Rolo McGinty interview: “The first time I witnessed it, I couldn’t believe it and hid in the loo”
The Woodentops frontman on the return of the band and his solo offering on Is It Balearic?
Take your pick. You might know Rolo McGinty as frontman of indie innovators The Woodentops, the band who – according to Johnny Marr – were the only band The Smiths treated as serious competition, and who David Bowie and Julian Cope loved enough to invite them to support them.
Alternatively, that name The Woodentops might ring other bells. The live version of their song ‘Why Why Why’ was picked up by DJs in the very early days oif Ibiza, who saw its combination of grooviness, Spanish-style acoustic guitar strumming and utopian lyrics as just what they were looking for. It became a fixture of the London club nights established in the wake of Ibiza’s discovery such as Shoom, and its reputation was further cemented by its incusion on the very first Balearic collection – FFRR compilation Balearic Beats (The Album Vol 1).
Then there’s Pluto. Rolo had followed the explosion of house and rave music closely and was a regular visitor to the Ministry of Sound in its earliest days, and when the music industry temporarily “shut down” The Woodentops at the turn of the 80s/90s he threw himself into making some of the earliest British acid house and techno productions, earning heavyeight respect with a completely different, fresh audience, most of whom had no idea of his recent guitar slinging past.
Fast forward to 2023, and all three of these career strands seem to be stronger than ever. Rolo has a new track, the sublime ‘Marijuana’, produced by Coyote and released on a one sided 12″ via their Is It Balearic? label, set for release next month – more of which later.
Two classic Pluto releases – the pivotal epic house ‘Anna’ EP and his Rising album – have been reissued due to public demand, the latter in expanded form.
And finally, The Woodentops are back on the road, and having recently completed several nationwide tours in recent years they play a one-off London date this weekend at Camden’s Forge venue on Saturday July 8.
They’ve also released their first new track in some years, ‘Ride A Cloud’, with a stack of new material waiting in the wings. ‘Ride A Cloud’ is a deliciously slow motion groove with gorgeously dubby overtones inspired by a documentary about NASA astronaut Mike Massimo, sent into space to upodate the Hubble Telescope.
“I was fascinated by this story and was jotting some notes down as I watched,” he says. He then realised that an unfinished track he was working on with Stevon Russell would be perfect to read the the notes he’d made over.
“I thought ‘do that and sent back to Steven – there you are!’ Except I’d written something about riding the the Hubble above the clouds like a horse’ I sang an approximation of that and oops, it wasn’t a spacey instrumental with spoken word, it was now a song. My voice is the kiss of death for a cool instrumental.”
As for the dub influence, is that a case of new territory? “No,” insists Rolo, “Dub has always been in our sound, hence bringing in Adrian Sherwood in the past. We’ve always had slower tunes in amongst the thrash. Some of the thrash got dubbed too, ‘Travelling Man’ for example. My favourite thrash dub is (Sherwood’s mix of their Little Richard cover) ‘Keep A Knockin’, or ‘Well Well Well’, the Godwin Logie mix.”
So, we have to ask, did The Woodentops actually split after second album Wooden Foot Cops On The Highway, sometime in the early 90s and reform later?
“No we took an enforced break.” Rolo tells us, “No intention of ours, just the music biz shut us down for a while – long story. Couldn’t use the name or anything. Anyway it was fine for me I was pretty war torn and needed to give my throat a break anyway. And my left hand. It was turning into a claw that plays E and F sharp only! So I went electronic and hit the underground.
“Everybody in the band had been full focus since before 83 even and I guess all wondered what else were they capable of in life? Time goes fast, so did ten years. I received a live tape in 2005/6 from a friend in Spain. When I listened to it I thought, this would be a great band of now! I sent all a copy and we all felt it to get going again. Then some money got offered to do a tour so we did. Been working together ever since.
“Anyway we had jokingly said let’s call it a two year break! No falling out or anything.”
The timing was serendipidous to say the least though, pretty much the perfect time for your parallel career as Pluto.
“I know! I was lucky. I watched the arrival and learned all the new exciting low cost electronic instrument birth. I watched also the birth of house, even met some of the luminaries and wanted to to make a contribution to the club floor. I already had a footing in that world with ‘Why Why Why’ (our own imaginary dance club track) so yes, my own take on it all. I also hired myself out as a programmer for all sorts, from Robert Owens to Orbital. I worked on tons but mainly to speed up my own programming skills in the deep end. Nowadays I work really fast. I wanted to make the technical side invisible, no looking at the manual. Always new gear to learn.”
