The Woodentops are a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

that enjoyed critical acclaim and moderate popularity in the mid-1980s.

History

The band formed in 1983 in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

with an initial lineup of Rolo McGinty (vocals, guitar, formerly of

the Wild Swans The Wild Swans (Danish: ''De vilde svaner'') is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who rescues her 11 brothers from a spell cast by an evil queen. The tale was first published on 2 October 1838 in Andersen's '' ...

and

the Jazz Butcher The Jazz Butcher was the alias of British singer/songwriter Pat Fish (Patrick Huntrods). It also served as the name of the band, though adjuncts were frequently used to distinguish between Fish’s persona and band itself (The Jazz Butcher Consp ...

), Simon Mawby (guitar),

Alice Thompson Alice Thompson (born in Edinburgh) is a Scottish novelist. Thompson was educated at St George's School, Edinburgh,

(keyboards), Frank DeFreitas (bass guitar) and Benny Staples replacing Paul Hookham (drums). After a debut single, "Plenty" on

Food Records Food Records was a British rock record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe (formally of Zoo Records), who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade D ...

in 1984, which received a glowing review from

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'', they signed to the independent label

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

, releasing a series of singles in 1985 and their debut album ''Giant'' in 1986. Generally well-received by critics, the album's sound was characterised by acoustic guitars, but also featured

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

sounds. The album reached No. 35 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. A single from the album, "Good Thing", reached No. 7 on the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

. The band then became more experimental and frenetic when playing live, using more

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

sounds. This is documented on the live album ''Live Hypno Beat'' (1987), recorded in

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in 1986. The band also started to become rawer and more unpredictable live, becoming one of the most exciting

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

groups from the UK, while gaining an early hit on the burgeoning club scene in

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with "Why." In 1987, Thompson left to be replaced by Anne Stephenson of

the Communards The Communards were a British synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985. The duo consisted of Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles. They are most famous for their cover versions of " Don't Leave Me This Way", originally by Harold Melvin & the Bl ...

. The more experimental mood continued on the second album ''Wooden Foot Cops on the Highway'', released the following year. The song "Stop This Car" was voted No. 15 out of 106 in the KROQ Top 106.7 Countdown of 1988, outperforming many more established acts. Another of the album's standout tracks, "Wheels Turning," became a dancefloor favourite. The Woodentops continued to play live, touring the world until 1992, and tracks such as "Tainted World" became a regular on New York radio station

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

with DJ Tony Humphries. Vocalist and guitarist Rolo McGinty, who also wrote all of the Woodentops' songs, resurfaced with the DJ band Pluto in the 1990s and the Dogs Deluxe electronica project, and also provided vocals for

Gary Lucas Gary Lucas (born June 20, 1952) is an American guitarist/songwriter/composer who was a member of Captain Beefheart's band. He formed the band Gods and Monsters (band), Gods and Monsters in 1989. Lucas has released more than 50 albums to date a ...

's ''Gods and Monsters''. Guitarist Simon Mawby was briefly a member of

the House of Love The House of Love are an English alternative rock band, formed in London in 1986 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Guy Chadwick and co-founder and lead guitarist Terry Bickers. They rose to prominence in 1987 with their first single " Shine On", r ...

in the early 1990s. The Woodentops returned to live performances in September 2006. In October 2009, they performed in a special concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London's South Bank. There, they also curated an exhibition of works by artist Panni Bharti and concerts by musicians Worm, Othon and

Ernesto Tomasini Ernesto Tomasini (born 15 May 1968, in Palermo, Italy) is an Italian actor/singer/writer living in Britain. Best known for his more recent forays into contemporary music, he has also had a 35-year career on the stage. Early Performances Tomasini ...

. In 2010, the band announced their first single in 20 years and played a string of dates across Europe. Present lineup * Rolo McGinty - vocals, guitar * Simon Mawby - guitar * Aine O'Keeffe - keyboards * Frank de Freitas - bass guitar * Paul Ashby - drums

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Mini albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Video albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodentops, The English alternative rock groups English indie rock groups Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups from London Rough Trade Records artists Columbia Records artists Epic Records artists