Madness are back in the groove
Madness are going back on tour and Andy Coleman finds a renewed sense of energy about the eighties Modsters.
To couch potatoes and the generally unfit it sounds like madness but drummer Dan ‘Woody’ Woodgate plans to mark the start of his sixth decade by running the London marathon faster than he has ever run it before.
Woody, the sticksman with Nutty Boy legends Madness, is 50 in October, and he’s determined to show that age is no barrier to breaking your own sporting records.
‘‘I did my first London marathon two years ago in three hours 42 minutes,’’ he enthuses. ‘‘Last year I knocked five minutes off my time, three hours 37 minutes, and I’m determined to do it in three minutes 30, absolutely determined.
‘‘I’ll be 50 for the next marathon so it will be quite good. I keep saying to people ‘when I hit 50 I’ll be the youngest in the 50+ category’. At 49, I’m the oldest at the moment.’’
Woody, who will be on stage with Madness at the V Festival in Weston Park on August 21, reveals that he caught the running bug by accident.
‘‘My wife, Siobhan, decided she’d do a walk for breast cancer but when she saw there were lots of people running she said ‘blimey, we’ll get there much quicker if we run’ so she and her best mate bought some running gear and overnight decided they were going to take part in the London marathon.’’
Siobhan began training by taking their pet dogs to the local park – and he went along to look after the animals while she ran.
‘‘Of course, the dogs ran after Siobhan so I ended up running after the dogs and her. I thought the best thing to do was get myself some running shoes!
‘‘When Siobhan said ‘Stuff this, I’m not doing the running, I hate it’ I carried on, I’d got the bug.
‘‘I got myself a trainer and I now run regularly, every week, and do some 10k meets, some half marathons, and really enjoy it. I’ve raised a lot of money for charity, that’s my main incentive. If I was doing it just for me I wouldn’t have a goal, there would be no point. Why go through all that agony for nothing?’’
After a summer of festivals Madness will be back on the road for a 16-date UK tour that includes matinee and evening shows at Birmingham O2 Academy on December 11.
‘‘Last year our UK tour went so well, we thought ‘we’re doing that again’. There was demand. We’re often a little cautious about overdoing it because people say ‘oh, I’ll see them next year’ but people seem to be coming back. ‘‘I think it was all off the back of the fact that we’d done a great new album which gave a bit more interest to the whole thing.’’
