting Tom and James Martin, I know many won’t see that as impressive as someone sharing tea and biscuits with Steven Tyler or Ozzy Osbourne. But as a HUGE fan of the Martin’s songwriting dating well back to the mid 90’s with Sugartown and I class them as my favourite songwriters of all time I have become a bit of a fan boy. VEGA is like a dream come true for me!
So when I bumped into Nick Workman at Hard Rock Hell a few years ago he introduced me to Tom and James and I got to hang out with the guys, it was really surreal and I got to hear some demo’s. They are two of the most humble and unassuming rock stars you’re ever like to meet, great guys totally ego less and totally unaware of just how good they are!
I tried to explain to a mate of mine that meeting the Martin Brothers for me was like him meeting his idols from Oasis the Gallagher Brothers!

Your most successful / favorite review/interview: I’m not sure what has been my most successful stuff, it’s always nice to get good feedback from readers and musicians and fortunately that has happened quite a lot! So that inspires me to keep on doing what I do.

I got a lot of praise for my second Interview with Tony Mills, which I did after his move to Norway, but the praise for that really should be shown, to Tony for his thoughtful and interesting answers.
I think my review of VEGA’s ‘Kiss Of life’ of album went down well, although I still get ribbed by my Midlands Rocks colleagues for my novel length review! I got an email from Nick saying ‘Bloody hell dude, people are going to think we paid you!’…..yeah I wish haha!

Your bitter regret about one of your reviews / interviews: Like everyone not everything I do is perfect and I’ve submitted a few reviews which could have been better. Sometimes I can slip into some bad habits with my writing and it affects the flow of my reviews, it’s just grammar and English stuff but it does affect how well a review comes across to Joe Public.

Interview wise I’m disappointed with them when the person I’ve interviewed doesn’t have a lot to say and gives you virtual yes/no answers. I know a lot of musicians don’t have the time to write much or do so many interviews it becomes very boring for them so keeping it short and sweet is the plan. But from my point of view I want people to be drawn in and intrigued by the person I’m interviewing, so I love it when an interviewee delivers some thoughtful answers!

Your 5 most promising acts / artists of the "new" generation:

Vega
Serpentine
Corvus
Degreed
All I Know

Your vision for the next years about the music biz of our music styles (possible death of the cd format, thoughts about digital releases, evolution of rock labels, etc.): I’m not sure how many years we have left of the CD format, but its death is inevitable at some point. I like having a physical version of an album I can hold in my hands, so I’m hoping that another format other than MP3’s will become available before CD’s become obsolete. Everyone keeps telling me I need to get an ipoogle thingy majig and get on I-tunes….I’ll resist till the bitter end!

Most people within the music industry speak negatively about the future as illegal downloading strips the labels and bands of much needed income to continue at a profit. I don’t think music will die out, musicians will always find a way to get their art out there I just think the days of making a living out of music is going to be a lot harder and we will see far more musicians self finance and self promote their music. Thinking about it maybe the quality and diversity of what we hear will improve as the lure of money is taken out of the equation and it becomes all about the music.

Your personal suggestions for today's labels and artists: I wish some labels were more involved in promoting their bands beyond a distribution level, especially on the live front. Obviously it’s all about money or rather lack of, but I wish some labels fought harder to promote their acts. Surely some music industry contacts could help get smaller bands support slots, I know they standard ‘buy on’ clause makes this really difficult, but I still wish more of an effort was made.

Also it frustrates me how bands go mad to play Firefest, yes it’s a tribute to a wonderful festival that has a loyal fan base. BUT it’s one gig a year and you can’t play every year, if you want to play live get out there and make it happen! Look at other Festivals, potential support slots, local venues, team up with a few other bands to draw a crowd, don’t wait by the phone waiting for a call from Kieran or Bruce, cause in most cases it isn’t going to happen , well unless Firefest starts putting on a 100 bands a year that is!

Anything you want to add: I’d just like to thank everyone who has ever told me they enjoy my reviews or appreciate what I have done, whether they are music fans or musicians. I really enjoy what I do but it’s those comments that inspire me to continue and of course improve my writing. It’s always nice to have someone acknowledge you have put some real effort into a review so it spurs me onto to give everything I do the same dedication.

 

YOUR LIFE IN ROCK SONGS! (name one song for a particular moment of your life)

The beauty of music is you discover new stuff and also rediscover stuff endlessly so the answers to the following are constantly changing and I could list loads of songs for each one, ask me this next week and the songs could be totally different!

The one that changed your life: Thunder – Love Walked In

The one for your birthday: Tyketto – Forever Young
The one for the love of your life: Steelhouse Lane – Seven Seas
The one for your beloved ones: Lionville – No End In Sight
The one for the best moment in your life: Saving Aimee – Fresh Since 88
The one for your worst enemy: Eclipse – Bleed & Scream
The one which represents you and your vision of life: FM – All Or Nothing
The one which helped you in your saddest moments: Sugartown - Alone
The "Rock Music Manifesto": Vega – Kiss Of Life
The one to say goodbye: Stan Bush – I Can’t Cry
The one for your funeral: You Won’t See Me Crying – Unreleased Tom & James Martin demo