Pluto worked with the likes of Larry Heard, Farley Jack Master Funk, Chip E, Mr C and Robert Owens, but for Rolo it was a natural progression rather than a sudden change of tack. “The intention of Woodentops right from the first gig was to get the place gyrating from front to back. In fact I had a very long lead for my acoustic and I could strum away and get to the very back of the crowd and make sure they were feeling it. Groove police!”
Still, the success of ‘Why Why Why’ in the dance world was still a most pleasant of shocks. “The moment we realised our private rehearsal room disco was in synch with the rest of the world,” he says.
“We had no idea. But kinda noticed the mosh pit was now more a dancefloor. Then we found out. we started reading things, then a gig at the wag club was the trendiest in London that week. different people, odd! then a friend of mine in NYC where I half lived told me an English guy went ape when she said she knew me. She is Claudia Cusetta of Maxi records who was a promo distributer. So all the guys like Danny Tenaglia or Louis Vega were people I knew from her kitchen.
“So this crazy Englishman was Paul Oakenfold who arranged a phone call with me. He told me that he had witnessed it in Ibiza, stadium sized outdoor discos where ‘Why Why Why’ was track of the night, every week. Then I found out that he had got it off Leo Mas and DJ Alfredo, Trevor Fung also. All the guys like Fabio and Carl Cox had been playing it when they first started and have made a point of telling me so.
“Apparently the Adrain Sherwood mix was a popular chill out by the beach or bar/restaraunt track. But Leo and Alfredo happened to be in a record shop when the live LP came out 87. They said ‘ah that’s the ‘Why Why Why’ guys, then they saw it was in the tracklist so they bought it. It turned the club into a wild live gig. The first time I witnessed it I couldn’t believe it and hid in the loo. We had met Frankie Knuckles in Chicago and thought the whole house music thing was far from us. It was a big shock to find out we were very much featured in the acid house/second summer of love. But it was sort of technological flamenco Afrobeat so yeah we were more in sync with the world than we realised. Not remixed, just as we are. Then after that the DJ remixes of indie bands began like Mondays and Primal Scream began. It all exploded. Rough Trade just weren’t with it when I tried to get them on board. So again, they missed an opportunity. Did me a favour probably, I’d have lost my marbles. Anyway it’s not the intention to get stuck in one period of music. keep moving forward is the artistic motto.”
Speaking of which, Rolo’s new relationship with Nottingham duo Coyote is paying rich dividends too. Rolo had “adored” their mix of ‘Walking In The Sun’ from the Andres y Xavi album Sounds From The Secret Bar, which he sang and co-wrote.
“It was ingrained into ‘Ride A Cloud’ that Coyote would be remixing. Consequently when they agreed to do it I was very pleased it had worked out. Then as they were finishing it off they sent me something unfinished of theirs, essentially just acoustic and words were requested. A return of favour. I went ballistic and put electric and acoustic guitars on also sound effects and the voices.
“There was a note saying use what you want and actually they did use quite a lot of it. Like I said I’m quick so they got this mass of stuff within a day or two. With follow up instructions. Poor them! haha But yeah, that (‘Marijuana’) worked out really well and sooo quick. They had a little video going round within a week and the track mastered and vinyl pressing booked all within two weeks. Of course getting your pressings takes months… But already it’s out there in people consciousness via Instagram or what have you.”
Both the Coyote mix of ‘Ride A Cloud’, which ups the dial even further on its dubby, wonderfully headnodding vibes, and ‘Marijuana’, which extols the simple virtues of intaking the herb in the shade on a sunny day, are totally natural fits between the two parties, and examples of McGinty at the top of his game.
As for Saturday’s gig, we can expect the full McGinty experience – familiar favourites and as yet undiscovered new gems nestling side by side, all delivered in a seriously glutton-pleasing two hour portion.
“I’ve tried the ‘entire set of new tunes’ thing and we did alienate people,” he admits, “So now I am injecting new songs at about four a set. Though people are requesting the new ones – ‘will you be playing ‘Ride A Cloud’?’, ah what joy, moving on! I’ve been in and out of the previous decades’ songs but when there is a crowd there and the musicians are giving it some they feel good still now. I think my vocal is the cement that glues the past and present together. So yes, we swap songs about to make way for the new. A two hour set is about right for us.”
Ben Willmott
Pre-order your copy of ‘Marijuana’, expected to be released on August 28, by clicking here