David Bowie is right behind us...he even promotes our shows on his Facebook page

“I was given this address in London,” he begins, “and I went along and rang the doorbell.

“There was I in this denim shirt, denim jeans, denim jacket, pretty much everything denim apart from some brown moccasins, and David was standing there in a rainbow-coloured shirt, bright red trousers, these pointy shoes, and a wrist full of bangles. I thought to myself ‘woah, we haven’t really got a lot in common’.”

And while that may have been the case, the pair went on to formwhat became one of the most influential rock groups of all time, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Now Woody is back reliving those days as a member of a group put together by Colchester’s Tom Wilcox to play Bowie’s Man Who Sold the World album.

While working at the Institute for Contemporary Arts in London, Tom curated a series of events to coincide with the Bowie Exhibition at the V&A Museum, one of which was a talk by Woody.

“That was a couple of years ago now,”Woody tells me. “Tomhad interviewed me many years before about my time in the Spiders, but when he asked me to do the talk I wasn’t sure. He said the talk would be a couple of hours and he wanted me to talk about my contribution to Bowie’s music and my contribution to music culture. I said: ‘Well that’ll take up five minutes, what do you want me to talk about for the rest of the time?’ “In the end, Tom convinced me to do it and I had a fantastic time. It really was a great night.”

As part of the ICA project, Tomalso put together a special band of musicians, including Steve Norman from Spandau Ballet and Clem Burke from Blondie, to play some of Bowie’s famous tracks.

The band was so successful it eventually went to the Latitude Festival, and Woody was invited along to see their performance as a special guest of honour.

“The only problem was I wanted to be on the stage instead of at the side of it,”

he laughs. “I was watching Clem do my drums and although I hadn’t been involved in those songs for such a long time, I really wanted to get up and do one.

“When he came off, he said ‘heyWoody, do you want to go on and do a couple?’ So I did, and man it was really good.”

Woody will be back on the drum stool, this time permanently, for a new tour playing Bowie’s the Man Who Sold the World, which arrives at Colchester Arts Centre next month.

As well as Woody, the band includes Spiders’ bass player, Tony Visconti, Glenn Gregory from Heaven 17 on vocals, and special guest star for the night, Marc Almond.

As Woody tells me about Bowie’s classic album, because the singer had just got married and was also in the middle of changing managers, it never actually got toured live, until now that is.

“We did a couple of tracks from it during the Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust tours,”Woody says, “but not the whole album. It was something I regretted, so I called up Tony and said ‘hey Tony, here’s an idea’.”

The group did four dates last September, including a sold-out performance at the Shepherds Bush Empire.

“We really didn’t know how people would take to it, but it was just incredible,” Mick says.

“The fans were absolutely brilliant and the music was just right. So we decided to do it all again this year with a bit of a longer tour and even some dates in Japan.

“Obviously David isn’t involved, but he knows all about it and promotes it on his Facebook and Twitter pages, which is really great. I’m sure if David wasn’t behind it, we would know about it.”

Born in East Yorkshire, Woody discovered music quite by chance.

“The careers officer at school was asking me what I wanted to do,” he says, “and I didn’t have a clue. It was when I was out playing football one day and I heard this music coming from a studio nearby that I thought ‘that sounds good’.”

The sound was coming from one of the biggest groups in the area at the time called the Rats, which included guitarist Mick Ronson.

After setting up his own band and performing in and around the area, Woody got a visit while he was working in a factory that was to change his life.

“So Mick comes into the factory with his long blond hair,” Woody explains, “and says ‘hi, I’m Mick Ronson, and we’re the Rats’, and I thought ‘yeah, I know exactly who you all are’ and then tells me they want me to be their new drummer.

Reunited – Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey

“The drummer I had replaced went down to London to join a band David Bowie had set up and so when they needed a new guitarist, he suggested to David they get Mick down to play with them.

“Then not long after that they needed a new drummer, so Mick suggested me. That was when David phoned me up and said: ‘Mick says you’re a pretty good drummer – do you want to come down to London and join the band?’ “Looking back on it, the time I spent with the Spiders was incredible. At the beginning, we really were riding on a knife edge which could have gone either way really.

“No one was doing that kind of thing back then and it could have gone terribly wrong. It was only when Starman took off, we knew we might have something.”

Tony Visconti and WoodyWoodmansey with Glenn Gregory and Marc Almond perform the Man Who Sold the World at Colchester Arts Centre, Church Street, Colchester, on June 28. Doors 7.30pm.

Tickets, priced £20, are available by calling 01206 500900 or visiting colchesterartscentre.com